How to use FSX flightplans with the RXP GNS 530

[BeechPapa 32]

Right clicking the FPL button does the trick, if anyone is interested. 

[fppilot 4,352]

Right clicking the FPL button does the trick, if anyone is interested. 

 

Exactly. When you execute the right click you should hear two quick audible beeps. On my system it saves the file in .../my documents/flight simulator x files/.  The filename should look like this: "rxpGNS.20141005.181501.pln".  I believe the RXP flight plan needs to be activated first in the RXP GPS.  Once the file has been saved you go into the FSX menus to - flight - flight planner, then Load and select the flight plan.  I make sure Direct-GPS is selected and that  IFR is selected as the flight plan type, which then allows the FSX ATC to recognize the plan. Also, after you have loaded the plan, but before you click on OK, you can click on NavLog to confirm the waypoints have loaded.   I usually have my plane parked where I want it, so when FSX asks me if I want to move my aircraft to the departure airport I select "no". Otherwise FSX will place you where it wants to place you.

 

I have RXP flight plans saved to FSX plans for my most common flights which makes it even more quick and simple.I rename them so I can recognize them.

[BeechPapa 32]

I'm gonna try it in FSX right now.   This should make the process go a lot quicker. If I had paper or tablet VFR maps I think I could throw together a quick flight plan from inside the cockpit, and then just load the plan for ATC if I wanted to fly IFR. The only downside I could possibly see is that I might find it limiting to make a flight plan in the cockpit, and would have to open up the FSX map or a full fledged flight planner. Either way, it's a really nice feature, and thank you for mentioning it. My mind is coming up with all sorts of uses, like emergency diversions in bad weather where FSX ATC demands an IFR flight plan for the diversion, but I don't have one yet because I didn't plan for it. I'm excited to give it a shot.

 

btw, I also have some of my favorite flights in that saved flight menu. Of 20 available spots, I have about 10 populated, but they are really interesting flights. 

[fppilot 4,352]

btw, I also have some of my favorite flights in that saved flight menu. Of 20 available spots, I have about 10 populated, but they are really interesting flights. 

 

I learned the following tip when riding along right seat in a friends GNS430 equipped C310 last year.

 

Garmin GPS (and RXP) flight plans do not require departure or destination airports, so the tip is to store common major route segments as a flight plan in the GPS. Example: I frequently fly from eastern Maryland to a number of destinations in the Midwest USA. Places like Bloomington, Lafayette. and Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, St Louis, and Kansas City. Low Enroute flights to those destinations share a lot of common navpoints. For realism I avoid the tightly controlled Washington, DC airspace either to the north or to the south depending on current weather and winds. I pick up my southern route at PXT (Patuxent, Va) and northern route at DQO (Wilmington, Del).  I have stored the common navs from PXT to CVG (Cincinnati) as an RXP plan for my southern route, and have done the same with DQO to DQN (Dayton, Oh) for my northern route. All I have to do to use one of them is add the remaining navs from those two endpoints to my chosen destination.  I first in the RXP GPS make a duplicate of the route with the flight plan copy function, then edit the duplicate.  

 

I can also reverse those routes in the GPS for return trips.  

 

I’ve also stored a similar route from PXT to SSI (Brunswick, Ga) that I use when planning a flight from my base here in Maryland to any of several Florida destinations like Daytona, Orlando, Lakeland, and Ft Myers.

 

If you fly a good number of common route segments this adds a lot of efficiency.

[BeechPapa 32]

That C310 ride must have been fun. I will remember these tricks for the future, I have a lot of routes from around inland Southern California/Arizona that take the same airways (or atleast the same beginning and end waypoints as far as the GPS is concerned) to the coast. I might be able to integrate all those different routes into one saved plan. Route reversal is a great feature too. 

 

Loading the RXP flight plan went perfectly. I was wondering how it would register my requested altitude, but found that it chose the one I was actually thinking of flying at, FL100! (Unless the RXP unit is psychic, I think FL100 must be the default requested altitude, which is fine, and can still be adjusted later when you load the flight plan for ATC). All in all, it was a very smooth process and had I adjusted the plan or changed airports, I could have easily "notified" ATC of the new route. Brilliant.   

[n4gix 4,947]

Garmin GPS (and RXP) flight plans do not require departure or destination airports, so the tip is to store common major route segments as a flight plan in the GPS.

This is one of the primary features of the Universal FMS units as well. They are called "Company Routes" and may be assembled and added to and/or edited at will. It sure saves a lot of button pushing! :He He:

[fppilot 4,352]

 

 

and may be assembled and added to and/or edited at will.

 

Nice! Wish I could also do that with the GPS models. I have not found a way to add Garmin 430/530 plans together.