Plan-G Questions

[SEATAC 400]

I am new to Plan-G.  I find it quite interesting, but also rather unusual.  I realize it is freeware and the author is kind enough to make his hard work available to all.  But I find it to be very, very slow to respond while creating a flight plan.

Zooming in and out has quite a lag.  Has anyone else experienced this?

 

I like the detail in the printed flight plans as far as departure and arrival airports, IFR frequencies, elevation, etc.

But my real question is can Plan-G create IFR flight plans like FSX does or anything similar to a real-world flight plan?  I know how to create a direct to from one airport to another, but then I have to manually enter my own waypoints in between.  I know I can import a flight plan from FSX, but if I go to the trouble of creating it first in FSX in order to get all of the waypoints in it, but then why bother with Plan-G if I have to create it in FSX first?

 

Is there a way to import SID's/STAR's?

How do you delete a waypoint?  Right-clicking on one does not show a 'delete' option.

 

Thanks in advance for any information!

 

[brett 2,283]

Hi Richard, I love this planner.   

 

First, PlanG was never designed to be used for IFR, just VFR and I do not think Tim plans on doing that in the future either.

 

2. To delete a waypoint, right-click on the waypoint in the flight plan popup box tool, not on the actual map waypoint. There you can rename, delete, move it up and down and such.

 

3. To create an IFR flight plan I usually use RouteFinder or something along those lines and them manually put the waypoints in. To save it you need to use the export option to turn it into a .pln file. It saves in right in your FSX documents folder if you link it in your options section.

 

Not as good as having a payware planner like FSNavigator but works for me, I enjoy doing it myself.

 

4. If PlanG(uses FSX imported data) does not have the correct SID/STAR intersection I just right-click on the map page and click on Add a Waypoint to Plan and make my own. Don't forget that John has been creating downloadable waypoints to add to the sim(close to 3,000 now) You can add via your addon scenery folder. 

 

5. If I create an IFR plan using FSX, I then open it in PlanG to touch it up and also to use as an inflight moving map, using the Connect button, to create a breadcrumb trail. This allows me to view my mistakes later when flying using old fashion navigation or to just keep track of a flight in general.

 

If you find that it is running slow, see if too many other programs are running at the same time as it does use resources up. It might require a redownload and reinstall. Did you install it outside of your Program Files? I think that is best.

 

The developer Tim Arnot is a long time member here and can probably help you out with this a lot better than me, maybe he will weigh in here for you. PlanG also has it's own active forum with plenty of hints and tips too. 

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

[allardjd 1,853]

Item 2 in Brett's list...

 

[SEATAC 400]

Brett and John, Thanks for the taking the time to answer my questions.  I actually figured out how to delete a waypoint after some reading of the manual.

 

So if it is not for IFR, then what is the IFR button for?  Just for selecting altitude according tot he user manual.

 

This was a fresh install, just did it today.  Nothing else running at the moment, but when I zoom in it seems to be a bit of a lag.  just thought it was odd.  Anyway, I do notice quite a few features of Plan-G that I like.  I think after I get the hang of it I may install on my laptop and use that as the moving map when running FSX.  That way there will not be any additional load on my FSX PC, plus I don't like running lots of windows when I am flying.  I currently use a second monitor for other things such as the GPS, FMC, etc.

 

[allardjd 1,853]

Don't forget you can use it to display my airport diagrams too. If you tell Plan-G where the airport diagram files are located, and if there's an airport diagram available for an airport you can get directly to it from the right-click menu.

 

If you're going to use real world sources for flight plan waypoints you may also want to consider my add-on waypoints. It's just a couple of bgls that go in the Add-On Scenery/Scenery folder. I posted an update today and there are now about 2,560 of them, with more added all the time.

 

John

[mutley 4,487]

Richard,

Make sure you have a local cache set up in the settings, otherwise you will have to keep downloading the same scenery tiles all the time and that will slow down any zooming for sure.

Cheers...Joe

[SEATAC 400]

Thanks Joe.  I checked and I have that setting enabled.

[mutley 4,487]

Hi Richard,

I can only put it down to network traffic, it shouldn't be that slow, in normal use you wouldn't normally zoom in and out so much unless you are planning mode.

Stick with it, it'll come good, then you won't want to fly without it. Try it again on a non-weekend day to see if it's any better?

Joe

[wain 879]

Hi sorry I know this is an old post but I recently had a HD issue and have reinstalled everything on a new HD, I have been looking for a Flightplanner just for GA, I dont fly tubes at all, I have read about Plan G and even downloaded but not installed, is this the right one for me? Most flightplanners I look at are aimed at the larger aircraft and most functions would not be any good to me. Any suggestions on Plan G or other would be useful, I dont mind if its payware just as long as it is for what I like to fly.

Thanks

Wayne

[allardjd 1,853]

Plan-G might very well work out for you. It's a map-based interface and uses a full-screen map that's orders of magnitude better than the one in the MS Flight Planner. Creating a flight plan is very easy. You select your origin and destination airports then, if you wish, click on navaids, geographical features, waypoints or whatever you want to insert into the plan. User-defined waypoints are supported if you'd like to use them.

 

Plan-G also links to FS if you wish and provides a moving-map function while flying but can also easily export the Plan-G plans to either FS9, FSX or P3D in their own required formats.

 

It also has a facility for linking my airport charts (or any other files in jpg, pdf or Windows Shortcut (lnk) format) to airports on the map. Right click the airport and if you have associated any charts with that airport there will be a "Charts" pad on the flyout menu. Click that and you'll see the files and can click them individually to view them, either in flight or while planning.

 

John

 

[wain 879]

Thanks John it looks very useful. I will install and try.... I have charts so I will try to link them too.

Wayne

[Tim_A 995]

Plan-G is very specifically oriented towards VFR and GA aircraft. Yes, there are Big Tin flyers that use it, and they're alway trying to get me to add more IFR features. But I resist.... 

 

[wain 879]

seems a really good program, just need abit of time to get used to it, I wanted to recreate a very long ferry flight in my A2A Cessna which will mean lots of legs so hopefully using Plan G and Johns charts I can sort it properly, great work .......

Wayne

[stu7708 244]

Plan-G is very specifically oriented towards VFR and GA aircraft. Yes, there are Big Tin flyers that use it, and they're alway trying to get me to add more IFR features. But I resist.... 

 

 

Resistance is futile Tim.. I was sure you knew that already  

[J G 927]

Plan-G is very specifically oriented towards VFR and GA aircraft. Yes, there are Big Tin flyers that use it, and they're alway trying to get me to add more IFR features. But I resist.... 

 

 

It works well for me Tim, and for the most part I fly military fast jets.  A "plan" for me is a set of way points strung together, with tasks to do at each one be it a change of direction target acquisition or a rendezvous with refueling bird.

 

Thanks for all your hard work!

[Sabre 28]

I've downloaded John's airport diagrams for the UK but I can't work out how to link them in Plan G. when I try to set the file path from Plan G it's looking for a read-me file type which I can't change. I know I'll be missing something obvious but can someone point me in the right direction please. 

[brett 2,283]

Try copy/paste the folder location directly into the line in the File/Options/Location/JAllardsCharts section instead of using the Brose function. I think I had trouble with it to.

[Sabre 28]

Try copy/paste the folder location directly into the line in the File/Options/Location/JAllardsCharts section instead of using the Brose function. I think I had trouble with it to.

 

Cheers Brett got it one, all sorted now 

[allardjd 1,853]

Create an empty text file and name it "AllardJD_Readme.txt" and put it with the chart files. Then set the path to the files. Plan-G is looking for it but it doesn't do anything. Just a glitch between Tim and I when he set this up.

 

John

[wain 879]

Okay chaps a few questions here please...

FP...KORS - CYAZ....head south 36nm turn right...hit another waypoint and take slight right onto approach for Rway28.

1 MEF 5800....where does this figure come from is it a radius from my line of flight as I am going coastal...

2 Suggested alt 9000ft...is this because my initial inputs were the 2 airports and the direct line was over mountains?

3 Appr...blue is my line...red is missed appr and hold...are these added just in case like my alternate.?

I am flying Titan 404 with 2 loads in AH.

Really liking this making FP's adds more for me. Also helping me avoid the issues from the other week.

I have also printed of Airspace pages from learning center as they seem to confuse me.

Thanks

Wayne

[allardjd 1,853]

If you've entered the aircraft type into Plan-G it may be suggesting 9,000 as the most efficient altitude for a flight of that distance. Terrain clearance may be an issue as well.

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

Tofino is West (261 deg Mag) of Orcas island, over some reasonably big mountains. The Flight planner is trying to route you direct over mountainous terrain with a M(aximum) E(levation) F(igure) of 5800 feet.

 

VFR in Canada (below FL180) - on a magnetic course between 180 and 359 degrees, fly at any EVEN thousand foot altitude PLUS 500 feet. For Zero to 179, fly at ODD thousands PLUS 500 feet. IFR is EVEN and ODD thousands without the added 500 feet.Your flight originates in the USA but you climbout will take you (almost) immediately into Canadian Airspace. You'll need to adjust your flightplan altitude as the suggestion is illegal.

 

If you don't want to fly over mountains (except the local island high ground) you'll need a routing like this:

 

KORS ORCUS SQUIM TETEP - TETEP is one of the transitions for the GPS Rwy28 approach. That approach will likely add ROLBU THANY EPSIK as they are waypoints along the approach path. Without actually loading the approach into the GPS, I can't be sure of the approach waypoints, but they seem the best bet.

 

The blue line is the approach and the red line is the missed approach and hold routing.

 

Hope this helps.

[wain 879]

Thankyou both....

@John I hadnt even thought about profiles...will have to do that.

@March...that is exactly the route I have planned... thanks for the altitude info too.

Just to learn class airspace now...learning is great when you enjoy the subject matter...

Wayne

[brett 2,283]

MEF is the maximum elevation features figure only used in VFR flying, this will be the highest feature like a mountain or tower along your flightpath. They are shown on aeronautical charts in blue as one big number(thousandths) and smaller number(hundredths).

 

The suggested altitude is a safe altitude above elevated features, usually around 3,000 above MEF from what I have seen.

 

 

EDIT; Ooops, to late

 

[Quickmarch 488]

If you're flying a 404, there's little point in the "long way around". Jam it up to 9500 and go over the top. The only restriction might be weather, in which case you file IFR.