Planning Links

Weather

	Met Office GA site: The official source in the UK for Synoptic charts, F214, F215, METAR’s, TAF’s and Rainfall Radar. You can also subscribe to email weather warnings for two local airfields. The GA Met Service is funded by the CAA out of fees levied on commercial aircraft. You will need a free account to use this site, which you can request here.
	Orbifly MetMap: a map-based presentation of TAF’s and METARS
	Windy.com : this app displays a static picture or animation of forecast winds, gusts, cloud base, cloud tops, precipitation (and much more) using your choice of several global forecasting models. It also displays the rainfall radar.
	Autorouter’s GRAMET tool: displays a profile of the weather (wind, cloud, temperature etc) along a chosen flight route. Primarily developed for IFR pilots but also useful for longer VFR flights.
	BBC Weather: gives an outlook for 14 days ahead.

Other planning

	Many of us use SkyDemon or a similar app for NOTAM’s. NATS is the official source of UK NOTAM’s which can be reached here. You can also register on the same page for a free account if you don’t have one.
	NATS class D airspace pre-notification portal. By giving NATS 1 hour notice, this portal improves your chance of getting a class D transit by helping ATC to plan for your expected transit time.
	Skydemon home page and page to login to your online Skydemon account

 W&B

This website has W&B calculators for many different aircraft. Always ensure you are using the data provided for your specific aircraft from its W&B data sheet.

Take off and landing performance

CAA recommended take-off and landing performance factors can be found here
GASCo App I haven’t found a website which computes these data, but GASCo offer an app for smart phones which does this. Also available for the iPhone

PLOG’s and planners

	Our integrated VFR planner Allows you to get all your planning (W&B, weather, PLOG, take-off and landing performance) on one A4 sheet. Once the planning is complete, fold it to A5 to fit your kneeboard, so that you won’t be distracted by the planning data in flight.
	Simple VFR PLOG Is the VFR planner too complicated for your needs? Then here is a simple VFR PLOG. Folded to A5, so that the planning part is hidden in flight.
	IFR kneeboard training planner Best practice is to plan and brief on the approach plate. While training, this simple approach planner, set alongside an approach plate, will take you through the planning for holds and approaches. It is designed to be folded to A5 size and laminated as a kneeboard reference card.
	IFR Training PLOG This A4 sheet completes our suite of PLOG’s for IFR flights

All these best-practice PLOG’s, together with a short user guide, can be found on the Downloads area

International flights

Many of us file flight plans directly from SkyDemon or a similar app. This link gives access to the NATS AFPEX online system.

GAR form

A GAR form is required for all flights inbound from EU countries. It is also required for flights both to and from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man and all non-EU countries. The form can be input online here. You need to buy credits as there is a fee £2 to £3 per submission, depending on how many credits are purchased. The fee is refined if the flight is cancelled.

European AIP’s

Here is Eurocontrol’s index of AIP’s. For some of these AIP’s you may need an account (free); others are accessible without an account.

Fuel drawback

Fuel drawback form. Fuel drawback is the term for the HMRC scheme which allows a pilot to re-claim tax paid on fuel which is exported from the UK on a foreign trip (even if some of that fuel subsequently is re-imported). You also need a Government Gateway account which you may have already if you file tax returns online. Otherwise, apply online here.

 Android app’s

There are many Android phone app’s for pilots. Many are free, some cost a few dollars. Some are very reliable and useful; others regrettably have limited value and may not always be trustworthy. Without offering any express warranty, the app’s below are ones which I use regularly.

	Rainy Days One of several apps which display rainfall radar on a GoogleMap background.
	Weather & Radar UK, developed by the German company Wetteronline gmbh.- is another good app. It shows cloud as well as precipitation and distinguishes (somehow) between rain and snow.
	Aviation Pocket-knife / Aviation Weather with Decoder My favourite for METARs and TAF’s. Presented in in native format or plain English, plus many other useful functions (cross-wind calculator, Snowtam decoder, GoogleMaps view of airfields, NOTAM’s for airfields).
	Sportys E6B All the functions of a whizz wheel on a simple phone app.
	Windy.com Same as the PC app, but on your smart phone.
	GASCO take-off and landing performance calculator Calculates take-off and landing performance using CAA recommended safety factors.
	Runway cross-wind calculator Does what it says on the tin!

There are also some app’s useful for training, which are listed on the Training page

UK Rules & Regulations

Neither the UK Air Navigation Order nor SERA (Standard European Rules of the Air) are light reading. The CAA’s Skyway Code is a useful reference document.
CAA6395_Skyway_Code_AW_160817_PRINT