Hi all,I just plotted out a flight plan using paper charts for a flight from Manchester (england) to Rekjavik(?) in iceland. I then fed this into Simroutes.com, and used it to print out with all the courses, leg distances etc. However, when I try to load the pln file into FS9 it rejects it, and if I try to recreate the route in the FS9 flight planner, lo and behold half the waypoints don't exist. I struggled for a while thinking how I can get round it, then I thought:Do I actually need FS9 to know the flight plan at all anymore? RC knows the route (from the pln file generated by Simroutes.com), and the FMS's in my 2 main aircraft know the route, can I just dump the plane at the starting gate and forget about it?***On a (very tenuously) related matter, If I generate a plan using FS9, and the same plan using Simroutes, although the waypoints tally up, there is a discrepancy between the lat and long coordinates of the start and end airports. In Fs9 I always set to start at a gate, so does this account for the difference? If I use the unmodified simroutes plan, and start at a gate, will this throw RC off track? It's easy enough to modify the simroutes plan with the correct coordinates, I'm just curious if it will make any difference if I don't.Sorry it's long winded, cheers!Ady

any .pln will do. i read the lat/longs out of the .pln filei wouldn't worry about a difference between the airports' lat/longs - as long as they are on the same continent :-)

FS9 gets its airport data including center location and runway location data (center, tresholds, navaids, etc.) from the scenery builder data base. It will read your ground aircraft coordinates and in the air. Your starting airport and ending airport coordinates in the flight plan do not matter unless you start your aircraft very far from the airport specified in the plan in which case RC will move the aircraft to the departure airport specified in the plan. By extracting airport information from your scenery, it will keep arrival and departure vectors synchronized with your scenery as you acquire any add-on sceneries and AFCADs. Run the scenery database utility any time you modify scenery (including AFCADs) after starting FS to allow the scenery index to rebuild followed by closing FS.As jd stated w2aypoint names and coordinates come from the FS9 .pln file you load and these determine RC's checking of your navigation as you progress along this route.From RC's point of view, FS9 does not need a plan loaded into it. If you intend to use navigation by GPS or similar instruments, some gauges require loading the plan into FS9 for obtaining the plan and others load the plan directly via their own mechanism. Just make sure you load the same plan into both so your enroute navigation waypoint locations match in RC and your navigation guidance equipment in the aircraft.

Hi, thanks for your replies>> By extracting airport information from your scenery, it will keep arrival and departure vectors synchronized with your scenery as you acquire any add-on sceneries and AFCADsAha, but does this confirm my suspicion that the Simroutes coordinates, being different to my scenery coordinates, will confuse RC?>> If you intend to use navigation by GPS or similar instruments, some gauges require loading the plan into FS9 for obtaining the plan and others load the plan directly via their own mechanism. Just make sure you load the same plan into both so your enroute navigation waypoint locations match in RC and your navigation guidance equipment in the aircraft.This was my original problem, FS9 won't accept the plan I created. I only use aircraft with an FMS so this shouldn't be a problem. As far as I can see the only thing i'll be missing out on is the 'View Flight Analysis' feature, so I can't check weather I was right on the line, but it's no biggie.Cheers! Ady

how will it confuse rc. rc is using the same coordinates as the .pln's coordinates? as long as you fly the .pln, you'll be finejd

If your FMS and RC take the Simroute exports from the same plan you are all set. It sounds like you are loading your FMS from the Simroutes data.Your navigation for landing final (LOC, ILS APPR, VOR, NDB) will be governed by the scenery navaids so your plan destination coordinate does not have to match exactly. I'd avoid any RNAV procedure all the way to touchdown but it will get you close enough for a LOC merge if you decide on an IAP approach, otherwise you can just let RC provide vectors to the navaid merge.Departure will not be a problem. If your first waypoint (such as in a SID) is in the plan and less than 30 nm from takeoff, then you'll get on takeoff clearance a fly as filed. If it is more than 30 nm you'll get vectors lining you up to do a direct-to that waypoint when departure releases you.When departure does release you, make sure on your FMS you do a direct-to, not a return to the original path.