Flight Planning 101

[Guest]

Okay, I'd like to try some proper flight planning. I don't want to make a flight plan in the Fly!II flight planner, only to later find out it takes me straight through restricted air space.Anybody willing to give me some basic info on this, like where to find resources and such? :) Is it possible to use the sectional charts in Fly!II for this purpose, or do you have to actually get physical copies? Things like that.Thanks.John IvanENHD

[Guest]

I find planning the flight to be very enjoyable aspect of simming; it also is exactly what should be happening anyway ;-). You can use the sectionals with FLY, however I find it most useful to use paper charts. You can buy them on-line at various pilot outlets. However, I'm cheap so I keep all the charts I have acquired from sims (the most useful has been the set of USA charts from the old ATP sim). I like hard copies as then I can lay a straight edge on the chart and exactly determine my headings. Many routes are really just following the victor airways, or when using the Hawker, the jet ways. For the victor airways, the FLY sectionals are good. There's also a site for on line sectionals; I'll put that in a second post. First of all, turn off the GPS! Try an entire flight without it; you'll learn a lot and also train for the day it goes out (won't happen in a sim, but...) I first import the latest metar into Infometar and get the weaher at the departure and arrival points and look for sigmet along the way. The weather briefing then lets me know which will be the active runway at the destination. I then use Simplates (don't know if they are still around but I got it from www.dauntless-soft.com) to pull up the approach plates and STAR for the arrival airport. I then plan the approach for the appropriate runway, including altitudes, etc. I then lay out the route using the appropriate VOR's and NDB's. Only then do I start FLY and input the flight plan in it. I also check in FLY that the nav frequencies are right. I have made up an Excel spreadsheet for flight planning so I can write in weather, ATC frequencies, the route, the approach, a quick sketch of the arrival airport with where to park noted, and a column for general notes. I found this sort of info readily available to be invaluable when I did real flying in Bronze Age :-) It's very satisfying to complete a flight after the all this advanced work; and it's what any pilot would do anyway. If you need more info, let me know.

[Guest]

Site for on line charts. They are small, but somewhat usable: www.aerochart.com/mapping/chart/smartchart.cfm

[Guest]

Hey, thanks a lot! :) Just what I wanted to know. (So I wasn't that far off in the first place...) And what you describe is exactly what I want to try - flight planning in detail from a to z. Or as close as I can get. :)I don't have any paper charts yet so I'll try to use the Fly sectionals for now, but is there a way to see the whole chart? Scrolling around? It's always centered on my plane. It's fine for short flights, but difficult for longer flights.I've found approach plates and STARs online, so I got those. It's just the small matter of getting from one airport to the other...John IvanENHD

[Guest rene_35]

Hi,at ROTW we are working on a Flight planner.It's on this moment in alpha version and in internal team test.This is a pic (reduced) of the planner window.

http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3d55904752b710f3.jpg

Ren

[Guest]

Hi ReneThat looks like an amazing tool that you are working on.Thanks for sharing the preview and keep us posted.Kind regardsAlfred

[Guest]

Vous etes tout simplement incroyables!!!Rien ne peut vous arreter!!!

[Guest ben_]

ReneWhat would we do without the ROTW team ?Looks great!Ben

[Guest]

>>I don't have any paper charts yet so I'll try to use the Fly >sectionals for now, but is there a way to see the whole >chart? Scrolling around? It's always centered on my plane. >It's fine for short flights, but difficult for longer >flights. > Yes, that's why I never found the FLY charts to be particularly useful. Yesterday's announcement of maptech.com 's sale on CD of outdated charts for simming looks good. The ROTW flight planner looks promising also. I'm going to call maptech tomorrow to check out their prices.

[rodger 0]

Hi John,yes you can scroll around the map. Hold down the shift key while hoding down the left mouse button and dragging the map wherever you want it. To go back to center the map, just hold down the Strg key and double click on the map. It is exactly the same way it worked in Fly2k.Hope this helps,Cheers :-beerchug Rodger