That is possible, but.....

On holiday, no fs and xml to write or test here.

Later!

For information only.

The Flight plan editor at post #22 above is a powerful , flexible , and fun unit .

For anyone that may have copied it the following rough notes from my draught flight manual

may be of interest.

They are rough and do refer other panel instruments that are not applicable , for that

I apologise , it's just that I hate typing .

 

Cheers

Karol

 

 

13. MISSION ADAPTIVE FLIGHT PLANNER

Description: This unit enables flight plans to be created or existing flight plans to be altered as required.

It is extremely flexible , easy and fast to use during flight operations.

Input is ICAO only , and entries are made on the keyboard.

 

 

Functions :

BLOCK 1 : " DTO " This creates a Direct To comprising of 1 waypoint . In Block 1 the left button opens the entry register enabling the keyboard function ,

a blue ICAO entry box will appear , and the bezel red light will commence flashing .

The required ICAO is typed on the keyboard.

That ICAO is entered as a flight plan by depressing the right "ENT" button , at which time the red light will be

automatically extinguished.

BLOCK 2 : " S1 " - " S2 " This creates a DTO Direct To comprising of 2 waypoints ( 1 + DTO ) .

It functions like Block 1 , except that the second button enables a second ICAO entry , then both ICAO's are entered simultaneously at the right button.

BLOCK 3 : " ADD " This add waypoint enables a new waypoint to be added anywhere in a Flight plan

It is similar in function to the previous Blocks , except that a ' SEQ ' Sequence number must be set in the thumbwheel, this SEQ number indicates where in the flight plan the added waypoint is to be placed.

BLOCK 4A : " DEL " This enables any waypoint to be deleted from the flight plan , set the flight plan SEQ

number to be deleted in the thumbwheel , then depress the left ' DEL ' button.

BLOCK 4B : " CLR " This enables entries to be aborted or cleared if an error is made , it also unlocks the keyboard and extinguishes the red light.

BLOCK 4C : " SEQ " this thumbwheel comprises of separate window click zones for each digit .

Digits are set by Left , Right or wheel , mouse function .

The number set ( 14 in above example ) is the flight plan sequence or index number that dictates where in a flight plan a waypoint is to be added or deleted , " ADD WPT " and " DELETE WPT " are totally dependant on that thumbwheel number.

A number must be set in the thumbwheel prior to the use of either " ADD WPT " or " DELETE WPT " .

 

This thumbwheel only functions in the ADD - DELETE context of this flight plan instrument , it should not be confused with another one in the panel which has a separate function and identity.

The difference being this thumbwheel is only associated with Flight plan entries .

Whereas the other is only associated with nomination of a active leg .

They do not interfere with each other at all .

 

CAUTION : There are two reasons to apply caution.

1. The above buttons are always active , careless or accidental use will effect the flight plan.

2. When the entry register buttons are operated the keyboard is hijacked for an ICAO to be typed ,

at this time the keyboard is unavailable for normal aircraft control functions , when the right hand enter buttons are used the keyboard is automatically switched back to aircraft control duties.

The Red Flashing light is a reminder in case due to an interruption the entry keyboard register is left open.

IF THE RED LIGHT IS FLASHING IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES , SIMPLY HIT THE CLEAR BUTTON.

 

If a session was started with a saved flight plan , and Mission Planner was used to delete all of that flight plan,

then in that case a full flight plan can be re created using just the ADD WPT facility without having to start with a DTO ,

otherwise if session is started with no flight plan loaded then the DTO facility needs to be used to start flight plan creation , then followed by ADD WPT additions .

 

 

FLIGHT PLAN OPTIONS :

Basically your flight planning options are endless and unlimited.

You can make your Departure point the Destination at the end of the plan, you can create large multi leg loops off a specific waypoint and return to the same waypoint then continue your plan.

Create diversions or alternates , or a holding point to hold at , pending weather , then decide which of several

destinations is open , then add it as your terminal destination .

It is suggested that many additions and deletions and re routings be tried during several flights.

All the above functions can be carried out either on the ground or when airborne , you can create a large multi leg flight plan mid flight or whenever desired .

Entries can be made with the autopilot on or off.

 

RECOMMENDATION :

It is recommended that the Flight Plan Listing page Mode 3 of the Radar be open and visible or referred to

as it displays the relevant flight plan SEQ numbers needed for ADD - DELETE WPT purposes.

 

DATA MINING :

You do not necessarily need to fly a flight Plan or Direct To , sometimes it is handy to use it to ascertain information , such as distance and bearing to a point or it's latitude and Longitude or radar view it with Mode 6 Standoff. If you require a waypoints Lat/Long , then page 2 of the Data MFD has the active WPT Lat/Long ,

by simply clicking on that Lat/Long area you will get it in 3 different formats , basically a conversion .

The data available for ICAO waypoints in this panel are :

- Distance and Bearing and a Directional indicator arrow to it .

- Lat/Long in 3 formats .

- Full name or title , elevation , all runway lengths and widths , terminal guidance ILS/GPS if any .

NOTE - a separate thumbwheel based instrument allows you to scroll through all waypoints contained in

any flight plan , thereby allowing you to interrogate any waypoint for data - information .

 

SOURCES OF ICAO's :

The Clipboard has 5 pages of global ICAO's.

The Nearest page in the LH MFD has 16 nearby ICAO's .

The Radar , switch on Airports you will get ICAO's out to about 900 NM.

Both aviation maps , the internet and some specialty flight simulation magazines list ICAO's .

Keep a list of you own preferred ICAO's as a databank .

The Free Flight menu page of FSX under airports contains the database of over 24,000 of them.

 

NOTES AND TIPS :

1. Flight plan structure.

The "SEQ" or index structure of a Flight plan is along the following lines,

0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , ............... , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15

'0' - being initial or Departure airport.

- then a series of interim waypoints.

'15' - being the last waypoint or Destination airport.

 

Direct To is slightly different , it is a straight line from where you were when it was created , to the ICAO or point that you entered as the " Direct To ".

'0' - " is the point in space " at which the Direct To was created .

'1' - is the Direct to , it is the Destination created by your Direct To entry.

 

A Flight Plan " leg " is the line between any two points or waypoints in a flight plan or Direct To.

 

2. When you add a waypoint to a flight plan with the " ADD WPT " button , you also attach a "SEQ" number to it,

what actually happens is , that waypoint is added at your specified SEQ number , and the Flight plan SEQ that previously had that number is incremented by "1" as are all the following SEQ numbers , similar occurs with

" DELETE WPT " only in reverse , the SEQ are decreased.

Experimenting with both ADD WPT and DELETE WPT will quickly clarify what is occurring , grasping this aspect is important to your future flight plan manipulations.

 

3. Usually a Flight Plan consists of a Departure airport , a Destination airport , and a series of intervening waypoints between departure and destination airports , and the flight plan is loaded prior to Take off.

With this Mission Planner no such restrictions exist , you might not have any flight plan , but wish to create one in flight to deal with mission requirements , for example operating in a battle zone .

It is totally flexible and can be manipulated as often and as much as is needed to meet your circumstances.

 

4. You might happen to require airport information , in such a case open the "NRST" page of the

LH MFD , then click the top LH ICAO button , ICAO search will appear , now go to the Mission Planner

and type in the ICAO that you want , you will simultaneously get a Mission Planner entry , plus the NRST page will snap to a full airport detail display that includes distance and bearing to the airport.

 

5. If you have an extremely long flight plan and want to delete it all quickly , then just replace it with any DTO , and then delete the two line DTO, or , alternately dial SEQ 00 , then repeatedly click the DELETE WPT button

till all lines are gone.

 

6. Creating distant Flight plans , how you utilise this is up to you.

Example : You are in Melbourne airport ( YMML ) , and you wish to create a distant flight plan ,

say on the other side of the world , open the Clipboard and select your ICAO , we will use EGCC

Manchester airport , enter EGCC as a DTO in the Mission Planner.

Now in the Radar select Mode 6 ( Standoff ) , your Radar display in that Mode will be centred on the

Manchester airport EGCC , switch on the radar airports and flight plan line ,you will now see plenty of

UK ICAOs to add to your flight plan , by changing your Active leg , and hence the view in Mode 6 to gather more ICAO's for entry , you can progressively leapfrog your flight plan all over Europe from that starting point , remember that you can delete your 00 SEQ thereby making EGCC your initial waypoint .

Also remember all this was done while sitting on the runway half a world away.

 

7. If you use " Carriers 2006 " , the fixed aircraft carrier package , each carrier has it's own ICAO listed in the documentation . They are : AC01 , AC02 , AC03 , ................ , AC17 , AC18 .

Entering any of those ICAO's will result in a Flight Plan line on the radar map display plus Distance and bearing to your carrier thus making them easy to locate , carriers are notoriously difficult to find in a large expanse

of sea , problem solved .

 

8. A small caution to be aware of ; if you are flying a flight plan on autopilot and your current active leg is about half way through that flight plan , then adding or deleting a " later " waypoint is fine ,

if however you add or delete a waypoint that is " earlier " in the flight plan than your current active leg ,

then the autopilot will snap the active leg back to a earlier part of the flight plan.

Be aware of this and 'note' your current active leg prior to your change , then just 'reset' your desired

active leg quickly if necessary and all is well .

Bob

 

I had been told about FlightPlanIsActiveWaypointLocked , possibly by yourself , I haven' got around to trying it yet.

 

To date no problems with it , the wait period problem has not shown up , perhaps if I clicked functions quick enough it would.

I have about 4 sources of ICAO's in the panel and primarily use them off the radar display , and make entries on the go

usually with the autopilot engaged , and have made entries before and after the active leg without any hassles so far.

 

I find it more flexible than the FS planner , can have the DEP as the DEST , have done plans that include half a dozen crossovers of the DEP , and multi leg loops of a waypoint with return to that Wpt.

It's use is very fast while on the go , I also have another thumbwheel that enables any index to be set which is great for data mining , ie; getting general data such as bearing and distance to any ICAO

 

It's still a work on progress as i want to add Lat/Long entry by both the keyboard and radar screen pick up.

 

Still working my way through the GPS handbook , I suspect there are a multitude of innovations siitting there to be tapped.

 

 

Cheers

Karol

 

Gents,

 

I've worked around this problem. For starters you don't need a loaded .pln file. You can rightaway start entering Lat/Lon coordinates and it will make your .pln file instantly. You can also put a extra steerpoint anyware in the .pln file where you want. The only problem is that these changes are not saved and only of use in flight. I use this feature (and will be most used by military aviation) to get Lat/Lon coordinates of a target from an ATC controller or deployed Forward Air Controller in exercises we perform on the IVAO network. Afterwords i enter the coordinates at a certain point in the flightplan and navigation system shows heading, time to target or if i wish i change the time of arrival to my own suites and then the navigation system tells me what speed to fly to meet the new time of arrival (TOT, Time over Target.

 

Greetings Slammer