Here at AirSuite we pride ourselves on maintaining a strong connection to the industry and the ever-changing needs of our clients. Recently, Doug Carlson, one of our Technical Managers ferried a Bell 407 across Canada to start a month-long contract in Alberta.
Doug is one of the original Cirro users, he started using Cirro 7 years prior to its commercial launch. He continues to use it daily as a contract rotary wing and private fixed wing pilot.
This is a summary of his recent flight across Canada
Using Cirro in my day to day really allows me to connect with the operators that I support. I was planning my flight from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Grande Prairie, Alberta and I used Cirro to get me there.
Starting off was easy: check the weather, download the offline map data to my Samsung Tablet, and create a flight itinerary to initiate my flight following. I tried to take advantage of an early start and planning some long legs using the fuel planning tool in Maps and Charts, however, the Cirro weather module showed me that a strong headwind and an approaching cold front would alter my route somewhat.
Here I am approaching my first fuel stop in Kenora and using the Offline Flight Supplement to reference the proper airport facility information. As you can see it’s a beautiful morning for a cross country flight.
Using my offline charts and 3D airspace allowed be to plan ahead as my second leg took me through the Class C airspace in Winnipeg.
Following ATC instructions at some of these busy airports was a breeze using the Geo-Referenced Airport Diagrams.
My second fuel stop for the day was in Brandon, Manitoba. While getting fuel I looked ahead into the weather forecast to see a cold front tracking south-east down over central Saskatchewan. Checking the radar images for the area had some small cellular returns but Flight Service was expecting them to grow to be substantial downpours.
I modified my route to stay further to the south – next stop Regina. This would keep me out of the path of the front before turning north to my forth stop in North Battleford. Making this change on my itinerary was a simple edit that I made on my phone, the cross-platform synchronization makes tasks like this very easy.
After grabbing fuel and a bathroom break in Regina, I was on my way to North Battleford against the headwinds associated with the passing system. This slowed my progress, and the headwinds were forecast to continue throughout the rest of the day. Seeing this I used my text message interaction with Cirro and with a quick text message command I was able to add 2 hours to my itinerary. It worked just fine to add a few hours and extend my overdue alerting so I could make the flight on time.
To make a long story short, the rest of the flight went without a hitch. Here you can see my track marked on Cirro’s satellite overview as part of the Satellite Tracking Integration. Also, you can easily see my deviations in my flight path around the summer storm cells passing through.
I am still putting Cirro to work every day while I am here by loading up survey routes into Maps and Charts. Other daily use modules include Weight and Balance, Offline Flight Leg Reporting, Flight Reports, and Expenses.
Just taking a quick break on the in this meadow to stretch my legs. It’s great to be a part of the AirSuite team and part of the Aviation Industry that makes it all happen. Together with input from operators and innovation from our team we’ve made an application I can be proud of.
