First things first:  in past issues, you may have seen references to a mysterious "Editor."  Well, no more cloak and dagger.  I have a name - It's Steve Podradchik, and my day job is being the CEO of Seattle Avionics.  I started the newsletter because I think it's important to foster the growing community of Voyager users with helpful tips and useful information.  And I enjoy writing it and hearing from all of you.

Flight Log is a recurring newsletter for all Voyager users with the latest Voyager news, tips and tricks, etc.  I'm very interested in your feedback -- either to the newsletter or to Voyager itself.  Please send any comments or suggestions to me directly at SteveP@SeattleAvionics.com.

As a reminder, back issues of Flight Log are available from our Web site at: http://www.seattleavionics.com/Newsletters

This month I've chosen to stray from the usual pictures of planes and show a picture of my favorite aviation application -- with a twist.  If you look closely, you'll notice that Voyager is running within a window on an Apple Macintosh.  No, we haven't ported Voyager to the Mac operating system, but as you might know, the newest Macs are built with the same Intel chips used in most Windows PCs.  That means you can run Voyager using either using Apple's Boot Camp software (free from Apple), or using Parallels' Desktop software as shown above.  With Boot Camp, the machine needs to be shut down and booted into Windows but runs Windows at native speed.  With Parallels' software Windows runs, at more-or-less full speed, within a window (pun intended) while most of the computer is still running the Mac OS.  Voyager runs great either way.  Very slick!

Next month I promise to go back to plane and pilot photos.  Please email me your best.

New Voyager FreeFlight Off to a Flying Start

Given the number of Voyager FreeFlight users, it's hard to believe it was introduced just a month ago.  In fact, with the unexpectedly high demand, many of you may have had trouble downloading it.  If you did, I'd like to ask you try again from one of the servers listed below.

Server 1 (preferred)
ftp://downloads.seattleavionics.com/VoyagerFreeFlightSetup.exe
Server 2 (backup)
ftp://seattleavionics.fileburst.com/pub/VoyagerFreeFlightSetup.exe
Server 3 (backup)
http://seattleavionics.fileburst.com/VoyagerFreeFlightSetup.exe
Server 4 (backup) http://www.seattleavionics.com/downloads/VoyagerFreeFlightSetup.exe

Alternately, you can also click the following link to get a free CD sent to you.

http://www.seattleavionics.com/DiskRequestFF.aspx

Customize Voyager FreeFlight For Your Club!

If you're like most of us, you like hanging around with other pilots.  If so, you may be part of a flying club or other flying organization.  With the next release of Voyager, we'll have the ability to make custom versions of Voyager, including FreeFlight, with your organization's logo, airplane or even a group photo.  If you're interested in getting started (it's free!), please send an email to Beta@SeattleAvionics.com.

Beta Testers Wanted

For once, we don't have a new version to introduce this month.  But that doesn't mean our developers aren't working day and night on something new.  In fact, believe me, they're burning the Twinkies and Diet Coke at both ends trying to get a major release  out for AirVenture at Oshkosh in late July.

If you're interested in seeing what changes are in store for Voyager before everyone else, please send email to Beta@SeattleAvionics.com. 

A few weeks ago, we sent a small contingent, myself included, to Fredrick, MD for the AOPA's Fly-In.  We had a great time meeting many of you in person and demonstrating Voyager.  It was our first time at this show and our AOPA baseball caps are off to the great people at AOPA who sponsored the show and made us feel so welcome.  If you haven't visited the folks at AOPA, you really owe yourself a flight to FDK to meet the men and women who, for a mere $39 a year, keep flying safe, fun and affordable.

Data Update Update

If you've been with us for some time you know that, for the past three years, we've validated and processed new FAA data every 28 days like clockwork.  This past month was no exception except that there was an error in the data unlike anything we've seen before (that is, unlike anything we test for).  It affected a few airways and would cause Voyager's autorouter to fail if you happen to try planning a flight near these specific airways (technically, the error goes by the friendly name of 'Unhandled Exception').  We found and fixed the problem within 24 hours and replied to everyone who reported the issue. Still, if you happened to download Voyager or new data between June 8 and June 10, you received the bad data.  If you've had the autorouter fail after doing the data update, you can download the revised file by following the instructions on the Web page below.  We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

http://www.seattleavionics.com/Support/ManualAirDataUpdate.aspx

Speaking of the product formerly known as NavData®...

Paul Perrone wins the Not NavData® contest for inspiring our new name for updated navigational data -- ChartData™.  As Paul is already a customer, he'll receive a free year of EFB-level ChartData™.  Thanks, Paul!  And thanks to all of you who entered.  By the way, quite coincidentally, Paul was at the previously mentioned AOPA Fly-In and spent an incredible amount of time helping our nearly overwhelmed show staff demonstrate Voyager to the attendees.  Thanks again, Paul!

(In case you're new to Flight Log, the "Not NavData®" contest was held to find a new name for our annual data/application subscription plan.  For years we naively called it NavData, thinking the term was generic.  But in May, Jeppesen®'s lawyers politely asked us to stop calling our product NavData, as NavData® is a registered trademark of theirs.  Who knew?)

As always, please send your questions and favorite tips to SteveP@SeattleAvionics.com.

A reminder that past Tips and Tricks are available from our Web site at:
http://www.seattleavionics.com/Newsletters

	While Voyager FreeFlight and SmartPlan Express don't integrate weight and balance into the New Flight Plan Wizard, you can still be safe and check weight and balance.  Once the plan is on the screen, click the blue underlined Weight and Balance text in the Plan area (where the takeoff time, aircraft and pilot are listed).
	If you add passengers to the weight and balance table but don't change the default FAA Number on Board setting in the General step of the New Flight Plan Wizard, Voyager warns that the two don't match.  You can resolve this by changing the FAA Number on Board: Select File FAA/ICAO Flight Plan from the Plan menu and change the value in block 15 (# on Board).
	While we hope you find tips helpful, sometimes too much help can get in your way.  If you'd rather not see the pop-up tips that Voyager displays as you use the New Flight Plan Wizard, simply turn them off.  Select Options from Tools then the Preferences tab.  In the General area uncheck Show screen tips.
	Prefer to see wind barbs rather than our wind arrows?  Accustomed to four-color METAR/TAF circles rather than our three-color system?  If you're using the full version of Voyager, you can switch both at once with the Use standard weather symbols and colors switch.  Select Options from the Tools menu then click the Preferences tab and go to the General area.
	Say you're flying along using GlassView and you'd like to see information about your landing airport -- the expected weather, what the approach looks like, etc.  If the layout you're using has an Airport Information widget, click the blue underlined (that is, hyperlinked) name of the currently selected airport.  Voyager asks if you'd like more info about that airport or would like to select another airport.  Click Select another airport.  When the Airports dialog box appears, select the Flight Plan tab and click your destination airport.
	With GlassView, you can customize how your aircraft's position is shown over the geo-referenced approach plates.  The default setting shows a plane within a green circle.  However, you can show just the circle if you'd rather not have the plane obstruct the plate's text and diagram.  Select Options from the Tools menu then pick Preferences and GPS.  Choose the setting you like from Overlay the following on procedures.
	With SmartPlates, you can create a Plate Pack that contains different types of plates for different parts of your flight.  For example, say you prefer GPS approaches so you create a Plate Pack of just GPS approaches near your landing airport.  Now how about adding some ILS approaches all along the route for added safety?  Once the original Plate Pack is open, uncheck everything in the Filter section except ILS.  Now add the ILS approaches by switching to (the Select airports tool) and drawing one or more rectangles to outline your route.
	Customize your SmartPlates printing.  There are many options that determine which procedures SmartPlates prints and how they print.  Living in Seattle (recently recognized as #2 in the nation for recycling), one of my favorite ways to save paper is to skip printing plates that I've recently printed.  While a Plate Pack is open, select Print Settings and the Procedures and Diagrams category, then check Skip recently printed.  You can even change the definition of "recently" from 14 days to whatever works best for you.