Flight Planing

[Guest]

Hiya,I have a couple of questions about flight planners. I have been keeping a close eye on the A340 in development at www.anticyclone.be and it looks as though it will rival the PS1.3 (at $200 it had better!) and I thought that if I am going to spend all that money on somthing so realistic I may as well get a realistic flight planner. Does anyone know of one that generates flight plans that allow step climbs, airways, SID's STARS etc and a printout of your FP? Somthing that is as realistic to the real world software as possible? I have FS build but it does not allow for step climbs, and whenever I calculate a flight plan it does not give airways, it only has them as 'Direct' plus it does not allow for diversions etc...The last thing is that I have noticed the range of the A340 to be 7200nm. Does this allow a flight from EGLL to PHNL? That is a bit of an execive route is it not? Or is it possible? What is the longest A340 flight, anyone know?Cheersric

[Guest]

FSNavigator www.fsnavigator.com It will allow for step climbs, shows all airways, intersectiosn, and has STARS and DPs. Its going to cost you $35, but its well worth the price.

[Guest]

Thanks.Is their anything else that features the same detail but that is stand alone so I can use it completly seperatly from FS? It is an outstanding product, I just downloaded it. I am looking for a product that I can just start from the desktop, create a realistic flightplan and then print it off. Cheers

[Guest]

Hmmm, I have been using fsnav since fs98 days, and never really gave anyother flight planners a try. There used to be a freeware flight planner that I thought you could run separately without have fs2002 running, but I cannot remember the name of it..sorry

[Guest]

I'll throw another question onto this one...Can anyone offer a brief "pros and cons" of the various flight/nav managers...I really would rather only use one, esp. if a free one offers everuthing. I understand that most excell in different areas, but am limiting myself to 2 at most. Right now I have FSbuild and NAV3.1... but then there's SFP, FSNav, IFR someting, and a couple others. Am I still missing something by not having FSNav? Any insights into these would be greatly appreciated. BTW - I use FSFlightMax and RealityXP FLA...Thanks,Gino

[ronzie 21]

I looked at plan output files from FS2K2 and NAV 3.1. Only cruising altitude is specified. I did not notice any other reference to altitude.I use RC-3 with FS and that seems to provide some control by allowing you to request altitudes enroute and provides its own step descents and seemingly climbs. You can fly under NOTAMS mode for any part of your flight and certain parameters become "suggested" by ATC. You can also modify cruise. I fly with real charts and TERPS so I use NOTAMS for approach in case ATC calls for altitudes below MSA or MEA and not integrated with the transistion to IAP.NAV 3.1 will supply SIDS and STARS by waypoints when available on request inserting them into the flightplan.While RC-3 will generally choose a runway based on wind, you can request a take-off and landing runway before flight or during and also request which IAP to shoot when close enough.Bottom line is that what you want to do is more a function of a coupled ATC and NOT necessarily a function of the planner as I understand it.I have only had RC for a few days but it appears to do the job for IFR rules and allows some real pilot choices unlike the rigid default ATC.You might wish to browse the Radar Contact forum here at AVSIM.