While you are dusting off your plotter and putting fresh batteries in your electronic E6B, don't forget to brush up on AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner --- a free service that more than 120,000 members have used to simplify their flight planning.

It automatically creates a navigation log when you plot your course, and it enables you to plan around graphically depicted temporary flight restrictions (TFRs), overlay real-time weather onto your route, file your flight plan online, and store up to five aircraft profiles and 10 routes.