Hi guys just and up date to the eagerley awaited PFPX flight planner.

 

PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X is a new flight planning tool developed by real-world pilots and dispatchers.

The aim of the program is to support the serious flight simmer to produce professional flight plans for their virtual schedules.

 

 

Status (updated 20 Apr 2012)

Contrary to some rumors that PFPX development has stopped, there was huge progress recently. The UI (User interface) is complete now and most functions are working now, requiring some fine tuning. As defining a release date is still pretty difficult, we estimate the product to be finished in summer/fall 2012

 

http://www.pfpx.com/

Very eagerly waiting indeed, and looks very promising.  However, I was not able to find any official updates (particularly from the fpfx site) on this topic.  If I missed anything, could someone please point me in the right direction?

 

Cheers

Hello,

 

The latest is that it will be released when it is ready.

 

In 2011 it was mentioned that the release would be shortly after Christmas. The same thing happened in 2012. I'm somewhat hopeful that the release will happen in 2013.

 

The PFPX team has been a bit quiet about the features that PFPX will have. Most of the posts and videos have been using B767 for long flights. AoA has used with B737 for shorter flights.

 

Other than that, little has been talked about, what kind of "operations" the PFPX is meant to suite (Airliners with schedules? Cargo haulers? and so on).

 

The current aircraft list is quite similar to the Topcat's supported aircrafts. This might not come as surprise as PFPX is planned to interface with Topcat.

 

On the official forum, there was a mention that the customers would be able to create their own performance/fuel burn tables for their aircrafts (that are not included in the PFPX release version).

 

One thing that I have yet to see a good video/tutorial on is the route planning phase. For me this seems quite strange as this is the part of PFPX that would get the most use. From the scattered info I was able to find, here is the assumption I have made:

 

Route auto generation relies on great circle route. It doesn't calculate in the effect of winds, when generating this route. You will get the shortest route (distance) but it might not be the fastest (flight time).

 

Also, do not have to auto generate the whole route, you can input segments that you want to fly and have the auto generate "fill in the blanks".

 

Disclaimer: I have no connection with FlightSimSoft and all the above are my views from watching videos on PFPX and reading the official forum.

I haven't found any other info re the current status than what they state in this thread: http://www.topcatsim.com/forum/index.php?topic=831.345 and I suppose that's really all they can say too. Anyway, looking at the video on their webpage the S/W is even more impressive than I first thought it would be. Purchasing it is definitely a total no brainer!

Disclaimer read.  I wasn't hoping to get an expected release dates as PMDG got that nailed in me (ready when ready) for a while now.  All I was after is whether there are any updates regarding how they going, or still happening, or at least some discussions on it.

 

Like the 777 from PMDG, although they have not released any release dates, there are tones of discussions on it.  I guess this is a lot less anticipated than the T7 or 747 v2.

 

Thanks for your report mate, much appreciated.

I haven't found any other info re the current status than what they state in this thread: http://www.topcatsim.com/forum/index.php?topic=831.345 and I suppose that's really all they can say too. Anyway, looking at the video on their webpage the S/W is even more impressive than I first thought it would be. Purchasing it is definitely a total no brainer!

 

 

This is great news and great find! Thanks!!

 

It looks like that one must (or should) have Topcat to get the most out of PFPX?

Of course, you will get more out of PFPX if you have Topcat but whether you will actually use the data Topcat produces, and therefore really need it, depends on what kind of simmer you are and how deeply you want  to go into the planning process!

 

I do have Topcat use it but very far from all of the time.  A bit of pearls before swine I guess  I usually fly airliners on Vatsim and if I knew ATC would be online for a long time, I would also be more meticious about planning. However I prefer trying to maximize exposure to online atc rather than the planning process, so my flightplans are usually quite swiftly put together using Vroute!

Same here. I pretty much follow ATC so my flights are usually don't via SkyVector, and at a fast pace!

I must say that I'm a total polar opposite

 

I only fly jobs generated by the AirHauler so profit is all that counts for me. I can spend up to couple of hours planning my flights: which aircraft, which route, which flight level and so on.

 

On average, I spend over an hour planning and less than two hours in the air.

 

Of course, you will get more out of PFPX if you have Topcat

 

I thought PFPX had all the stuff Topcat has.  No?

No?

I think the answer is: no. PFPX can interface with Topcat but only if you have purchased a copy of Topcat.

 

EDIT: From the PFPX site: "Take-Off and Landing performance calculation (requires a full version of TOPCAT, partly working)"

As Jarkko says. In one of the videos you can see the user pressing an export to Topcat button (or whatever its name was) and Topcat is launched and later closed again after which they continue in PFPX.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KHz8xQB9wCc

 

at around 8:34 into the video (hope I don't break any rules with this link...)

 

and if you want a good laugh, search for "people like us - pilots" on youtube... 

I've seen PFPX in use from the AoA preflights, and ill tell you its nothing like you've ever seen. Its the full enchilada. Its pretty darn sophisticated and it sure does take into account the winds and everything else that goes with it. Their beta team Comprises of RW dispatchers. You should see the final full dispatch paper work. Its about 20 pages with weather charts and all sorts of stuff. Yes you can use topcoat but not necessary. The NGX does a good job of calculating your V speeds anyhow. I wonder if I can post a full dispatch sheet for download. Ill check. <br /><br /><br /><br />

I've seen PFPX in use from the AoA preflights, and ill tell you its nothing like you've ever seen. Its the full enchilada. Its pretty darn sophisticated and it sure does take into account the winds and everything else that goes with it. Their beta team Comprises of RW dispatchers. You should see the final full dispatch paper work. Its about 20 pages with weather charts and all sorts of stuff. Yes you can use topcoat but not necessary. The NGX does a good job of calculating your V speeds anyhow. I wonder if I can post a full dispatch sheet for download. Ill check. <br /><br /><br /><br />

Sounds like something you want exported to PDF and put on your iPad (FSkneeboard2...) instead of printed out!

it sure does take into account the winds

Hello Dave,

 

I'm desperate to learn more, so here goes. Do you mean that the winds are taken into account:

 

a) when calculating an "optimal" flight level for a given route

c) auto generated route will be different based on projected winds aloft

c) both a & b?

 

If the answer is either b or c, then I have misunderstood something. On the official forum a member of the beta team mentioned, that "A lot of additional things would need to be added to PFPX to do winds routes."

 

This is where i got the impression that "only" a would be possible with the first release version.

Edited March 20, 201313 yr by jpuustinen

The reason I ask to get the full usage out of PFPX, whether one needs topcat is because, I'm considering of buying topcat.  And if PFPX has what topcat will do already, I'm not really keep to double things up, so might as well wait it out.

 

If Topcat is needed to make PFPX run at its full potential, then I'll get it.