Destination Finder for FS9
Version 1.1
Readme
You probably don’t need to read this document (except for the Licence and Credits). But have a glance through the Contents to see if anything catches your eye. There is a button on the program interface which will open this README should you wish to come back to it later.
Using this program with FS running
Using
this program with versions of FS other than FS9
Installing
the program for the first time
Upgrading
from version 1.0 to version 1.1
Size and on-screen position of the user
interface
Method 1: enter a precise numeric heading
Method 2: enter one of the eight points of
the compass
Method 3: leave the ‘Heading’ box blank
The ‘Min runway length’, ‘Max runway
length’ and ‘Max elevation’ boxes
Finding
the bearing and distance from one airport to another
Order of data within the columns
Increase data font size by 1 pt
Decrease data font size by 1 pt
Copy selected Destination IDs as TTools
file
Copy all Destination IDs as TTools file
Find alternates for the selected airport
Distinguishing
between hard and soft runway surfaces
Distinguishing
between civil and military airports
You can use this program as a stand-alone program without FS, or you can use this program with FS running at the same time.
Using this program without FS
You enter the ICAO code of the airport at which you want to start your journey. Then (optionally) you enter the distance you wish to fly, and (optionally) the heading on which you wish to fly. Then click ‘Go’. The program will search through a database of FS9 stock airports, and will compile a list of airports nearest to your desired destination.
You can also optionally specify:
· a maximum length for the runway
· a minimum length for the runway
· a maximum elevation for the airport
· whether the runway must have an ILS
· the runway surface (hard or soft or water) and
· whether the airport must be civil, or military, or either
Using this program with FS running
The program can also be used alongside any version of FS from FS98 onwards. If you use it alongside FS, then one extra feature is available to you. Instead of entering an airport ID in the ‘Start Airport ID’ box, you can leave the box blank, and the program will read the latitude and longitude of your aircraft’s current position, and use that position as the starting point for the search.
See the section below entitled ‘The ‘Start Airport ID’ box’ for more details.
This program is a stand-alone program, and does not require FS to be installed or running. It is advertised as being for FS9 only because it uses FS9 data.
The data for FSX differ to some extent from those used in FS9. These differences affect about 8 per cent of the total number of FSX airports. If you use this program for flying in FSX, you will need to bear in mind that it will occasionally give you false data.
The data for FS2002, FS2000 and FS98 also probably differ to some extent from those used in FS9, and so the same caveat applies.
The option of leaving the ‘Start Airport ID’ box blank (which means that the program will attempt to read your current position from FS) works equally well with FSX, FS2002, FS2000 and FS98 as it does with FS9 (provided of course you have FSUIPC installed within FS).
.NET Framework 2.0
Before you run this program, you must have the .NET Framework 2.0 installed on your computer.
If you are unsure if the .NET Framework 2.0 is installed on your computer, then (in Windows XP) click ‘Start’ > ‘Settings’ > ‘Control Panel’ > ‘Add or Remove Programs’. In the list of programs, check to see if there is an entry for ‘Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0’ or ‘Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1’. If you do not have the .NET Framework 2.0, then use Windows Update to install it.
FSUIPC.DLL
You will also need Pete Dowson’s FSUIPC.DLL module.
You will almost certainly have this already installed on your computer. If you are unsure whether you have this installed on your computer, then look in your main FS folder. There you will find a subfolder called MODULES. Open the MODULES folder, and see if it contains a file called FSUUIPC.DLL. If it does, then that is all you need. If not, then you can download it free from http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html.
Installing the program for the first time
Once you unzip the downloaded file, you will find eight files and one folder contained within a parent folder entitled ‘Destination Finder for FS9’. The files and folder contained therein are as follows:
1. DESTINATIONFINDER.EXE (the program)
2. README.HTM (the file you are currently reading)
3. README.TXT (a text version of the README.HTM file, just in case you are unable to open the him file)
4. AIRPORTS.CSV (data for the airports)
5. RUNWAYS.CSV (data for the runways)
6. MILITARY.TXT (a file listing military airport designations)
7. SURFACES.TXT (a file listing runway surface designations)
8. FSUIPCCLIENT.DLL (a file which enables communication between this program and FSUIPC, and thus to FS; this file is copyright Paul Henty, and is included here under the terms of its licence)
9. README_FILES (a folder containing files used by README.HTM)
The EXE file is the program itself, not an installer. There is no installation program. Rather, installation is manual. Move the parent folder entitled ‘Destination Finder for FS9’ (you may need to close this README file before you do this) to a suitable location anywhere on your hard drives. You may then want to add shortcuts to this README file and to the EXE file to your desktop for convenience.
Upgrading from
version 1.0 to version 1.1
If you have already installed version 1.0 of the program, and now wish to install version 1.1 instead, then all you need do is copy and paste the new files over the old files, overwriting the old files.
To uninstall, do the following two steps:
1. Delete the parent folder entitled ‘Destination Finder for FS9’.
2. Delete the settings folder, C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Destination Finder.
By default, the program starts maximised, in order to provide the maximum amount of space for the data in the results grid.
The interface can, however, be reduced in size. If you click the middle box of the three boxes in the top right corner of the form (the ‘Restore Down’ button), this will shrink the interface down to its minimum size of 750 x 550 (just enough to fit onto an 800 x 600 screen). You can then drag the bottom right corner of the form to increase its size to somewhere between the minimum and maximum. The results grid will expand or contract to fit the space available.
You can also drag the title bar to reposition the form on the screen.
All these changes will be maintained the next time you start the program.
There are a few ToolTips on the form. You can turn these ToolTips on and off by checking and upchucking the checkbox which appears when the program is started. This checkbox will disappear once a search is started. The checkbox will reappear if you click the ‘Clear Form’ button, and will also appear each time the program is started.
This program was tested on a computer with a 1.8GHz single-core processor and 1GB of RAM, which would now be considered a fairly low-end system. Even so, a typical search with the program took about five to ten seconds. So performance should not be an issue for most users.
If you find that searches are taking a long time, the best way to reduce the time the program takes is to reduce the value in the ‘Max number of results’ box. For example, a search with the ‘Max number of results’ set at 100 took 30 seconds, whereas the same search with the ‘Max number of results’ set at 10 took 4 seconds. Also, specifying values for the maximum and minimum runway length and whether it must have an ILS also reduces the time taken (though not so dramatically as the ‘Max number of results’ value).
Most of the time, you will
enter the ID (sometimes called the ICAO code) of the airport at which you wish
to start your flight.
However, if you have FSX,
FS9, FS2002, FS2000 or FS98 running, and a flight loaded (though you do not need to have
clicked the ‘Fly Now’ button), then you can leave the ‘Start Airport ID’ box
blank. In such a case, when you click ‘Go’, the program will fetch the latitude
and longitude of your aircraft’s current position and will use that position as
the starting point for its search. This will work equally well whether you are
on the ground or in the air, or at an airport or away from an airport. This can,
therefore, be used as a way of finding an alternate, or finding the nearest
airport in an emergency.
Note that, although the
NEAREST function on the default GPS will also show you the nearest airports,
this program allows you to filter out unsuitable airports (by using the runway
length filters etc). Also, the default GPS will display a maximum of only nine
airports on the NEAREST page, and has a maximum range of 200 nm.
Whenever you use the latitude
and longitude of your aircraft’s current position as the starting point of your
search, the latitude and longitude of your aircraft will be displayed just
beneath the ‘Start Airport ID’ box. You can change the format of these
coordinates by right-clicking on the numbers and choosing one of the options
from the menu. This menu will be available only when coordinates are being
displayed.
Most of the time, you will
enter the distance you wish to fly.
However, you can leave the
‘Distance’ box blank. In such a case, the program will find the nearest
airports to your starting position (which could therefore be as little as a few
miles away). This could be useful if you were trying to find an alternate, or
if there are so few airports around that you find no matches if you specify a
distance.
Note that, if you leave the
‘Distance’ box blank, you must also leave the ‘Heading’ box blank. An error
message will pop up if you try to do otherwise.
See also the section below
entitled ‘Finding
the bearing and distance from one airport to another’ for a further
use for the ‘Distance’ box.
You can enter a heading in the ‘Heading’ box in one of three ways:
1. You can enter a precise numeric heading from 0 to 360 degrees.
2. You can enter one of the eight points of the compass (N, E, W, S, NE, SE, SW or NW).
3. Or you can leave the ‘Heading’ box blank.
The program treats each of these methods in a different way, as follows.
Method 1: enter a precise numeric heading
You can enter a precise numeric heading from 0 to 360 degrees. Due North can be entered as either 0 or 360. Do not use negative numbers. Do not use a degree sign or any other symbols or text. Here, the program will calculate your ideal ‘Target’ point based on the heading and distance you have specified, and will find airports nearest to that Target point.
In Figure 1 below, A is the start point, the distance of the flight is 200 nm, and the heading is entered as a precise heading of 90. The program calculates the coordinates of the Target point, T. It then draws a circle centred on point T with a radius of half of the trip distance (in this example, half of 200 nm, i.e. 100 nm). The program searches for airports within this circle, and will list all such airports it finds within that circle, ranked according to their distance from the Target point, T, up to the number of results specified in the ‘Max number of results’ box.
The distance from the Target point T is shown in the second column of the results grid under the heading of ‘Distance from Target’.
FIGURE 1
Method 2: enter one of the eight points of the compass
You can enter one of the eight points of the compass (N, E, W, S, NE, SE, SW or NW) in the ‘Heading’ box. This works in a different way from Method 1 above. Here, the program draws a sector (a slice of pie) radiating out from the start point, and extending 45 degrees either side of the compass direction you have chosen.
In Figure 2 below, A is the start point, the distance of the flight is 200 nm, and the heading is entered as a point of the compass, E (i.e. east). The program draws a sector radiating out from the start point A, and extending 45 degrees either side of this compass direction, i.e. in this case extending from 45 degrees to 135 degrees, with a radius equal to the length of the trip, i.e. 200 nm. The program then searches for airports nearest to the arc BC, and will list all such airports it finds, ranked according to their distance from the arc BC, up to the number of results specified in the ‘Max number of results’ box.
The distance from the arc BC is shown in the second column of the results grid under the heading of ‘Deviation from Specified Distance’.
FIGURE 2
Method 3: leave the ‘Heading’ box blank
You can leave the ‘Heading’ box blank. This method is similar to Method 2 above, except that the search is not limited to a 90 degree arc, but instead extends to the full 360 degree circle.
In Figure 3 below, A is the start point, the distance of the flight is 200 nm, and the heading is left blank. The program draws a circle centred on A with a radius of the length of the trip, i.e. 200 nm. The program then searches for airports nearest to the circle, and will list all such airports it finds, ranked according to their distance from the circle, up to the number of results specified in the ‘Max number of results’ box.
FIGURE 3
Method 1 should be used if the heading is more important to you than the distance, whereas Method 3 should be used if the distance is more important to you than the heading. Method 2 is a compromise between the two.
Methods 2 and 3 are particularly useful if you are using the program as an aid to drawing up fictional AI flight plans.
The ‘Min runway length’ box, the ‘Max runway length’ box and the ‘Max elevation’ box can be left blank if you do not wish to specify these criteria.
This program can also be used to find the bearing and distance from one airport to another. To do this, enter the ID of the start airport in the ‘Start Airport ID’ box. Press TAB to move to the next box (the ‘Distance’ box), and enter the ID of the destination airport in this box (ignore the fact that it usually functions as the ‘Distance’ box). Then press RETURN, or click ‘Go’. A message box will pop up to tell you the distance and bearing from the start airport to the end airport.
If you have FS running at the same time, you can leave the ‘Start Airport ID’ box blank, and enter an airport ID in the ‘Distance’ box. Then press RETURN, or click ‘Go’. A message box will pop up to tell you the distance and bearing from your aircraft’s current position to the end airport.
The heading that you enter in the ‘Heading’ box should be the true heading in which you want to fly.
In the results grid, both the true heading and the magnetic heading to your destination are shown. Over shorter distances, the magnetic variation will not vary much as your flight progresses, and so the magnetic heading shown in the results box will be good for the entire flight. But, over longer distances, the magnetic variation will vary, sometimes greatly, as your flight progresses, so you will need to adjust your magnetic heading accordingly.
The results grid (or ‘data grid’, to give it its technical name) can be customized in a number of ways, as described in this section.
Column order
The order in which the columns appear in the results grid may be changed. Simply drag a column head to the left or right. Your changes will be maintained the next time you start the program.
Column width
The width of individual columns may be changed. Simply drag the divider between the column heads to the left or right. Your changes will be maintained the next time you start the program.
Hiding columns
Individual columns may be hidden. To hide a column, right-click on the column head, and choose ‘Hide this column’ from the context-sensitive menu. To restore all the columns which have previously been hidden, right-click on any visible column head, and choose ‘Restore all hidden columns’ from the context-sensitive menu. Your changes will be maintained the next time you start the program.
The columns are hidden rather than deleted, so you can restore the columns even when data is being displayed in the results grid. The correct data will display in the restored columns.
Order of data within the columns
The results are initially ordered according to the distance of each airport from your desired destination (its ‘Distance from Target’ or its ‘Deviation from Specified Distance’). You can reorder the results by clicking on any of the column heads (except the ‘Runway Details’ column, which cannot be reordered). Click a second time to reorder in reverse order. However, the next time you click ‘Go’, the order will revert to the default ‘Distance from Target’.
Note that, if you left the ‘Start Airport ID’ box or the ‘Distance’ box blank, or if you are searching for an airport using the option in the context-sensitive menu of the results grid, then there is no ‘Target’ as such, and therefore the ‘Distance from Target’ column is left blank. In such a case, the results are ordered according to their ‘Distance from [Start[’.
Selecting data
Selecting rows of data within the results grid works In accordance with standard Windows practice, as follows:
· Individual rows within the results grid may be selected by left-clicking on the row.
· Pressing CTRL while left-clicking on a row will allow you to select multiple non-contiguous rows.
· Contiguous rows may be selected by left-clicking on the first row to be selected, holding down SHIFT, and left-clicking on the last row to be selected.
· Pressing CTRL+A will select all the rows.
Pressing the standard Windows key combinations for COPY, namely, CTRL+C and CTRL+INS, will copy all of the data in the selected rows to the Clipboard, though not in a particularly useful format. For a more useful way of copying results data to the Clipboard, see the four subsections below beginning with ‘Copy selected Destination IDs’.
There are two context-sensitive menus available in the results grid. The
first is called up by right-clicking on the column heads, and is always
available. The second is called up by right-clicking on the rows of data within
the results grid, and is only available when data is being displayed in the
results grid.
The
first of these menus has the following choices:
Hide this column
This will hide the column which you clicked. Your changes will be maintained the next time you start the program.
Restore all hidden columns
This will restore all the columns which have previously been hidden. Your changes will be maintained the next time you start the program. The columns are hidden rather than deleted, so you can restore the columns even when data is displayed in the results grid. The correct data will display in the restored columns.
Restore default column order
This will restore the original order of the columns (that is, the order of the columns as they appear within the results grid, not the order of the data within each column). Any columns that you have hidden will remain hidden.
Autofit visible columns
This will resize the visible columns so that they fit neatly into the width available on the screen, thus doing away with the need to scroll horizontally to see all the data in a row.
This can be particularly useful if you change the size of the program interface (for example, by maximising it or by dragging the bottom right corner of the form), and would like to change the width of the columns so that they will fit into the new space available. It can also be useful if you decide to hide or make visible one or more of the columns, and wish to resize the remaining columns afterwards.
The columns, however, will not shrink below a certain size (which is determined partly by the amount of data that is typically displayed in that column, and partly by the font size used for the data), and in such a case a horizontal scrollbar will appear at the bottom edge of the results grid.
Provided there is sufficient space to fit in all the visible columns, further space will also be left at the right hand edge of the results grid for the vertical scrollbar (which is nearly always required).
Increase data font size by 1 pt
This will increase the size of the font used in the results grid by 1 point. The maximum size that can be reached here is 18 points. Your changes will be maintained the next time you start the program.
Decrease data font size by 1 pt
This will decrease the size of the font used in the results grid by 1 point. The minimum size that can be reached here is 6 points. Your changes will be maintained the next time you start the program.
The second of the context-sensitive menus has the following choices:
Copy selected Destination IDs
This will copy the airport IDs from all the rows which are currently selected in the results grid to the Clipboard.
Copy all Destination IDs
This will copy all the airport IDs in the results grid (whether or not they are selected) to the Clipboard.
Copy selected Destination IDs as TTools file
This will copy the airport IDs from all the rows which are currently selected in the results grid to the Clipboard. The latitude, longitude and elevation of each airport are also added to the Clipboard in the format used in the AIRPORTS.TXT file used by Lee Swordy’s Traffic Tools utility.
Copy all Destination IDs as TTools file
This will copy all the airport IDs in the results grid (whether or not they are selected) to the Clipboard. The latitude, longitude and elevation of each airport are also added to the Clipboard in the format used in the AIRPORTS.TXT file used by Lee Swordy’s Traffic Tools utility.
Find alternates for the selected airport
This will run a new search, and produce a new set of results in the results grid, using the airport ID of the selected row as the starting point, with no distance or bearing specified. This will produce a list of all airports nearest to the selected airport, and can be useful when planning for an alternate airport to your primary destination.
Note that the data you inputted into the ‘Flight Details’ group box in the top left-hand corner of the program’s interface will be ignored but will nevertheless remain in place, in case you want to re-run your original search. However, any options that you specify as to runway length etc will be taken into account in the search for an alternate.
This option will be unavailable (‘greyed-out’) if more than one row is selected in the results grid.
The data are for FS9 stock airports, and take no account of any add-on airports that you may have installed. Add-on airport designers often change a lot of things at stock airports, but they do not usually change the location of the airport (or, if they do, then not by much). For this reason, the program will usually work just as well even if you have replaced a stock airport with an add-on airport. Add-on designers more often change the runway surface or the ILS frequency, or add an ILS where there was none before, so these details are more likely to be wrong in respect of an add-on airport.
Only those runways which satisfy your criteria (e.g. as to minimum length) will be listed. An airport listed in the results table may therefore have additional runways which do not match your criteria and which will not therefore be listed.
The data used by this program do not distinguish between closed and open runways, so some of the runways listed in the results grid may be closed.
When you approach an airport which is controlled (that is, one which has a control tower), ATC may not give you the runway you want. If you are flying under an IFR flight plan, you can use the ATC menu to request an approach to a different, more suitable runway. But, if you are flying VFR, then there seems to be no way in FS9 of requesting a different runway from the tower. If the airport is uncontrolled (that is, it does not have a control tower), then you can choose any runway you like to land on.
Version 1.1 of this program now follows the categorisation of runway surfaces as either hard or soft as used by FS9. Of the nineteen land surfaces available in FS9 airports, only Asphalt and Concrete are treated as hard surfaces. All the rest are treated as soft surfaces.
You can change this categorisation for the purposes of this program. To do so, do the following:
1. Open the folder containing this program and its supporting files.
2. Open the SURFACES.TXT file in Notepad.
3. Change ‘Hard’ to ‘Soft’ or vice versa, just as you wish. Don’t make any other changes to the file.
4. Save the file.
The next time you start this program, your changes will become effective.
The program allows the user to choose whether to include either civil airports, or military airports, or both, in the results. The data used by this program contain no definitive indication of whether any particular airport is civil or military. Instead, the program relies on the fact that military airports usually have an abbreviation (for example, AB) added to their name. Thus, if one of the abbreviations listed below is found in the airport’s name, then the airport is treated as a military airport. Otherwise, the airport will be treated as a civil airport.
The abbreviations which indicate a military airport are as follows:
AAF (Army Airfield)
AB (Air Base)
AF (Airfield, or Auxiliary Field)
AFB (Air Force Base)
AFS (Air Force Station)
AHP (Army Heliport)
ANGB (Air National Guard Base)
ARB (Air Reserve Base)
LRRS (Long-Range Radar Station)
MCAF (Marine Corps Air Field)
MCALF (Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field)
MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station)
NAF (Naval Air Facility)
NALF (Naval Auxiliary Landing Facility/Field)
NAS (Naval Air Station)
NAWS (Naval Air Weapons Station)
NOLF (Navy Outlying Field)
NS (Naval Station)
Army
Navy
Naval
You can edit this list, as follows:
1. Open the folder containing this program and its supporting files.
2. Open the MILITARY.TXT file in Notepad.
3. Add any other abbreviations you wish, or delete any of the ones currently in use. You can add only single whole words to the list. The words used here are case-sensitive, so you must follow the case used in the FS9 airport name. If FS9 uses a variety of cases for the same abbreviation, then simply add each different case on a new line. The entries in the list do not need to be alphabetical.
4. Save the file.
The next time you start this program, your changes will become effective.
The data used by this program allow no way to distinguish heliports from conventional airports. Therefore, there is no option to do this in the program.
There are four airports (RJTX (Yokosuka Heliport), YXFV (Newcastle Westpac Base), YXMW (Werriwa Hospital) and YXWL (Wollongong Hospital)) in FS9 which appear to be heliports only (that is to say, there is no runway data associated with these airports). You can enter these four airports in the ‘Start Airport ID’ box, but the four airports will never appear in the results grid.
Version 1.1
The original version of this program used a formula for calculating the coordinates of the destination which was not accurate over long distances (entirely my fault for choosing the wrong formula). Version 1.1 uses a more appropriate formula which is accurate over both short and long distances.
The program can now read the latitude and longitude of your aircraft’s curreny position, and use that position as the starting point of a search. See the section above entitled ‘The ‘Start Airport ID’ box’ for more details.
The ‘Distance’ box can now be left blank. See the section above entitled ‘The ‘Distance’ box’ for more details.
The heading can now be entered in a variety of ways, including being left blank. See the section above entitled ‘The ‘Heading’ box’ for more details.
There is now an option allowing you to specify whether the airport must be either civil, or military, or either. See the section above entitled ‘Distinguishing between civil and military airports’ for more details.
In version 1.0, when you clicked on the column heads, the columns were sorted alphabetically, which, in the case of columns with numbers in, sometimes produced odd results. The columns now sort either by text or by number, according to whichever is the more appropriate method in each case.
The way the results can be selected has been changed, and two context-sensitive menus with a number of useful features have been added to the results grid. See the section above entitled ‘Results grid customisation’ for more details.
The results grid now lists magnetic heading as well as true heading.
The number of results found is now prominently displayed.
Shortly before I finished working on version 1.1, I discovered Pete Dowson’s ‘Make Runways’ utility. This utility searches through your scenery files and compiles a number of databases. These databases can be compiled for all versions of FS from FS98 through to FSX, and take account of any add-on airports that you have installed. The databases also include such information as whether a runway is open or closed, and the number and type of parking spots at each airport. This data would be invaluable to a program like this. Unfortunately, it would also require a substantial rewrite of the code, and so I decided to leave this to version 2.
I hope therefore to include the following additional features in version 2:
· Support for all versions of FS from FS98 to FSX.
· An open/closed runway filter.
· Parking spaces at each airport, and a filter to filter out airports which do not have appropriate parking.
After version 1.0 of this program was released, a number of users contacted me to suggest improvements (see ‘Credits’ below). I was able to incorporate all but one of these suggestions into version 1.1. So I urge anyone who has any ideas for additional features/improvements to contact me. Feedback does work.
By downloading and/or using this program, you implicitly agree to the following licence.
This program and the accompanying README files are copyright 2008 by Martin Gleeson. You use this program and the information in the accompanying README files at your own risk. This program is freeware, and may be redistributed as freeware. It may not be redistributed as payware or as part of any commercial package. Any redistribution must include the accompanying README.HTM (or README.TXT) file unaltered in any way.
I am grateful to Winfried Orthmann, who provided the data (see http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=65738).
The maths formulae were provided by Ed Williams (see his excellent website at http://williams.best.vwh.net/index.html).
I am particularly grateful to Paul Henty, for his FSUIPC Client DLL for the .NET Framework, and the very clear documentation which came with it, and to Pete Dowson, for his FSUIPC module, without which where would any of us be?
Version 1.1 has benefited greatly from features suggested by users of version 1.0. I am grateful to everyone who took the time to contact me to make suggestions or just to say thank you. In particular, I am grateful to Mike Cronin and Ian Nunn for pointing out the usefulness of the program for drawing up AI flightplans and thereby inspiring a number of new features, to Claude Bouissiere for suggesting using points of the compass in the ‘Heading’ box, to Mark Peery for suggesting the idea of not having to put in a heading at all, to Robin Tannahill for suggesting the civil/military filter, and to Devin Pollock for inspiring the idea of reading the aircraft’s current position and finding the nearest airports while in flight.
I am also grateful (again) to Mike Cronin for testing a pre-release version of this program, and for making a number of further suggestions for its improvement.
This program is freeware, so no support is given as of right. Nevertheless, I will try to help out folks who have problems with it. Send an e-mail to masala@blueyonder.co.uk.
Happy flying!
Martin Gleeson
23 January 2008