UNITED STATES TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS
FLIGHT MASTER DATABASE
HELP PAGE

I assume if you have arrived at this page the you are already familiar with the Flight Master program for the Palm OS. If you don't know about this excellent in-flight navigation software then you may learn all about it here.

The following step by step instructions explain how to transfer a database containing current Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) to your Palm OS device where it will be used by Flight Master to depict TFR's on the moving map screen.

SHORT AND SWEET:

The file TFRS.FMA needs to be copied to the directory /PALM/FM on the memory expansion card of your PDA. If it doesn't exist then create it. Once that is done, start Flight Master and go to the moving map screen. Press the menu button and select the Map menu, then "Import TFR...". Flight Master will correctly incorporate the new TFR database overwriting any previous TFR database installed.

OK, I didn't understand the short version, explain it more in more detail.

There are at least two different methods of putting the TFRS.FMA file on to your expansion card. The first method uses the Palm Quick Install tool, the same one you already use for installing any program or database onto your palm OS device. The second method works for Sony Clie devices that don't support the latest install tool.
 

METHOD 1 - QUICK INSTALL TOOL:

The diagram below shows the Palm Quick Install tool. Simply Save the TFRS.FMA file on your desktop, then drag and drop it into the "Expansion Card" panel in the bottom left of the window. The file will be installed correctly next time you do a HotSync. See instructions for actually importing the TFR file here.
 


PALM QUICK INSTALL TOOL

 

METHOD 2 - FOR PALM DEVICES WITHOUT THE QUICK INSTALL TOOL

STEP1: Save the file TFRS.FMA on your computer

On the main page, clicking on the link for the database will cause the usual "Save As" window to open. Save the file to a place you can easily find it. The desktop is a good place.

STEP2: Connect your PDA to your computer

Make sure your PDA is physically connected to your computer. This is, make sure the USB cable from either you PDA or its cradle is plugged into the USB socket on the computer. This is just the same as if you were doing a HotSync. On my PDA there is a small icon of a memory card at the bottom of the screen. Pressing it brings up the Memory Card window. Refer to FIGURE 1 below.

 


FIGURE 1
Tap 1 to open "Media Info" window, then tap 2 to connect PDA to computer.

 

As soon as you tap the PC Link button (shown as 2 in FIGURE 1 above) you should hear a tone from you computer letting you know that a USB device has connected itself. Shortly afterwards a window like the one shown below in FIGURE 3 will appear on your computer.

 


FIGURE 2
Select "Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer", and press OK.

 

The picture may be different on your computer, but you should still see the option to "Open folder to view files", select it and press OK.

STEP3: Copying the TFR Database to the PDA

An Explorer window similar to the one shown in FIGURE 3 should quickly appear.

 


FIGURE 3
Explorer window showing the Memory Card Contents. Open the "Palm" folder.

 


FIGURE 4
Inside the Palm folder, Create the "FM" directory (using New Folder, in the File menu) if it does not already exist.

 


FIGURE 5
Drag the TFRS.FMA file from where you saved it in STEP1 and drop it onto the FM folder. If you open the folder you will see that the file has been transferred to your PDA.

 

Following FIGURES 3, 4 and 5. You should have first opened the "Palm" folder. Look for the FM folder. If you don't see an FM folder, then create a new one. Go to the file menu and select the command "New Folder". Then change the name of the new folder to "FM". Lastly, just drag the TFRS.FMA from whatever place you saved it in STEP1 and drop it onto the FM folder. This will copy the file from your computer to the PDA. You can confirm the file has been copied by opening the FM folder. The TFRS.FMA file is very small - so it transfers in the blink of an eye (really fast that is).
 

STEP4: Disconnect from the computer and import the database

Disconnect the PDA from the computer as shown in FIGURE 6.

 


FIGURE 6
Tap 3 to disconnect from the computer.

IMPORT TFR DATABASE

Start up Flight Master and select the moving map page as shown in FIGURE 7. Tap the menu select button to access the menu bar. Tap 5 to select the Map menu and then 6 "Import TFR...". A small window will briefly appear at the bottom of the screen saying it is updating the database. Once it is done you are finished and Flight Master now has a current database of Temporary Flight Restrictions that is valid for 24 hours from the time it was created.
 


FIGURE 7
Open Flight Master and select the Map page. Tap 4 to access the menu. Tap 5 to select the Map menu and then 6 to import the TFR database.


OK, What happens if I don't update the database after 24 hours? Does this one expire?

NO, Flight Master does not know how long the database is valid for - only you (the Pilot in Command) can know this. Therefore, if you don't update the database it will happily go on displaying old TFR's (and more importantly NOT displaying new ones) until you transfer a new database.

Still have questions? You can drop me an email and I'll do my best to answer intelligent questions.