After years of work, I'm pleased to announce that the most in-depth freeware flight planning tool ever developed, "SimBrief", is now available for use! Planning a scheduled flight for a major airline is a complicated task with many factors to consider. In order to maximize efficiency, major airlines around the world employ specially trained Flight Dispatchers. Using specialized flight planning software, they check weather, select a route, make fuel calculations, choose suitable alternates, and check current NOTAMs to ensure the flight is conducted as safely and efficiently as possible. Once the dispatcher has completed their calculations, they use their flight planning software to generate a detailed "Operational Flight Plan" for use by the airline's pilots, who benefit from having all the pertinent data for their flight in one complete package. SimBrief effectively simulates the Flight Dispatcher's role, allowing virtual pilots to generate in-depth Briefing Packages containing the same layout and data as the ones used by real airline pilots every day. SimBrief is capable of generating flight plans which include:
A detailed waypoint listing (i.e. Navlog)
Accurate performance and fuel calculations for over 50 aircraft types
Fuel figures satisfying all legal requirements, such as reserve and alternate fuel
Step climb planning based on actual aircraft weight
In depth ETOPS calculations, including entry, exit, and equal time points between ETOPS alternates
Selection of suitable destination and ETOPS alternates based on current weather forecasts
Real world weather and winds aloft forecasts
Real world NOTAMs provided by the FAA
A link to prefile the generated flight on VATSIM in just a few mouse clicks
All you provide is the departure, destination, and route, and the SimBrief system calculates the rest! A sample flight plan can be viewed here: http://www.simbrief.com!