What is the BEST flight planning software?

[ssair1 92]

Besides Simbrief, what is the BEST flight planning software that gives out accurate FPs and TO information for PDMG aircraft etc.? I have EFASS NG and currently using Simbrief but have found many shortcomings in both products...

Kind regards, 

[Anxu00 176]

PFPX, Professional Flight Planner X @ Aerosoft Website

[ssair1 92]

I didn't want to mention PFPX since it's the elephant in the room. But are you happy with it? Any issues? I am mostly concerned about accuracy...

[tamsini 278]

Not a real-world-pilot but for flight simming, the Rolls Royce of combinations for me has to be PFPX + Aivlasoft EFB.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, ssair1 said:

I am mostly concerned about accuracy...

In what way exactly? I use ProATC/X to plan my flights (with one click of a button) and then copy it into PFPX mainly to give me a random pax+cargo load and to calculate the fuel needed. So I don't really use it to come up with the flights. If I do however it often gives me similar results as the ProATC planner. I always have the idea none of the planners give you flightplans that are the exact same as used in real life. There always seem to be random differences.

[krazyk 157]

PFPX all the way. 

[MatthewS 761]

• PFPX
• TopCat (by the makers of PFPX) integrates with PFPX and gives accurate Takeoff/landing calculations
• Navigraph for FMS Data (updates PFPX and many other products including PMDG) & has Charts (Online, Desktop, Android/Tablet)
• https://flightaware.com comes in handy to see what real world routes are being flown, in case you want to customize your PFPX routing to match.

[qqwertz 773]

7 hours ago, ssair1 said:

I didn't want to mention PFPX since it's the elephant in the room. But are you happy with it? Any issues? I am mostly concerned about accuracy...

My issues:

1) Flight numbers are forced into a certain pattern and I always never can enter the number that I want to. I don't mind very much, but it used to be more flexible 2 years ago or so.

2) This is something I really dislike about PFPX: it almost never produces a reasonable flight plan for me in Canada. The routes it produces are often 50% to 200% longer than direct. It works fine in Europe, but I think I wouldn't buy it again if I was only flying in Canada.

Having said that, I still prefer PFPX over Simbrief, but mostly because of the very convenient way to export flight plans in various formats. Simbrief enables you to export in more formats by now, but you have to download it and move it to the proper directory. Just not as convenient.

Accuracy: PFPX supports many more features (you can check routes for compliance with regulations in Europe, ETOPS is very detailed, etc.), but its accuracy depends on the quality of airplane templates. Those that come with PFPX are excellent, but a few templates that you can download will create very inaccurate flight plan data.

Peter

[MarkW 1,491]

1 hour ago, qqwertzde said:

My issues:

1) Flight numbers are forced into a certain pattern and I always never can enter the number that I want to. I don't mind very much, but it used to be more flexible 2 years ago or so.

2) This is something I really dislike about PFPX: it almost never produces a reasonable flight plan for me in Canada. The routes it produces are often 50% to 200% longer than direct. It works fine in Europe, but I think I wouldn't buy it again if I was only flying in Canada.

Having said that, I still prefer PFPX over Simbrief, but mostly because of the very convenient way to export flight plans in various formats. Simbrief enables you to export in more formats by now, but you have to download it and move it to the proper directory. Just not as convenient.

Accuracy: PFPX supports many more features (you can check routes for compliance with regulations in Europe, ETOPS is very detailed, etc.), but its accuracy depends on the quality of airplane templates. Those that come with PFPX are excellent, but a few templates that you can download will create very inaccurate flight plan data.

Peter

Why do you need PFPX to produce a flightplan for you in Canada?  Every commercial flightplan is on Flightaware.com for the day of the flight....actually for the hour you are flying in most cases.  If you are doing some odd route then I can see it but PFPX is also completely customizable where you can build the route from the route map and take any shortcut you like.

Personally I use the combination of flightaware (or my VA with RW plans in Europe) and PFPX.  For other parts of the world I just let PFPX build the flightplan and then I edit the pax and cargo so it gives me the fuel.  For GA flying I find Skyvector is great to build my own route using low altitude charts.

 

[beechcaptain 105]

2 hours ago, MatthewS said:

• PFPX
• TopCat (by the makers of PFPX) integrates with PFPX and gives accurate Takeoff/landing calculations
• Navigraph for FMS Data (updates PFPX and many other products including PMDG) & has Charts (Online, Desktop, Android/Tablet)
• https://flightaware.com comes in handy to see what real world routes are being flown, in case you want to customize your PFPX routing to match.

I agree 100% with Matthew (use everything he has listed in his post), and Mark.  I select my routes in Flightaware, then build my flight plans in PFPX, utilizing AS4 for live weather and TopCat for t/o & landing data. I also use Navigraph for AIRAC/FMS data (PMDG A/C) and online charts.  In the past I used FSBuild and FSCommander.  Still use FSCommander for GA flights.  I highly recommend PFPX.  It is a great product.

[ssair1 92]

3 hours ago, J van E said:

In what way exactly? 

 

Accurate in the sense of the software’s calculations. I have Foreflight and it gives me real world flight plans, mainly GA flights, that have been filed within certain time-frames; it’s a great reference for both my “simming” and real-life flights. The only thing that none of the programs mentioned in this post cannot accurately spit out are factors such as TO performance figures, i.e. de-rated thrust settings, that airlines use; they cost millions of dollars. I guess I’m looking for something coherent in its calculations but thanks for your input!

Regards,

[ssair1 92]

9 minutes ago, beechcaptain said:

I agree 100% with Matthew (use everything he has listed in his post), and Mark.  I select my routes in Flightaware, then build my flight plans in PFPX, utilizing AS4 for live weather and TopCat for t/o & landing data. I also use Navigraph for AIRAC/FMS data (PMDG A/C) and online charts.  In the past I used FSBuild and FSCommander.  Still use FSCommander for GA flights.  I highly recommend PFPX.  It is a great product.

PFPX seems to be the general consensus and Navigraph has great products to which I've been a subscriber for a while now. In your opinion, what are the advantages of using FlightAware instead of PFPX for building flight plans? 

Regards, 

[Iceman2 110]

PFPX is by far the most realistic software for flight planning. 

But it’s a full dispatchers tool that requires some careful thought before releasing a flight plan. Real world Dispatchers are trained for many days before being able to release flight plans. 

Its amazing that this simulated professional dispatchers tool has been made available to us simmers bringing this and aircraft like PMDG, FSlabs & others together for the most realistic experience possible. A big thank you here...

However because real world route choice is rather complicated depending on many many factors like weather, winds, restricted airspace, level restrictions etc etc, the easiest thing to do (like what MarkW said above) is to edit the route in PFPX and copy and paste a desired route from FlightAware.

Auto route manufacturing within PFPX will work but in most cases will not produce the most efficient route because it simply tries to follow the Airways. 

Once the route is chosen, PFPX will produce a very accurate professional looking flight plan for you to use and enjoy. Of course it’s an airliners dispatchers tool so its a bit of an overkill if you’re only intending to fly a Cessna somewhere.

I give it a 10 outa 10.

IM

[ssair1 92]

I've gone ahead and purchased PFPX and since I already have TOPCAT they even were kind enough to give me a 10 percent discount. Does anyone know where I can find the configuration file for the PDMG 737NG? Thank you, everyone, for the inputs! 

Kind regards, 

[Tokitaumelie 164]

Login to you aerosoft account, and the profiles for PFPX are available under the downloads section for PFPX.

Hope this helps

 

Kind regards