N499CP Flight Planner — User Guide

A route planner, nav-log generator, and performance/W&B calculator built around N499CP (2020 Cessna 172S NAV III), CAP San Diego Sr. Sq. 57.

⚠️ SIM USE ONLY. This tool is for training and planning practice. Weather is partly simulated, terrain sampling is approximate, and airport/navaid data comes from the public OurAirports dataset. Always brief with official sources (1800wxbrief.com, ForeFlight, current charts, the POH) before any real flight.

1. Getting to the app

The app is a single page — no login. On first load it checks the aviation database; the status pill in the top-right shows either an airport count (e.g. 32,553 apts) or No data. If it is empty it downloads automatically; you can also force a refresh with the DB ↻ button.

2. The interface at a glance

The screen has four regions:

1. Toolbar (top) — route input, cruise settings, the Fly button, and the tool buttons (Perf, W&B, Ref, DB ↻).
2. Map (center) — the moving-map with chart layers and route editing.
3. Layer switcher & map controls (over the map) — chart selection, Plan mode, Fit.
4. Flight Log drawer (bottom) — slides up to show the nav log, weather, airport details, and terrain profile.

3. Building a route

3.1 The route box

Type a route as space-separated identifiers, departure first, destination last. The box auto-uppercases as you type.

KSEE JLI TRM KPSP

Three kinds of identifiers are accepted:

At least two identifiers are required (a departure and a destination). Press Enter in the box or click Fly to calculate.

Note: RNAV named intersections (e.g. KAYOH, LIMBO) are not in the dataset — use nearby VORs/airports or drop a user waypoint at the fix's coordinates instead.

3.2 Cruise settings

Three dropdowns to the right of the route box drive the performance math:

• Altitude — grouped by VFR/IFR and cruise direction (hemispheric rule labels are a planning aid, not enforced). Pick a preset or Custom… to type any value (500–17,500 ft).
• RPM — engine RPM, tied to the C172S cruise-performance table (2400 RPM ≈ 55% power is the default). Custom… allows 1500–2700 in 50-RPM steps.
• Reserve — fuel reserve in minutes (30 / 45 / 60 or Custom). This is added to the total fuel requirement.

3.3 Fly

Fly calculates the route and:

• draws it on the map with draggable waypoints and rubber-band handles,
• fills the Log drawer (nav log + fuel),
• kicks off background loads of Weather, Airports, and Terrain.

4. The map

4.1 Chart layers

The top-left switcher chooses the base layer:

• VFR Sec — FAA VFR Sectional (default)
• IFR Low — FAA IFR Low Enroute
• IFR High — FAA IFR High Enroute
• Satellite — Esri World Imagery
• Street — OpenStreetMap

FAA chart tiles are served from the FAA ArcGIS service (with any locally cached tiles used first).

4.2 Plan mode (click-to-add)

Click ✈ Plan (top-right of the map) to arm planning mode; the cursor becomes a crosshair. Click anywhere on the map and the app finds the nearest fixes within 20 NM and offers Dep / Wpt / Dest buttons to insert that fix into the route box in the chosen role. Click ✈ Planning again to disarm.

⊙ Fit re-centers and zooms the map to frame the whole active route.

4.3 Rubber-band route editing ⭐

This is the fastest way to shape a route directly on the map.

Midpoint handles — every route segment has a small white dot at its midpoint. Drag one to bend the route:

• While dragging you see a dashed gold preview of the new leg and a small tooltip showing the nearest snap candidate (e.g. ⌖ JLI · 4.3 NM).
• On release, a popup lists the top three snap candidates (weighted to favor VORs/VORTACs and real airports over private strips) plus a 📍 User waypoint here option that drops a raw @lat,lon point.
• Shortcut: hold Shift while you release to drop the @lat,lon user waypoint immediately, skipping the menu.
• Release without choosing (click elsewhere) and the edit is cancelled.

Existing waypoint markers are also draggable:

• Drag a waypoint and you get the same snap-candidate / user-waypoint popup to redefine it. Shift-drop again drops a user waypoint in place (intermediate points only).
• Departure and destination can only be moved to real fixes (airports/navaids) — the weather, terrain, and climb math need real airport data at the ends.
• Click an intermediate waypoint marker to get a ✕ Remove waypoint option.

The green dot is the departure, the red dot is the destination, blue dots are intermediate waypoints.

5. The Flight Log drawer

Click the ▲ Flight Log tab at the bottom (or it opens automatically after Fly). Four tabs:

5.1 Log

• Summary strip — total distance (NM), time en route (MIN), total fuel (GAL), and the winds used (dir°/spd kt).
• Nav log table, one row per leg:

• Fuel breakdown — taxi & takeoff, climb, cruise, reserve, and total required.

5.2 Weather

Loads automatically after a route calc. Shows METARs, TAFs, winds aloft, and NOTAM placeholders for each airport on the route.

METARs/TAFs are fetched live from aviationweather.gov when reachable; anything tagged (sim) is simulated. Winds aloft are real — GFS forecast winds from Open-Meteo at the route midpoint, interpolated to the standard altitudes (tagged with the source; they fall back to a deterministic estimate only if the service is unreachable). NOTAMs are still placeholders pointing you to notams.faa.gov. Always confirm with an official briefing.

5.3 Airports

Per-airport cards for the airports on your route: name/city/state, elevation, lat/lon, current flight category, raw METAR, and a runway table (runway, length, surface).

5.4 Terrain

An elevation profile sampled along the route (USGS elevation data):

• Max Terrain and Min Clearance (ft AGL) stats, plus a status badge: ADEQUATE (≥ 2000'), MIN VFR CLR (≥ 1000'), or INSUFFICIENT (< 1000').
• A cross-section chart: green terrain fill, the red planned flight path (with climb and descent ramps), a dashed cruise reference line, and gold waypoint markers.
• Hover the chart to read distance, altitude, terrain height, and clearance at any point.

6. Tools (toolbar buttons)

6.1 Perf

Takeoff and landing distances for N499CP from the POH tables. Enter weight (takeoff), pressure altitude, temperature, and headwind; get ground roll and distance over a 50 ft obstacle. The tables use conservative (round-up) interpolation and a simple headwind credit.

6.2 W&B (Weight & Balance)

Enter empty weight/moment and the loading (pilot, front pax, rear pax, baggage, fuel). The calculator returns total weight, CG, and moment, and checks limits:

• Forward CG limit varies with weight — 35.0" at 1950 lb sloping to 41.0" at 2550 lb (per the POH envelope). Aft limit is 47.3".
• Warns if fuel > 53 gal usable or baggage > 120 lb.
• The status line spells out exactly what's out of limits (overweight amount, or CG forward/aft of the weight-specific limit).

6.3 Ref

A quick-reference card: V-speeds, weights, fuel, CG limits, and station arms.

Known discrepancy: the Ref card currently lists the old fixed forward CG limit (35.0") and a front-seat arm of 40.0". The W&B calculator uses the corrected sloped envelope and a 37.0" front-seat arm. When in doubt, trust the W&B calculator (and the POH). This card is slated to be updated.

6.4 DB ↻

Re-downloads the airport/runway/navaid database from OurAirports. Runs in the background with a progress modal; the app stays usable meanwhile.

7. Worked example — KSEE → JLI → TRM → KPSP

A short cross-country from Gillespie Field (KSEE) in El Cajon, over the Julian VORTAC (JLI), across to the Thermal VORTAC (TRM) in the Coachella Valley, and into Palm Springs (KPSP) — a nice mountains-to-desert VFR hop.

Step by step

1. Open the app and confirm the DB pill shows an airport count (not "No data").
2. In the route box, type:

KSEE JLI TRM KPSP

3. Set Altitude to 9,500 ft (good terrain clearance over the Peninsular Ranges / San Jacinto area), leave RPM at 2400 (55%) and Reserve at 45 min.
4. Press Fly.
5. The route draws KSEE → JLI → TRM → KPSP and the Log drawer opens.

What you should see (illustrative)

Distances and courses are stable; times/fuel/headings depend on the current winds aloft (live GFS forecast), so your exact numbers will vary with the weather.

Total fuel required ≈ 19 gal (taxi + climb + cruise + 45-min reserve) — well within the 53-gal usable, but always confirm with a real W&B and reserve plan.

Note the magnetic headings run about 11° less than the true courses — that's the ~11° E magnetic variation for Southern California being applied correctly.

Explore the rest

• Terrain tab — the profile will show the high ground east of San Diego and around San Jacinto; check the Min Clearance badge against your 9,500 ft cruise.
• Weather tab — METARs for KSEE and KPSP (live if reachable), plus live GFS winds aloft.
• Airports tab — runway lengths/surfaces for KSEE and KPSP.
• Edit it on the map — drag the midpoint of the JLI→TRM leg northward and snap to another fix, or Shift-drop to place a user waypoint, to see the route and nav log recompute instantly.
• W&B — open the modal, enter your actual loading, and confirm you're inside the (now weight-dependent) CG envelope.

8. Civil Air Patrol Search & Rescue (SAR) Patterns

The flight planner incorporates specialized search pattern generators used in Civil Air Patrol aerial search missions, coupled with export options for flight simulators and the CAP V-SAR exercise console.

8.1 Accessing the SAR Tool

Click the SAR button in the main toolbar. This opens the SAR Pattern Generator dialog and enables interactive datum selection on the map.

8.2 Supported Search Patterns

1. Expanding Square (SS): - Used when searching a concentrated area around a known datum (e.g., last known position or initial ELT alert location). - Parameters: Datum coordinates (lat/lon), track spacing (0.5–2.0 NM), number of legs, initial heading, and turn direction (Right or Left). - Generates sequential expansion legs (1×S, 1×S, 2×S, 2×S, 3×S, 3×S...) with calculated magnetic courses and leg distances.

2. Creeping Line (CS): - Used when searching a route corridor, valley floor, or canyon where the target is likely located along a specific track. - Parameters: Start point, end point, sweep width (NM), track spacing (NM), and maximum legs. - Generates alternating orthogonal cross-track sweeps advancing along the route axis.

3. Parallel Track (PS): - Used for systematic grid searches covering large rectangular areas or CAP quadrangles. - Parameters: Corner coordinate, search box length (NM), search box width (NM), axis heading, and track spacing (NM). - Generates parallel search tracks stepped across the search area.

8.3 Route Integration & Search Sortie Metrics

Clicking Apply to Route integrates the generated search waypoints (SS01, CS01, PS01...) into the active flight plan: - The route box is automatically populated with geodesic user coordinates (@lat,lon). - The nav-log drawer recomputes fuel burn, time-on-station, and terrain clearances for the search pattern using the aircraft POH performance polar. - The map visualizes the search grid overlaid against FAA VFR Sectionals and IFR enroute charts.

8.4 Exporting & Simulator Integration

• Export X-Plane 12 .fms: Downloads a standard FMS format file (version 1100) compatible with X-Plane 11 and 12 G1000 / FMS navigation systems. Save directly to your simulator's Output/FMS plans/ folder.
• Push to V-SAR Console (ms01:8700): Transmits the planned search sortie directly into the CAP V-SAR training environment over LAN (VSAR_CONSOLE_URL).
• Automatically creates the scenario in the exercise database with the datum, alert radius, and sortie notes.
• If an active sortie is currently running, broadcasts an automated mission notification message to Mission Base and connected observer consoles.

Questions or fixes: this app lives at github.com/rpcraighead/flight-planner-n499cp-v2 (and Gitea internally). Fly safe, brief for real.