[Release] Free Flight Planning Tool for the Flight Sim Community — Simple Flight Planner

Discussion Hub Tools & Utilities
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42

Close but not quite. The runway designators need to be facing their runways

Using EIME as an example, if you were landing on runway 28, you should be able to read the 28 on the runway as you approach. As you have it at the moment, the 28 would be upside down.

Look how the runways are designated in LNM

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43

You’re right. Thanks for catching that. The reciprocal label at the top of each runway is now rotated 180°, so both designators face outward from their respective thresholds — matching real-world runway markings and the LNM reference.

I also made some changes to the look of the runways. They are easier to see.

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44

Slightly off topic, but what tool(s) are you using to code this? Updates are extremely quick.

45

A lot of coffee, some free time and a highly optimized dev workflow :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
But seriously — modern JS tools and some AI assistance make iteration really fast.

1 Like
46

Added something fun to the tool:

Added animated flight path playback! When you have a route with at least 2 points (departure + arrival), a playback bar appears at the bottom of the map with:

  • :play_button: Play / :pause_button: Pause / :stop_button: Stop controls
  • Progress bar showing current position along the route
  • Speed toggle cycling through 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
  • Animated airplane icon that moves along the route and rotates to face the direction of travel

Set up a flight plan and hit play to try it out!

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3 Likes
47

Two more updates:

  1. Terrain / Hillshade overlay — New “Terrain / Hillshade” toggle (Mountain icon) using Esri World Hillshade tiles. Shows 3D-style terrain relief shading.
  2. Airspace label clarified — Aviation overlay renamed to “Airspace (CTR/TMA/VORs)” so VFR pilots can clearly see it shows controlled airspace boundaries.

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1 Like
48

Thanks to a user’s feedback a new feature has been added:

The Auto-Route Generator is now implemented. Just select your departure + arrival airports, then click the sparkles button in the Waypoints step to auto-populate navaids, scenic points or both along your route.

The “Auto-Generate Route” button is a dropdown menu with three options: Navaids only (VOR/NDB), Scenic points only , or Both .

2 Likes
49

New feature added as per user feedback:

AIRAC Waypoint Fixes

250,000+ worldwide 5-letter AIRAC fixes (BOSTN, MERIT, KONAN) for realistic IFR routing. Filter by type and use them in auto-generated routes.

The 5-letter AIRAC fixes are now displayed on the map. Here’s what was added:

  • New toggle button (Waypoints icon) in the map overlay toolbar to show/hide fixes
  • Viewport-based loading with grid-cell caching and 300ms debounce (zoom 7+ to avoid overloading)
  • Teal-colored markers (10px) with clustering that shows ident, name, and country in popups
  • Fixes layer defaults to off — users toggle it on when needed
1 Like
50

Updated the runway graphics.

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51

Half of the runway numbers in front of the runway are outside of their boxes.

52

Thank you for the feedback. I made some adjustments so the numbers should now appear correctly.

1 Like
53

Added a new feature:

Added SimBrief OFP import — users can enter their Pilot ID, preview the dispatched route/fuel/weights, then import it directly into the planner with waypoints, cruise altitude, and flight type auto-configured.

54

Hi,

First off, huge thanks for this super intuitive and visually awesome tool—perfect for VFR flights like Miami → Key West!

I ran into a small MSFS 2024 compatibility issue: the exported .pln wouldn’t load (nothing happened in World Map).
After checking the XML, these lines were blocking it:

text

<DepartureRunway>08L/26R</DepartureRunway>
<DestinationRunway>09/27</DestinationRunway>
<DeparturePosition>RUNWAY</DeparturePosition>

Removing them (while keeping AppVersionMajor at 12) made it load perfectly.

These tags seem to be from the MSFS 2020 format (they work fine there), but MSFS 2024 rejects them now.

It would be great to have:

  • A dedicated “MSFS 2024” export that auto-removes these legacy runway tags

  • Or a checkbox like “Remove legacy tags for MSFS 2024”

  • Or a quick pop-up warning on export

The manual fix is fast, but this would make it seamless for everyone. Thanks again for the great work and quick fixes (AppVersion was spot on!)!

Happy flying! :airplane:

55

Hi,
Great feedback. Much appreciated. I added a dedicated MSFS 2024 export format that omits the DepartureRunway, DestinationRunway, and DeparturePosition tags that cause loading failures, while keeping the original MSFS 2020 format intact with those tags. MSFS 2024 is now the default export option.

56

Thanks a lot for the quick fix on the MSFS 2024 export — removing the DepartureRunway, DestinationRunway and DeparturePosition tags works perfectly now, great job!

Unfortunately there is still one small issue with User waypoints (both when clicked on the map and when added via name/address search): they always export with +010000.00 ft altitude (10,000 ft).

MSFS 2024 (G1000/DA42 etc.) ignores/skips those waypoints because the altitude is unrealistic for VFR coastal/ocean points (Keys, offshore Miami, etc.). As a result, the legs are jumped and the plan becomes direct from departure to destination only.

Example .pln attached (just the latest one I tested).

Changing the default altitude for User waypoints to something realistic like +000010.00 (10 ft) for VFR would fix it completely — especially for flights over water/low terrain.

Thanks in advance for looking into it, the tool is already super useful and getting better every day!

KEYW_to_KPBI.pln (1.8 KB)

57

More great feedback. Thanks! It should be fixed now. User waypoints now export with +000010.00 (10 ft) instead of +000000.00 across all three PLN generators (MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024, FSX/P3D). This gives MSFS 2024 a realistic ground-level altitude so it won’t skip coastal/water waypoints.

58

Hi,

I don’t know if I ‘m the only one, but when I print a navlog with the map, the dot line of the trip is not align with the start/end/waypoints.

Not catastrophic but if you can fix this :slight_smile:

59

Thanks. Great catch. Fixed the map misalignment. The route line and markers should now align correctly with the tiles.

1 Like
60

You’re just incredible :slight_smile:

Is it on line ? I still have the issue :confused:

61

Made some more adjustments It seems to be working correctly now.

1 Like