PILOT PRODUCTS - FLITESOFT
                        by Seth B. Golbey
                 Reprinted from the November '91
                           AOPA Pilot


     Introduced in 1985, RMS Technology's Flitesoft is the
granddaddy of personal-computer-based flight planning programs
and has sold thousands of copies.  Longevity in this fiercely
competitive market has eluded many software companies, but RMS
has continued to enhance flitesoft, and the current version 3.22
(3.3 - a database update - will be out this month) is as state-
of-the-art as they come.
     Flitesoft shares with one or more of its top-of-the-line
competitors the ability to plan long, multi-leg flights, display
them with colorful graphics, compute weight and balance and
aircraft performance (for up to 30 aircraft), provide aircraft
operating cost information, call for and decode DUAT weather
briefing (and automatically integrate winds aloft into flight
planning functions), and print out flight plans, route logs, and
other reports.  It, too, sports a comprehensive database of
landing sites (more than 18,000 in the United States, Canada,
Mexico, and the Bahamas), navaids, special-use airspace, and
route information; can be used as a moving map in the cockpit;
and can download waypoint information from your computer into an
Azure Long Ranger loran.
     It has its unique features as well.  Flitesoft uses less
than half the space on a hard disk (about 2.4 megabytes) of other
flight planning programs, though it will also run off floppy
disks.  It is the only program that can operate its moving map
without accessing the hard drive, which can "crash" in
turbulence.  Flitesoft currently includes full-screen graphics of
518 airports (as of October 1; to be expanded to 1,000 or more),
showing runway and taxiway layouts, buildings, windsocks,
beacons, and so on.  Flitesoft includes a pilot logbook module. 
And RMS is the only vendor of flight planning software that
provides product support not only by telephone and fax, but a
computer bulletin board service for its customers.
     In our opinion, Flitesoft's greatest advantage is the
flexibility it allows in flight planning.  With many other
programs, the user is forced to plan flights in accordance with
choices made by the software designers.  Not in Flitesoft.  You
can begin with the conventional pencil-and-paper approach, then
enter your waypoints in the computer and let Flitesoft do the
rest.  Or you can enter your departure and destination points and
allow the automatic routing function to plot an RNAV direct or
airway route for you.  Or you can enter your route in plain
English and Flitesoft fill in the intervening waypoints.  Or you
can use the graphic planning function (called CompChart), either
alone or in combination with the above methods, and see your
route unfolding on a variable-scale electronic map.  After using
the program awhile, we've adopted a combination approach in which
we use the automatic routing function first and then call up
CompChart and adapt the route to suit our own preferences.  in
short, however you prefer to perform your flight planning,
Flitesoft will conform to your methods.
     Some other features we like about Flitesoft:  CompChart can
display airways with or without intersection names, airway
numbers, and MEAs.  It also displays the actual dimensions of
terminal control areas and other special-use airspace. 
Information about airports and SUA can be called up on the
CompChart screen.  For IFR planning, Flitesoft can automatically
select alternate airports.  Performance reports can be edited,
and their content can be customized.  The weight and balance
function graphically depicts W&B data for both takeoff and zero-
fuel conditions and can print a report that will satisfy FAA
requirements for commercial operations.  The moving map can
accept position data from virtually any loran or GPS receiver or
operate in a dead-reckoning mode.  Given winds aloft, Flitesoft
will find optimum flight altitudes.  A special aircraft
performance data entry screen for turbine aircraft was unveiled
at AOPA's Expo '91 in New Orleans.  And Flitesoft costs
substantially less than its chief competitors.
     Flitesoft is available in two forms:  Personal ($98) and
Professional ($188).  The Personal edition, while appropriate for
VFR pilots, lacks some of the more desirable features mentioned
above.  Considering the very competitive price, we strongly
recommend springing for the Professional version.  An annual
update subscription (program, database, and manual) is available
$75 for three updates (issued every 112 days) or $125 for six
updates (every 56 days).  A one-time update is $50.  An Airport
Supplemental Library, which expands on the database and contains
even more information than the FAA's Airport/Facility Directory,
is available for $98.
     Flitesoft requires an IBM PC-compatible computer with at
least 512 kilobytes of random access memory.  (Flitesoft Personal
is available for Macintosh computers for $98, but you may want to
wait:  There will be news for Mac addicts come springtime.)  A
hard drive is not strictly required, but some functions are not
available to floppy disk users.  The program will work with any
type of display, but graphics require a CGA, EGA, VGA or Hercules
or compatible graphics card.  Flitesoft works equally well with
or without a mouse (a nice touch for laptop users).  Reports can
be printed on any PC-compatible printer, but printing graphics
screens requires an Epson FX or HP LaserJet or compatible
printer.  Product documentation is excellent.
     Flitesoft gets our vote for a full-featured flight planning
program at a price that can't be beat.
     For more information, contact RMS Technology, Inc., 124
Berkley Avenue, Post Office Box 249, Molalla, Oregon 97038;
telephone 800/533-3211 or 503/829-6166, fax 503/829-6568.

                                                  -Seth B. Golbey