Ok....total newb here.....so go easy on me. I just got into this whole airliner flying thing...Purchased the 737NG and really am doing my best to learn it. I am on a pretty tight budget. I have done numerous searches on flight planners, and it seems a lot of people like FSBuild. Ok cool...but thats $45!!! I looked on the Navigraph site, as some others mentioned, and they do a 'credits' system. Both, if I am reading correctly, give you the newest AIRAC cycle. This is where I get lost. FSBuild has no charts. And Navigraph offers charts, but they cost credits. So since I am looking to fly at various airports around the world, is one a better choice than the other? I don't think that simply updating the AIRAC cycle alone is sufficient....but anyone that has advice it would be appreciated!Thanks!! Matthew

Ok....total newb here.....so go easy on me. I just got into this whole airliner flying thing...Purchased the 737NG and really am doing my best to learn it. I am on a pretty tight budget. I have done numerous searches on flight planners, and it seems a lot of people like FSBuild. Ok cool...but thats $45!!! I looked on the Navigraph site, as some others mentioned, and they do a 'credits' system. Both, if I am reading correctly, give you the newest AIRAC cycle. This is where I get lost. FSBuild has no charts. And Navigraph offers charts, but they cost credits. So since I am looking to fly at various airports around the world, is one a better choice than the other? I don't think that simply updating the AIRAC cycle alone is sufficient....but anyone that has advice it would be appreciated!Thanks!! Matthew

All you really need right now is go to SimRoutes.com and enter your route. pick the one that says FAA Preferred route, then go to the ARTCC Center of your DES and ARR airport such as ZLA http://www.laartcc.org/ Print out the Airports Diagram and Sids and Stars that are in the route. Wish we had FSNav but no ones stepped up to the plate. Hope this helps ya some. There are various free planners but it's just more efficient to do it this way.Also Navigraph is not a planner but it updates the Airac Cycles of add on Aircraft. It's a bummer that we have to get charged in order to keep our add ons functioning but I'm probably just mad that they are making money off of something I could be doing if I wasn't lazy.

Thank you, Jason. I will look into that! Essentially though, I still need to pay for the AIRAC update. I am on cycle 0802. Now its 0908. Big difference, so I will probably have to bite the bullet. I appreciate the info.

Matthew,An AIRAC cycle refresh costs only around 2 Euros, so it shouldn't break the bank, I hope!Cheers, Richard

In addition the AIRAC updates are about 2 euros for each update. Even if you have several different aircraft so it's a real bargain. JoeM

Thank you, Jason. I will look into that! Essentially though, I still need to pay for the AIRAC update. I am on cycle 0802. Now its 0908. Big difference, so I will probably have to bite the bullet. I appreciate the info.

Matthew,Welcome aboard ! Just a side remark : flying with the very latest AIRAC cycle is important to some but not all simmers. It depends on your priorities. Personnally, I don't mind skipping some AIRAC releases as the main routes don't change that often. Another thought : if you are interested in going one step further. AFTER taking the time to learn the NG systems, get FS2Crew.Cheers,Bruno

I'll step in and recommend FSbuild too.. Navigraph is great for charts. I (regrettably) dumped FSNav as it was only good within the FS app, I would have loved it as an external app; I prefer planning flights outside of FS, hence for me the big downside of FSNav (well, you gotta have something to do at work).Have you thought of FSCommander though? It's sort of a halfway house of all, I guess.. that's not to suggest it is bad or inadequate! You can export your FSB plan, view AI, SIDs, STARs, view ATC zones.. Though I don't generally use it as a flight planner.Typically, I will load up Google earth, and look at airports within a radius of my starting airport (invariably my latest acquired/current favourite/moment of fancy/latest AES'd/airport), then plan & export the flight in FSBuild, load it up into FSCommander (on the second PC that runs AS and Radar Contact) for moving map and then run my charts on the laptop via Navigraph. Hmmm..too much time, too much fun :)

http://www.vatsim.net/ has a really good list of places you can get SID/STAR and runway charts, you click on pilot resources and then theres a remark saying something like "learn how to obtain and read charts" clickon that hyperlink and it takes you to a huge list for charts around the world.As far as flight planning like previous posters mentioned there are a lot of good places you can get them now for free I usehttp://www.vatroute.net/ for european routeshttp://rfinder.asalink.net/free/ for routes that vatroute doesnt dohttp://flightaware.com/statistics/ifr-route// for US routes.THe navigraph updates are worth gettting, I tend to skip cycles sometimes 2-3 before I update as things dont change much between them, it's a cheap way to get prodcedures that would otherwise require a large ammount of work, you can of course program a approach or departure manually into the FMC using charts but it's a lot of work (some people may enjoy it xD) I would recommend trying to program some manually a few times just so you know how to use the advanced navigation capabilites of the FMC on your plane.You still have to work out your own fuel use and winds aloft weather data, average wind component for your flight is something I have not been able to work out yet, but it's not a huge problem for most flights, I think it comes into play more if you are in say the north atlantic jetstream on very long flights etc, flights that are 1 2 hours the wind doesnt make a huge difference to your final arrival time so fuel comsumption isnt greatly affected.Hope that helpsRegardsPaul

TOPCAT!

Matthew if you use the rfinder link 2 posts up then you can select which cycle it produces the route from - it's a case then of copying the route down for manual input into the fms. As for sidstars just go for which seems right for the start and end of the route.That's what I did at the beginning anyway. I know it isn't quite the right way but it works as at this time you'll be learning the plane anyway, just as well do it for free then progress at your own pace.Remember as well, not all the ils entries are the same as the flight sim so check and if you find a wrong one, note it down.Welcome aboard.John Ellison

How do I know which AIRAC I have, where can I see that? And can I update straight towards the most recent one or do I need the ones in between aswell to get everything correct?Tiemen

If fs you'll have a file cycle_info.txt at the top is the cycle number. It's in FMCWP/Navigraph in fs9 or PMDG/Navdata in fsx.As for updating the airac from Navigraph you can update singly, no problem (dont need the in between ones). It's only a data and a date effectively. This year only update on an odd number though - 0909 will be the next odd number one as alterations this year are on odd number airacs.I would suggest updating in this order - Navigraph then Planepath.com, then Dan Downs sidstar files.Please make sure all have the same cycle though.Note: the updates use real world ils frequencies and might not match some fs9/fsx ils ones. Same goes for runways that have been added/deleted since fs was released.John Ellison

Ah ok thanks for your reply, will update them next week. :)Tiemen,

For FAA airports I get both terminal procedure charts and real time filed flight plan routes from flightaware.com. Choose your airport and using arrivals or departure click on a flight that appears interesting. For that airport click on airport information and navigate your way to terminal procedures. You can download individual .pdfs or an all in one bundle.pdf.

Thanks you to all who replied; I am now up to date with my AIRAC, and am using some of the charts (enroute particularly) to set up some flight plans. I will keep looking into some of the options you guys recommended, though. Never seems to be a shortage of apps for simming more realistically! Matthew