If you use the Garmin Pilot Web utility for desktop flight planning (this is the free web-centric complement to the Garmin Pilot app), you’ll get a few more useful features worth trying. The program has high-resolution maps and charts, airport information, aeronautical data, and weather overlays. And now with the latest update, there are a handful of new weather planning features.
The new Future Radar feature enables you to drag the playback bar at the bottom of the screen forward to view future radar and how precipitation and storms may impact the planned route of flight. Speaking of route of flight, there’s now leg distance and fuel required data when the planned route is overlaid on the map.
The Storm Tops utility is accessed by clicking the Radar button above the playback bar; the feature will show the tops of storms for a better idea of their strength and if you might outclimb them. And while you’re there, you can use the Echo Tops feature to see the altitude of the highest precipitation returns.
For better in-flight icing planning, the Freezing Level utility shows the icing altitude. There’s also the Surface Visibility utility, with a playback prompt for predicting future visibility.
Lots of pilots use the Garmin Pilot app on their tablets and smartphones, but many don’t use the Garmin Pilot Web program—perhaps made even more useful with a Starlink receiver for cabin Wi-Fi and now with more useful flight-planning utilities.
Thanks for this useful heads up. l’ve not been a user of the web program and that will change now.