flight-time_skill

Overview

This skill estimates flight time between two airports while accounting for winds aloft and true airspeed. It combines great-circle distance with the nearest available wind forecast to produce ground speed, estimated block time, and wind impact. Use it to compare routes, plan general aviation trips, or validate timing assumptions quickly.

How this skill works

The tool computes great-circle distance from departure to arrival using ICAO airport coordinates, then samples the winds aloft forecast near the route midpoint at the specified cruise altitude. It projects the wind component onto the true course to adjust true airspeed into ground speed and derives an estimated flight time. Output includes distance, true course, wind vector at altitude, ground speed, estimated flight time, and minutes gained or lost to winds.

When to use it

• Pre-flight planning for VFR/IFR cross-country trips
• Comparing alternate routes or stopover airports
• Estimating arrival times for dispatch or passenger briefings
• Validating time-on-task for fuel and scheduling calculations
• Quick checks when wind forecasts may materially change cruise ground speed

Best practices

• Specify realistic cruise TAS and the intended cruise altitude for accurate results
• Treat output as en-route cruise time only; add time for climb, descent, and reserves
• Re-run with updated winds before departure—winds update roughly every 6 hours
• Use as a planning aid, not a substitute for full performance calculations or ATC constraints
• Cross-check with route-specific winds if you need per-leg interpolation or complex routing

Example use cases

• Estimate time KHSV to KFTY at 6,000 ft and 140 kt TAS to plan a day trip
• Compare KDAL to KDEN times at 10,000 ft across forecast updates to evaluate best departure slot
• Produce machine-readable JSON output for integration into dispatch or trip-planning scripts
• Quickly quantify minutes lost or gained by tailwinds on a proposed cruise altitude change