Thanks for great app!

Hello!

We made the first flight from Finland to Sweden few weeks ago. I tested swflightplanner android app on mobile phone during the flight and it worked like a dream. We also had IPad with us as a comparison and I think swflightplanner is better because it is possible to do most preparations at home with PC. I have also tested the app here in Finland and I have few ideas for future versions specially dealing with data in Finland.

I think this app is mostly used by VFR pilots below FL100, so:

- I hope to see chart symbols in ICAO format (airspace, obstacles etc.)
- TSA borders are not used (or very seldom) in Finland, so is it possible to remove or change the colour of borders? Now you can mix R and D areas with TSA because they both are presented with same colour
- airways have airspce called AIRWAY CORRIDOR Class D between FL65 and FL95 (see AIP ENR 2.1 - 16, 2.1.2 AWY Corridor)
- all airspce above FL95 is class C exept Helsinki TMA upper up to FL245
- is it possible to present airways between TMAs instead of navaids at the airports. Now in the vincinity of airport there is lot of "yellow lines clutter". That's how they are also printed in 1:500 000 VFR aeronautical charts
- airfield charts can be found in VFR Guide. They are in .pdf format.

Ok, these for starters ;-)
There's no hurry and I hope to see mentioned mods in the next season. I have heard rumoers that we will have major changes in airspce structure in the end of this year. Please check chances in AIP AMDT
Most information mentioned above will be found https://ais.fi/ais/vfr/pdf/gen_en.pdf and https://ais.fi/ais/eaip/amdt/index_en.htm

Timo

 

Hello!

Thank you very much for sharing your experience using SwFlightplanner! It is very valuable to me to get some real-world reports from people using the app in Finland.

Regarding the chart, I am aware that it uses non-standard symbols and colors. This really should be fixed. Thanks for the reminder though!

I've been wondering about the TSA:s. There seems to be an awful lot of them! So, would it be better if I just skipped them altogether? Or should they be kept, but using some other, less visible color?

Regarding the airspace corridors, I have seen how they look on the ICAO maps, and of course that is how they should look in the program. The primary reason I haven't done anything about them yet is that I didn't know if I really had any users at all in Finland . I agree that there are way too many yellow lines near airports as it looks today.

The program basically only works up till FL95. There are some airspaces in it that go from, say, FL65 to FL400, and those are shown with the correct airspace upper ceiling. But airspaces that are entirely above FL95 are not included in the program at all (Swedish TSA:s for instance).

The app has some airfield charts for Finland today, but most or all of them are from AIP for bigger airports. The Finish VFR guide is really good, and perhaps the charts in there could be used. I'll think about that!

Thanks again for your letter!

/Anders

 

Tjänare Anders!

Regarding TSAs, they are so seldom used, if ever, it would be better if you remove them all. The map will be more clear that way and airspace alert will be minimized to essential alerts. The second alternative is to have option to hide TSAs and stop the airspace alarms.

Airport maps are just great. I tested them first by using Android app in the car. They are so accuretely positioned that I was able navigate with approch chart when I drove a car :shock:

Keep doing valuable work for general aviation in Nordic countries! Go Anders, go!

Timo

 

I have now made an attempt at fixing the finnish airspace corridors (FL65-FL95). They should no longer be overlapping with TMA:s. It looks clean, but I don't have an up-to-date Finnish Icao map to compare to, so I am not sure it is correct.

/Anders

 

Hej Anders!

Now it is a lot better! It is clear now and more readable. As far as I see it the map is up to date. Tack så mycket!