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Even as aircraft systems grow relentlessly more sophisticated and integrated, flight planning
and dispatch tends to rely on fragmented, legacy technology.
But all that changes with OFP, a new online flight planning system by Colt International.
Among its many advantages, OFP gives greater direct control to flight planners, cutting out the
middleman. Colt introduced the new system at the 2013 NBAA convention in Las Vegas.
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You could liken OFP to today’s fully
integrated glass cockpits, pulling all relevant information together, organizing it in an
intuitive interface and allowing efficient interaction.
“We set out to develop a program that
customers could get online and do themselves
- using the same tools we’re using,” Malcolm
Hawkins, Colt’s co-founder
and president, said. “Our
goal is to provide a wide range of products for everyone from the do-it-yourself individual to the complete
take-me-everywhere-I-need-to-go person who only wants to make a few phone
calls.”
Flight planning plays a key role
Flight planning delivers vital services for today’s flight department, contributing to efficiency, reliability and safety. OFP integrates the disparate elements that can affect a flight from
departure to return and all the stops in between. And it keeps track of multiple flights at a time, eliminating overlap and ensuring that no detail goes unnoticed.
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| Malcolm Hawkins, Colt International co-founder and president, and
Jeff Briand, SVP of International Trip Support, pause for a photo before the press conference. |
Rich 3D graphics use Google Maps and
Google Earth to emphasize flight-plan details. Operators can overlay a wide range of trip parameters, including route, altitude, weather and more.
At the same time, the system tracks and displays crucial data such as regulatory requirements, fuel quotes, airport information and security alerts.
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| The panel identifies how OFP technology puts the control back in the hands of pilots, dispatchers and schedulers. Pictured left to right:
West Sharpe, product manager; Joe Serrano, director of marketing;
Malcolm Hawkins, co-founder and president; and Jeff Briand, SVP of international trip support. |
Plan backwards from arrival time
The system’s simplified trip planning saves time. Just enter your trip criteria and filter the results to create trip legs and generate a visual route that can be easily manipulated by dragging
and dropping different elements.
OFP also allows planners to request fuel and calculate accurate flight times by simply entering intended city pairs and planned departure or arrival times. The system’s databases provide
information on airports, handlers, regulatory requirements and more throughout the planning process
- eliminating the need to use multiple sources for trip planning.
Additional features
- Visualize multiple flight statuses simultaneously
- Estimate costs with built-in navigational fee info
- Calculate plans based on planned arrival times
- Access ATC routes and coded departure routes
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"I tried to figure out
. . . why flight planning had to be so guarded. Why it had to be so cumbersome and secretive," said Malcolm Hawkins, co-founder and president of Colt International.
"I wanted a product that did to aviation what Travelocity has done to the travel industry." |
Colt International, a global leader in international trip and aviation fuel support, serves more than 5,700 flight departments. The company has earned a reputation as a global leader in
international trip support and aviation fuel services with the development of such key technologies as
eFuel, Trip View and now OFP. The Texas-based company maintains offices in
Canada, Europe and South America.
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