Help with flight plans

[Rob G 62]

Hi everyone. Although I downloaded and installed MSFS as soon as it came out, and installed lots of great addons, the truth is that I still know practically nothing about actually flying.

The other day I found worldtour.flights on the internet, which provides lots of flight plans uploaded by other people. I read about how to load the flight plan into MSFS.

But I don't really know how to actually implement the flight plan once loaded.

So ........... questions:

1. What is the simplest plane to fly that can actually implement a loaded flight plan?

2. Where can I go to learn more about how to install and implement flight plans?

Thanks all. Seems I might be a newbie forever :-).

[turbomax 3,286]

 

do they not have google or youtube in your country?

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by turbomax

[FlyingGoose 405]

1 hour ago, Rob G said:

Hi everyone. Although I downloaded and installed MSFS as soon as it came out, and installed lots of great addons, the truth is that I still know practically nothing about actually flying.

The other day I found worldtour.flights on the internet, which provides lots of flight plans uploaded by other people. I read about how to load the flight plan into MSFS.

But I don't really know how to actually implement the flight plan once loaded.

So ........... questions:

1. What is the simplest plane to fly that can actually implement a loaded flight plan?

2. Where can I go to learn more about how to install and implement flight plans?

Thanks all. Seems I might be a newbie forever :-).

Don't worry, we all started out the same way - not knowing much about flying. 

To answer your questions - if you want to fly flight plans, you would need to learn a little bit about how flight plans work. There are many resources available on YouTube (see linked above). There's also a great book - https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Flight-Simulator-Pilots-Training/dp/0764588222/

Yes, it was written for FSX, but 99% of the contents and information carry right over to MSFS (flying hasn't really changed that much in the past 20 years). 

I used a combination of the book + YouTube to learn. YouTube can take a long time when you don't know what you don't know - but the book helps you understand things, and then you can watch videos to learn it inside MSFS. 

It's recommended to start small, in the Cessna 152 and learn about VFR flying (Visual Flight Rules). Then, move to IFR flying using navaids (navigational aids) such as VORs and NDBs. Once you know how these work in a small plane, you can move on to actual waypoint based flying. It sounds complicated, but it's not that bad. You can probably get through it in 3-4 weekends, if you spend 4-6 hours every weekend.

Easiest plan to fly an airliner flight plan is probably the Fly By Wire A320NX. This is, however, a large airliner so it can be somewhat intimidating to start with. On the flip side, there are LOADS of tutorials available (Search for 320SimPilot's videos) so all you need to do is watch and learn. 

Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask questions. Lots of people here want to help 

 

[Cpt_Piett 4,664]

@Rob G It takes a little while to overcome the initial hurdle, but once you start making some simple flight plans, I'm sure you'll progress fast. 

I'd start by making the first flight plans from the MSFS "world map". Choose the Cessna 172 G1000. Or if you want something a bit faster, pick the Beechcraft Bonanza or the Diamond DA40 NG. They all use the Garmin G1000 which is a very intuitive avionics suite. Pick your departure and destination by searching for the ICAO code e.g. EGLL for London Heathrow and EGCC for Manchester. Choose whether to start on the active runway or a parking spot from the drop-down menu. 

Then choose the type of flight plan

• Direct GPS
• VOR to VOR
• Low-altitude airways
• High-altitude airways

I'd start with direct GPS or VOR to VOR. Click "fly" and when you're in the cockpit the flight plan is ready to be used in the avionics. 

When you feel that you you can handle the basics quite well, progress to some low- or high altitude flightplans with SID (standard instrument departure), airways, STAR (standard arrival route) and approach (ILS, RNAV etc). 

And just ask here if you get stuck on something 🙂

Edited August 27, 2022 by Cpt_Piett

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

As you have seen above, the simplest aircraft that can "fly a flightplan" are small single engine airplanes with a Garmin GPS in the panel.  From there, you can graduate to bigger airplanes and more complex avionics.

The G1000 equipped C172 and Bonanza are also the two airplanes I would suggest starting with.

First thing is to get the (free) Working Title G1000NXi from the MSFS Marketplace. It really improves the default G1000.

Then try flying a simple flightplan with a few waypoints.

The autopilot in these two airplanes will fly the flightplan for you in NAV mode, if the G1000 is in GPS mode. 🙂

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by Bert Pieke