Flightplanning

[andrej]

Hello all,
until today, I was using PFPX for my flight planning purposes. Now, I stupidly disabled my license and it will take months for me to retrieve it (it is home country). This makes/forces me to consider alternatives. What a loss for the community that we have no longer updated this amazing tool.

So, what is the PSX standard now for route planning, and weather inputs? Is SimBrief and Simfest (thank you team!) the way to go? Is there any tutorial how to go about it? I am still on MSFS2020 and single laptop (I hope to upgrade to MSFS2024 and new setup later this year).

Thank you in advance for any guidance / help / suggestion!

Best,
Andrej

[Hardy Heinlin]

Hello Andrej, as your topic is about add-ons, I'll move this thread to the Accessories forum, if you don't mind :-)


Regards,

|-|ardy

[Will]

Hello Andrej,

I used PFPX for years until they lost the ability to natively provide real weather. (There are solutions for obtaining real weather using additional apps.)

So I migrated to the combination of SimBrief+TOPCAT. I do miss PFPX, but SimBrief and TOPCAT are a good combo. They are both pretty easy to learn.

[andrej]

Hi Hardy,
please do as needed, I should have start it there. Sorry about this.

Hello Will,
thanks for the advise. I am slowly incorporating it. Just want to ask, about SimBrief, you can input winds data as easy as from PFPX?

Thanks!

[Will]

Hello Will,
thanks for the advise. I am slowly incorporating it. Just want to ask, about SimBrief, you can input winds data as easy as from PFPX?

Yes, you can copy and paste winds from the SimBrief OFP into the PSX wind corridor, if that's what  you're asking. SimBrief certainly does take winds into account when calculating time and performance.

[andrej]

Hello Will,
thanks so much! Then I am sorted.

Best,
Andrej

[B747-400]

Hi,

SimBrief OFP includes following wind information:

Code Select Expand

6712N10054W      6211N10527W      IKLIX            YMM
360 298/031 -46  380 274/038 -50  380 261/028 -52  380 214/014 -52
340 296/035 -48  360 271/048 -52  360 252/041 -56  360 204/031 -57
320 298/033 -50  340 269/058 -54  340 247/054 -60  340 201/049 -62
300 301/032 -52  320 264/069 -55  320 240/057 -57  320 201/044 -58
280 302/032 -51  300 261/079 -55  300 235/060 -54  300 200/038 -53
When pasting them into Corridor on Instructor window, PSX reports an invalid format for 6712N10054W.

Two questions:

- how should I handle such mixed information?
- if I write them via Qs498, is there any feedback from PSX if such an error occurs?

Thx and best regards
Hans

[Hardy Heinlin]

6712N10054W is not a valid waypoint name because it's longer than 7 characters.

It must be 1 to 3 characters long in order to be found in the navaid database.
Or 4 characters long in order to be found in the ILS or airport database.
Or 5 characters long in order to be found in the waypoint database.
Or 7 characters long in order to have an abbreviated FMC lat/lon format like N67W100, for example.

It makes no difference if you inject the text via network instead of by copy & paste. The pasted text too will be a Q injection in the end anyway.


|-|ardy

[B747-400]

Excellent, thanx Hardy!

So my injector cannot recognize if PSX detects an error, I guess?

BR
Hans

[Hardy Heinlin]

The format must be in one of the text formats shown in the "NG FMC & More" manual on page 82 and 83.

Your route must have valid waypoint names for the FMC LEGS page. PSX needs to find the waypoint names in the active FMC route, and if they are not there, PSX will search its databases. PSX needs to find the lat/lon coords of those waypoints in order to build the respective weather corridor on the planet.

The best thing is to choose a text format that includes lat/lon data – that is format D or E – so that PSX can read the locations directly and a search won't be required. This makes the situation file loading faster.


Regards,

|-|ardy

[B747-400]

Thx for all the info!

Injecting extracted data from SimBrief OFP works well.

BR
Hans

[Hardy Heinlin]

Where does your 6712N10054W come from?

[B747-400]

From the SimBrief OFP XML file you can retrieve via web API.

There are different table headers (0500S08730E, 15S100E etc.) as you can see below.

Code Select Expand

                          WIND INFORMATION                         
                          ----------------                         

CLIMB            T O C            IKARO            URNIL
350 293/070 -48  330 300/069 -47  330 300/069 -47  330 288/060 -46
310 308/074 -45  310 308/074 -45  310 308/074 -45  310 300/058 -45
200 311/052 -29  290 311/073 -43  290 311/073 -43  290 303/052 -44
150 304/036 -21  270 310/066 -41  270 310/066 -41  270 298/041 -43
100 319/031 -11  250 305/049 -39  250 305/049 -39  250 292/030 -41

BIBGO            LAVOX            KADAP            0500S08730E
370 114/022 -49  370 069/017 -49  390 088/028 -54  390 102/016 -54
350 104/017 -44  350 067/010 -44  370 088/026 -49  370 101/016 -49
330 092/013 -38  330 064/006 -38  350 088/023 -43  350 097/016 -43
310 078/010 -33  310 059/004 -32  330 088/020 -38  330 096/015 -38
290 061/011 -27  290 354/005 -27  310 090/017 -33  310 101/015 -32

BEBIM            15S100E          18S105E          WONSA
390 057/014 -54  410 047/010 -59  410 049/016 -57  410 035/023 -56
370 050/013 -48  390 034/009 -53  390 053/019 -52  390 043/022 -50
350 045/012 -43  370 031/012 -48  370 048/015 -47  370 041/020 -45
330 045/009 -37  350 030/015 -42  350 033/009 -42  350 035/017 -39
310 062/005 -32  330 038/016 -37  330 019/006 -36  330 028/013 -34

CAR              BORVI            TOPIR            AVPAL
410 308/009 -55  410 286/023 -55  410 282/035 -55  420 277/049 -57
390 275/010 -50  390 277/023 -49  390 281/034 -49  400 273/050 -52
370 268/011 -44  370 273/022 -44  370 274/033 -44  380 271/050 -47
350 265/010 -39  350 270/020 -39  350 266/032 -38  360 269/047 -42
330 267/010 -33  330 267/019 -33  330 262/030 -33  340 267/044 -37

T O D            DESCENT
420 277/049 -57  350 268/046 -40
400 273/050 -52  310 273/035 -30
380 271/050 -47  200 270/011 -09
360 269/047 -42  150 253/010 +02
340 267/044 -37  100 286/008 +10
Similar with SIGMET information. Sometimes there is an "AND" instead of "-"
N OF N3355 AND E OF E03055   instead of   N OF N3355 - E OF E03055

Code Select Expand

LCCC  NICOSIA FIR
  WS  SIGMET I01 VALID 180200/180600 LCLK- LCCC NICOSIA FIR
             SEV ICE FCST N OF N3355 AND E OF E03055 FL070/200 MOV
             E 25KT NC=
  WS  SIGMET U01 VALID 180200/180600 LCLK- LCCC NICOSIA FIR
             SEV TURB FCST N OF LINE N3604 E03020 - N3445 E03020 -
             N3445 E03320 - N3555 E03510 FL160/400 MOV E 15KT NC=
So I catch those things and convert them.

That was the reason why I was curious about PSX feedback in case of unwanted content, as I'm not really sure what else may be not compatible!

BR
Hans

[Hardy Heinlin]

And how does this 0500S08730E get into your FMC LEGS page? Doesn't SimBrief generate a route file that can be loaded in the FMC?

[B747-400]

Yep! There are tons of formats! Luckily .route is available as well.

Or the manual entry, if it is not as long as the testroute below (sniplet from XML file) ...

Code Select Expand

<route>DCT MES UL609 RDS UL995 VANZA N134 SAFTA L324 LAKTO L560 SILKA J852 BOVET DCT MEDRO J852 GOKSA M872 BDB J852 DAW M872 TASBA DCT KAVUR M872 KIA N687 KINIB Z511 GISRA L681 GINTO M430 DOH L305 KIVUS P559 PUSOT DCT DATOB DCT ANVIX L223 TARDI N629 GIDAN P570 KITAL L894 BIBGO DCT LAVOX DCT KADAP DCT 0500S08730E DCT BEBIM DCT 15S100E 18S105E DCT WONSA DCT CAR B469 TOPIR L514 AVPAL Q38 JULIM JULI6A</route>
BR Hans