Flight Planning in the US/Canada

[Wilfried]

Dear US and Canadian pilots,

which flight planning tool/app do you use?
Should be user friendly and easy to use.

I'll be crossing the North Atlantic this summer from Europe. I am flying for the first time in North America. Here in Europe I use autorouter.aero, but I just realized that my favourite flight planing tool ends at the Canadian East Border and is not able to find CYFB...

The disadvantage of autorouter. aero is that it is not accessible via App. It is quite cumbersome to use via iPhone/iPad. But you can use it through Garmin Pilot (Eurocontrol Filing Service) what I currently do. I guess you can file out of Garmin Pilot in the US with a US plan. But Garmin only works with GDL devices and I want to use a Stratus ADS-B Receiver.
Foreflight is entering the European market this summer. This might solve my little "problem" in case I can sign up for a European and US/Canada plan.

So, any comments welcome...

[TimS]

Garmin Pilot in the plane.
fltplan,com on the computer and to file.

Tim

[CFIDave]

The most popular US/Canada flight planning app by far is Foreflight on the iPad/iPhone. Foreflight is also compatible with the Stratus ADS-B receiver you said you wanted to use. I use Foreflight for pre-flight planning, for filing IFR flight plans, and in the air.

[Charles]

I used to be a ForeFlight user but, for a Canadian flying to the US, you have to pay two subscriptions to get all the data.

FltPlan Go has everything (app, Canada and USA IFR and VFR charts, procedures, A/FDs and the Canadian CFS, etc.) plus a great integration with fltplan.com, all for free. This is what I use. Recently, i have seen preferred IFR routes extracted from the CFS show up in the flight planning section of the app. VERY convenient.

ForeFlight seems more user friendly than FltPlan Go but that does not justify the cost to me. If you’re only going to be here for a few months, the annual subscription to ForeFlight seems wasteful. Of course if you’re here for less than 30 days, then then free trial of ForeFlight might work for you.

By the way, the Stratus receiver is only marginally useful in Canada because we don’t have FIS-B service. I use XM Weather.

[Rich]

When I was based up near the Canadian border I had FF US and Canada subscriptions, as I was merely 30 minutes from the border and would have spur-of-the-moment trips across same to pop up. Before FF offered Canadian charts I had a paper-based subscription with NavCanada for Western Canada, which cost a goodly fraction of what the FF subscription cost for all of the country.

Before FF supported ICAO flight plans I used Fltplan.com for the flights within and coming back from Canada, but that is no longer necessary.

When I moved down here to Oregon, I cancelled the Canadian subscription, for which the prorated unused portion was credited back to me. I have had occasion to switch my FF subscription levels a few times, and they always have done that.

[Wilfried]

Good morning!
Thank you for your helpful answers.
This is really a great forum!

Wilfried

[pietromarx]

Garmin Pilot. Works in Europe, Canada, and the US and handles everything you're looking for. You can use it on iOS and Android. Easy.

[robert63]

We used RocketRoute and ForeFlight. Worked very well.

[Lou]

I buy Foreflight Canada and US every year and the cost differential is not too bad. You can file flight plans directly from the app on your phone in Canada and the US. I find this simple and easy when making station stops at small airports.

[elmanzah]

I use Foreflight and have both USA and Canada subscriptions. They are pricey but I love the interface and the ease of use. You can do most anything right from the APP. That said, if I were in your shoes, I would explore the free options mentioned above first.