Flight Planning

As you can see from Spock's fine example above, no matter how far into the future we dwell, flight planning is always the logical solution, Captain. That is why it is very important for a good Captain to have the resources he/she needs to properly plan a good flight, regardless of if it is in real life or in the simulation environment.

Below are banners which lead to various flight information sites. Some contain real world charts which are up to date, but for the most part I am listing these resources for fliight simulation use only. Please do NOT use these resources for real world navigation, unless the site specifically states otherwise.

FlightAware is a site for tracking IFR files US based flights. This is a GREAT resource for getting official routes to use when doing IFR flights across the Continental US. Also, flights arriving in or departing the US file as well, so you can get some good intercontinental flight routes as well. Registration is FREE and i recommend registering for easier use of this site's services.

AirNav is a resource for current IFR charts and information on airports and navaids. This is strictly US based, but is a resource which is great for not only FS pilots, but real world pilots as well. These charts CAN be used for real world navigation as they are official and current, and i use them myself when doing real IFR flight planning. If you are a subscriber to Navigraph's navdata, then these will go great as they should match your AIRAC cycles. Services provided by this site are FREE and need no registration.

Navigraph is a paid subscription service which privides up-to-date navdata for FSX (and FS2004 if you are still using it). They support almost all of the major add-ons which use FMCs, MCDUs or CDUs to program the aircraft.

RotueFinder is an online tool used to do quick planning for routes around the world. This information can not be used for real world navigation, but it is a great reference for planning virtual flights in FSX. For those that do not wish to do extensive route planning on their own, this is a great, quick tool to use.

RouteFinder

The resources above are all I use for flight planning. If you have suggestions for sites to list here which would assist FSX pilots in simulating real world, simulation level flight planning, please contact me with your suggestion. All logos and banners above are Copyright © by each respective entity and all credit for the artwork goes to each respective website.