fplan 1.4.2 available for download

[John Peterson <jaypee@netcom.com>]

ANNOUNCEMENT
============

I am pleased to announce release 1.4.2 of fplan, a freely distributable
program for general aviation flight planning. Release 1.4.2 of fplan
contains a number of bug fixes for problems reported by users. It also
has an implementation of the graphical previewer based on the Gnome,
Gtk+, Glib libraries.  This release should still be considered a BETA
release! All current users are encouraged to upgrade.


WHAT IS IT?
==== == ===

The fplan application is designed to assist general aviation pilots in
creating flight plans for cross country flights in powered aircraft.
It was developed primarily for use on systems running the UNIX Operating
System and the X11 Window System, with particular emphasis on Linux.

The input to fplan is a planfile that can be created with the user's
favorite plain text editor. A self explanatory language is used to
describe the flight; departure and destination airports, intermediate
waypoints, navigation aids, winds aloft, and fuel consumption rates.
The flight plan produced by fplan includes; wind corrected magnetic
headings, distance, estimated time and fuel consumption for each leg,
latitude and longitude for each checkpoint, and optional VOR fixes.
A graphical preview of the flight is available on systems with X11
Windows and the XView Toolkit.

For convenience, airports or navaids can be referenced by their ICAO
identifier in planfiles.  The information that fplan requires is stored in
database files, indexed by identifier.  For users in the United States,
freely distributable database files are available that were derived
from information from the National Flight Data Center.  This data is
not certified for navigation, and should be verified before actual use.


AVAILABILITY
============

The latest release can be obtained from the fplan web site at

	http://metalab.unc.edu/fplan/


MAILING LIST INFORMATION
======= ==== ===========

fplan is now officially a GNOME application. As a result, the GNOME
project hosts a mailing list for interested developers, users.  The list
is intended to provide a forum for the discussion of fplan development
tasks and design issues. The list is open to all who would like to
participate in fplan development, contribute ideas or suggestions, or
simply lurk to keep track of where things are going.  To join the list,
send a mail message with the subject "subscribe" and an empty body to

  o  <fplan-list-request@gnome.org>


CONTACT INFO
======= ====

John C. Peterson  FAA PP/ASEL,G

<mailto:jaypee@netcom.com>

-- 
 ___|___  | John C. Peterson, <jaypee@netcom.com> | "Once you have flown,
  -(*)-   | you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there
  o/ \o   | you have been, there you long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci.
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