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NAVPAK NEWSLETTER
NAVPAK
VERSION 16.5 (AUG-DEC 2005)
NEW FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS
A FUEL SURCHARGE OPTION IS NOW INCLUDED IN PERFORMANCE FILE BUILDER AND BIDDER MODULES – Since Fuel Surcharges are determined by the characteristics of a particular aircraft, we enhanced the Performance File builder to include Fuel Surcharges which can be entered into individual performance files. To enter these charges, access the Performance File Builder and select the Performance File you want to modify. The Fuel Surcharge field is under the Ferry Charge on the right side of the screen. The Fuel Surcharge is calculated on the basis of flight hours, irrespective of whether your base rate is keyed to hours or distance.
AN AIRCRAFT OPERATING EXPENSE OPTION IS INCLUDED IN THE PERFORMANCE FILE BUILDER AND BIDDER – Aircraft Operating Expenses are naturally aircraft specific, so they now can be entered into aircraft performance files. To enter these charges, access the Performance File Builder and select the Performance File you want to modify. The Aircraft Operating Expense field is under the Fuel Surcharge field. Aircraft hourly operating cost is a standardized number that is used to determine the profitability of a flight operation. It permits the operator to determine the profit or loss for a given flight. The Aircraft Operating Expense is also calculated by the hour, even if you are charging by distance. This does not, of course, appear on the bid or invoice.
NAVPAK DEFAULT POP-UP DISPLAY CAN BE OPTIONALLY SUPPRESSED IN BIDDER – When you put your cursor on any of the Miscellaneous fields (Rows 11 through 14) on the right-hand grid of the Bidder screen, a pop-up showing the information in your Bid Default file #1 will display. If you don’t want to see this pop-up, click on “Options” in the Menu Bar and click on “SUPPRESS Automatic Defaults Pop-Up”.
FAA NOTES EXPANDED – This report has been expanded to reflect additional data and additional airports. For anyone puzzled by the FAA’s odd contractions, there is a “Help” drop down available on-screen.
PRESENTATION OF ATIS FREQUENCIES EXPANDED TO 3 DECIMAL PLACES – Some ATIS frequencies have been expanded by the FAA to three places to the right of the decimal. This change is reflected in the Airport Search displays, the Trip Airport Details report in the Schedule, and the pasting capabilities in the Pilot and Passenger Notes.
TRIPLOG FILE BACKUP ADDED TO LAST 99 TRIPLOGS SCREEN – Previously, the Personal Lognames utility has included a Backup feature which permitted access to the last trip created. This feature is now included on the Last 99 Triplogs screen. The last trip saved to Personal Lognames or Last 99 will be duplicated in red near the top of the Last 99 screen. If you use the Quick Save & Restart feature of the Scheduler or Bidder screens, the file you are working on will be saved to Backup on both the Personal Lognames and Last 99 screens.
SIMPLIFIED & FASTER ACCESS TO SCHEDULER OR BIDDER SCREENS FROM LAST 99 TRIPLOGS SCREEN – Both the Personal Lognames and the Last 99 Triplogs screens permit fast loading of trips to the Scheduler or Bidder, by clicking on the Date Saved to access the Scheduler or the Waypoints to access the Bidder. The Last 99 Triplogs screen will also include columns with skd and bid in red. Click on the skd or bid cell for the trip you want to load, and you will be taken to the Scheduler or Bidder directly without visiting the Waypoint Entry screen first.
A CLUTTER-REDUCTION OPTION IS AVAILABLE FOR SAVING TO LAST 99 TRIPS – If you load a saved trip in NAVPAK and modify the trip, the process of re-saving the trip can create confusing duplications. Now there are two methods of re-saving modified saved files available. If you click on SAVE to “Last-99 new Triplog”, a new listing will be posted to the grid, and the previous listing will stay on the screen. If you click on “SAVE to Last-99 same Triplog”,the original listing will be replaced by a new listing for the same trip, with a new date and time saved.
INFORMATIONAL POP-UPS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED IN SCHEDULER PASSENGER LEG & FOOT NOTES – NAVPAK now includes so much information in its FBO and Hotel dropdowns for Leg Notes that data is often truncated in the display. The Passenger Notes now contain an intermediate step in the pasting process to provide more complete information before pasting takes place. To select an FBO or Hotel listing for pasting into a Leg Note, click on “View” to the right of the FBO or Hotel rows. A pop-up will display showing each item in the listing in a separate row. If the listing is the one you want to paste, click on the “Paste” button.
FBO & HOTEL WEB ADDRESSES AVAILABLE FOR PASTING IN SCHEDULER – When you access the Pilot Notes or the Pax Notes, you can click on “Data Resources” and click on “Select FBOs from Triplist”. If you scroll the grid to the right, you will see Web URL listings for the FBOs that have Web sites. When FBO information for FBOs with Web sites is pasted into the Passenger and/or Pax Notes, the Web site information is also pasted.
EUROPEAN TIME ZONES NOW STATED AS ±GMT (ZULU) IN SCHEDULER – Recent versions of NAVPAK have stated European time zones as CET (Central European Time) and EET (Eastern European Time). However, this can prove confusing during Daylight Savings Time, Consequently, European time zones are now stated as GMT +. This makes the changeover from Standard time to DST easier to follow. This change is reflected on the Scheduler screen and on the Reports.
FREQUENT FLYER MIDDLE NAME EXPANDED FROM INITIAL TO FULL NAME – Previous versions of NAVPAK allowed only one letter in the Middle Name field of the Frequent Flyer screen. Now that Homeland Security requires a full middle name on passenger manifests, this field has been expanded to 25 characters. The expanded Middle Name will be reflected in the footnotes of the Pilot Schedule to assist pilots in having complete information on individual passengers. In the event of a TSA ramp check, a pilot has a complete set of passenger facts that can be pasted into the footnotes of the trip sheet.
GREATLY EXPANDED FBO & AIRPORT FACILITIES INFORMATION IN AIRPORT SEARCH – Previously, Airport Search’s FBO Details pop-up screen contained a maximum of 17 items. Now, the FBO Details pop-up can display as many as 50 items, including Aircraft Services, Aviation Cards, Credit Cards, Fuel Brands, Fuel Types, Pilot Services, and Rental Cars. An FBO’s web page can be accessed, if available, by clicking on the “DSL or Cable access”button.
SUPER SEARCH’S NORTH AMERICAN DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED – The Super Search coverage for North America is one of the most extensive in aviation, but from time to time crossroads become towns and cities. Also there are times when people search for islands instead of the cities on those islands. The current upgrade deals with both of those situations, requiring additions in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and the United States.
MORE ROOM PROVIDED FOR EXTRA BOILER PLATE TEXT IN BIDDER –The Boiler Plate, which can be 480 characters, automatically prints at the bottom of every Bid and Invoice (unless it is suppressed). The Foot Note, which can be 600 characters, prints only on the Bid and Invoice for the single trip for which it is created. If you aren’t using the Foot Note and would like to have an expanded Boiler Plate, click on the “Yes” button in the upper right of the Bid-Invoice Footnote screen, where the text says Set Foot Note to be an extra Boilerplate.
PREFERRED FBOS NOW ACCESSIBLE FROM AIRPORT SEARCH’S HELP MENU –The Airport Search module has permitted access to a list of Preferred FBOs in Airport Search by clicking on an FBO listing. Now you can also print this list by clicking on “NavHelp” on the Menu Bar.
AIRPORT DIAGRAMS HAVE BEEN UPSIZED BY 75% TO BE A LOT MORE READABLE – The larger airport diagrams are easier to read. Many new domestic and foreign airport diagrams have been added to Airport Search. They also print larger for tripsheet attachments.
UP TO EIGHT FLIGHTS PER DAY AVAILABLE IN CREW TIMEKEEPER – The CREW TIMES (Part 135 style) module has been enhanced to allow 8 flights per day instead of the 6 flights available in previous versions of NAVPAK. There are now eight buttons in the Flight Times by Row section of the Time Entry screen, to allow the trips to be modified or deleted. We are not sure that many flight operators permit 8 flight segments, but a local FSDO asked for it.
NOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO EASILY CHANGE A TAIL NUMBER IN BIDDER – If you would like to reference a tail number in the Bidder that is different from the tail number in the Aircraft Performance File you used to calculate a trip, click on “More Bid options” on the Bidder screen and click on “Preview & Print Bid”. Then Enter the new tail number in the field headed Type alternate tail number.
SUPER SEARCH’S DISTANCE - TO - CITY HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE HOTEL SEARCH BANNER – Hotel Search associates an airport ID with a city name. If that city name is available in NAVPAK’s Super Search module, Hotel Search can calculate the distance between the airport location and the city it serves. When an airport is selected in Hotel Search, the header will say SuperSearch says ... and supply the city, state, distance in road miles from the airport, and the heading in degrees.
HOTEL SEARCH UPGRADED TO INCLUDE AVAILABLE WEB ADDRESSES – When you click on a Hotel Search hotel listing, a pop-up displays which shows each item in the listing in a separate row. If a Web Address is available, a button will display in the lower left of the pop-up reads “To Web Site”.If you have an active internet connection, clicking on this button will take you to that hotel’s web site. If they don’t have one, there is no button.
SCHEDULER ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE TIMES CAN BE REPLACED WITH “TBD” –In previous versions of NAVPAK, if no times are entered for a trip, the Pilot Schedule displays departure times as 24:00, and the Passenger Schedule displays departure times as 12:00 am. Due to popular request, it is now possible to reset these displays to the tentative,TBD (To Be Determined). When a time is available, just type it in to each leg.
OPTIONAL FRAMED, BLANK ATTACHMENT PAGES IN BIDDER –The Bidder screen features an Attachment page which can include text of your choosing. If you would like to print a formatted Attachment Page without text, click on PRINT a Blank “Flight Notes Attachment” page or PRINT a Lined “Flight Notes Attachment” page. The Attachment page will print separately from the report, and can be included with the report.
OPTIONAL SUPPRESSION OF HIGH DENSITY FEES IN BIDDER –High Density Fees are charged when landing at heavily impacted airports. The charges are calculated based on information in a table which is consulted when the Bidder is accessed. If you wish to turn off High Density Fees for an individual trip, click on “Options” on the Menu Bar of the Bidder screen and click on “SUPPRESS High Density Fees”’.
SOME ACTIVE PROJECTS THAT DIDN’T QUITE MAKE THIS FLIGHT –When a deadline approaches there are always one or two projects that are not sufficiently tested to be included in the update. One of them is a project to upgrade the Monthly Planner so that more than one flight can be attributed to a specific day for a given aircraft. This upgrade should be available during the fall of this year for anyone with a current NAVPAK version 16.5. There are also a number of further upgrades to the Super Search module that will be completed prior to 2006. Complete coverage of The Russion Federation is almost complete. Also we expect to have all of Eastern Europe finish before the NBAA convention in the fall. Finally, we have begun project development on an upgraded NAVPAK Squirt for the Palm Treo 650. This, too, should be in beta test before the end of the year.
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