Hi guys,I know this question is not particularly related to PMDG but I do like this community and I hope someone can help me. While doing flight planning, in order to calculate data related to E/O driftdown and decompression, I need to know the enroute minimum safe altitude. It seems this information is not marked on Upper Airspace en-route chart like this one https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/aip/enligne/PDF_AIPparSSection/AIP%20FRANCE/ENR/6/1104_ENR-6.2.pdf, so the only way I can think is to check that on the topological map included in FSX Flight Planner.However, I have read all help documents but I could not find any information on how each color corresponds to the altitude. I know the darker the higher but I need the exact number to complete my enroute calculation.Can anyone help me? Where can I find MSA or how to read the topological map in FSX.Thanks a lot,Howie Wong

Hi Howie.I havn't been able to find this within FSX itself either, but I have an external pay ware flight planner called FS Commander that can display the MSA. It won't give you the exact MSA at a specific point on your flight path, but at least you will know the MSA for any given quadrant on the map so you have a rough estimate.There might be free ware flight planners out there that will supply the MSA too, but none that I have tried. One such planner that I've heard great things about is Plan G, but I havn't tried it out yet so I can't confirm that the MSA is available. But since it's free why not give it a try.Hope I could be of some help at least./Micke

Don't look on the charts (except Jeppesen which have Grid MORA) but on a document in the AIP entitled "ATS upper/lower routes" or "RNAV upper routes". There you will not only have the MEA, but the RVSM parity (which does not always follow the semi-circular rule (which is more a rule of thumb actually) and other useful infos.And be careful not to mix MSA, MEA, MORA (grid and non-grid), AMSR, MCA, MOCA, MFO, MRVA,... they're all different.Happy planning.

For Europe I registered (free) for the use of Eurocontrol AIP documents. For France I found a document called 'Upper ATS Routes' which gave the maximum and minimum flight levels for the U------- routes. I checked UT175 as shown on your chart example and it showed five 'significant' points with these altitudes. It was similar for 'Lower ATS Routes' with in some cases discrete AMSL altitudes instead of flight levels.You can register here:http://ead-website.ead-it.com/publicuser/public/pu/login.jspYou then select Enter Applications after logging in and then choose PAMS Light (AIP). A query opens and you select the country code, usually civil, charts or AP, then the chart ort information type and then click search. Scroll through if necessary and then click the second column (.pdf) to display and save if you wish the document or chart.For the US/FAA jurisdiction you can get purchase just a few charts for the entire upper air route structure. For the upper routes the maximum and minimum altitudes (enroute) are shown only when deviating from the standard.

Thank you for help!By the way, just want to confirm. If a emergency descent should be done, according to QRH, we need to descent to "Lowest Safe Altitude". This altitude is MEA, MOCA, or something else? How is it defined and where to look for it.And for dispatch, single engine level off altitude must be higher than which one?Thanks.H.Thank you for help!By the way, just want to confirm. If a emergency descent should be done, according to QRH, we need to descent to "Lowest Safe Altitude". This altitude is MEA, MOCA, or something else? How is it defined and where to look for it.And for dispatch, single engine level off altitude must be higher than which one?Thanks.H.

http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/is a good source of online procedure information. Try the AIM first.