Hello fellow simmers Tim here.I would like to hear about some of your favorite sites for using resources. Here are some of the ones that I usehttp://www.simroutes.com : This is a great site for creating flight plans for the PMDG 747 and for FSX (note: sometimes it puts a waypoint WAY out of the way...but thats far and few between.http://www.flightaware.com : This site is for real time flight tracking. You can browse by a particular airport or by a type of plane (747, 737, and many more) ALSO for you fine folks that have the PMDG 747-8 extension......you can track the test flights. Boeing.com has a link........and here it is http://www.newairplane.com/747/#/3......so you can simulate your own test flights, just click the link "track via flightaware" on the right hand side.http://www.skyvector.com : There are not even words in my vocabulary that can describe just how great this site is. It covers all of America, Alaska, and Hawaii. So for you simmers that only fly in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere this isn't really going to be helpful, but definitely worth a look. Not only does it have very detailed aeronautical charts, but also airport information, and not just basic stuff, like approach plates, frequencies and everything else under the sun. CHECK.....THIS....SITE...OUT. On a side not of anyone knows of a similar type site that offers this information to Europe, Asia and everything else in between PLEASE include it.I have a few more that I use, but I would like to hear from you guys what you use. So please......if you have any resources that you like, feel free to include them. Lets see if we can get this thread filled with as much useful information that we can for a sort of one stop place for some great resources, because lets be honest......if your going to be flying ANYTHING from PMDG which is as real as it gets....why not use some good online resources to make the experience even better......so yea.......lets see what all you fine folks have.

You already got the two I use, flightaware and skyvector, to great great great resources for flying in the United States.I would also add vRoute. Not a site, but a database (there is a free version available), full of routes, a good place to go if you are not keen on flightplaning your own routes.

Airnav; A great compliment to Skyvector. US only though but it contains all the terminal procedures and the airport diagram for every airport in the US.Great Circle Mapper; Not really a tool, but its a heck of a lot of fun. It will calculate distance between any two airports on the globe. I guess its most useful flight planning purpose is the Range feature. It will calculate a circle around a point on the map, say 8000nm@JFK would give you the airports in range for typical missions around JFK.

When I plan my flights with real world weather, I like to anticipate what the takeoff/landing runways will be. With the following website, I can get real time (or close to it) graphical info of the activity at some of the busiest european airports (Paris Charles De Gaulle, London Heathrow, Amsterdam!). This is especially useful at airports with complex runway arrangements (Schiphol EHAM). I even open that particular airport in my AFCAD editor to open/close runways to match the takeoff/landing runways in use. http://casper.frontier.nl/This is by the far the BEST airport activity tracker out there, but alas its only open for the few airports listed. For US airports, I use the following link: http://www.passur.com/airportmonitor-locations.htmAs an added bonus, both sites allow you to pull up archived info from past dates. Being a stickler for detail, I tend to fly real routes using the same times as the real flights and historical weather from Active Sky Advanced, and both these tools enable me to match real world operations with more accuracy! It's also nice to use for arrivals, as you can see what sids/vectors/stars/holding patterns are being used that can't be found just by looking at a airport's published charts.

For bonefide aircraft Flight Crew Operating Manuals, smartcockpits.com is hard to beat, with AVSIM.RUS running a close second. Tony

When I plan my flights with real world weather, I like to anticipate what the takeoff/landing runways will be. With the following website, I can get real time (or close to it) graphical info of the activity at some of the busiest european airports (Paris Charles De Gaulle, London Heathrow, Amsterdam!). This is especially useful at airports with complex runway arrangements (Schiphol EHAM). I even open that particular airport in my AFCAD editor to open/close runways to match the takeoff/landing runways in use. http://casper.frontier.nl/This is by the far the BEST airport activity tracker out there, but alas its only open for the few airports listed. WOW.......that is SO cool man

WOW thanks to all that have responded so far. If theres anything else out there please chime in. This is all good stuff, that will make your flight sim experience as real as possible.

FLTPLAN.COMRon Musick

Hi guys,Here is what I use:www.smartcockpit.com that is a very usefull site not only for FCOMs, but a whole lot more on flight safety and adverse weather etc etc...http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/ A route planner - I sometimes use fsbuild and sometimes this site depending on my mood https://erm.euronautical.com/WEBeRM/ This is a full route manual that covers most of the world. There is also escape procedures over the alps, greenland and middle east. And last but not least engine failure procedures That's it from me,Martin

I thought of another one use. EuroControl is a source for charts in Europe, but is deadly complicated. Thats why I dont use it too much and only remembered now.

Martin,How do you log into the eRM? I assume you have a username and password?Tim

I use aeroplanner.com for US charts. It's very easy to use and has a great lay out for quick access.Chris K.

A few I have found or copied off people :-DMainly Eurozone in the interests of balance ;-)http://fuel.aerotexas.com/  - Nice little fuel/load planner - Especially if your hangar's full of PMDG hardware (J41, MD-11 etc)http://aviationweather.gov/products/nws/winds/info.php  - Winds and temps aloft infohttp://chartfinder.vatsim.net/ - Does a "Ronseal"http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=165&Itemid=3.html - UK Integrated Aeronautical Information Package, loads of UK charts plus a good standard routes dochttp://www.iaa.ie/index.jsp?p=97&n=121 - Same as above but for Irelandhttp://www.vataware.com/ - New to this myself but looks good for "borrowing" :-D other peoples routes and searchable by aircraft type, dep/dest airport etchttp://www.youtube.com/ - Great for tutorials , payware reviews before you buy etc etc

MyAirplaneNot that this info wouldn't be available on other sites but it's got vector drawn NACO charts for those who need em, I rarely do but the quality is superb.

How do you log into the eRM? I assume you have a username and password?

In that one I'm interested too.

Do not delete this thread for any reason. It is one of the best sources of information that I have found in a long time.