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captain420

How come there's no trial mode for PFPX?

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Can PFPX make a complete flight plan for me if I enter just the departing and arriving airports? I want it to calculate everything[...]

I don't doubt that it will put out 'some' flight plan, and some ETOPS planning, but I usually look over the results. Also enables you to learn about the background and develop a feel for it. Sometimes everything validates ok while, on other occasions, I wonder why it e.g. goes for very large DCT distances instead of using the airways in between.

 

The runway selection usually is weather influenced but won't be worth much if you land six hours later or if there also is a terrain factor in place. The latter may not affect typical 777-ish airports but I closely look over that 'auto' element when flying the Q400 for example.

 

Honestly, if it's just about flying some pre-set and automated flight plans, PFPX may be too much of a muchness. Why not look up common routes on free websites or use equally free planners instead when just connecting some major hubs?

 

PFPX surely develops some charm due to offering all planning resources at one spot and program, then allowing for proper reviews. But pressing three auto buttons and flying it regardless of the validity sort of contradicts the purpose of the software.

 

I'm with Ray by the way. A 30 day trial or something would be nice. Seems like it checks its status with every start. :mellow:

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IMHO it's a common sense FACT that demos/trials reduce piracy.


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I do wonder about one thing....

 

I love PFPX I use it every flight. But there is something I don't get.

 

I can go to EuroFPL.eu and get a real world flight plan that has no errors etc. it's validated by CFMU or whatever it's called, the same validation that PFPX uses. So my question is, why does PFPX not find a route with no problems? It's not hard to change it when it's a short route, but for the longer ones I go to EuroFPL and copy and paste the route, doesn't that defeat the purpose of autoroute?

 

I don't get that every flight, but most of the time. Only in Europe obviously.

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I would like to try this out before I buy, but it's a shame that there's no trial mode. At $50 it's quite expensive.

 

That would be good than maybe pmdg  can give  trial modes for their aircraft to see if we like it  before we buy :P   since they cost  abit more


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Peter kelberg

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Through its own server, Active Sky, REX, and FS global wx.

So it won't work with Opus? 

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It uses the same data as OPUS anyway I think.

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You mean when processing real-time flights? I agree. But I like that one can let the weather program setup older data, which then gets read by 'pffft'. So you can plan a bit in the past. Works fine so far with REX and FSGRW. :smile:

 

Made me think about not prolonging that data subscription by the way. Tracks can be added manually, weather comes from the weather programs and only NOTAMs would be missed. Sort of, I actually look at them for entertaining purposes only. My airport lights and navaids always work and the construction workers never show up in FSX.

 

I've added the link to the Opus statement above. And there's a new hotfix out, just in case. http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/74138-pfpx-1094-hotfix-available/

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Jim,

 

EFB (similarly priced) has a months free trial and Project Magenta allows you to fly in the KLAX / KSFO area for an unlimited time. Surely a time-limited feature would be feasible for quite an expensive piece of software?

 

I've just searched for reviews and the only ones I can find are video clips on YouTube. Those hardly give a potential buyer a decent objective analysis of the product. And with no refunds allowed how is it possible to make a decent judgement call on what appears to be a good product but if it doesn't suit you then it's fifty dollars down the drain.

Have you ever tried to program a full version trial program that is secure enough NOT to be hacked into a registered version?

 

1. Read the product features and see if they are a fit for you.

 

2. Read user reviews.

 

3. Wait until web site reviews get written.

 

4. Ever wonder why PMDG doesn't offer trail versions?

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Honestly, if it's just about flying some pre-set and automated flight plans, PFPX may be too much of a muchness. Why not look up common routes on free websites or use equally free planners instead when just connecting some major hubs?

 

I have done that already in the past, but what I am looking for is a way for it to automatically detect the runway that I need to take off and arrive from by determining the SID/STAR is used in the flight plan it uses. You can't do this by going online to like flightaware.com, etc, and paste the route. It's missing the runway part that I find extremely frustrating. There's many times when I do my flight planning manually and then during take off I don't know which SID or transition to use based on the runway I have selected and upon lift off I find that my plane is going in different paths and some times even missing the 1st waypoint entirely because I chose a wrong SID, and the same thing goes for STAR. I know which runway I want to land at, but I don't know which STAR to use that will take me directly to that runway from my last waypoint in the flight plan. I just want a flight planner that calculates everything out for me so that I wouldn't have to spend all that time trying to figure out what SID/STAR I need to use for the runway that I want to depart/arrive at.


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You want either vox atc that will auto assign you a star or EFB that will show the direction of the sid/stars on a moving map

 

you can use them with free flight planners 


ZORAN

 

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Are you referring to Aviasoft EFB? I wish there was an all in one product that can do all this, I hate having to buy a separate app for everything. Makes the entire process cumbersome.


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Aaron, it sounds like you need either good charts or a program like EFB. So I'd agree with Zoran. I also agree with you in the way that it's indeed a bit expensive to collect all those more or less vital programs to then receive an overview. However, when it comes to the charts, they are mostly free.

 

What EFB does is to show you a suggestion beforehand or at least a map with all available procedures superimposed. Finding the right transition or waypoint to literally connect the dots therefore is very easy. Since there is a trial for EFB, perhaps you can run it and stick with freely available flight plans first. Keeps the costs in check. Quite some of the sources for flight plans are integrated in EFB since it's not a planning soft, but more or less the display for your previous planning.

 

You can always assign and edit the SIDs and STARs of course, but the 'starting' flight plan will most likely come from the mentioned sites or dedicated flight planning software. Takeoff runways are easy to assign, same goes for the landing ones when looking at current weather data. EFB will even suggest certain runways for you and when you are ok with them, you active those and the map display gets updated. IT connects to the sim and therefore knows about your position, speed and weather.

 

PFPX, the planner, does know about all SIDs and STARs coming with e.g. Navigraph data but it assigns runways differently than a human being would when looking at what the actual charts dictate or authorities have declared valid or invalid. That sounds very cryptic but it mainly means that it automates some items for the sake of.. automating them. Sorry for not being that precise. :blush:

 

The EFB part is what delivers the overview at any time in the flight. The PFPX part takes place before flying and imposes the need to adjust for later events. One of these events will always be the weather or, in case of online flights, certain disruptions or emergencies for example.

 

So that stuff indeed teams up and you may want to start step by step. Those trials therefore come in handy, which I think has been your main point for good reason. :smile:

 

Maybe you currently find looking at the STARs a bit confusing. How are they supposed to work and how would you be able to find the right one? Well, maybe some Youtube videos help on getting the details. I've always explained them as some kind of funnel element, collecting the various traffic from different routes and lining them up one by one on a fixed path to allow ATC to 'stack' them.

 

By this, there is a system in place at larger airports to collect the northern traffic differently than the south approaches and so on. It's not the same (system) at every location, so that's where the software could deliver an overview instead of a bunch of pdf files.

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What I usually do to find which runway is in use is look for free charts online then look at the general information to see what the preferred runway usage is. I then look at the METAR and TAF for the departure/destination. After that, it will give you a clear indication of which runway to expect and then from that choose a SID/STAR which is part of the route string.

You can do all this in minutes without PFPX, but yes it does give you that information.


Gavin Price

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You want either vox atc that will auto assign you a star or EFB that will show the direction of the sid/stars on a moving map

 

you can use them with free flight planners 

I use Vox and EFB. Vox assigns me the runways and stars/sids and then I just add it in to my flight plan on EFB with a few mouse clicks. I can figure out appropriate stars/sids with efb as well, it just takes a bit more effort. Honestly, I know I am not using EFB to its full potential and need to sit down and go through the whole manual again to learn all the specific details. 

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