Does anyone know what is the best flight planner to use with Radar Contact??? RC ships with a few planners but I don't know which one is the best to use.Thanks to anyone who can help.Les--

Hi Les,I use FSNavagator. It works great!Paul

yes, that is a good one and it is freeware also. Actually, the default MS is not as bad as everyone states, you may want to check it out again.

I use FSBuild, it's a pretty good program.Lobaeux

>Actually, >the default MS is not as bad as everyone states, you may >want to check it out again. It's not bad if you are willing to accept the routes it generates for you. If you want to make changes, though, or build your own route, it's very clumsy. The worst thing about it is that it provides no means to search for anything like navaids, intersections, airports, etc.I use FSNavigator, and Nav3 is also very good.Sidney Schwartz [KPDX]MyTraffic/Radar Contact/FSMeteo/FSSE/FSassist/FDC

Just to clarify, the last NAV version out was the 3.1 beta dated 1/21/2002. It is working well for me under W98 (and now W98SE).I do not use any autogen but use mainly its flight planner along with paper published info from TERPS and the low altitude IFR route charts.Its database is up-to-date and at www.navdata.at you can generate updated databases as I recall.I think it is great for adding all points as opposed to the autoroute apps. It does have the ability to add SIDS and STARS which you can then edit for your route merge. The only criticism I have is that with IDs and most type of fixes enabled, the screen gets too crowded unless you go way, way, in with the magnifier tool. I use that feature to see if an intersection or other unmarked (on my charts) fix is available where airways change direction between fixes on the chart.It's a really nice application and I use it in its basic form just exporting the plans to FS2K2.

>I do not use any autogen but use mainly its flight planner >along with paper published info from TERPS and the low >altitude IFR route charts. I've used it for the same thing and it works very well.>I think it is great for adding all points as opposed to the >autoroute apps.Yes, it's quite easy to search for the points you want and add them to the flight plan.To me the main difference between Nav and FSNav, as far as basic flight planning, is that Nav runs outside of fs and FSNav runs inside it. It's a matter of which you find more convenient. Both work well.Sidney Schwartz [KPDX]MyTraffic/Radar Contact/FSMeteo/FSSE/FSassist/FDC

Hi, I also own RC3 and jus got NAV 3, even thougg is a fantastic effort, with the time I have found that the default planner is just what I need. I don't really find a moving map something useful to me as I am concentrated in the terrain below when VFR and in the cockpit instruments while IFR to stay on the path of my plan.In case I need a moving map (almost never) I use flightMax.And for the SID and DPs.... well get your charts FREE in internet and Plot the flight plan accordingly, for me is better, cause I got to know better every waypoint if I do it myself. I don't like the program to do it for me (never liked "autoroute" features, too much "easy going for me")Most of the times, when doing the flight plan I only plot the path direct route and then I enter the waypoings between the transitions to the enroute fligth. I take into account the DP just after recieving the ATIS report, because it is almost always runway dependent- either I fly it manually or I just enter it in the FMC. I know some payware Navigation add ons have been claimed as some of the Top software ever for FS; I do not disagree with them, however I will never buy them. If you ever needed anything different from the default flight planner, that does everything for you, and also give you a dummi moving map to look at during the entire flight, get yourself one of the free ones. This is just my oppinion.

Just to clarify, NAV 3.1 beta does have a "link" option which I disable. I think it provides GPS display linkage or whatever. By default it is on and should be disabled if running NAV without FS running since it can slow things down quite a bit.