GAviator Help & Manual 1.2
Content/Links:
Installation
Manual
Tips'n'Tricks
More information on GAviator
Installation (TOP)
Please note: GAviator needs an installed .NET Compact Framework (with Service Pack 2 or higher). The .NET CF is already installed on Pocket PC 2003 (and similar versions), but not on earlier versions like PPC 2000/2002! The .NET CF-installation for PPC 2000/2002 can be found here: .NET CF 1.0 SP3
Copy the appropriate cab-file (GAviator-*.*.*.CAB)
on your Pocket PC and start the installation with
a click on the cab-file on the Pocket PC.
All necessary executables and sample-testfiles will be installed on the Pocket PC
in one folder (usually "/program files/GAviator" or "/programme/GAviator").
The separate help-manual or help-files (GAviatorHELP-*.*.zip)
can be downloaded separate and can be extracted
into the installation folder on the Pocket PC.
Please copy all files into the GAViator-installation-folder
(Example: "/program files/GAviator/GAviatorHELP.html" or
"/programme/GAviator/GAviatorHELP.html").
Manual (TOP)
Tab "Aircraft"
Tab "Waypoints"
Tab "Route"
Tab "Fuel"
Tab "WeightBalance"
Tab "Starting" and "Landing"
Menu "Calculator"
Menu "Save"
Menu "Config" and "Help"
After starting GAviator you'll see the Splash-Screen, which is closed automatically after a few seconds.
In the background, the program continues starting (and loading the default files, if
default files are defined)
Tab "Aircraft" (TOP)
The first action is to load a aircraft-file - initially there is no aircraft loaded.
Aircraft-files contain the complete necessary information about the performance, fuel, distances and weight&balance of an aircraft.
To create your own aircraft-file, just copy an existing aircraft-file and edit the copy in a standard text editor (like notepad).
Please use your POH and the actual weight-report as reference for the values!
The aircraft-file itself is in an XML-format, which is self-descriptive.
Please refer to the comments in the aircraft-file and work very accurate while editing values!
The following screenshot shows the initial screen with no aircraft loaded:
If you click the button "Load Aircraft" the aircraft-files are shown
(the blue folder indicates the root-folder of the device,
the green folder indicates the default- or installation-folder,
the yellow folders indicate standard-folders):
The following screen is shown, after an aircraft is loaded.
Please visually check always the values, all used values are shown except
the weight&balance- and envelope-values!
Tab "Waypoints" (TOP)
The next step is to load a waypoint-file.
Waypoint-files contain information about the waypoint-names, -coordinates and -elevations.
At the moment, waypoint-files from OziExplorer (or OziCE, the PPC-version of OziExplorer) are supported.
Please refer to the OziExplorer-Documentation for information on how to create waypoint-files.
There are several programs for converting waypoints from other formats to the OziExplorer-Format
(e.g. NH-Top50Trans for PC and PPC).
This is the initial screen with no loaded waypoints:
After waypoints are loaded, the screen looks like this.
The list shows the ID, the name, the coordinates,
the elevation and the remark (and the column "DIST" with "0"-values).
The waypoints can be sorted with the selection box.
If the button "Max" is clicked, only the important columns are shown,
after clicking on the button "Min" all columns are shown again.
If the button "Get Ozi-Position" is clicked and OziCE is running in moving-map-mode with activated GPS,
then the actual position is requested and shown in the text field.
If the button "Calculate distances to actual position" is clicked, the
column "DIST" shows the distance (in nautical miles, NM) to the coordinate in the text field
(this means to the actual position).
Tab "Route" (TOP)
The last step of loading files is to load a route-file.
Route-files contain information about the waypoint-names and the waypoint-coordinates of a route.
At the moment, route-files from OziCE with the file extension "rt2" (the PPC-version of OziExplorer) are supported.
Please note, that route-files from the desktop-version of OziExplorer (with the file-extension "rte") are not suported yet!
Please refer to the OziExplorer-Documentation for information on how to create route-files.
There are several programs for converting routes from other formats to the OziExplorer-Format
(eg. NH-Top50Trans for PC and PPC).
Tip for advanced users: The waypoint-name of the route can contain in
addition to the waypoint-name the following fields: ;Alt/Elev;WD;WV.
This means: If you define a waypoint-name in OziCE like EDSB-November;2000;270;15,
then GAviator uses the first field as WP-Name, the second as altitude or elevation, the
third field as WD (wind direction), the fourth field as WV (wind velocity). The fields are
separated by semicolon.
The initial screen without a loaded route looks like this:
After clicking on "Load Route" and after selecting a route the screen looks like this.
Each waypoint of the route is a row in the overview.
The first waypoint is always the starting-airport, the last waypoint the destination-
or landing-airport!
The elevations (for airports) or altitudes (for other waypoints) are used from the
loaded waypoint-file.
This means:
- If a waypoint-file is loaded, the elevations/altitudes are used from the waypoint-file
(but only, if the names of the waypoints match in the route-file and in the waypoint-file).
- If no waypoint-file is loaded, the elevations/altitudes have to be set manually
(See next paragraph on how to do this!).
If the button "Max" is clicked, only the important columns are shown,
after clicking the button "Min" columns which can be changed are shown
(what is very useful while changing the values of the wind and the elevation/altitude),
after clicking the button "Set" all columns are shown again.
Before the route can be calculated there are two other things to do:
- The wind-direction (WD) and the wind-velocity (WV) have to be set for each waypoint.
To do this choose first the waypoint/leg in the selection box and set the values in the text fields,
after this click the button "Set values for". The altitude/elevation can be set here, too.
Note: Values with a minus "-" are not changed in the route-list!
- The used powersetting needs to be selected (this is used for the TAS and the fuel-calculation!)
- The correct time has to be set (initial 00:00). The text field can be preset with the actual locale time, UTC or can be edited manually.
Now the route can be calculated - after clicking the button "Calculate Route"
all columns and fields of the route are filled and the TOC's (Top Of Climb) and the TOD's (Top Of Descend)
are calculated.
Please note: The last TOD is calculated to the elevation of the airport plus 1000 ft -
what is an average for the traffic circuit!
The columns of the route list are:
- Waypoint = waypoint name
- Lat/Long = Latitude / Longitude
- Alt/Elev = Altitude or elevation of the waypoint
- Dist LEG = Distance of the leg (in NM) between last and this waypoint
- Dist SUM = Sum the distances up to this waypoint (in NM)
- TAS = True Air Speed (from the loaded aircraft and powersetting)
- WD = Wind Direction (manually set)
- WV = Wind Velocity (manually set)
- TC = True Course (from last to this waypoint)
- WCA = Wind Correction Angle (based on WD/WV)
- TH = True Heading (based on TC/WCA)
- GS = Ground Speed (based on TAS and Wind)
- Time LEG = Necessary time in minutes for the leg (in NM) between last and this waypoint
- ETO = Estimated Time Over (The planned time while flying over this waypoint)
If you click on the button "Show Graph" then the route is shown in a chart with the planned altitudes:
Tab "Fuel" (TOP)
The next step is to calculate the necessary fuel.
An alternate airport needs to be selected.
The airports are sorted with the distance (in NM) from the destination-airport.
After this, the fuel can be calculated and the fill-level of the tank can be selected
(Note: The fill-level of the tank is used to calculate the correct weight&balance.
See also Tab "WeightBalance"):
If the fill-level is risky, the fill-level-selector is marked yellow (the not official definition of risky: less than 10% of the complete tank more than the necessary fuel).
If the fill-level is lower than the necessary fuel, the fill-level-selector is marked red.
The fuel summary can be used to save and load the fuel-usage from
previous routes.
If the button "Use"/"Do not use" is clicked, the fuel from the fuel-summary (the fuel from the previous routes)
is set or unset automatically on the fill-level-selector.
If you click on "Organize", a new page is opened to organize the previous routes:
Tab "WeightBalance" (TOP)
The next step is to calculate the weight&balance.
The values from the aircraft-file are used for the weight&balance-calculation.
The initial screen shows the default-values, the text fields can be edited with
the planned loading-weights.
If the loading-weights are in the limits of the minimum- and maximum-values, they are marked green.
If they are out of the limits, they are marked red!
If the sum of the weight and the moments are in the limits of the envelope, they are marked green.
If they are out of the limits, they are marked red!
If you click on the button "Show Chart" then the loading-values are shown in an envelope-chart:
Tab "Starting" and "Landing" (TOP)
The next step is to calculate the necessary starting & landing distances.
The calculation for starting- and landing-distances base on the recommended
calculation in the publication "FSM3/75" from the "Bundesluftfahramt" in Germany.
The starting-elevation is preset from the given elevation of the route-calculation,
the starting-airport is shown at the top left screen:
The first thing to do is to set the correct QNH-, temperature- and runway-values.
Additionally the length of runways have to be set. Please use the correct values
from the AIP for this!
If the calculated necessary distance compared to the available distance is critical or a start
is impossible, they are marked yellow, orange or red.
If the calculated necessary distance compared to the available distance is OK,
they are marked green.
The landing-distance-calculation works like the starting-distance-calculation,
the landing-elevation is preset from the given elevation of the route-calculation and
the landing-airport is shown at the top left screen:
Menu "Calculator" (TOP)
A Calculator for
- Units (feet, meters, nautical miles, kilometers, gallons, liters, celcius, fahrenheit, ...
- IAS and altitude to TAS
- pressure altitude
- sunrise and sunset for the Starting- and Landing-Airport of the actual route and/or other waypoints
Menu "Save" (TOP)
Clicking on the Menu-Option Save opens a dialog, where the complete calculation can be saved.
The complete calculation includes two parts: The new OziCE-Route with the TOC's and the TOD's
and a new GAviator-HTML-Page with all necessary calculated values for printing to use it on the kneeboard.
The new Ozi-CE-Route is saved in a new file
named like the actual route-filename with the extension "-GAviator" at the end of the filename.
This screenshot shows the original route in OziCE, which was created in OziCE:
This screenshot shows the new route, which was loaded, calculated and saved in GAviator and the loaded in OziCE.
The differences are the new waypoints for the TOC's and the TOD's
and the additional information's like the ETO (Estimated Time Over)
and the TH (True Heading) and instructions for climbing and descending:
The new GAviator-HTML-Page is saved in a new files
named like the actual route-filename with the extension "-GAviator.html" at the end of the filename.
The Charts for the "Route Graph" and the "Weight&Balance" are included with the extension "-GAviator.html-Chart....bmp".
This HTML-Page can be opened in the Pocket Internet Explorer or similar browsers or can be copied
onto the Desktop-PC and opened there with the Internet Explorer or similar browsers and can be printed
for using it on the kneeboard. If you copy it onto the Desktop-PC please don't forget to copy the
two images, too!
This screenshots show parts of the GAviator-HTML-Page:
Menu "Config" and "Help" (TOP)
Other Menu-Options are Config and Help.
Config opens the configuration-dialog with the possibility to set
- the initial Aircraft-, Waypoint- and Route-folders (this are folders, where the files are initially searched),
- the default Aircraft, Waypoints and Route (this are files, which are automatically loaded on startup) and
- the OziCE-folder (e.g. "/OZIExplorer/")
The Select-Button opens a dialog to select the folders or files.
The configuration is saved in a file in the installation-folder to keep the file- and folder-names for the next start of GAviator.
The configuration-dialog looks like this:
The actual loaded files can be seen by clicking on the button "See actual loaded files":
Help opens this help-file in the Pocket Internet Explorer,
if the help-files were installed, otherwise a message box is shown
(See installation).
Tips'n'Tricks (TOP)
- Do not change the Units in the Aircraft-File. If you do so, please check all calculations very cleanly - this feature is not tested very well at the moment!
- Copy and save your own aircraft-file from the installed test-aircraft-files. Validate and work very accurate on the values - every aircraft has different values!
- If you encounter errors while loading files (especially the aircraft-file), please check the decimal separators (the decimal separator in files is always . (point) and not , (comma))!
- Try to set as much default-values as possible in the aircraft-file - then you don't have to type these values with the stylus every time (what can be very annoying)!
- The waypoint-name of the route can contain in addition to the waypoint-name the following fields:
;Alt/Elev;WD;WV.
(More information on this feature here)
More information on GAviator (TOP)
Please feel free to use GAviator - but please be not annoyed, if I can't give
you fast support on occurring problems - but please feel free to email me any
suggestions, ideas or problems.
If you want to do so, please send me a detailed description about the problem
and the actions you did before the problem. Please include a screenshot of the
about-screen and the necessary testfiles for me to find a solution, too.
EMail for Feedback and Support: gerhardschuwerk@web.de
Maybe we see us somewhen somewhere in the air
or on the ground! Enjoy flying!
If you want to donate, please contact me!
The history of GAviator (Changes, Known Bugs, ...)
The newest version of GAviator can be found here
Little history of GAviator: GAviator (General Aviator) was developed by me to reduce the effort and necessary time for flight planning before going into the air and understand flight planning better. With GAviator flight planning can be quite easy, if you set up your initial Aircraft-Configuration, which takes a bit of time. GAviator can save an "extended route" for OziCE, too, with TOC's (Top Of Climb), TOD's (Top Of Descend) and with additional information's at the waypoints (such as the actual TC (True Course) and ETO (Estimated Time Over)). GAviator is bound at the moment to fixed formats (Ozi-Waypoints, OziCE-Routes and a own format for Aircraft-Definitions) - future versions will support or import other file-formats, too.No warranty or claims are made or implied regarding the accuracy or worthiness of this software!
© 2005 - Gerhard Schuwerk, GAviator's license agreement