Originally published in 1999
By Bill Gunn
Aviation Division
The first person to cross the Pacific in an airplane, Charles Kingford-Smith, once remarked “You never have too much fuel in an airplane, unless it’s on fire, then you have way too much.” He was a practical man who embraced technology, but even he would be amazed in today’s electronic world. I say, “you are never too informed about your upcoming flight, unless you can’t use the information, then you have way too much.”
Like it or not, the Internet has invaded the general aviation world in a lot of ways, several of them positive. Everything you need to flight plan and check the weather is now available free on the Internet. Try www.duat.com and www.duats.com for easy-to-use weather briefings and excellent flight planning information; or http://ads.awc-kc.noaa.gov, an experimental research weather site that provides an amazing array of radar, watch boxes, surface reports, satellite shots; all in an easy-to-use visual format.
If you are not Internet literate, don’t worry, the system is getting easier to use and access is expanding, such as through your cable TV. So, if you like to fly and only yearn to float gently around the countryside at a stately 80 mph or so, there are several equally gentle to use Internet sites that allow you to find a fun place to land and get the proverbial $100.00 hamburger. Try www.aerolink.com for example. If you fly a lot of cross country, try www.airnav.com for an eye popping range of information on every public-use airport in the country, as well as the price of fuel and how to find it.
TxDOT Aviation Division is in on the act also. Try www.dot.state.tx.us for the TxDOT home page. Select the airplane icon and look for the free information on the video lending library, calendar of events from around the state, free pilot-oriented handouts on information for the GA pilot and instrument flying, including a worthwhile listing of aviation internet addresses. Just since you started reading this article, a hundred Internet sites have been added according to knowledgeable sources, so don’t worry about visiting every site! Just browse around, find what you like, and make it part of your aviation experience. Even Kingford-Smith would appreciate it!