Hi all,To follow up on my previous question about navaid (vor, dme, ndb) navigation, what is the best tool for creating flight plans that use these navigation instruments?I realise that in real-world the best tools are lots of charts and a ruler. But since we live in a digital age and printing costs money (although most applications also do) I'm trying to find a tool which can either give me predefined flight plans, let me set up my own. In order to do this the tool should support some way of giving the radial and distance to one or more navigation aids within the range of a specific point on a map.I have played around a bit with EFB, and I must say that I like the application very much. Sadly, it does not exactly fit my needs for this type of flight planning since the online tools it supports the not seem to have many routes that do not require rnav. EFB will forensics give me the radial and distance to 1 vor, but I do not seem to be able to specify which one I want it to reference, and I cannot get similar information for an arbitrary point.Are there any other tools that are better suited for this? Does anyone know the developer of EFB, would they consider adding this kind of functionality do you think?Thanks for your help.

FlightSim Commander.Cheers,- jahman.

Is it that simple? This was next on my list of things to try :)

All within FS Commander:

1. Select start and end points
2. FSC draws the great circle direct route
3. Add Waypoints, VORs, NDBs to the route from the map view as you see fit
4. Optionally display Jet and Victor airways.
5. Optionally download and display current NATs and PACOTs
6. Optionally download routes from Route Finder and VAT route

So yes, it is that simple, and it is a lot of fun too! Cheers,- jahman.

Thanks. Does it have the same flight tracking capabilities as efb? It is very good at switching views and displaying the necessary information for every phase of the flight, and I find this a very easy way of organising the flight.

Ah, to point out the obvious, have you tryed the FSX built in flight planner? Simply select your departure/destination and the VOR option.

Thanks. Does it have the same flight tracking capabilities as efb? It is very good at switching views and displaying the necessary information for every phase of the flight, and I find this a very easy way of organising the flight.

FS Commander is better for flight planning.EFB is better for flying the flight plan made with FS Commander.Cheers,- jahman.

Thank you all for your input. I have of course tried the inbuilt flight planner :-). In fact, my current workflow was to produce a flight plan with a built-in planner, and open this in EFB. I might well end up with both applications, not for the moment I prefer not to have to spend that much money.I have briefly tried FS Commander, and it still does not have the full functional test that I am looking for. In order to get to the correct end of a runway I am approaching I would love to follow a specific radial from a specific VOR. This means that I need to be able to find this information for any given point on the map for the VORs in range. This is similar to using a ruler on a regular map.Any ideas?

Edited December 19, 201114 yr by kolaf

In FSC on the tool bar,counting from the left, the 9th icon is the "Activate Measurement Tool." If you click this tool and then click on the map at, say point A, and drag the cursor to point B, you will get a line and a box showing the distance and heading from A to B.

RWY selection is not part of flight planning!Only God can include RWY selection in His flight plan for only He can know the wind direction at the destination at the planned arrival time, at the time the flight plan is filed. (He can, of course, also change wind directions at Will).Thus the flight plan only includes the destination airport, and only tentatively a specific RWY and associated STAR procedure. Note that a RWY assignment can change even on final right up to before the control tower says "Cleared to Land".Note also:

1. You can only follow a specific radial to the RWY TDZ iff the airport has a VOR on site, and
2. ILS approaches inhibit VOR reception on NAV1 (NAV1 is tuned to the ILS).

Cheers,- jahman.

Thanks guys, I think I have a better understanding now. I will play around a bit with a trial versions and see what I can figure out and what I like.

What you are looking for are approach charts... for the US go to www.airnav.com and select airports then type in the code for your destination. Scroll down until you see the available approaches and select the one you want (IF it has a VOR approach, not all do). All info you need will be there.

Why don't you try www.skyvector.comIt's basically a paper chart, scanned in, where you can click and add waypoints, see how long the route will take, and you can also view METAR (weather) data at the airports.

You can only follow a specific radial to the RWY TDZ iff the airport has a VOR on site

The radial from an on-site VOR, that intersects the TDZ, is a radial not anywhere near the track you want to fly on your way to the TDZ (with rare exception).If (for whatever odd reason), you'd want to try to track a radial all the way to the TDZ; the further the VOR is from the airport, the better chance you'd have... allowing of course for reasonable range and decaying accuracy..

The radial from an on-site VOR, that intersects the TDZ, is a radial not anywhere near the track you want to fly on your way to the TDZ (with rare exception).If (for whatever odd reason), you'd want to try to track a radial all the way to the TDZ; the further the VOR is from the airport, the better chance you'd have... allowing of course for reasonable range and decaying accuracy..

Of course it isn't, but that's what the OP was looking for:

In order to get to the correct end of a runway I am approaching I would love to follow a specific radial from a specific VOR.

Cheers,- jahman.