What is FlyWay?

This program was made possible after I found an airport and navaid database available for download from an FAA web site. I decided that the data would come in handy, it just needed a program to utilize it. So I wrote one (actually several variations of one). I think it's useful, so I decided to make it available to other pilots.

Flyway allows the user to find and enter U.S. waypoints (airports, navaids, and fixes), then it calculates courses, wind corrections, and travel times. Information about the waypoints is provided (including frequencies, elevation, fuel availability, and runway descriptions). The route data can also be used to fill in an editable FAA Flight Plan form, fetch basic weather information from the internet, and display a very rough map.

News

Notice: FlyWay's Future is Bleak

The data source used by FlyWay has been withdrawn by the US government. See this page for more information. Since it is unlikely that an alternate source of data will be found, FlyWay has probably seen its last update.

December 14, 2005 - Release 0.4.1

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated to the most recent data available. It was labeled as current in May 2005. The US government has halted the distribution of data, so future updates are unlikely.

Bug Fixes:
• A problem opening files with the latest versions of the PyQt library has been fixed.

February 24, 2005 - Release 0.4.0

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated. It was labeled as current in January 2005.
• More directory location options have been added to the Linux installer.

Bug Fixes:
• Fixed problems with getting an incorrect NDB (with the same identifier) when opening a file.
• Fixed a rare calculation error when retrieving weather information.

June 8, 2004 - Release 0.3.3

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated. It was labeled as current in June 2004
• An install program has been added for windows.

Bug Fixes:
• Fixed occasional problems with certain keyboard and mouse combinations while entering a new waypoint.
• Fixed problems with the Linux install script on some systems.

November 13, 2003 - Release 0.3.2

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated. It was labeled as current in November 2003.
• Cursor changes were added to indicate time consuming operations.
• An install script was added for Linux and Unix systems.
• The windows build now uses Python version 2.3 and PyQt version 3.8.

March 20, 2003 - Release 0.3.1

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated. It was labeled as current in March 2003.
• Icon files have been added to the distribution files.

September 13, 2002 - Release 0.3.0

New features:
• A weather view was added, showing surface observations, terminal forecasts and winds aloft data for stations near the route. The information is retrieved through an internet connection, using either telnet or http protocols.
• Options to include the weather information in printouts have been added.

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated. It was labeled as current in August 2002.

Bug Fixes:
• A problem with mouse-overs on waypoints after resizing the map has been fixed.

May 28, 2002 - Release 0.2.3a

Bug Fixes:
• A fix of the Windows binary only. Fixes major problems by upgrading the library version to PyQt 3.2.4.

May 16, 2002 - Release 0.2.3

Updates:
• A new waypoint database has been incorporated. Small airports that were missing from the NIMA data are now included. There are also more airport frequencies and more fixes (including some VFR fixes). Thanks to Paul Tomblin for access to the data.
• FlyWay has been ported to Qt 3. It now works with both Qt 2.x and 3.x using the same source code.
• The binaries for windows have been updated to Python 2.2 and PyQt 3.2 (but are still using Qt 2.3 Non-commercial).

Bug Fixes:
• Fixed a problem with flight plan and map updates when a new file is opened.

March 19, 2002 - Website Update

This website now looks a little better. Hopefully, it's more user-friendly, too.

Stay tuned - I'll soon be porting these programs to use PyQt with Qt 3.0.

January 2, 2002 - Release 0.2.2

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated.

Bug Fixes:
• Toolbar buttons are now disabled when entering search strings to avoid unintended operations.

November 4, 2001 - Release 0.2.1

New features:
• Added a table of contents to the ReadMe help file.

Updates:
• Improved the printing code.

Bug Fixes:
• Fixed a bug that caused fixes to be shown twice in the waypoint search dialog.

September 13, 2001 - Release 0.2.0

New features:
• Added a rough mapping feature.
• A context menu was added to the route view.

Updates:
• The waypoint database has been updated.
• The Esc key now cancels the entry of a waypoint string or a flight plan value.

Bug Fixes:
• Some minor bugs were fixed.

August 20, 2001 - Release 0.1.1

Updates:
• The program name was changed to FlyWay to avoid conflicts.
• The MS Windows binary files were upgraded to PyQt Version 2.5.

Bug Fixes:
• Minor bugs were fixed, including problems with saving options, recent files, and error handling.

July 23, 2001 - Release 0.1.0

Initial release.