Reliable route planners?

[AviationGeek 1]

I bought the A320/A321 pack the other day, and so far I'm absolutely loving it. The only real gripe I have with it really is that I seem to struggle when finding out routes to fly. The few flights I've managed to run are normally preceded by 20 minutes of me searching the internet and free online route planners to come up with something that's up to date (and, which is a bigger annoyance for me, updated SIDs). It's getting a bit frustrating, so I'm wondering how other people get waypoints for their flights. Have I missed something in the manual? Is there a

de facto program that I've missed? Thanks.

[Tom A320 4915]

On some free route planners you can switch back to historic AIRAC cycle (navigation database) so your bus and the route planner use the same data basis again. This initial page of the left MCDU tells you the version of your install AIRAC cycle. A free route planner where you can switch back to historic cycle is for example http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/

 

Most simmers do it a little bit differently. They at least update to the latest AIRAC cycles so the route planners and their bus are always on the same most recent level. The two available AIRAC cycle providers are NavDataPro (http://en.shop.aerosoft.com/eshop.php?action=article_detail&s_supplier_aid=11684) or Navigraph (https://www.navigraph.com/Subscription.aspx). But you will see that they are not for free. You can buy either single cycles (monthly datasets) or a subscription for an entire year.

 

And to top that there are also a lot of simmers who also use commercial flight planners, like PFPX (http://en.shop.aerosoft.com/eshop.php?action=article_detail&s_supplier_aid=12720). This is a highly complex tool, but in my opinion the best one on the market.

 

As a beginner you should try to stick for some time with the free route planners. Once to get to know the bus inside out you can explore the navigation part more and switch to commercial flight planners.

[musefan 363]

Just to add, not sure about Navigraph, but NavDataPro also have a quarterly subscription option, which is a nice "in-between" happy medium. It doesn't cost a lot of money and you get your AIRAC cycles updated every 3 months, so you're never really that much out of date.

[bsal 38]

The best freeware route planning site is simbrief, all you have to do is create a free account and everything you need to create a realistic flightplan is there

 

http://www.simbrief.com/home/?page=home

[AviationGeek 1]

Thanks for the responses, but I'm still having trouble with grabbing SIDs (namely for KIAD in Washington). I've made sure the MCDU is on the same cycle as the route planner, but using the rfinder website just throws up SIDs which aren't listed in any of the departures. Am I missing something really stupid here?

[uadriver 6]

AG

 

for faa skies particularly, try flightaware,

 

it's not a planner as discussed above, but it gives current real world routes / flight levels used (which link to current sid/stars) if you have a current airac !!

 

once you have that route, you can use the mentioned planners for further detail if you need .. or go straight to your mcdu (given it has a current airac) !!

 

for me it is the only way to file routes that match your airac ...ie always / almost current.

 

cheers

john

 

ps ....there aren't many rnav/procedural sids from kiad but many vectored ones (which won't immediately show in any fsx planner !!)

[TheCookieMonster 53]

On 21.3.2016 at 22:38, Tom A320 sagte:

http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/

This thing is rubbish, don't use it.

 

vor 14 Minuten, uadriver sagte:

for faa skies particularly, try flightaware,

This is the way to go for the United States.

 

For Europe use EuroFPL, IVAO Route Database, vatroute or EDI-GLA. (in that order)

 

To calculate the route then, PFPX or simbrief can be used. (AIRAC cycle should match the Airbus)

 

Also check out this website for SID/STAR/ILS and Aerodrome Charts in the US: https://skyvector.com/airports

[Jude 190]

17 hours ago, AviationGeek said:

Thanks for the responses, but I'm still having trouble with grabbing SIDs (namely for KIAD in Washington). I've made sure the MCDU is on the same cycle as the route planner, but using the rfinder website just throws up SIDs which aren't listed in any of the departures. Am I missing something really stupid here?

You might need to update the AIRAC files

Simbrief will take updated AIRAC files too, make sure the version on your aircraft and the simbrief site are the same.

 

[por928 65]

For many years now I have used Flight Sim Commander. When you update it with Navigraph each month, and its flight planner provides a flight plan, then, best of all, it has a list of current SIDS/STARS for each runway, and then you can select any of them and see them visually on the flight plan map to make sure they line up ok with your fix's. Of late, I have taken to using Flightaware. Top left hand side - Live Flight Tracking offers several choices to see a flight plan actually flown by the airlines. If the flight I want to carry out "must" be correct, then I will replace the FSC plan with the Flightaware route. Agree, Simbrief, is a great package.