SkyDemon Plan Documentation: User Customisations
Changing Units
Many of the distances, volumes and weights expressed throughout SkyDemon can be changed depending upon what you are familiar with or what your aircraft uses. To change units, open the Change Units window from the Tools menu.
Distances and speeds are tied together for obvious reasons. The options are nautical miles and knots, statute miles and miles per hour, and kilometres and kilometres per hour. Vertical distances cannot currently be changed; feet is the only option. Fuel volume options are litres, US gallons and imperial gallons. Weight options are kilograms and pounds. Display of position can be changed between degrees minutes and seconds format or degrees with decimal minutes.
User Waypoints
You can create an unlimited number of your own waypoints to use for flight planning. Click on the Waypoints button on the top toolbar to open the Waypoints window, which lists all the user waypoints you have created. They are grouped into categories, to make life easier for those that like to create a lot of waypoints. To create one, press the Add button. You can also create a user waypoint by right-clicking on the map and choosing Create User Waypoint.
The user waypoint creation window allows a number of waypoint characteristics to be entered. First is the name, which appears beside the waypoint on the map. You can also specify an identifier, which can simplify searching for a waypoint and is output on the PLOG if you route via the waypoint. The category box allows you to specify any category name you like or choose an existing one. The position can be entered using standard latitude and longitude notation, or it will have been pre-populated if you launched the window by clicking on the map. You can choose the symbol used to represent the waypoint on the map.
In some cases you may wish to create a user waypoint whose position is defined with reference to an existing waypoint; for example a distance and radial from a VOR or along the extended centreline from an airfield. Press the Relative button to enter this information. When calculating the position of your new waypoint from an existing one, SkyDemon assumes the bearing you have entered is magnetic if you specified a VOR or true for any other type of waypoint.
Once your waypoint has been created it can be used for route planning just like any other. To delete one, open the Waypoints window, select it and press Remove. You can also select it on the map and press the delete key on your keyboard. Remember that if you plot a route via user waypoint then delete the turning point at that waypoint, the waypoint itself will not be deleted.
Sharing User Waypoints
You can share user waypoints with your friends. To do this, first select all the waypoints you'd like to share in the Waypoints window then press Export. You will be prompted to save the file, and this file can be sent on. To import waypoints from another source, open the Waypoints and press Import. You will be prompted to locate the source file, and the waypoints found in the file are imported and selected, so if you don't like them, you can just press Remove.
Custom Data
We include a utility with SkyDemon Plan that can be used to create your own air data for use with the product. This can be used to supplement data in existing charts. You may wish to use it to add a landing site that we do not include in the official charts, for example. To access the Data Creator, open the Data menu and choose Create Custom Data.
The Data Creator is a graphical tool that makes it easy to create and edit the sometimes complex data that makes up a SkyDemon chart. The best way to learn to use it is to experiment with it; don't worry, you can't use it to accidentally change official chart data installed on your machine. If you are interested in using this tool to create charts for an unsupported country based on its AIP, please contact us and we can help with this.