Recommend the best companion apps to use alongside MSFS2020

Can you confirm it works with FS2020?

It does. It may not be feature complete. But I just logged a flight today.

https://fshub.io/pilot/3788/profile

Today, to my surprise I got FS Commander for FSX and Prepar3d to work with MSFS. The program is an excellent flight planner and moving map combined. It is also uncluttered compared with Little Nav map. Don’t get me wrong I’m not criticizing Little Nav Map, in fact I use it daily, especially with X-plane and MSFS, as it is freeware, comparable with other pay ware solutions. Of course it is a good idea to donate something for the program. However, back to Flight Sim Commander (which is pay ware), if you already own it, as I am sure many of you do, all you need is FSUIPC7 (Beta) from Pete Dowson, which is free, to be able to use FS Commander together with MSFS. I trust this information will be of use to members of this Forum.

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You may also try PlanG as a companion, full of features, is free, you may donate. You will also need FSUIPC7, to connect to it. Their map is not as busy as Littlenavmap. Nice manual. You can relocate your plane anywhere in the airport, without getting out of the plane, before or after you landed, zoom in and right click on an empty spot and a choose “Move FS Aircraft here”, great for changing runway fast. Eventually, it will be able to extract the Navdata from MSFS2020, but you can use it now with Navdata from FSX, P3D, or X-Plane 10 or 11.

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I just tested this out and it works just fine. I really like the simple, unfussy approach. It’s a shame we have to look-up airports on a site like ‘Our Airports’ rather than have airports within GTFP’s own map, but it’s no big deal.

And the fact one can add custom waypoints and then have the route re-order itself logically to accommodate them is fantastic (especially good for choosing a nice route around high, hazardous terrain, or if one wishes to take a non-direct, more scenic route between Departure and Arrival points).

It baffles me why MSFS doesn’t have an easy ‘point and click’ way to add custom way points directly within the flight planning map like your app does (and like Flight Sim World (RIP) used to have!).

Incidentally, MSFS’s A.I. Co-Pilot will fly flight plans generated with GTFP. I just had a very enjoyable, trouble-free flight, with custom waypoints (to avoid some potentially nasty hills), in Papua New Guinea. ‘Hands-off’ all the way, including take-off and landing. Very good job.

Thank you for making GTFP freely available. I will be using this one a lot.

Little NavMap has just been updated to work with FS2020: Little Navmap release 2.6.0.beta - MSFS now fully supported

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Thanks for the kind words. I did not intend that you must look up airports in OurAirports. I thought that entering the name of the airport, or its code in the waypoint box, or using the “add nearest airport” function would be enough. If you wish to see all airports in an area on the map, you can repeatedly “add nearest airport” (then remove the ones you are not interested in). Would you please email your thoughts to me on a feature for GTFP that would make it more useful?

I’ve added this to the main list!

That’s great to hear!

The way I use MSFS is as a means to go explore this amazing virtual world, especially out-of-the-way places in SE Asia, India, Africa, Mid-East, and S. America. I fly mostly the Cessna Caravan, so for me I imagine it as a sort ‘bush-flying’ experience. I just pick a place I’d like to do a short flight in and set up a simple route. I have no idea what airport codes, or place-names, to look for because I’m flying in totally unknown (to me) regions - every time is an adventure to some new place!

This is why having the airports (potential destinations, all) marked on the map within GTFP would be useful. MSFS shows you where there are airports/airstrips, which is great. I feel this is the only thing lacking (for me) in GTFP, but it’s a problem easily overcome by looking up potential airports to travel between in ‘Our Airports’ (which is a great site, btw). It would be even better to have all the airports within GTFP, but I’m just being nit-picky.

I should mention that the way I use MSFS (and the reason I bought it) is to explore, not to pilot. I fly mostly A.I. controlled flights - all I need to do is input a flight plan and then I let the A.I. take over. 80% of the time this works just fine (we don’t talk about the other 20%). GTFP answers this need completely - and the way it accommodates custom waypoints to spice-up route-planning is perfect.

So the simplicity of GTFP is what appeals to me as a non-pilot: if that’s what you were aiming for, you absolutely nailed it! It’s not a technical app; I don’t need to be a pro-level flight-simmer to use it or understand how it can benefit me as a ‘virtual tourist’ in MSFS. Creating and saving out a personalized, functional flight plan is very easy (practically the easiest I’ve ever seen, tbh). Love it.

I do hope you’ll continue to work on this great little app!

I would also request the moderators of this forum to PIN THIS APP TO THE LIST OF USEFUL APPS - more people should know about it!

Is there a different list then the one I’ve made?

I’ve requested the mods to let me make a post in the #guides section so that the info that I’ve compiled would be more readily accessible/viewable, but it’s been like a week and I haven’t heard a peep from them. Not sure if they’re swamped with requests or they just ignored mine… :man_shrugging:

I might be mistaken, but I didn’t see it listed. Apologies if I’ve got that wrong (and I probably have!). Do you have a link to the list you’re seeing?

[EDIT] Yes, of course, it’s there - right at the top of this topic. Of course it is!

Yes, this topic needs to be moved to where it might be more easily seen.

Just add the SimBrief FMS Downloader if you want to name an app (though not a SimConnect application).

SimBrief, Skyvector an ChartFox are however such tremendously useful websites, that they should be mentioned. They even have direct buttons on my Stream Deck.

Alright, as there has been a good amount of interest in adding these kinds of websites and no disinterest vocalized, I have gone ahead and added a new subsection to the flight planning section in the OP!

Added a bunch of websites to this new section:

  1. SimBrief
  2. ChartFox
  3. SkyVector
  4. FlightAware’s IFR Route Analyzer

I’ve been personally using SimBrief a lot to generate my flight plans, ChartFox to look at the airport taxi routes/SIDs/STAR/Approaches, and SimToolkitPro for flight tracking all while flying on VATSIM! :airplane::man_pilot:

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Not sure if it’s too late, or this one has been mentioned. Fantastic for instruction, but does so much more.

Too late for what? :stuck_out_tongue:
I’m still here! :slight_smile:
Waiting on the mods to let me post this compilation in the #guides section. :smirk:

Thanks for the suggestion–added!

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I’ll add a new one here for a career option that can be done completely single player on your own time which is a fantastic fit for me. It does include online aspects as well though.

I’ve been using it for the last few flight along with Self Loading Cargo. Cost is fair and it really adds purpose for airliners.

A Pilot’s Life - Promo vid

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If you like to have your custom registration on the side of your airplanes, this is a real time and annoyance saver. Utility that lets you set a custom default registration for all aircraft (only need to run it once). All it does is edit the plane.cfg files. ATCRENAMER Master folder has other add-ons too.

I’ll try again. Installed and updated before first try. I have simconnect for FSEconomy. Would that be the correct/same simconnect? If not, maybe that’s the issue.

I tried it but “My Windows 10” did not like the exe, and deleted it … I’ll try again as Admin.

But can it EDIT the Tail Number etc, in the Deluxe & Premium Planes, or any addon planes that are also Encoded, and the aircarft.cfg is not visible for editing ?

Looks cool! Their official website doesn’t have support for MSFS2020 listed, but it sounds like you have it up and running, so that’s good. I’ve added it to the main compilation!