Pilot's Guide

Quick start

From a new install to a briefed flight in five steps:

1. Update the nav data. Utilities › Nav Data Update. The About tab shows whether your data cycle is current.
2. Add your aircraft. Utilities › Aircraft › +. Pick the type, enter the registration, equipment and surveillance codes. Performance figures fill in for the type. See Set up your aircraft.
3. Build a route. Plan tab › Auto Route for a generated plan, Create Plan to build it step by step, or Import Route Text to paste one from an OFP. Save it.
4. Brief it. Briefing tab › pick the plan › enter the cruise altitude and aircraft › Calculate. Read weather, NOTAMs, runway advice and alternate planning.
5. Take it with you. BRIEFING PACK for a PDF, ICAO FLIGHT PLAN for the FPL message, and NAV LOG + to log the flight.

Before you start

Access

Every feature is free for 7 days from the first launch, with no account. After that a subscription keeps full access; About › Subscription shows your plan and restores purchases. Terminal chart downloads follow the same access.

Navigation data

Airports, runways, procedures, airways, navaids, airspace, MSA and grid MORA are FAA data published per AIRAC cycle (every 28 days). Run Nav Data Update when a new cycle starts; the data cycle bar in About and the banner on the Plan tab tell you when the data is out of date. The terminal chart index comes with the same update.

Location

Location is optional and used only while the app is open: for magnetic variation where you are, your position on the map, and GPS auto times in an open Nav Log. It is never sent anywhere.

Set up your aircraft

Route performance (EET, top of climb and descent) and the ICAO flight plan both come from your aircraft. Utilities › Aircraft lists your aircraft; each shows READY or INCOMPLETE. Only ready aircraft can be used in the Briefing.

Steps

1. Aircraft type. Search by ICAO designator or name (C172, King Air, B738). The type sets the category (piston, turboprop, jet) and the starting performance.
2. Registration. Filed as Item 7 and REG/. Item 7 follows the registration unless you enter a callsign.
3. Wake turbulence, equipment (Item 10a), surveillance (Item 10b), PBN (required when R is selected), DAT/, other Item 18 information and Item 19.
4. Performance. Speeds and climb / descent rates per altitude band, and the ceiling. Every figure can be changed.

Typical figures for your type

Many airliners, regional jets, business jets and turboprops have their own typical speeds and climb / descent rates. A type without figures of its own uses the closest listed one, and the performance step says which:

• Same family: for example an ATR 72-500 uses the ATR 72-600 figures, a Citation V the Citation II.
• Similar aircraft, shown in orange: a comparable type of the same class, for example a Dash 8-300 uses the ATR 42-600. Check these against your flight manual.

Types with no match start from the category's typical values. Reset to typical values brings back the figures for your type. All performance figures are planning averages, not flight-manual data.

Type not in the list (ZZZZ)

If your aircraft isn't listed (a homebuilt, for example), tap NOT IN THE LIST? ENTER IT YOURSELF, or search and tap ENTER … AS YOUR TYPE, and describe it, e.g. HOMEBUILT GYRO. It is filed as ZZZZ in Item 9 with your description in TYP/, which also names the aircraft in the app. Then choose the category, which gives typical performance to adjust, and confirm the wake category (L up to 7,000 kg MTOW, M up to 136,000 kg, H above, J for A380-class). A ZZZZ aircraft is ready only once TYP/ is filled in and the wake category is confirmed.

Build the route

Auto Route

Choose departure and destination (and runways), and the app builds a complete IFR plan with SID, airways, STAR and approach. Where FAA preferred IFR routes exist for the pair and your aircraft class, they are offered beside the computed route. Auto Route is a planning aid: check the SID / STAR choice, airways, DCT legs and fixes against current charts, NOTAMs and ATC requirements before filing.

Create Plan (step by step)

1. Set the intended altitude: airways whose MEA is above it are left out.
2. Departure airport and runway.
3. SID (or direct / vectors).
4. Enroute: airways and fixes, with the route builder.
5. STAR and destination.
6. Approach, including transitions and the missed approach.

Import Route Text

Paste a route from an OFP or another app (e.g. KSEA BANGR9 … KORD). The app decodes it, shows the fix sequence and any parsing notes, and saves it as a plan.

Saved plans

Open Saved Plan shows a plan on the map; Edit Saved Plans renames, updates or deletes them. Each plan in the lists shows its alternate (ALTN KMKE) or NO ALTERNATE.

The route map

The map draws the route with its SID, STAR, approach and missed-approach legs. Layer buttons add restricted airspace (SUA), MEA labels, MSA sectors, nearby airways (low, high or both), waypoints, airports and fix names. Alternate routes are drawn as a thinner dashed violet line.

Run the briefing

Briefing tab › choose a saved plan. The performance sheet opens first: enter the cruise altitude, choose the aircraft and tap Calculate. The app flies the route through the forecast winds aloft with your aircraft's performance.

From top to bottom, the briefing is laid out the way you decide:

1. Route and route summary: great-circle distance, route distance, air distance and the wind component.
2. Weather: DEPARTURE, ARRIVAL and one card per planned alternate, each with METAR and TAF, NOTAMS and D-ATIS. The runway line shows the planned runway and the advised one, taken from D-ATIS when available, otherwise from the wind.
3. Runway advisory: when the advised runway differs from the plan, REPLAN swaps the runway and its SID or STAR / approach while keeping your airway connection.
4. Departure time (ETD) and alternate planning. See Alternates.
5. Flight profile: altitude against distance, with the G-AIRMET and SIGMET hazards you climb, cruise and descend through.
6. Route map with weather layers (WX: G-AIRMET, SIGMET and convective forecast; WINDS; NOTAMS for the FIRs you cross) and Route details, the route as one list of waypoints, airways, airspace and FIR/UIR boundaries. On iPad the map fills the screen beside the briefing.
7. BRIEFING PACK and ICAO FLIGHT PLAN, then the charts for departure, arrival and alternates.
8. Route waypoints: each fix with coordinates, airway, magnetic and true course, accumulated and remaining distance, altitude, wind, TAS, GS and EET. Calculated top of climb (T/C) and top of descent (T/D) are marked.
9. Alternate routes: destination to each alternate, flown as a new flight at 10,000 ft with EET from 00:00.

Alternates

The alternate planning card checks the destination forecast around your ETA against the 14 CFR 91.169 1-2-3 rule and shows ALTERNATE NOT REQUIRED, 1 ALTERNATE REQUIRED or a recommendation to consider a second. Set the ETD and run the performance calculation first, so the ETA is known.

• Add an alternate from the card, or from SELECT ALTERNATE / CHANGE at the bottom of the ARRIVAL weather card. Candidates with instrument approaches are listed nearest first; up to two alternates.
• Each alternate gets a route from the destination, a minimums check at its ETA, its own weather card and an alternate route list.
• Advisory only. Non-standard alternate minimums and "A NA" are published on the approach chart and are not in the app's data: always check the chart.

Briefing pack PDF

BRIEFING PACK › Generate PDF fetches the latest data and builds one A4 PDF you can share, print or file:

• Flight information (ETD / ETA, aircraft, airports, FIRs, cruise level, TAS, distances, flight time), the route, and METAR / TAF for every airport.
• Nav log: per fix, name and coordinates, airway, MAG / TRUE course, ACCD / LEG distance, altitude, wind, GS / TAS and EET / ETA / ATA, with write-in lines for ATA and fuel.
• Alternate nav logs, EET from 0 at 10,000 ft.
• NOTAMs for each airport and every FIR on the route.
• The WAFS high-level significant weather chart (FL250–FL630, 24-hour forecast).
• A route and hazards map, the SIGMET route profile at your cruise level, and the G-AIRMETs on the route.

ICAO flight plan

ICAO FLIGHT PLAN builds the FPL message from the plan and your aircraft: route, ETD, cruise level and speed, alternates, total EET and EET/ at FIR boundaries (with winds once performance is calculated), Items 7–10, 18 and 19. Problems such as a missing PBN/ or TYP/ are listed under the message. Copy, share or save the text, then file it through your usual channel.

Nav Log

When the briefing is complete, tap NAV LOG + at the top right of the Briefing. The app saves the planned flight as a log and opens it in the Nav Log tab. The planned part is frozen: later changes to the plan or new winds never alter a log you flew. Logs are grouped In progress, Upcoming and Completed; long-press one to delete it.

What you record

• Fuel on board at the top (GAL, LB, KG or L). It is also the departure airport's fuel in the log.
• Times (UTC): OFF BLOCK, TAKEOFF, LANDING and ON BLOCK. Tap NOW, or use the menu to set or clear a time. Block and flight time are calculated.
• ATC clearance in CRAFT order: clearance limit, route, altitude, frequency, transponder, and amendments.
• Per fix: EET, ETA, the actual time (SET › Now / Set time…) with the minutes early or late, and fuel remaining.
• Frequencies you want at hand, and free-text notes.

Airport and runway rows

The route's ends carry the block and flight times, so taxi time never shows as a delay:

Before takeoff, ETAs count from off block, or from the ETD if you haven't left the gate.

Fuel

Remaining fuel, burn per hour and endurance are worked out only from what you enter: the fuel on board and the remaining fuel at the fixes you pass. The app does not predict fuel from the aircraft profile.

Charts bar

Pinned above the log: DEP (airport diagram and filed SID), ROUTE (the route map with its weather layers) and ARR (diagram, STAR and approach). OTHER CHARTS opens an airport's full chart list, for a new SID, STAR or approach after a last-minute change. On iPhone charts open full screen; on iPad they open in a panel beside the log, so you can keep logging while you read.

Export

The document button at the top right makes a PDF of the log: flight, times, clearance, fuel, frequencies and notes, then the nav log and alternate nav logs with the times and fuel you recorded.

GPS auto times

With AUTO TIMES · GPS on (Times card), the log fills times from your position while it is open on screen:

• A time is filled only while it is empty, rounded down to the minute, and never overwrites one you set. Each one shows a banner with UNDO for 15 seconds.
• The screen stays awake while auto times run. They stop when you leave the log or lock the phone: location is used only while the app is open.
• After a diversion, landing isn't detected (it watches the planned destination). Set it by hand.

Terminal charts

FAA terminal charts (airport diagrams, SIDs, STARs, approaches and more) download when you first open them and stay on the device for the cycle. Briefing and Nav Log open the charts your route calls for; Utilities › Terminal Charts browses any airport.

Offline

Utilities › Terminal Chart Update downloads every chart of the airports in your saved plans, or of airports you type, so they open without a connection. It also shows the chart cycle, storage used, and deletes charts per airport, for airports no saved plan uses, or all.

When a new cycle starts

• After the nav data update brings the new cycle's chart index, the charts you had are downloaded again for the new cycle: by themselves on Wi-Fi, otherwise from the NEW CHART CYCLE card in Terminal Chart Update (Download now or Not needed).
• Until then, a chart that can't be downloaded opens from the previous cycle with an orange EXPIRED · CHART CYCLE … bar. The old cycle is deleted once the new charts are in.
• If the nav data hasn't been updated for the current cycle, chart buttons show EXPIRED: run Nav Data Update.

Data cycles and sources

FAQ & limitations

Why can't I select my aircraft in the Briefing?

Only aircraft marked READY appear. Open Utilities › Aircraft and complete the steps shown in red: type (and TYP/ for ZZZZ), registration, equipment, surveillance, PBN when R is selected, the wake category for ZZZZ, and performance.

EET is missing in the waypoint list or nav log.

EET needs the performance calculation (cruise altitude and aircraft) and the winds aloft forecast. Without them, distances and courses still show.

Why is my departure taxi time not shown as a delay?

EETs count from takeoff. Off block is compared with the ETD only; takeoff is the reference for every fix after it.

Does it work outside the US?

Navigation data, procedures and charts are FAA (US) data. Weather and FIR NOTAMs along a route can cover other regions, but routes are built from US data.

Are the performance figures accurate?

They are typical planning values (for many jets from OpenAP traffic statistics, with limits checked against published data). Correct them for your aircraft from its flight manual.

Is the briefing pack an official briefing?

No. It summarises the app's data. Obtain an official weather and NOTAM briefing before flight.

Support

Questions, problems, data errors or ideas: About › Contact Support in the app, which fills in your app version, device and nav data cycle, or email erolmurathan@icloud.com.

FAA Disclaimer

IFR Navigation Planner uses FAA data products, including the Coded Instrument Flight Procedures (CIFP). The FAA requires that product developers and manufacturers include the following warranty disclaimers:

1. Under 10 U.S.C. 456, no civil action may be brought against the United States on the basis of the content of a navigational aid prepared or disseminated by the FAA.
2. The CIFP product is provided “as is” and no warranty, express or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose or arising by statute or otherwise in law or from a course of dealing or usage in trade, is made by the FAA as to the accuracy and functioning of the product.
3. Neither the FAA nor its personnel will be liable for any claims, losses, or damages arising from or connected with the use of this product. The user agrees to hold harmless the United States Federal Aviation Administration. The user’s sole and exclusive remedy is to stop using the CIFP product.

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