Recently, I started actually flying my complicated airliner addons, such as the Level-D 767. However, while entering the waypoints into the CDU, I got into trouble: often, there were multiple waypoints with the same codes, and often these were of the same type (all VOR, for example). All the FMS gave me was their latitude and longitude, but this is not given by the default flight planner, and so I find myself in trouble. So, what I want, is a flight planning utility that shows me the latitudes and longitudes of the waypoints so I can determine the correct waypoint in the CDU. I'd also like to have the ability to easily make flight plans or edit existing ones (because the navdata of many addons is out of sync with the FS navdata, I often insert a waypoint and get the message the waypoint is not in the database. If I can easily omit these waypoints, delete them out of the flightplan loaded into the flight, I don't get that problem). For the rest, it'd be cool if the flightplan can be exported into a variety of formats as used by my addons, and of course it needs to be able to export to the default FS format.Can anybody suggest anything? I've been looking at FSBuild and FSNavigator, but I'm not convinced, especially since FSBuild is very expensive.

FSNavigator is (was) excellent - but is no longer supported so after the free 20 runs of it you will not be able to use it as you cannot register it.

Hello Benjamin,With routefinder, http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/, you can view the coordinates of the navaids and select your Airac database with which the flight plan will be built.Hope this helps

I use FSBuild. The documentation on their web site is not up to date so here are a couple of tips:After building a route you can edit the route grid it creates. You then select the option (not a sticky one) to build and export from the grid (think spreadsheet). I then enable the export to FS9 and (in my case) the PMDG 737/747 FMC and rebuild. What this means is that in your FMC you can import the flight plan into your FMC and it does not use the FMC database as coordinates and waypoint IDs come from the imported plan including the SID/STAR datasbase points in FSB. Since the waypoints are also exported for the SID/STARs, it keeps ATC in synch with your full flight plan.AIRAC updates for FSB are frequently published on the FSBuild.com site and are downloadable at no charge. If you wish to attempt to keep your FMC database in synch then you would have to subscribe to Navigraph or another service. If you use the FSB database then you could operate without the Navigraph subscription. In the 737 I generally use only the ILS from the ARR database as a guide to merging with it by displaying the ILS points on the ND. If you wish to use the FMC database only, then you would only include the SID/STAR transition point in your FSB plan for exporting into the FMC.FSB does provide a route map for proofing (erroneous waypoints) but not a moving map. I always proof an autoroute created one.For US flying you can copy paste a r/w US jurisdiction active flight plan from flightware.com into the FSB route box, add the airports, and build. You might have to change the version number on the SID/STAR label but the FSB airport areas have dropdowns for each airport to show you what is in its current database.If you set up which aircraft you are using (or one close to its profile or build your own aircraft profile), you designate taxi time, alternate time. "extra" time, and it will do some fuel planning for you displayable and printable in its nav log. FSB also connects to Active Sky products (I use AS 6.5) and if you download current or archived weather into AS winds aloft will be figured in the fuel planning.There is a bit of a learning curve in FSB but for me the conveniences and weather/fuel planning connection plus its variety of FMC plus both FS formats was well worth its price.On the freeware side some people prefer Super Flight Planner:http://cpinf.com/http://www.cpinf.com/download/super_flight...nner/index.htmlYou can read about it on that site. As I recall it will build its database from your installed scenery. I believe it has several FMC export formats. I'm not sure about its SID/STAR database and AIRAC update procedure.Check out those forums for FSP. There is an FSP 4.05 download also on flightsim.com.

Thanks guys, I'll check these suggestions out.

FSNavigator is (was) excellent - but is no longer supported so after the free 20 runs of it you will not be able to use it as you cannot register it.

Hey Opa, do you think that the FS9 version of FSNavigator will ever become public domain software. I mean, if you can't register it and the owners have gone out of business, then what's the point of locking it away into a vault. Well, I guess maybe if they've got something else coming up down the road they'd want to keep their copyright. Love it when I answer my own questions....Mark

Hey Opa, do you think that the FS9 version of FSNavigator will ever become public domain software. I mean, if you can't register it and the owners have gone out of business, then what's the point of locking it away into a vault. Well, I guess maybe if they've got something else coming up down the road they'd want to keep their copyright. Love it when I answer my own questions....Mark

Nope - the author has indeed "retired" from FS work so there will be no further versions of FSNav.Tis a pity - as I cannot fly without it. Fortunately I registered my copy a year or so before he decided to pull the plug.

Try Vroute, easy and friendly with a good real plans database and links to charts and sceneries. I also have FSBuild.http://www.vroute.net/content/view/90/55/Ulisses

Go for FSbuild. despite its drawbacks it does the job very well and integration with other addons such as active sky (6.5 in my case, i don't know for the lastest advanced version) and popular liner is awesome !but be aware that :1- the user interface is not as user-friendly at is could be ...2- it sometimes pick the wrong waypoint when inserting an airway (you can correct this but still...)3- terminal procedures are more indicative than anything else as they are not very detailed4- the server to download the active NAT and PACOT is not always reachable by the program ...cheersJulien

I have not had any problems with terminal procedures being only indicative. The waypoints exported were fine.Could you expand on that comment? I just want to understand, not evaluate, your response.The user interface is as far as entry goes I believe is similar to those some airlines use.Occasionally you may get an incorrect waypoint in an autoroute but that can be proofed. It is usually due to duplication of names of "soft" waypoints. As you say that can be corrected the method I previously outlined. There is also a configuration file edit that can limit the searched distance between waypoints when using autoroute.

Go for FSbuild. despite its drawbacks it does the job very well and integration with other addons such as active sky (6.5 in my case, i don't know for the lastest advanced version) and popular liner is awesome !but be aware that :1- the user interface is not as user-friendly at is could be ...2- it sometimes pick the wrong waypoint when inserting an airway (you can correct this but still...)3- terminal procedures are more indicative than anything else as they are not very detailed4- the server to download the active NAT and PACOT is not always reachable by the program ...cheersJulien

I would also recommend vRoute especially the Premium version which includes a fuel calculator for many popular aircraft. I've been using it for a couple of years now and it's perfect for those aircraft with CDUs.With all respect to FSBuild it's probably a very good planner but I always found it confusing.

Vroute looks intruiging, but there might be one big drawback: what if you don't have an internet connection available, can you still plan flights?For now, I'm chcking out Super Flight Planner, but there is an enormous problem: it seems the file is stored at AVSIM, so I can't get it... Maybe somebody can send me the executable of this thing?

vRoute does require an internet connection since everything is stored at their end and not on your PC. So perhaps it's not suitable for you.Hopefully someone will help you with SFP.

Vroute looks intruiging, but there might be one big drawback: what if you don't have an internet connection available, can you still plan flights?For now, I'm chcking out Super Flight Planner, but there is an enormous problem: it seems the file is stored at AVSIM, so I can't get it... Maybe somebody can send me the executable of this thing?

Super Flight Planner is available at Flightsim.comName: sfp405.zip Size: 27,571,267 Date: 11-23-2008 Downloads: 3,553 FS2004/FSX Super Flight Planner 4.0.5. This is a very advanced flight planner featuring a state of the art moving map (drawn using either vector layers or a bitmapped texture, zoom-in, zoom-out, zoom-window, pan, rotation and globe projections), DP-STAR and Airways support plus a lot of import/export options (can import and export from a lot of third party tools such as Radar Contact, MS-GPS and supports data formats such as XML and CSV). May create simple flight plans using a wizard or more advanced manual plans with or without autorouting. Awesome GPS display through FSUIPC. Freeware. By Alessandro G. Antonini. (Previons version had 2845 downloads)There are several associated files there also - using their advanced search form and Super Flight Planner as the criteria to see them all.Hope that info is useful.

vRoute does require an internet connection since everything is stored at their end and not on your PC. So perhaps it's not suitable for you.Hopefully someone will help you with SFP.

Yes, but do you fly without an internet connection ? I use it for weather, add-ons download, forum, etc... can't have a computer today without internet... Ulisses