So I searched a couple keywords and did not get the answers I was seeking.
Plane: Citation CJ4
So I know how to set and Origin and a Destination. I know how to switch to Direct-to. I also know how to change and re-arrange Legs. What I do not know is;
A) How do I pick a VIA?
B) How do I choose a route?
I know you can set routes by using the world map, but that disrupts immersion. Real pilots don’t set their flight plan by a World Map in the Cloud…at least not to my knowledge. So how do I set these things from cold and dark? There is no way to look up relevant airways/VORs once in-game. Aside of course from manually scanning the VFR map at like 10 NM between the Origin and Destination…which no one has time to do.
You’re on PC, so consider using an Electronic Flight Bag/Planner like Little Nav Map. Let it generate the route - which is not unlike many EFBs today on PC and smartphone. Make note of the route and hand enter it in at Cold & Dark if you really must.
As gameplay vanity - LNM can export the route to a .PLN and you can import it into World Map. Then click Fly Now and it loads it into the FMS for you. Again, not unlike Real Life where you can take app generated routes and upload them via BT or WiFi directly into your plane’s FMS.
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Welcome to the Community!
Highly recommend you learn to use the website Simbrief.com. There should be plenty of Youtube videos showing how to use it. Essentially you enter your origin and destination airports, and aircraft type (there’s a profile for the CJ4 and almost any other plane in the sim), and it’ll generate a route for you, often based on recent real-world routes. The CJ4 has the ability to import the flight plan directly into the FMC.
I’m literally flying the CJ4 right now from Westchester (KHPN) to Oshkosh (KOSH) with a plan from Simbrief. It has an airway, and when you go to the FPLN page, you’ll see either “DIRECT” or the VIA with the airway name on the left column, and the fix/entry/exit point on the right. (maybe someone else can explain this better.)
I haven’t used the World Map to do a flight plan in years, honestly. Almost every plane in the sim has an import feature from Simbrief.
Also, you can generate the plan from Simbrief and still enter it by hand…it’s worth doing this just to know how to do so.
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I always create a route in Little Nav Map then enter it manually into a flight plan in the cockpit. Even a long route can be entered quickly by using airways where possible. Occasionally you will encounter small problems but this is a really good way to get to grips with both flight planning, and the various quirks of the flight management systems. Personally I find the CJ-4 the easiest and quickest in which to load the flight plan.
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Just to clarify - Simbrief does utilize Navigraph / Jeppensen navdata on the back-end to generate routes.
All things being equal, the sim’s Airbus Navblue and Jeppensen are pretty close in CONUS because of the FAA supplement to the former (thanks Working Title!), but in other regions, you may get a waypoint or leg mismatch because Jepp has more complete/current data.
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