Could be I am misunderstanding something, but I think the simulator's ATC does not use SB altitudes which is rather annoying during arrivals.

3 hours ago, Jeff Nielsen said:

OK guys,

…

Now, why do we like SB so much in flight sim?  It's because we can up and downlink from SB to the aircraft's (FMC) and our other apps (charts, GSX, flight trackers-logbooks, and whatever else that can read simbrief).  It makes things a lot easier and turnkey.  We also have aircraft specific profiles for SB for the aircraft we fly.  We can prefile on our favorite on-line network when flying online.  This is just to name a few.

 

 

I guess there are two aspects to comparing SB and the built-in planner... On one hand, there are some elements of SB that help make the sim more realistic than using the world map planner. Then there are aspects of both SB and the built-in planner that make things easier depending on your workflow and priorities. I think it’s ok to suggest SimBrief can be more realistic, but i you can also use it in unrealistic ways.

I think if I get back into flying airliners, I might try to make the process as realistic as possible and take advantage of SimBrief. 

BTW, In the real world, is a flight plan “loaded” into the FMS automatically from the airline’s ground systems, or is it entered waypoint by waypoint by the flight crew when prepping the aircraft? Or does that depend on the airline and aircraft?

Edited August 15, 20232 yr by Virtual-Chris

20 minutes ago, Virtual-Chris said:

I guess there are two aspects to comparing SB and the built-in planner... On one hand, there are some elements of SB that help make the sim more realistic than using the world map planner. Then there are aspects of both SB and the built-in planner that make things easier depending on your workflow and priorities. I think it’s ok to suggest SimBrief can be more realistic, but i you can also use it in unrealistic ways.

I think if I get back into flying airliners, I might try to make the process as realistic as possible and take advantage of SimBrief. 

BTW, In the real world, is a flight plan “loaded” into the FMS automatically from the airline’s ground systems, or is it entered waypoint by waypoint by the flight crew when prepping the aircraft? Or does that depend on the airline and aircraft?

I can't speak to that as I don't work for an airline nor am I a professional type rated pilot.  I'm only a PPL-ASEL.  I've just been simming since the first pre windows first version of FS.  

I would imagine it depends on the airline, the aircraft, and what equipment they have.  All of those ACARS services and those offered by Rockwell and others cost a ton of money, and it depends on what the operator is certified/authorized to use based on their training programs, etc..

That kind of stuff is usually outlined in their GOM and on file with the FAA also, for US based operators.

When we got our new CL350s we could use the free text services from the OPS side, but didn't send flight plans, or any of that stuff even though it was turned on.  We had a self-dispatching pilot group also.  Our pilots manually entered their flight plans.  Believe it or not we still used flightplan.com...lol.  There are much better all in one solutions like Jepp has for 91/135 operators that are really neat that go from the scheduling software right up the pipe to the pilots EFBs (JeppFD).

Here in flight sim land, we actually have it much easier than most operators.  Now, it's more of a case of life imitating art in a lot of ways.  Life, especially in real world aviation takes much-much longer to catch up.

Edited August 15, 20232 yr by Jeff Nielsen

2 hours ago, Virtual-Chris said:

BTW, In the real world, is a flight plan “loaded” into the FMS automatically from the airline’s ground systems, or is it entered waypoint by waypoint by the flight crew when prepping the aircraft? Or does that depend on the airline and aircraft?

I can’t speak for every airline, but we enter them in by hand.

On 8/13/2023 at 9:04 AM, Virtual-Chris said:

What am I missing?

Nothing. At least not for your kind of flying.

It all depends on what's important to you.

I myself like to operate a plane as realistically as possible. I always start cold and dark on a parking spot and end cold and dark too. However, I also like my flights to be short and sweet. A year or so ago I mainly flew the Fenix A320 and used SimBrief for each and every flight. I picked a departure and destination (usually using LNM), entered both in SB, set everything up as I wanted, created the plan, started the sim and did the entire prep (entering fuel, weights, calculating vref, loading the plan into the MCDU, the whole lot). However... doing the complete setup (so using the entire checklist) at the start of every flight became tedious, a chore, boring. And doing a complete flight simply took way too long for me (even when I did the prep as quick as was possible). I could of course skip the setup part and start a flight on the runway... but I just can't do that. That doesn't satisfy me. I somehow HAVE to start cold and dark and do things properly according to the checklist. If I skip a few parts I often end up not completing the flight.

So... how did I solve my problem? Well, I ditched the A320 as soon as the Vision Jet was released. The VJ feels like a (very) simplified Airbus to me. (With a GREAT view outside!). I also ditched SimBrief and started to use the MSFS planner. I made EVERYTHING as simple and basic as possible (I even stopped using FSHud and went back to the default ATC!). Since my flights always take around 30 to 60 minutes I can't care less about weights and fuel or winds or step climbs: I simply load one pilot (that's me!), no pax, and keep the default fuel (which always is more than enough). That's it. I use the MSFS planner to set the dep (parking spot) and arr and let MSFS pick the route all procedures. I then manually select the approach I want and often delete the SID. And quite often also the STAR. I start the flight and can do the ENTIRE checklist in a few minutes (including the tests, setting FOB, etc.) so it really feels VERY 'realistically as possible'. I ONLY do the things that satisfy ME. And I still get my 'realistically-as-possible-fix' but in a lot less time. I can do an entire flight (including the entire prep) within an hour. Or sometimes 45 minutes. PERFECT for my needs. Since I use the default ATC (which works great for my current kind of flights) I even use the taxi ribbon (have it enabled by default LOL)!!!

So I simply do what I like to do. I might change my habits in the future but that's the great thing about this hobby: you CAN change everything anytime you want to. I skip some parts but do everything I need to keep myself satisfied and to ME it feels very realistic, as if I actually own a Vision Jet. I fly it by the book. I am having the time of my life. I am SIMMING even though I use the MFS planner, default ATC, the taxi ribbon and don't care about W&B LOL

In short: the OP is missing nothing by not using SimBrief because his way of flying clearly satisfies him and suits his kind of flying well. (And btw I have to agree the MSFS planner is not cumbersome at all: it's actually pretty darned good! Just as default ATC is btw, with all its quirks. Even FSHud can become cumbersome and a chore and quite annoying.)

Everyone should decide for himself what works well and what doesn't. And everyone should not care what others think of it. The goal of it all is to have a good time!