Quick question before I drop $70

 

 

Do I need PFPX?

 

I enjoy flying complex airliners but I have FSC9, Vroute, and ForeFlight on the Ipad. 

 

Is there a benefit still to purchasing PFPX?

 

Thanks in advance. 

 

Stephen

Do you NEED it, no. But do I recommend it, yes. I've been using for FSBuild for many years, and thought there was nothing that I could want more in a planner. Well PFPX proved me wrong. The interface, the detail, ETOPS, ect ect. It does everything, I have as much fun planning my flights as I do flying them. It's an extremely powerful tool

And while it can be complex it can also be easy to use, with a few clicks you are ready to go with all the info at your finger tips.

 

I too highly recommend it.

Quick question before I drop $70

 

 

Do I need PFPX?

 

I enjoy flying complex airliners but I have FSC9, Vroute, and ForeFlight on the Ipad. 

 

Is there a benefit still to purchasing PFPX?

 

Thanks in advance. 

 

Stephen

You don't "need" it. However, like you before getting pfpx I wasn't sure it was worth it. Before having pfpx it would take me awhile to plan flights. It was to the point that I often just flew flights that I already had setup because I did not want to wait. I wasn't exploring new airports as much as I wanted. After getting pfpx making flight plans is much much faster. I now focus on accurate fuel management where I didn't bother much with it before. There are advanced procedures I can do with it when I want to take extra time and learn something new. I feel like it was worth the money for me as I see it as an investment. If your happy with your current experience with flight planning then maybe you don't need it. For me I was unhappy with what I had and this checks off a lot of the boxes I was looking for. 

Just to add to the above posts. I like that you can choose between having a full flight plan creating in just a few clicks. Or if you want, you can take your time and modify/create your own route and PFPX will even allow you to compare routes and show the differences in time/distance. Really cool stuff

I wrote this just the other day in response to someone looking for a PFPX impression and comparison. Maybe it also helps you in regard to the 'need' question. The short answer would be no in my eyes. Which sounds much more negative than it was meant to.

 

The rough description would be that PFPX creates data whereas EFB only displays it with an option to alter it in regard to changing/looking at a STAR for example. So there's the combination of the planning soft with the electronic flight book. A book to look things up.

 

If people already run flight planners like FS Commander or FSBuild, you would gain planning details due to the combined data sources within PFPX. It's not really that you add a whole new ability. So you could say that, if you are ok with what your current planner gives you or what websites offer, you may not need PFPX.

 

Still, if you plan those ultra long flights, which I rarely do, I must admit, then PFPX might introduce a new level of accuracy if the plane profile (performance data) is offered and checked/calibrated. The reason for this improvement is that PFPX for example looks very closely on the weather given and exceeds the rough fuel calcs from e.g. FSC by far with the added detail on the plane's performance description. If you have detailed weather data (it brings a source for 12 months, but you can load your weather addon files too), it can check which flight level is best and also displays why.

 

Plane profiles. If you would not have a profile or a less accurate one or if your sim plane would just differ from what PFPX thinks how a 737 burns fuel, you will be off. More or less. But the fans will most likely supply such profiles while the program itself also offers quite some planes to chose from. My Q400 worked out of the box for example.

 

So this scenario might indeed offer a massive accuracy gain over current software or at least a thinner margin to a real-world dispatch solution. You can predict and plan step climbs and things. ETOPS planning would be a new item, same for re-dispatch. I don't think FSC or FSBuild offer that. At least I'm not aware of. Later, you can print your planning outcome (as valid as it may be) in a single file, with all the data in the format you like. Mind you, this could be a bunch of paper. Pdf printing advised. Trees saved

 

If those details haven't been of interest for you so far, jump some paragraphs up and perhaps stay with your current planner.

 

The auto routing in PFPX varies in quality. But I think some other members already stressed that even the auto routes from the commercial soft needs a human hand to help at times. You get some 9000 pre-planned routes out of the box though and the program even offers to check each one of them against current nav data. This takes a few minutes but you then see which ones are still valid. Predicting runways works and matches if the weather is your (stable) friend. Looking at weather data therefore is part of the auto-routing process.

 

Garbage in, garbage out. If one minds the data sources and checks them, PFPX should be very good at predictions. Now, weather predictions always incorporate imprecisions over time, so that's the only wonky element so to speak. Yeah, traffic and emergencies too. Sim pilots, pffft. ^_^ Wait, I'm one of them.

 

Operational questions.

One question I do have for anyone who has PFPX though is can I run it on a secondary computer and do I need to have it running during the flight for any reason?

I run it on two PCs and if I got the description right, this is allowed and also doesn't cause any activation limit triggers. The latter being a pet peeve of mine. Five individual systems can be activated as by this dev post. After that, hell breaks loose.    Nah, I think you then have to write why you are not Jack Sparrow or something.

 

I'm not planning to reach those limits but I think that every program start on an activated machine causes a short phase where the program goes online, downloads data and verifies your status. Modern times as it seems.

 

I saw some trouble being reported in the forums when it comes to activating the initial installation, but my two went fine and I can't really quantify the rest of problems. So I'd say that it works at least ok. And no data outages here so far. Or maybe I was asleep. ^_^ At cruise.

 

You can run it any time. It's outside of the sim and would only connect if you wanted to adjust some plane profiles (performance-wise). I haven't checked that feature yet, so take that statement with a grain of salt.

 

By this, it's fully independent of your sim and you can start, plan and view things with one device of yours receiving the check result 'ready' (green symbol). I guess that's the best outcome from the mentioned data transfer/status check thingy.

 

No moving map though, that's where your EFB might come into play.

 

Hoping this information helps a bit. I'm ok with the purchase but I wouldn't say that everybody now needs to run and get PFPX. Especially not if you already have a somehow current planner or website in range.

 

Since we are on flight planning, I'll drop that tip on the free Simbrief website. No hidden traps so far and the devs seem to add planes and features on request. You would need a code for current nav data but you can already plan with a late 2011 set for free, forever. They don't sell nav data, so that loop is just around to keep the Mr. Sparrows out.

Aivlasoft EFB (BAG not BOOK) can create a flight plan, insert SID/STAR/Waypoints/Approaches etc.

It's NOT a book for looking things up..

The biggest advantage of PFPX is that it's basically everything you'll need in a single integrated suite. Although you can have some nice discussion about certain aspects of it , it is by far the most complete flight planning package available on the market today.

Aivlasoft EFB (BAG not BOOK) can create a flight plan, insert SID/STAR/Waypoints/Approaches etc.

It's NOT a book for looking things up..

EFB isn't creating the flight plan. You get linked to an online free planner via the program. 

Oops, sorry about the book vs bag. Wasn't meant to upset people. :blush: Richard, I was and still am on the planning aspect when comparing software to allow for creating valid routes (PFPX, FSC, FSB..) to another element in the chain, the one displaying the outcome (EFBag).

 

I agree that hacking in EGLL DCT KJFK creates a route. But I also think the stuff in between is what we would call 'a plan'. :smile: Better that way?

I bought PFPX recently and so far have really enjoyed it. I really appreciate how it quickly pumps out a flight plan and fuel data for the NGX. On the other hand, I havent really touched TOPCAT, so if you were considering the bundle package, I would say that you can skip it.

Oops, sorry about the book vs bag. Wasn't meant to upset people. :blush: Richard, I was and still am on the planning aspect when comparing software to allow for creating valid routes (PFPX, FSC, FSB..) to another element in chain, the one displaying the outcome (EFBag).

 

I agree that hacking in EGLL DCT KJFK creates a route. But I also think the stuff in between is what we would call 'a plan'. :smile: Better that way?

 

Don't worry about CoolP === He also calls that big social website "Facebag"  

 

but anyway,  I think that PFPX is a nice program, expecially for longer flights and for ETOPS and alternate airports routing and calculations.  Most of my routes come from real world routs on sites like FlightAware so the routing of this program does not help me that much, however, I find the fuel calcuations, landing runway predictions, etc. very helpful.  Previou to PFPX I would add more fuel than need just to be sure but now I have confidence in the fuel numbers I get from PFPX.  The map is also excellent, especially when building your own routes....certainly much better than FSBuild.

Going to read a bag tonight. ^_^

 

Mark, since you are around, I think we need a Concorde profile in PFPX, eh?

Concorde PFPX?  Might be nice but I think I will stick to Concorde Performance System for now !

So now I feel stupid, Mark. I've missed that nice program for the Concorde so far. :blush: Well, feeling stupid on one day offers the chance of being smarter the next one. So I have to thank you for the HU on Concorde Performance System.

 

I see it's from a co-author of PFPX. Even better.