FSX-MS PFPX worth it over SimBrief?

[Sandy_Bridge 11]

Hello.

 

I have had this question for a while now, should I buy PFPX or just stick with SimBrief? I've seen a lot of FSX YouTubers use and recommend PFPX, but I'm not sure if it's worth the 50 euros. I haven't had a chance to try it either, so I have to ask the community. Is PFPX worth it over SimBrief.

 

Thanks in advance.

[mwilk 1,104]

I own PFPX but I use both. I don't get into the smallest details of flight planning so i'm sure there are parts of PFPX that I could be using. For me, Simbrief does what I need it to do to complete a flight.

[simbio 56]

Little worning, if you use Navigraph it's fine to use SimBrief but if you have NavdataPro you can't update your Airac, PFPX does work with the two distributor.

PFPX it's quite complex and request a lot of work to fullfill the desired dispatch.

If you fly in europe where retriction are quite havy for the intense traffic many flight plan needs to be verify with CFMU validation.

PFPX check the the notam and there is a database that can be upgraded to help creating the flightplan, within the restriction, but is not always that simple and straight forward.

After creating all the profile of every aircraft you fly you are ready to build your FP and let PFPX creating the FP for the rest of the world is really easy.

Then you can export with different format not only on varius form of paper and layout but also on the file format to import on the FMC or P3D FSX Xplane.

It's a product mid High level is not just a luch fill and fly as long as you don't fly in europe LoL

[vadriver 247]

PFPX can use directly:

• ASN real or historic weather
• Topcat calculations / results

[Airline2Sim 489]

Simbrief actually does the job very well. Remember most crews just print off what they're given and go fly so if you're not a flight planning junkie then Simbrief will do the job just fine. The only issue is rather funky alternates and only the option of one, whereas pfpx gives the more accurate option of up to four I believe. You can manually adjust this however.

[Sandy_Bridge 11]

I think I have decided on SimBrief, thanks all of you for your input.

[skelsey 765]

They do different jobs.

 

Simbrief is primarily a document generator and will give you a very nice CFP -- in some cases probably nicer than PFPX -- but it will not generate a route for you. All it can do is process a route you give it, or give you the last couple of routes that other users have given it. Depending on where they got those routes from, they might be accurate/useful or they might not be.

 

PFPX on the other hand will generate a route for you from scratch and gives you the tools to automatically and quickly establish the optimum route for the conditions on any given day with a couple of button clicks. To achieve the same with Simbrief you'd have to plan the route by hand, plug it in, generate the CFP, note down the figures, go back, plug in the next route etc....

 

If you fly mainly short haul routes which tend to use fairly fixed, standardised routes and you have access to such routes then SImbrief is great. If you fly more long hauls which may use more variable routes, NAT tracks etc then the extra route planning power of PFPX may be useful.

 

Personally I don't think the two are mutually exclusive -- indeed, I often use them together, using PFPX to generate an optimised route which I then plug in to Simbrief for a more visually-realistic paper flight plan. In terms of the actual fuel/time predictions the two are more or less identical.

[fakeflyer737 991]

I use both, had SimBrief been available I probably wouldn't have purchased PFPX. 

[tf51d 284]

They do different jobs.

 

Simbrief is primarily a document generator and will give you a very nice CFP -- in some cases probably nicer than PFPX -- but it will not generate a route for you. All it can do is process a route you give it, or give you the last couple of routes that other users have given it. Depending on where they got those routes from, they might be accurate/useful or they might not be.

 

That definitely is an issue if you fly non-US flights, but Flightaware covers most if not all US flights with actual real world flightplans. So if you fly mostly US routes and flights, it's no issue at all, as it's very easy to import those plans into Simbrief.

[dmncnpilot 39]

I'm glad you made your decision. Simbrief is all you need.

[liftwartbertl 0]

On 12.10.2015 at 0:07 AM, Airline2Sim said:

Simbrief actually does the job very well. The only issue is rather funky alternates and only the option of one, whereas pfpx gives the more accurate option of up to four I believe.

In the meanwhile Simbrief has new and extended alternate options. But there is still the problem, that the tool suggests silly alternate airports, which have to be adapted manually.