F/P Import Airways and Auto Plan Airways

[Denco 48]

Whenever I import a flight plan from FSC or EFASS the VIA is always direct for every waypoint. Do we have to manually define airways for imported flight plans or is this a bug?

 

I have the same question for Auto Plan. I did a quick test plan and noticed that the VIA tab is always filled with via SID or via STAR etc. If I were to enter this into the FMC every waypoint would be a direct, correct?

 

 

I must say that P2A has some really amazing features. The latest Auto Plan caught me by surprise and I think it's a really great feature. Is there a road map for what is yet to come?

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Flight plans in the .fms X-Plane formats do not include airways that I know of.  If you have some that do, please email them to me and I'll have a look.  So, without the information, P2A uses via direct.

If you are entering into an advanced FMC, then you can just enter the procedure name and it will populate it for you.

 

If you are entering into X-Plane's basic FMC, a better approach is to Export the full flight plan from P2A in fms format and then load the entire thing into X-Plane.  No entry required.  Just use the Load button on the FMC.  Each FMC or GPS is going to be different on how this is done, but if it can load .fms format files, it should work.

 

There is not a formal roadmap at this point.  The feature set for Version 2 is fairly complete.  Version 2 work will focus on fixing bugs with the existing features and there will be a version 3.0 at some point with plenty more to come.

 

Dave

[Denco 48]

Flight plans in the .fms X-Plane formats do not include airways that I know of.  If you have some that do, please email them to me and I'll have a look.  So, without the information, P2A uses via direct.

If you are entering into an advanced FMC, then you can just enter the procedure name and it will populate it for you.

I did not know that. Thanks.

 

 

 

There is not a formal roadmap at this point.  The feature set for Version 2 is fairly complete.  Version 2 work will focus on fixing bugs with the existing features and there will be a version 3.0 at some point with plenty more to come.

 

The future looks bright

[ckelly14 7]

Just to clarify- does the Auto plan feature create flight plans with airways (like EFASS does) or do you need to add airways/intersections between the given SID and STAR?  Every auto plan I created had direct between the SID and STAR.  Just making sure I am not missing a feature.

Thanks.  Great program!

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

The Auto Plan only adds SIDs, STARs and Approaches.  For short hops, that may be all you want or need.  For longer flights, you'll want to grab a flight plan with waypoints and possibly airways from FlightAware or a flight planning tool like EFASS.  Then you can use AutoPlan to add the procedures and have a complete plan.

[ckelly14 7]

Thanks Dave.  Is this a feature you will think of adding?  I guess I can add airways after the fact?

I just starting flying heavy jets a few months ago, so forgive this basic question.  In the real world, do pilots have an idea about their STAR approach ahead of time (when filing their flight plan) or are they just assigned them before descent?  Is it more "realistic" to file a flight plan with airport to airport only, then get assigned my SID and STAR later? 

Thanks

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

You can think of the flight plan as 3 distinct parts.  Departure, En-Route, Arrival. 

There are many ways to build a plan, but here's one that works:

1) Go to Flight Aware and enter the Departure and Arrival Airports and pick a flight to view

2) Pick up the route in the right hand side of the page below the map.  Here's one for a Delta Flight from  KJFK to KLAX:  RBV J230 AIR OTMAN EMPTY FFO SHB TTH STL J134 GUP DRK J231 HIPPI GABBL HLYWD1

Notice Only the route and the name of the STAR are displayed.  At Flight Aware, you might also get the name of the SID.  In either case, these will be stripped when imported into P2A as they are not part of the "route".  Highlight and use Ctl-C to copy the route to your clipboard.

3) Open the FP Import window in P2A, enter KJFK then Ctl-V to paste the route then KLAX.  You end up with KJFK RBV J230 AIR OTMAN EMPTY FFO SHB TTH STL J134 GUP DRK J231 HIPPI GABBL HLYWD1 KLAX in the white text area.

4) Select FlightAware from the Source dropdown and press Import.  It may take a few seconds to load for such a long plan.  You'll end up with a full route including any specified Airways and all their waypoints.

5) Now either press AutoPlan to let P2A pick the SID/STAR and Approach, or individually select them.  You'll want to plan for the full Departure and Arrival so fuel and time estimates will be accurate.  You can expect the procedures to possibly be changed by ATC, but at least you want to start with a full plan.  Never a good idea to rely on ATC to do your planning for you.

6) File and when you call for clearance you need to listen up for a possible different SID.  As you approach the destination, ATC will tell you what Arrival and Approach to expect.  At that time, if they are different from the planned ones, put the new assigned procedures into the FMC.

 

 

[ckelly14 7]

Thank you!  I created a flight plan in EFASS with airways and it imported perfectly fine with P2ATC.  I am getting a few unrecognized waypoints when I load it into my FMC.  Using the most recent navigraph data...

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Could be a problem with EFASS or if you have a different AIRAC cycle loaded into P2A, the procedures would potentially have out of date waypoints.  Just update P2A's Navigraph data in that case.

Dave

[ckelly14 7]

I realized that EFASS was outdated,thanks!