Cross country

13The XC planner

Drawing a cross country route: turnpoints, FAI sectors, airspace, terrain and weather, then saving it, sharing it or turning it into an FAI record declaration.

Open to everyone

Drawing a route#

Where XC Planner

Click the map to add a turnpoint. Drag a point to move it. On a touch screen, tap to add, drag to move and long press to remove.

The map opens where it is useful. A shared route link opens already framed on the route. Otherwise the planner opens where you left it last time, and only asks for your location when there is no earlier view to go back to.

Close flight
Joins the last point back to the first, turning the route into a triangle. As soon as you are planning anything closed. The scoring type changes with it.
Free draw
Draw a line freehand instead of placing points one by one. For sketching a ridge run you will refine afterwards.
Reset
Clears the route and starts over. Faster than deleting eight turnpoints.

As you draw, the chips at the top of the map and the panel on the side keep score: the detected flight type, the scored distance, the points it would be worth, the total distance, the number of turnpoints, the closing gap on a triangle, the average leg length, and an estimated duration from the speed you set.

The overlays#

FAI sectors
Draws the geometry that shows where a third point has to be for the triangle to qualify as FAI. Any time you are planning a triangle. It turns guessing into placing.
Airspace
Overlays the airspace so you can see what your line crosses before you fly it. Every time. A perfect triangle through a CTR is not a plan.
Weather
Pulls a forecast along the route. Set the takeoff date and time first, and each turnpoint is read at the hour you reach it, at the speed you planned. Needs SkyTrackLight or higher. The evening before, to decide whether the plan survives contact with the day.
Terrain profile
A cross section of the ground under the route, with the elevation readout following your cursor. To find out that leg two crosses a 2400 m ridge.

The forecast follows your plan. Set the takeoff date and time in the panel, and the planner times every point from the distance and the speed you set: the takeoff card shows the launch hour, and a turnpoint two hours down the route shows the air it will have when you get there. Each card carries its ETA, and the forecast hour behind it is the model slot nearest that ETA. Forecasts reach seven days ahead, and a long route is sampled down to ten points.

Important

Airspace data may not be accurate or current. Always verify official sources before flight. The planner is a planning aid, never a clearance.

Saving, sharing and exporting#

Save route
Stores the route under My routes so you can reopen it later. Needs SkyTrackLight or higher. Each plan has its own limit: 10 routes on Light, 50 on Plus, 200 on Pro.
Share
Copies a link that opens the route in the planner for anyone. For sending a plan to the pilots you are flying with.
Download
Exports the route as a GPX file. To load it into an instrument or another planning tool.
Make public
Public or Private
A public route can be seen by other pilots and attached to a challenge. Publish a route you want people to fly. Routes attached to a challenge are locked public while the challenge exists.

Caution

If saving refuses with You reached the saved route limit for your membership., delete a route you no longer need or move up a plan.

FAI record declaration#

If the route you have drawn is a record attempt, the planner can produce the official declaration for it as a PDF, filled in from your profile.

  1. Draw the route. At least two turnpoints are needed.
  2. Open the FAI declaration panel.
  3. Choose the Record type and the Record scope, world or continental.
  4. Check the declared distance and the pilot details.
  5. Sign in the signature box, and have the Official Observer sign as well.
  6. Press Generate PDF and download it.
  7. Use Compose email to open a prepared mail, attach the PDF, and send it to civl-declaration@fai.org and to your national aero club.

Important

The declaration has to be lodged before take off, and an Official Observer is required. A declaration sent afterwards is not a declaration.

Note

If your FAI details are incomplete the panel lists exactly which fields are missing and links to Open profile. Fill them in once under Pilot profile.