FltPlan Go App Trial: Free, but Useful?

The days of purchasing paper sectionals, airport facility directories, and low enroute charts are largely behind us. Electronic flight bags have become the primary way pilots access charts, weather, and flight planning tools. While it isn’t necessarily a regulatory requirement to carry charts, 14 CFR 91.103 requires pilots to be familiar with all available information before flight, which in practice means having current charts or an electronic equivalent readily available in the flight deck.

Subscription services like ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot largely dominate today’s EFB market. But rising subscription costs and growing competition have led some pilots to explore lesser-known alternatives. Enter Garmin’s FltPlan Go, a free EFB that’s part of the Garmin ecosystem. While free is almost always a good thing, Smart Aviator’s Larry Anglisano and I included the program in our extensive EFB app review to see if it has enough real-world utility. For some, we think it does.

A Well-Worn Program

My own introduction to the platform came years before I ever used the mobile app. I first encountered FltPlan.com while flying corporate aircraft, and it quickly became a valuable planning tool. At the time, I used it while flying aircraft including the King Air 90, King Air B200, Gulfstream IV-SP, and Falcon 900B. Building aircraft profiles was straightforward, performance calculations were easy to work with, and the weight-and-balance tools were simple but effective. One feature that stood out was the ability to file APIS forms for international flights directly through the system, eliminating the need to jump between multiple pieces of software.

Even today, one of the strongest aspects of the platform remains the integration between FltPlan Go and FltPlan.com. Personally, I still prefer filing flight plans on the website first. The NavLog it produces is extremely well done, especially when flying longer direct routes. It breaks the flight down roughly every 50 miles, updating winds, fuel burn, time, and other performance data along the way. For longer cross-country flights that level of detail is genuinely helpful and remains one of the things the platform does particularly well.

How We Use ‘Em

Like many pilots, most of my EFB work happens before I ever start the preflight. I use these apps heavily to determine the best day to fly, find routes that take advantage of favorable winds on longer legs, and figure out if weather between Denver and smaller towns throughout the Rocky Mountains is going to cooperate. In that phase of flight planning, an EFB becomes a powerful tool because it allows you to evaluate multiple routing and weather scenarios quickly.

Once I’m airborne in the Cessna 310, the equation changes somewhat. The airplane’s glass panel carries most of the workload, so the iPad typically becomes more of a backup reference. It still plays an important role for weather updates and quick access to charts, but the heavy lifting is generally done by the panel avionics.

For pilots flying older panels, rental aircraft, or airplanes without modern avionics, the tablet often becomes the primary flight display and planning tool in the flight deck. In well-equipped aircraft like mine, the EFB tends to play more of a supporting role, which changes how important certain features become.

FltPlan Go Platform

FltPlan.com predates the smartphone era. The service was already providing web-based flight planning and filing tools used widely by corporate and general aviation operators years before tablets took over the flight deck. That background is still evident in how the platform operates today.

The mobile app remains closely tied to the web platform, with aircraft profiles, flight plans, weight-and-balance setups, and flight history syncing between the two. If you’re comfortable setting up aircraft and building plans on a desktop computer first, the system works well. If you prefer doing everything directly from a tablet, the interface can feel somewhat dated compared with newer EFB platforms.

One aspect that still stands out is platform support. FltPlan Go is officially presented today primarily as an iOS and Android app, though some FltPlan materials still reference Windows support. In a market where many EFB platforms focus primarily on Apple devices, that broader device compatibility remains a useful option for pilots who prefer Android or even Windows hardware.

FltPlan was one of the earlier players in digital flight planning, and it’s interesting to see how platforms like Garmin Pilot and ForeFlight later evolved the modern EFB concept. FltPlan Go still works well, but compared with newer platforms the interface and overall experience can feel dated.

Weather

Weather was one area where my impressions of FltPlan Go were somewhat mixed. The platform provides a large amount of weather information, including radar, winds aloft, SIGMETs, PIREPs, METARs, and other standard products displayed on the moving map. MOS forecasts are available for more than 2,000 airports and are displayed in three-hour windows out to four days, with color-coded indicators tied to the planned route and departure time. This makes it easier to visualize how conditions may evolve along the route rather than simply reviewing a static briefing.

The system does a good job presenting the raw data. The graphical briefing format is readable and far easier to digest than digging through long blocks of weather text for a cross-country flight. In that sense, the weather tools work exactly as expected and provide a reliable overview of conditions.

However, the system begins to feel dated in how that information is presented and manipulated. Adjusting the weather timeline and toggling individual layers on and off isn’t always intuitive, and the interface occasionally feels awkward compared with newer EFB platforms. The experience reminds me of my early days of flying when I would walk into an FBO and pull weather from a WSI weather terminal. The data was accurate and reliable, but the presentation wasn’t particularly modern.

Overall, the weather tools provide a solid overview of conditions along a route and are perfectly adequate for planning purposes. At the same time, newer EFB platforms have pushed much further in terms of visualization and usability, and that difference becomes noticeable when comparing systems side by side.

Performance Planning

Performance planning is one area where FltPlan Go quietly stands out. The platform includes a database of more than 320 aircraft types, covering piston, turboprop, and jet aircraft. Instead of manually entering performance numbers, pilots can load an aircraft profile and allow the system to calculate fuel burn, flight time, and NavLog data based on published performance charts.

In a turbocharged airplane like my Cessna T310R, that level of detail matters—cruise speeds and fuel flow at FL200 look very different than they do at 7,500 feet. But when I went looking for the T310R in the database, it wasn’t there. I ended up using the Cessna 414 profile as a starting point and adjusting cruise speeds and fuel burn numbers to match what the 310 actually does. It’s workable, but it puts the burden of accuracy back on the pilot—which is fine if you know your airplane well and a meaningful gap if you don’t.

For pilots who understand their aircraft, the system is easy to fine-tune and can produce planning numbers that closely match real-world performance. As always, performance calculations should still be verified against what the aircraft actually does in operation.

Weight and Balance

The weight-and-balance system is fairly straightforward. Like most EFB platforms, the setup process happens once and then becomes easy to use on future flights. The database includes hundreds of aircraft profiles, and once configured the system allows quick loading scenarios with the CG plotted inside the envelope.

The main drawback is the setup process. Weight-and-balance configuration happens through the FltPlan.com website first, and the data then syncs to the mobile app. If you’re sitting at a desktop computer with a keyboard, the process is simple. If you’re trying to configure an aircraft from the ramp using only a tablet, it’s less convenient.

Once the setup is complete, however, the system is simple to operate and easy to read. In day-to-day use it works reliably and doesn’t require much additional attention.

Briefing and Filing

Flight plan filing is FltPlan’s oldest capability, and it remains one of the platform’s strongest features. The briefing system pulls standard weather products and integrates them with the NavLog in a structured format. Plans filed through the app or website route through FltPlan’s servers to the FAA system.

Filing a flight plan is simple and efficient. You can quickly select aircraft information, review recent routes, evaluate the route map, and file with minimal steps. The process is straightforward and easy to understand, and it’s clear that other EFB platforms have adopted similar concepts over time.

One additional benefit worth noting is that FltPlan Go provides Canadian instrument approach charts at no cost, something that typically requires a paid subscription on other EFB platforms.

Route Planning and Fees

The program’s route planning benefits from the extensive FltPlan.com database. Preferred routes, commonly filed altitudes, and recently used routes are available and generally feel more refined than simple route suggestion tools found in some other platforms.

Fuel prices and FBO information are also displayed throughout the app. In our testing, fuel prices were generally accurate and closely matched what we found when comparing against other EFB platforms and calling FBOs directly. Like any system that relies on reported data, fuel prices and fees should still be treated as planning references rather than guarantees, since accuracy ultimately depends on what the FBO has provided.

FltPlan Go: Dated Feel, Enough Utility

When Garmin bought Connecticut-based FltPlan.com back in 2018, the platform already had around 165,000 users, and there were lots of processed flight plans—something like 6.3 million of them spanning 19 years. Back then, I was a longtime user of the DUATS (Direct User Access Terminal System) weather briefing and flight planning platform before the FAA killed the program and transitioned to Leidos Flight Service. It was a turning point where EFB apps were beginning to rule the roost, and the FAA knew that the DUATS II platform wouldn’t survive. I panicked and eventually started using FltPlan.com on a desktop for planning and filing for flying a lot of missions up and down the East Coast in a Piper Arrow. Turns out it was feature rich (stupidly advanced compared to the DUATS’ terminal interface) and the good thing is it was stone simple to use, with just enough flight planning tools.

As a bonus, there was the complimentary FltPlan Go app for iOS and Android (the program was also specifically designed to work on Windows 10, and it works on later version of Mac OS). Before the age of Bluetooth, it has limited third-party wireless connectivity. Early on there were premium services including SMS (safety management service), PDCs (pre-departure clearances), flight tracking, and even runway performance analysis. There was also FltLogic and FltPlan Manager, but other apps eventually stole the spotlight. So years later when I tried FltPlan Go on my iPhone for this report (I’m a Garmin Pilot user and fly with Garmin budget glass), I enjoyed how simple this program is. The dated graphics are easy to overlook when you’re getting this program for free.

What it lacks in presentation it makes up with useful features even on a smaller smartphone. Aside from filing and planning, you can access and modify checklists, access a healthy library of performance data, access a scratch pad, and connect to some portable ADS-B receivers including the GDL 39 series, GDL 50/51/52, and when equipped, ADHRS-derived flight instruments for last-resort backup. AOPA’s Flight Planner can export routes to FltPlan Go, and there’s a basic app-to-app flight plan interface with Garmin Pilot and Jeppesen Mobile FD. I wish the app had split-screen capability on the iPhone (it does on the iPad) so you can overlay more data—maybe a georeferenced chart at the top and flight instruments at the bottom, as one example.

For new EFB users overwhelmed with the features built into premium-priced programs, FltPlan Go strikes a good balance of simplicity and utility. I used it for planning local and short cross-country flights and found the program runs efficiently and reliably on an iPhone 17 Pro Max and older 14. The old-school look of the app with bland typography seems out of place on the latest flagship iPhone, but things like NEXRAD weather images look good, and you can display winds as color-coded arrows or wind barbs. I found the satellite image quality to be mediocre at best.

But my iPhone’s healthy processing made the app run quickly, with fast weather radar refresh and quick loading of georeferenced airport diagrams and procedural charts. There’s a tab for an electronic version of the green-book A/FD (Airport Facilities Directory), and for backing in and out of menus and configuring the data, the user interface is shallow and the vertical-row menu layout cuts to the chase. As Sy said, it feels like the FltPln desktop planner was shoehorned into an app. But that’s not a bad thing.

If you’re after a program with a stone-simple feature set and an uncluttered presentation with enough utility to supplement a panel full of decent avionics, the FltPlan Go app is worth a try. You don’t even have to pay for it.

—Larry Anglisano

Panel Avionics, ADS-B Connectivity

Garmin’s ownership of the program becomes most noticeable once the system is used in the flight deck. FltPlan Go supports wireless flight plan transfer through Garmin Flight Stream hardware, including Flight Stream 510 and Flight Stream 210 and 110 hubs.

In a Garmin-equipped airplane like my 310, that integration can be useful. Building a route on the tablet and pushing it directly to the panel avoids manually entering long flight plans through the avionics. Personally, with a GTN 750 and GTN 650, I don’t rely on it—manual entry is part of my route verification process and isn’t particularly burdensome with that hardware. If I were still flying with GNS 430 or GNS 530 navigators, where loading complex flight plans gets tedious, the transfer feature would likely be more valuable.

What FltPlan Go doesn’t do is connect simultaneously with Garmin Pilot. You’re in one ecosystem or the other while in the flight deck, which is a real drawback for pilots who have built habits around both platforms.

Maps, Overlays, Charts

The moving map is stable and includes the standard overlays pilots would expect, including weather, traffic, airspace, TFRs, NOTAMs, terrain, and PIREPs. Layer customization is reasonable, although not quite as granular as some competing EFB platforms.

Georeferenced approach plates can be displayed directly on the map, which is useful for visualizing procedures in relation to terrain and airspace. Where the system begins to show its age is in chart organization and presentation.

While every chart is accessible, the process of loading and sequencing charts before departure is not as streamlined as some newer platforms. Systems like ForeFlight’s chart packing and Garmin Pilot’s Smart Charts make it easier to move between departure procedures, arrival procedures, approaches, and taxi charts. FltPlan Go can accomplish the same tasks, but it often requires a few extra steps.

Postflight, Pricing, Bottom Line

FltPlan Go records flight tracks automatically and includes an integrated logbook that syncs with the user’s FltPlan account. For recreational pilots this provides a convenient all-in-one solution for tracking flights.

Pilots who are building time toward professional requirements may still prefer using a dedicated logbook system such as LogTen Pro, which offers more robust record-keeping features.

One of the most notable aspects of FltPlan Go is its price—which is free. The app includes IFR charts, filing capability, weight and balance, aircraft performance planning, and Garmin connectivity without requiring a paid subscription.

That pricing model is unusual in the EFB market and raises the question of how it fits into Garmin’s broader product strategy. We reached out to Garmin to ask how they view the development paths for FltPlan Go and Garmin Pilot. Their response indicated that the fee-based Garmin Pilot program remains the company’s flagship EFB product and the primary focus for future growth and innovation.

FltPlan Go is one of the few free tools in aviation that provides a capable flight planning experience. The flight planning backbone is mature, the performance database is extensive, and the platform provides everything needed to plan and execute flights.

Where the app begins to show its limits is in refinement and usability. The interface still reflects its desktop-based origins, and some functions require more steps than modern EFB platforms.

For pilots who want to operate on Android devices or simply prefer to avoid the Apple ecosystem, FltPlan Go represents a legitimate alternative. It can also work well for the typical weekend pilot staying close to home—flying in the local area, working the practice area, and making the occasional $100 hamburger run.

For my kind of flying—navigating weather, mountainous terrain, and frequent 1,000-mile cross-country trips—I prefer something more robust. In my opinion, the added capability and refinement offered by the leading EFB platforms make the subscription cost worthwhile.

That said, I still use FltPlan.com regularly—even when flying with Garmin Pilot.