Can anyone recommend a good payware/freeware flight planner that is useful for planning flights and generating routes in Europe? I am particularly interested in one that includes SIDs and STARs. Thanks! Phil

I'm not sure if this was what you were looking for: http://www.virtual-dispatch.net/It's free and there are about 4 links within the application that will direct you to websites that offer flight plans.This is what I use (along with many other apps) Hope this is what your looking for, and hopefully it helps!

Can anyone recommend a good payware/freeware flight planner that is useful for planning flights and generating routes in Europe? I am particularly interested in one that includes SIDs and STARs. Thanks! Phil

FSBuild http://www.fsbuild.com works well for European route planning. The most recent version now includes the ability to use monthly Navigraph navigation database updates - the same source where the PMDG NGX Nav database is hosted - so current STARS and SIDS should corresponded. The Navigraph functionality was a nice addition to the software, as European airways seem to always be in a constant state of flux, with existing airways being deleted, (or re-routed) and new ones added, seemingly on a weekly basis. Airways in North America tend to stay pretty much the same from year-to-year. FSBuild does have a large built-in database of existing flightplans between various city-pairs - (though some of those may be out-of-date), but you can always auto-generate a route between any given departure and destination.

FS Commander is good and has a free version whose only limitation is that you cannot save. It has SIDs and STARS. As with any flight planner, the problem is that you are dealing with three databases, the FSX one, the FSC one and the PDMG one. Some posters have suggested subscribing to places like AVroutes where you can get updates every month to make everything compatible...

I usually use either VATroute or vroute to get a flightplan.The VATroute flightplans are supported by a team of admins, who check the routes for changes after every airac cycle. They usually have the routes like they are used in real world, but they are only covering flight plans with destination or departure in one of the following countries: Egypt, Netherlands, Autria, Switzerland and Germany. vroute has a much larger database, but here most of the routes are entered by users - sometimes you get 10 gifferent routes between 2 airports, and not all of them make sense.Both tools normally do not provide SIDs and STARs, because (at least in Germany) most of them depend on the runway in use, so the SIDs and STARs (at least the designators) change withe the weather Frank Schrewe

Try www.vroute.net, I always use it and am very satisfied with it. Although I haven't tested if it can export flight plans to the NGX, because I haven't got it yet ( I am constructing my new system as I write, and I hope to make my maiden flight today or tomorrow....can't wait!)

vroute has a much larger database, but here most of the routes are entered by users - sometimes you get 10 gifferent routes between 2 airports, and not all of them make sense.

vRoute works very well for routes in Europe because they are checked against Eurocontrol's flight plan validator upon submission. You can be reasonably sure that these routes will work and that they begin and end at SID/STAR transition points. Tools like FSBuild and FSC that autogenerate routes make it much harder to match up with SIDs and STARs. The payware version of vRoute will let you save routes that can be used in the 737 (with the freeware version you have to enter the routes yourself in the CDU). Aivlasoft EFB is a very useful tool for flight planning because it lets you view SIDs and STARs and generates very nice charts for all phases of your flight. It is relatively expensive, though (however there is a 30-day free trial of the full version).

The makers of TopCat are working on Professional Flight Planner X

Wish they'd get their finger out ;)The release date keeps getting pushed further back. "It's very diffucult to define an exact release date. We won't be able to complete in August, but probably before Christmas 2011"