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GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM - RELEASE 3.10 PAGE 1 OF 12 (C) Copyright 1988-90 Charles L. Pack QuickBASIC Compiler (C) Copyright 1982-87 Microsoft Corporation WRITTEN BY: Charles L. Pack 25303 La Loma Drive, Los Altos Hills, CA. 94022 Phone: (415) 949-0887 The author reserves the SOLE and EXCLUSIVE right to distribute this pro- gram to clubs, user groups, bulletin board systems and other institu- tions. Institutions that wish to distribute this program FREE or for a "disk fee" not to exceed $10.00 U.S. may write directly to the author at the address above for further information. Suggestions and comments are welcome, and may be addressed directly to the author. The author makes no warranties or guarantees, express or implied, as to the suitability of this program or its related files for use with any particular type of aircraft or in any particular part of the world. The author is not responsible for the accuracy of any data that is supplied with the program - some of it may have been created by other persons. Although reasonable effort has been made to insure this program and its related files will operate correctly, it is still possible for it to have "bugs", so be careful! HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Hardware requirements are an IBM or other "fully compatible" personal computer with one disk drive, 256K memory and any type of video adapter and display (the system does not do graphics). A printer is required for printing the flight log and other information. Almost any printer that can print 80 columns should work. IBM DOS or PC-DOS version 2.0 or later is required. Program modules are written in compiled BASIC with machine-language subroutines. HOW TO GET THE FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM RUNNING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE In this document, abbreviations are used to denote certain actions. The < > symbols indicate a particular key to be pressed, for example <Enter> means "press the Enter key". The Enter key is used to indicate you are finished entering a command or a data item. <Enter> need not be pre- ceeded by a space even though it is done in this document for clarity. Some keys, such as the Esc and Ctrl keys, may be in different positions on different keyboards. You may have to look, or consult your computer operations manual to find them. The Esc key is usually in the top row, and the Ctrl key is usually near the left side. The Enter key has the funny hooked arrow on it. Commands typed into DOS may be in uppercase (CAPITAL letters) or lower- case; for example COPY, Copy and copy are all interpreted in the same way. In this document, commands will be shown in uppercase. If you have a hard disk, you must install your program on the hard disk before running it. Instructions for hard disk installation begin on page 5. Instructions for operation on floppy disks begin on the next page. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 2 OF 12 OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKETTE(S) The first and most important thing for you to do is to MAKE A WORKING COPY. The original copy of the Flight Plan System has (or should have!) a write-protect tab on it to prevent accidentally writing over it. It is suggested that you make a couple of working copies of the Flight Plan System diskette and then put the original copy in a safe place other than where your computer is. This place should be free of magnetic fields generated by such things as vacuum cleaners. A fireproof safe, or even a safe deposit box, makes an excellent haven for the original. This document assumes you have two floppy disk drives. If you have only one drive, such as on an IBM PC-Jr., consult your DOS manual. To make a working copy, insert your DOS diskette in drive A and make sure the A> prompt is visible. Type in the following command: DISKCOPY A: B: <Enter> You will be prompted to insert the source (original) and target (working copy) diskettes and press any key to continue. Now remove the DOS disk- ette from Drive A and insert the original copy of the Flight Plan System. Insert a blank diskette in Drive B. WARNING: Any data on the diskette in Drive B is about to be erased! Now, press any key and in about 30 seconds you will have a working copy. Be sure to label it, but do not put a write-protect tab on it. If the working diskette is of a different capacity or size than the original, DISKCOPY won't work. To make the first working copy, format a new diskette and use COPY instead. Then, you can use DISKCOPY to make additional copies. See page 4 for more detailed instructions on how to format diskettes and copy files. Now you're ready to get the Flight Plan System running. Make sure you are in DOS, as evidenced by the A> prompt, and insert a working copy of the Flight Plan System. Type the command FP3 <Enter>, and in just a moment, the introductory screens should appear! If you have not used these programs before, press the H (for HELP) key for further instruc- tions on how to use the system in general. Once the Flight Plan System is running, all instructions on how to oper- ate it are available from within the system itself. Note that you can press the H (for HELP) key to get instructions from any of the menus that appear at the bottom of the screen. HELP screens are context-sen- sitive; that is, each one applies to that part of the system you are using at the moment. Please read all the HELP screens; they will explain how to use the system and will answer most of your questions. After the introductory screens have been displayed, the program should display the Master Menu screen. One or more Navaid and Trip files may be included with the Flight Plan System for demonstration purposes. To use these files, the current disk drive for data files should be the default drive. If not, press P and <Enter>. The names of both the Navaid and Trip files used for demons- tration purposes should be DEMOFILE so enter those names as they are requested. Then, press T to go to the TRIP Display screen. Read the Help screens and try out all the different menu functions to see how they work. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 3 OF 12 OPERATION FROM FLOPPY DISKETTE(S) (Continued) You don't have to use the files supplied with the program for demonstra- tion purposes. It is recommended to keep your own Navaid and Trip files on a separate data diskette. To start a new data diskette, insert a newly formatted diskette in drive B. Start the Flight Plan System as described on the previous page, and you should see the Master Menu screen. If the program seems to "hang up" trying to read a disk drive, press the Esc (Escape) key. From the Master Menu screen, press P (for PATH) to enter a new drive letter and type B: <Enter>. At this time, you will also be prompted to enter names for your new navaid and trip files. You might consider giving them regional names such as CALSOUTH for the Navaid file and ARIZONA for trips to Arizona, for example. When you finish entering the names (the program automatically supplies the extension .NAV), press N to get to the Navaid screen. The program will recognize the empty diskette in Drive B and will ask if you want to start a new Navaid file; reply Y (for Yes). Or you can press Esc or N to get back to the Master Menu screen if you made a mistake. Once a new Navaid file has been initialized (which will happen auto- matically), the same process will be repeated for the Trip file. Then you will automatically be prompted to start entering navaids. You can have as many different Navaid and Trip files as you want; the only limi- tation is space on the data diskette. Each Trip file can hold a number of individual trips; each of those trips can have up to 16 legs. Should you decide to keep data files on your program diskette - this may be feasible if you have only one navaid file and a few trip files - you can erase the .NAV and .TRP files that exist for demonstration purposes. Do this from DOS with the ERASE *.NAV <Enter> and ERASE *.TRP <Enter> commands. Then start the Flight Plan System and when you see the Master Menu screen, the current path should be the default directory. If not, press P and then press Enter by itself; enter navaid and trip file names as in the previous paragraph. Then press N to start entering Navaids. WARNING: DO NOT switch DATA diskettes while you are in the NAVAID or TRIP display screens. Press X to get into the Master Menu screen first, and THEN switch diskettes. Failure to heed this rule could cause data files to be destroyed. Always keep backup copies! UPGRADING FROM RELEASE 2 ON FLOPPY DISKETTE You can copy your old navaid files onto the new program diskette (if there is room), or you can transfer the old navaid files onto a separ- ate, newly formatted diskette. Do this from the A> prompt in DOS with the NEW diskette in drive A and the diskette with your OLD navaid files in drive B. Then, enter the following command: COPY B:*.NAV <Enter>. This will copy the navaid files on Drive B to the default diskette, which is in Drive A. *** NOTE *** If you are upgrading from an earlier Release 2 version of the Flight Plan System, the newer system will modify your Navaid files so they can accomodate additional data items and features. Once this happens, they can no longer be used by the earlier Release 2 programs. Therefore, make sure they are BACKED UP first! Your old trip files cannot be used, as trips are handled differently in Release 3. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 4 OF 12 HOW TO FORMAT AND COPY DISKETTES There are two ways to copy a diskette: one using the DISKCOPY program; and the other using the COPY command. The DISKCOPY program is a separate file on your DOS diskette. DISKCOPY copies the entire diskette all at one time without regard to contents, and is faster. However, the target diskette must always be recorded at the same density and the same number of sides as the source diskette. You can tell the density of a diskette by running the CHKDSK program, which is on the DOS diskette. With DOS in Drive A, and the diskette to be tested in Drive B (it must be a format- ted diskette), enter the command CHKDSK B: <Enter> and you will see the capacity of the diskette in Drive B expressed as a number of bytes. The capacity is a measure of recording density. A standard 5 1/4" diskette holds about 360K bytes (K=1000); a standard 3 1/2" diskette holds 720K. COPY copies individual files one at a time and is slower, but it is a "resident" command (it is in memory all the time when you are in DOS) so you don't have to have your DOS diskette in drive A to run it. It can copy to a target diskette that has a different capacity or number of sides than the source diskette. If DISKCOPY will not make a working copy of the original diskette, pro- ceed as follows: First, make sure your DOS diskette is in Drive A and you have the DOS prompt A>. Insert in Drive B a new diskette, or a diskette that does not contain any programs or data which you want to keep. Now type the following command: FORMAT B: <Enter>. WARNING: All data on the diskette in drive B is about to be erased! Follow the prompts on the screen. Press Y to respond Yes, or N to respond No. After responding Y or N, it may or may not be necessary to <Enter>, depending on what versions of FORMAT and DOS you are using. WARNING: NEVER use FORMAT by itself. That will cause it to format the currently active diskette, and you may erase your DOS! If you have a hard disk drive, you could erase your entire hard disk! Usually a warning message is displayed, but some versions of DOS don't display much warning and catastrophes have resulted. This is one good reason to keep backup copies of all programs and data! After the formatting is completed, you will see the message "format complete" and some statistical information, followed by a "Format another?" prompt. Reply N <Enter> and wait for the A> prompt to re- appear. Remove the DOS diskette from drive A and insert the diskette to be copied (the source diskette) in drive A. Now type the following command: COPY *.* B: /V <Enter>. (Leave spaces where shown except before <Enter>). This will copy all files from the diskette in drive A to the diskette in drive B. The /V parameter causes the computer to read back and verify everything it writes. The diskette in drive B now contains a working copy of the diskette in Drive A. Be sure to label it, but do not put a write-protect tab on it. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 5 OF 12 INSTALLATION ON A HARD DISK Installation is the process of transferring the original of a program onto a hard disk, and setting it up to operate with your particular computer. Installation on a hard disk drive usually consists of three steps: First, making a sub-directory; Second, copying the required files; and Third, creating a batch file. The last step is optional but still very desirable. *** NOTE *** If you are UPGRADING from an earlier release of the Flight Plan System, skip now to page 8. The Flight Plan System should reside in its own dedicated sub-directory. The name of that sub-directory can be anything you want, up to 8 char- acters, but for explanatory purposes here it will be called \FP3 (for Flight Plan, release 3). (See page 7 for information on sub-directories and how to make one). Now make this the current sub-directory by typing CD \FP3 <Enter>. This completes the first step. Insert the original Flight Plan System diskette in Drive A. The follow- ing command will copy all the files to the hard disk: COPY A:*.* /V <Enter> WARNING: First make sure you are in the correct directory! Display the contents by typing DIR first. The directory should not have any files. Only the source file specification is needed above; the target is assumed to be the current directory. The /V parameter causes DOS to verify everything it writes. You can verify that all files were copied by typing DIR /W <Enter>. The /W (for "wide") tells DOS to display several file names on each display line so the information won't scroll off the top of the screen. Now, make the root directory active by typing CD \ <Enter>. This completes the second step. The next thing to do is to create a simple batch file to start the Flight Plan System. A batch file contains one or more DOS commands and has the extension .BAT. When you type the name of a batch file, all the commands in that batch file are executed, just as if you had typed them individually from the keyboard. A batch file should reside in the root directory; if you haven't already done so, switch back there now by entering the command CD \ <Enter>. A file can be created by copying directly from the keyboard (CON:) to that file on disk. We'll call the batch file FP3.BAT. Enter the following lines: COPY CON: FP3.BAT <Enter> CD \FP3 <Enter> FP3 <Enter> CD \ <Enter> <F6> <Enter> Leave out CD \ if you don't wish to return to the root directory upon termination of the Flight Plan System. <F6> means press the F6 key (this is a function key on the left side or the top of your keyboard). Note that F6 is "echoed" to the screen as "^z" (Ctrl-Z) - that is a special "end-of-file" indicator. You should see the message "1 file(s) copied" and the DOS prompt C>. The Flight Plan System can now be started from the root directory with the single command FP3 <Enter>. It can also be started from its own directory with the same command. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 6 OF 12 OPERATION FROM A HARD DISK From your root directory, begin operation of the Flight Plan System with the command FP3 <Enter>. In just a moment the introductory screen should appear! If you have not used these programs before, press the H (for HELP) key for further instructions on how to use the system in general. Once the Flight Plan System is running, all instructions on how to oper- ate it are available from within the system itself. Note that you can press the H (for HELP) key to get instructions from any of the menus that appear at the bottom of the screen. HELP screens are context-sen- sitive; that is, each one applies to the part of the system you are using at that moment. Please read all the HELP screens; they will explain how to use the system and will answer most of your questions. After the introductory screens have been displayed, the program should display the Master Menu screen. One or more Navaid and Trip files may be included with the Flight Plan System for demonstration purposes. To use these files, the current path (disk drive and sub-directory names) for data files should be the default directory. If not, press P and then <Enter>. The names of both the Navaid and Trip files used for demonstration purposes should be DEMOFILE so enter those names as they are requested. Then, press T to go to the Trip Display screen. Read the Help screens and try out all the different menu functions to see what the program does. Of course you don't have to use the files provided with the program for demonstration purposes. It is recommended to keep your own Navaid and Trip files in a separate sub-directory, which will be called \FP3DATA in this document. To create this sub-directory, get into the root dir- ectory first, using the DOS command CD \ <Enter>. Then create the new sub-directory with the command CD \FP3DATA <Enter>. (Don't specify a disk drive letter unless data is on a different drive than programs). Now re-start the Flight Plan System and get into the Master Menu screen. Press P and then enter the name of the data directory \FP3DATA\ <Enter>. Next, enter the names you want for Navaid and Trip files. You might consider giving them regional names such as CALSOUTH for the Navaid file and ARIZONA for your trips to Arizona, for example. If these files don't exist yet, the program will automatically create them for you later. When you finish entering the names, press N to get to the Navaid screen and start entering navaids. If a file doesn't exist, the program will ask if you want to start a new one. Reply Y (for Yes). Or you can press Esc or N to get back to the Master Menu screen if you made a mistake. Once a file has been initial- ized, the program will automatically start asking you for data. You can have as many different Navaid and Trip files as you want; the only limi- tation is disk space. Each Trip file can hold a number of invividual trips; each of those trips can have up to 16 legs (17 waypoints). GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 7 OF 12 WHAT IS A "SUB-DIRECTORY", AND HOW TO MAKE ONE A hard disk can contain hundreds of files, which could make management of its directory very difficult. Therefore a hard disk usually contains a "root" directory and a number of "sub-directories", organized in a "tree" structure. The root directory is the main directory and is always present. It is like the trunk of a tree, and can contain any number of sub-directories, which are like branches of a tree. Also, sub-direc- tories can contain other sub-directories, up to many different levels just like the many branches of a tree. Another way to look at it is, the root directory of a disk(ette) is like the master index to a big book, and the sub-directory is like the index to an individual chapter. I recommend keeping the directory structure simple, with only one level of sub-directories. Floppy diskettes can also have sub-directories but usually they don't - while hard disks, with their large capacity, usually do. Usually, sub-directories contain individual categories of programs or other files. For example word processing programs can be in one sub- directory, documents in another, spreadsheets in another, etc. Ideally, the root directory should contain only sub-directories, batch files and certain other system files; DOS should have its own sub-directory. The Flight Plan System should reside in its own dedicated sub-directory. To make a sub-directory, first make the root directory active by typing CD \ <Enter>. Note the back-slash (\) is different from the regular for- ward slash (/). Sub-directory names are just like any other file names except they always start with the back-slash (\). The root directory has no name and is just called \. Sub-directory names must be unique within the directory that contains them. To look at sub-directory names, use DIR /W <Enter>. Sub-direc- tories are identified by the caption <DIR>. It is permissible for a sub-directory name to be the same as a file name, for example \FP3 can exist as a directory and again as a batch file such as FP3.BAT. Now enter the DOS command to "Make a Directory". Type in MD \xxx <Enter> where xxx denotes a name 1 to 8 characters in length - for example type MD \FP3 <Enter>. For best results, use only letters of the alphabet. If no error message appears and the DOS prompt C> re-appears, the sub- directory now exists. To make that sub-directory active, type CD \FP3 <Enter>. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 8 OF 12 UPGRADING FROM AN OLDER VERSION ON A HARD DISK SYSTEM Get into DOS, as indicated by the prompt C>. Make the sub-directory which contains the Flight Plan System the currently active directory. For example, use the command CD \FP <Enter>. Use the DIR command to make sure you are in the correct directory! Now type in the following group of commands that applies to you: THIS IS ONLY FOR THE ** OLDER ** PROGRAM RELEASES (2_L, 2_K, 2_J, ETC.): ERASE FPREL*.* <Enter> (identifies the old release) ERASE *.BAT <Enter> (deletes old BATCH files) ERASE FP*.CTL <Enter> (deletes the old SETUP file) ERASE FP*.BAS <Enter> (deletes 2_L & earlier programs) ERASE FP*.H* <Enter> (deletes all the old HELP screens) ERASE *.TRP <Enter> (deletes trip files, which cannot be used with Release 3.x) You can keep and use your present Navaid files. Any files other than those ending with .NAV cannot be used. THIS IS ONLY FOR THE *** NEWER *** PROGRAM RELEASES (3.00 AND LATER): ERASE FPINTRO*.* <Enter> (the old introductory screen ERASE FPSTART*.* <Enter> files MUST be deleted) ERASE *.BAT <Enter> (deletes old BATCH files) ERASE FP*.CTL <Enter> (deletes the old SETUP file) ERASE FP*.EXE <Enter> (deletes the old programs) ERASE FP*.HLP <Enter> (deletes the old HELP screens) You can keep your present Navaid and Trip files. Re-check with the DIR command to make sure you deleted the correct files. Make sure your navaid files are backed up. Sorry, the old trip files (with the extension .TRP) that were used with Release 2 are not useable in the newer Flight Plan System. Release 3 handles trip data in a different way. Insert the original copy of the Flight Plan System (Release 3.xx) in Drive A. You will need to copy some, but not all, of the files onto your hard disk. Now, type in the following commands: COPY A:FPINTRO*.* /V <Enter> (You MUST use corresponding COPY A:FPSTART*.* /V <Enter> versions of these files) COPY A:FP*.CTL /V <Enter> (SETUP file) COPY A:FP*.EXE /V <Enter> (programs) COPY A:FP*.HLP /V <Enter> (HELP screens) *** NOTE *** If you are upgrading from an earlier Release 2 version of the Flight Plan System, the newer system will modify your Navaid files so they can accomodate additional data items and features. Once this happens, they can no longer be used by the earlier Release 2 programs. Therefore, make sure they are BACKED UP first! If you are upgrading from Release 2_L or earlier you will have to modify the batch (.BAT) file which starts the program. It should be located in the root directory. Refer back to page 5 to see how to do this. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 9 OF 12 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THIS RELEASE AND PREVIOUS RELEASES 1. All Release 3.0 and later versions of the Flight Plan System will be compiled and will run faster. BASIC is no longer used. The source code is not available, so the program can no longer be LISTed and/or modified by the user. 2. The system has been simplified. In Release 3.04 the Master Menu has been replaced by the SETUP screen. In Release 3.05, the Master Menu has been restored and contains all of the SETUP functions. 3. All data files are now saved automatically. There are no longer any separate "Save" functions. 4. A Navaid file can have up to 1,279 entries. Trip files are now han- dled differently. You can still have many different trip files, but EACH Trip file can now have up to 31 individual trips; and each trip can still have up to 16 legs (17 waypoints). The program is set up so that you MUST display the trip you want to use for a flight plan. Distances and courses are ALWAYS re-computed whenever a trip is dis- played. This is to insure that the latest data from the Navaid file will always be used in any flight plan. 5. Trip waypoints are no longer selected by a video block. You must enter the name for each waypoint. However if you are unsure of the exact spelling, just enter the first few letters and the program will try to find it for you. In Release 3.04 and later you can select waypoints by entering an identifier which is separate from the name (such as *LAX for Los Angeles VORTAC). 6. In Release 3.0, performance data for up to 3 aircraft can be changed interactively and then stored automatically on disk. You can switch aircraft from the flight plan functions without losing any data. 7. In the Navaid screen, you can "scroll" through the data. The system is set up in such a way that if you change any Navaid data, it will automatically be reflected in any trips that use that data. You can't delete a Navaid that is used anywhere in the active trip file. The Navaid file can now have two NAV or COMM frequencies which can be shown on the flight log. 8. Much effort has been made to make this program as "bullet-proof" as is reasonably possible. BUT HEED THIS WARNING: IT ISN'T PERFECT - IT COULD STILL HAVE "BUGS"! 9. The "bug" which caused inaccurate groundspeed computations in a direct crosswind has been fixed. 10. In this version of the program, the effects of temperature on air- craft performance are handled by using DENSITY altitudes for compu- tations, rather than using actual altitudes and applying a compensa- tion factor. Many improvements have been made as a result of user feedback. The author always welcomes user input (positive or negative). GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 10 OF 12 ABOUT THE DATA FILES Your data files (those files with names ending in .NAV or .TRP) may be kept on either the program diskette or sub-directory; or on a separate data diskette or sub-directory. In general, it is recommended to keep the data separate, especially if you use more than two or three separate data files. This makes it easier to install newer versions of the Flight Plan System and to make backup copies of the data. In release 3.0, aircraft performance data (see next paragraph) is kept on file FPSETUP3.CTL, which must be on the PROGRAM diskette or sub-directory. WARNING: In the Performance screen, you can keep data for up to three different aircraft. DO NOT use the data supplied with the program for this screen - it is for demonstration and experimentation only. You MUST enter the data yourself for the individual aircraft YOU fly. The corresponding HELP screens give more information on how to do this. Each time navaid or trip data is updated or changed, the associated files are over-written on the disk(ette). Therefore it is very important to KEEP BACKUP COPIES! You should also keep a printed backup of the aircraft performance data, by doing a screen dump of the the performance screen for each aircraft. Be sure to mark each one as to which aircraft it applies to, as each performance screen is identified ONLY by a number (1 of 3, 2 of 3 or 3 of 3). (Release 3.04 and 3.05 add an aircraft identifier and short description to the performance screen). I suggest the following diskette backup scheme: Use three diskettes and label the three envelopes C (for current, or child), F (for Father), and G (for Grandfather). The envelope labelled C is of course the current, or working, diskette. When a copy of the current diskette is made, copy onto the Grandfather diskette, which then becomes the new Current disk- ette. The old Current diskette becomes the new Father; the old Father becomes the new Grandfather. The diskettes are simply switched in their envelopes. The advantage to this scheme is that each diskette is always used in rotation so one diskette does not tend to wear out faster than the others. Also, there are always three generations of data. If you are using a hard disk, you should still back up your data files. To do this, insert a newly formatted diskette in Drive A. Make drive C the active drive, and make the sub-directory which contains the Flight Plan System data files the active sub-directory. Then, enter the fol- following command: COPY *.* A: /V <Enter>. This copies all files onto a floppy disk. It is still recommended to keep two or more backup copies! Although computers are usually very reliable, disk drives and disks DO wear out over time. A head crash or an electrical "transient" could wipe out months of work! GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 11 OF 12 DESCRIPTION OF THE FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM FILES FPINTRO3.TXT These are the introductory screen files. FPSTART3.CTL WARNING: If either of these two files are missing or have been tampered with, the Flight Plan System won't run! These files must correspond to the particular version of the Flight Plan System that is being used. FPSETUP3.CTL is the system setup file. This and the above two files, plus the .EXE files, must all be present for the system to operate. All of these three files must be on the PROGRAM diskette or in the PROGRAM sub-directory. In Release 3.0, aircraft performance data (for up to three aircraft) is stored in file FPSETUP3.CTL, in addition to the file specifications for Navaid and Trip files, and other parameters. FPSETUP3.CTL requires 2,048 bytes of disk space. FP3.EXE is the system Startup program. The Flight Plan System MUST ALWAYS be started with this program. FPMMENU3.EXE is the Master Menu program. It also handles all SETUP functions. (This is new with Release 3.05. In Release 3.04 all SETUP functions were handled in FPNAVIG3 and there was no Master Menu). FPNAVIG3.EXE is the Navaid and Trip file maintenance program. FPLANNR3.EXE is the flight plan and aircraft performance program. BRUN30.EXE is the run-time library which is required for any of the Flight Plan System programs to run. It contains routines which can be common to all programs. BRUN30.EXE is a part of the QuickBASIC compiler which is (C) Copyrighted by Microsoft Corporation. *.HLP All files with names ending in .HLP are HELP screen files. These are standard text files. They can be deleted to make more disk space without affecting the operation of the Flight Plan System, except that when you press H you will get the "Help screen not available" message. FPSTART3.HLP is an overview of the Flight Plan System. FPSETUP3.HLP is an explanation of the SETUP screen (Release 3.04). FPMMENU3.HLP is an explanation of the Master Menu screen (Rel. 3.05). FPNAVIG3.HLP is an explanation of the Navaid display screen and menu. FPTRIPF3.HLP is an explanation of the Trip display screen and its menu. FPAIRCF3.HLP is an explanation of the Aircraft Performance screen. FPALSEL3.HLP is an explanation of the Altitude Select screen. GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM PAGE 12 OF 12 DESCRIPTION OF THE FLIGHT PLAN SYSTEM FILES (Continued) FPLANNR3.HLP is an explanation of the Flight Log screen and its menu. FPWINDS3.HLP is an explanation of the Winds aloft screens. FLITELOG.NAV is the flight log file. It is created each time the Flight Plan function is invoked from the Trip Data screen. It will require a maximum of 720 bytes in Release 3.0. *.NAV are the Navigation aid files (except for FLITELOG.NAV which is a dedicated file, explained above). Navaid files contain the following information: Waypoint name (up to 12 charac- ters), identifier (4 characters), latitude, longitude, mag- netic variation, site elevation and two NAV or COMM fre- quencies. A Navaid file requires 32 bytes per record, plus 1 extra header record, for a total of 40,960 bytes. *.TRP are the Trip files. Each trip file can contain up to 31 separate trips. Each trip can have up to 16 legs (17 way- waypoint names). Only waypoint names are kept in trip files (all other data either comes from a Navaid file or is com- puted by the program). A trip file requires 256 bytes per trip, plus one extra header record, for a total of 8,192 bytes. FPVERS31.DOC is the document you are reading right now. It can be used with any text editor or word processor, and can also be printed on any printer. It contains no control characters or embedded word processor commands. README.DOC is a short text file (1 screen) that tells you how to print the document you are reading right now. READ.ME same as README.DOC. README same as README.DOC. Data files are not compatible with any of the popular commercial data- base or spreadsheet software, and they cannot be read or altered with a word processor. When a data file is first started by the Flight Plan System, it is initialized to its full size (1,279 records for a Navaid file or 31 records for a Trip file). This is to prevent running out of disk space and possible loss of data at a later time. If you have any problems with the documentation in this program, please notify the author (address & phone number on the first page). This will help the author to make improvements and correct errors.