Garmin has released a flight-planning website that integrates with its Garmin Pilot iOS and Android tablet and smartphone apps and also provides free flight planning features for non-subscribers. Garmin Pilot Web’s basic features work anywhere in the world, while the full capabilities are, for now, available in North America (Canada, U.S., and Mexico). Garmin Pilot Web, said senior marketing manager Kyle Ludwick, means that now, “You’re cleared for the option to plan via mobile or web.”
Subscribers to the Garmin Pilot app’s standard or premium plans can access most of the same capabilities of the app on Pilot Web, including planning flights, routing, and filing flight plans in North America, plus aircraft performance data and a new live internet traffic layer.
The free services on Pilot Web include entering basic route planning, altitude, speed, and fuel burn, with calculation of distance, fuel required, and estimated time en route and arrival based on forecast winds aloft. Detailed airport information is also available, with aviation weather and new daily and hourly forecasts, runway information, terminal charts, and FBO information.
Pilot Web users who aren’t Garmin Pilot subscribers can also choose map options such as topographic maps, satellite view, VFR and IFR charts, and street maps. Overlays include a new aeronautical layer, radar, airmets and sigmets, TFRs, temperatures, winds, and fuel prices.
Some functionality on Pilot Web doesn’t currently match Garmin Pilot, such as rubber-banding of legs on the map, but “that is one feature that is firmly on the roadmap,” according to Ludwick.
The new internet traffic feature allows the user to click on or hover over traffic to learn more about the aircraft, including speed, origin, and type. Typing in an N-number in the Pilot Web search box lets users find a specific aircraft if it is flying. “Traffic is one thing we’ve been asked for a lot,” he said.
Users have the ability to control what is displayed on the new aeronautical map layer, using a button on the bottom of the screen to select various choices. These include airports and heliports, airspace, ATC boundaries, waypoints, VORs/NDBs, and airways.
For Garmin Pilot users, the flights and aircraft tabs on Pilot Web offer similar functionality to the app version. This includes creating, saving, and filing flight plans, viewing weather briefings, payload and fuel calculators, previously cleared routes, and selection of procedures. The aircraft tab gives access to aircraft performance and weight and balance information.
”The Garmin Pilot mobile app has always been known for incredible maps and weather overlays, and we’re excited to bring those capabilities and more to the web,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin v-p of aviation sales, marketing, programs, and support. “If you are not already familiar with Garmin Pilot, I encourage you to give Garmin Pilot Web a try when planning your next flight. With its free, at-a-glance tools, you will find it can greatly simplify your online flight planning workflow.”