When the online version of Flight Guide made its debut right before AirVenture 2006, it brought the venerable brown-covered paper resource to life. A new intro page now fast-tracks you to the most-used features on the site.
Brenda Garcia, Flight Guide’s president, walked us through the new intro page on Flight Guide Online, which brings you straight to the flight planner feature, as well as the airport search, lodging and car rental, flight log and fuel-price windows. The search feature has also been strengthened—you can pull up the latest fuel prices, sorted by distance from the airport, airport location or from the lowest price on up. Presumably, searching for the highest price fuel would be for entertainment purposes (or shock value) only.
Garcia said the company plans to add a tab to allow you to buy approach plates and sectionals. Also, the Download Viewer software will soon be available for use on any Windows-based tablet or laptop. Most of the features, with the exception of the satellite imagery, will be viewable on the tablet. The Western, Central and Eastern States regions are all available online now.
Subscriptions cost $35 per region (or $89 for the entire United States) if you are not a current subscriber to the Flight Guide book, or $19 per region ($57 for the country) if you already have a subscription. The FGO Download Viewer is $19.95 (tablet not included), and for $19 per region, unlimited and automatic updates through the web site will be available, a real safety enhancement.
For more information, visit Airguide Publications, Inc.
