I am not even going to bother…As you were.
Suffice to say…
WT/PMDG/FENIX/Leonardo/Just Flight all use Simbrief for fun right? They could of used the in-built Flight planner, but went to all that effort of using Simbrief for fun? Because the in built flight planner works so well. TIMETOCLI and TIMETODESC are of course valid way points right?
Simbrief does give you the SID and STAR it is the first and last way point
Here my current flight KBOS to KMYR
SID > (SSOXS6) TRANSITION> (SSOXS) DCT BUZRD DCT SEY DCT HTO J174 ILM DCT WYLMS NO STAR at KMYR so it is Direct (DCT) ATC will assign it. I use VATSIM or Pilot2ATC, today I am using pilot2ATC, no idea how MSFS will assign it.
A perfect SID from Simbrief
Oh look at my departure from Volanta…Notice how it matches up?
Take a little bit of time and watch this video, You will get far better results.
Look at the Chart Waypoint BEVET
Look at the FMC
I will be at the Platform ALT of 1600 to capture the ILS
All simbrief, no problems, much better and works.
Here is the Plan on the ND (Excuse the TCAS Alert!)
But ATC will vector me no doubt. But it all works, no funny turns!
Yes but the problem is with Simbrief default Airac cycle 2103 with which you sometimes cant get the correct star to match ils so they force you into buying Navigraph which I finally decided to do now. I also fly Fenix A320 since release day with Simbrief flightplanning but this thread is about HW A339. Buying into Navigraph makes everything match up so no more problems for me but HW A339 is freeware as opposed to Navigraph.
I agree but the problem is the still the same, FBW works much better with Simbrief. You won’t have the issue anymore. Good Choice.
You can just buy navigraph for one month, and cancel the subscription. You’ll still get the updated navdata. And you can continue for another month next year to refresh and update the navdata then.
All you need is a matching AIRAC cycle navdata that you installed in the sim, and the SimBrief AIRAC Cycle which should be the same. And you can just continue using the same cycle even after you cancel your subscription.
But what about LittleNavMap ?
If I turn off all other database sources, LNM just fetches the same nav data, waypoints, navaids etc. from the sim directly. I can then simply calculate a flight plan in LNM and save it as a .PLN file for FS2020, which loads the route into the FMS just as a Simbrief connection would, except with LNM the navdata matches the sim!
With this capability of LNM for free, I can’t see really any justification for using any form of Simbrief. If I was doing Vatsim it would be different.
Or does LNM omit anything crucial which you can get with the free version of Simbrief?
I’m not sure about LNM because the UI is too convoluted for my taste. But yes, if LNM uses the same navdata as in the sim, then it will always match.
I don’t really care about having the latest AIRAC cycle and all. But the problem with the default navdata itself is that there are a lot if misaligned ILS localiser, missing navdata and just have some weird broken stuff that’s still ongoing even after multiple free navdata AIRAC cycle updates from MS/Asobo. And this is especially true when you fly around Chinese airports. If you fly around Europe and north america, it’s usually fine. But when you fly majority around asia, this problem is so common and it becomes really annoying.
That was the reason why I got navigraph. It was to fix all those misaligned localiser and add any missing waypoints, and fix anything navdata related. I was planning to just subscribe one month and cancel it. Just to fix the navdata and keep it even after the subscription expired. But I end up liking the constant updates and I continue my subscription.
But like I said, you can just buy a sub for one month, get the navdata updates and make SimBrief activate that same AIRAC cycle. Then just cancel the subscription and you can continue using the same AIRAC cycle onwards.
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Neo, you explained in a post which I can’t find how you manipulate Simbrief to include Sids/Stars. Something about selecting different routes than the one created by Simbrief. Can you repeat that info here? Others have stated that Simbrief includes Sids/Stars with any flight plan so I’m a little confused.
Thanks again for your generous time.
Yes… So when you add a departing airport and a destination, SimBrief usually creates its own route based on most commonly used route, or from some other sources. Sometimes they don’t include SIDs and STARs. My method is to get SimBrief to do a reprocess and recalculate to create its own route based on the current AIRAC cycle navdata.
To do this, once you entered the departing airport and destination and your airframe, Open the Route Finder just underneath the route. It’s the red box below:
Then, inside that menu, just put in your estimated altitude and press Find Route.
SimBrief will reprocess the entire route again, and this can take a few seconds or more. Once Done, the route will be refreshed and you might have a new routing based on the currently available NavData. And if both airports have SIDs and STARs, it will assign them automatically.
Then, you can also press the Find SID/STAR button next to the Find Route button, just to confirm that the SIDs and STARs have been selected, or if you want to select a different one if there are multiple available patterns. If it’s just one SID or STAR that’s applicable for that route, it will just reprocess for a second or so and it will refresh and update the route.
At the end, you can press Analyse the route to confirm that the route is valid.
I always open the Alternate Airports and do the same thing, Find the airport and analyse the alternate route. That way, the SimBrief route is complete, and when it’s imported to the aircraft, it will take everything into account.
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I don’t fly around Asia much. But over Europe, and prior to using LNM, I was getting a lot of SID/STAR mis-matches (or none appearing on import).
Now with LNM I get the SIDs & STARS to match up nicely with the ones in the sim.
Also, on the LNM map you can can actually cycle through all the available SIDs and STARs and see how they align up with your main route before choosing one that fits best. I don’t think SB can do that.
Ps. I think that LNM can also use the latest AIRAC nav data if you have Navigraph subscription. You might want to give it a try. And it does so much more than flight plans. It’s basically my real-time EFB now 
They actually can. The thing is with SB is that they have restrictions to the SIDs and STARs that you can choose. So if you are within a specific route and have chosen the runway to arrive. SB has assigned you the proper STAR that will always get you line up for the runway. So if you want to choose another STAR, it may not show up on the list because those other STARs are not valid for your approach and will not line you up correctly. So if SB generates a list of available STARs to choose from, they will the only STARs that are valid for your approach. Otherwise, if there’s only one valid STAR, it will always assign you that STAR and won’t let you choose another.
So I guess the perspective here is that, there’s no point in allowing you to select different SIDs and STARs on LNM if at the end of the day you’re still “guessing” and choosing which ones that will line you up properly. Because this is the same method that I used to do using the default MSFS flight planner. I had to “guess” which SIDs and STARs that lines up properly and keep choosing from the dropdown menu to see which one is the best for the flight.
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Thanks Neo. More good info.
I didnt install the Navigraph navdata into the sim because MSFS have the latest Airac cycle by default and that is what I want. What I wanted and installed from Navigraph was the latest Airac cycle for Simbrief and inside the plane (Fenix A320).
The default MSFS navdata has a lot of issues (missing patterns, Localiser misalignment, wrong offset, missing waypoints, etc). Even after regular AIRAC cycle updates these underlying issues still remain.
When we install Navigraph navdata, it overhauls everything. Not only we get the latest AIRAC cycle, but it also fixes all these issues that’s still apparent in the default MSFS navdata.
So not installing the Navigraph Navdata while you get the AIRAC cycle in Simbrief and inside Fenix won’t solve the problem. You’ll end up with a proper flight plan in SimBrief and Fenix, but it’s going to cause issues inside the sim, because the navdata in the sim that the aircraft is suppose to follow, isn’t using the same Navigraph Navdata.
I find this unfortunate, that not only the Headwind but also some other airliners pretty much make Navigraph & Simbrief mandatory.
I’m happy with the BAe146, who does both easily, Worldmap/LNM or Navigraph/Simbrief…but I must say…I will buy the first high fidelity modern airliner that can use an IFR flightplan from the worldmap and which uses the MSFS Navdata.
I will not use Simbrief and navigraph. It’s just nothing I enjoy using. Have tried it several times, it’s not for me.
Now before the gatekeeper elitists crawl out of their cellars telling me that study level airliners need navigraph and that it’s so super duper…don’tbother posting…I don’t care. I’l just wait for other airliners coming to the market and happily continue flying what I got.
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Well the good thing is that all airliners in MSFS allow you to input all your airways and waypoints manually. So even without SimBrief and Navigraph, you can still input your flight plan and have the aircraft flyable.
The bottom line is, Do you need SimBrief or Navigraph to fly the aircraft properly? Definitely not.
Is it a good quality of life and makes it easier? Absolutely. But it is not required.
That’s what I do now, tbh. With the FBW
But I would prefer to just make a flightplan in LNM or the Worldmap, as I prefer those.
It’s just one thing that I find after refusing to use Simbrief for over a year after MSFS was launched and just sticking with the default flightplanner because it was just easier point and click. It was that as I learned about IFR and how LNAV and VNAV functions work in the aircraft, the more I realise the limitations of the default MSFS flight planner and missing things that doesn’t get imported into the aircraft.
So while yes it’s a shame that Headwind and FBW removed the ability to import flight plan from the world map. They do so for a good reason. And I’m sure they will enable the function again, if the default MSFS flight planner is able to generate the same level of flight planning fidelity as SimBrief or LNM.
I think you are right and there is good reason regarding VNAV and so on. I don’t use VNAV, I mean, nah…Im a filthy casual gamer.
I just wished there was a middle ground between Asobo Stock Airliners that can’t even fly a simple LNAV route without mistakes and study Level Airliners which are made for Navigraph and Simbrief Users.
There must be more than those two extremes…
I mean the very reason that I am even looking into modern airliners by third party devs is that the Asobo ones are utterly useless when it comes to following a GPS route. I would just use the 787 and 747 if they would not forget their route half of the time.
Maybe next year when WT gets to overhauling those two…my problems will be gone.
Had no issues with MSFS default navdata. I import the Simbrief flightplan to MSFS flighplanner to use MSFS ATC and it is exactly the same in MSFS flightplanner as the Simbrief flighplan everytime, at least so far. I fly mostly in Europe but also some in Asia and US eastcoast.
