I wanted a flight plan from Philadelphia (KPHL) to Athens, Greece (KATH). FSX routed me way down to the south Atlantic, around in a few circles and then back up to Greece. Probably not a realistic plan. So, how does FSX determine a route across the Atlantic and what planner would provide a more realistic route.

Try doing a VOR to VOR route.

FlightAware.com provides routing used by airlines whose departure or destination are in the US. See here for detailed routing including NAT tracks: http://flightaware.com/analysis/route.rvt?...estination=LGAVTo properly fly the plan, you'll need updated navdata as well as an aircraft that has an FMC, such as the LDS 763, PMDG 744, or install vasFMC.Regards,Jim Karn

The "automatic route" feature of the stock flight planner will not find you a North Atlantic Track (NAT) routing. You must enter that routing manually.The waypoints are all in the sim. Look just east and southeast of Newfoundland and you will see all of the starting waypoints for the NAT's.RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT

Thanks for the replies. Not sure I'm experienced enough to use the NAT charts but I'll try to learn.

Hi,I tested out the KPHL to Athens International on my computer using the FSX Flight Planner and got a perfect great circle route. You might try again. So, you can have a simplified routing if you wish.

You don't necessarily need the NAT charts. You do if you want to be 100% accurate, but if you only want to be 90% accurate, you can simply select a desired waypoint off the east coast of Newfoundland and then a waypoint off the west coast of Ireland, and FSX's flight planner will draw a great circle routing between the two points.Also, a great feature of the FSX flight planner is its ability to allow you to drag your routing in the window and create custom waypoints.RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT