Flight Planner - Waypoints

[Northwest 102]

Is there a way to add more waypoints to a flight plan without having to slide the line over another airport?  It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack sometimes.

Mike

[Webb]

I haven't found any way to do it with the built in planner.

I made a plan from Fairbanks to Anchorage going around Mt. McKinley and it took forever to find the waypoints out in the middle of nowhere.

[ViperPilot]

I use something like SkyVector to plot out the route; say VOR to VOR and fly over a couple of airports, low and slow.
Then I write down the waypoints on a piece of paper, or I'll have SkyVector up on my laptop (the "electronic kneeboard"). Next, I'll set the 1st waypoint with the GPS, and fly to it. When I'm about 5nm away from the 1st waypoint, I'll refer to my list and plug in the ICAO code for the next waypoint, but I won't hit "enter" on the GPS until I fly over the waypoint.
I'll keep on doing this from point to point until I get to my destination.

SkyVector's Flight Plan feature comes in handy... you can almost use it as a moving map display to track your flight, except your bird isn't shown on the map, of course.

Alan

[Northwest 102]

Does SkyVector work independently of FS2002?

[ViperPilot]

Mike,

SkyVector is a flight planning website that provides basic flight plan information and superimposes your route on either a Sectional or an IFR Enroute chart, whichever you prefer. When I program the 1st waypoint in the FS 2002 GPS, I use SkyVector as a visual reference to show the route, terrain, etc. it's really easy to use, and very handy. I also have a link to AvnWX, a real time aviation WX site so I can take a look at what the weather's doing.

http://www.skyvector.com

http://www.avnwx.com

Alan

[Northwest 102]

You program the 1st waypoint using the Flight Planner right?

Mike

[ViperPilot]

Mike,

Yep. Or else you can program the 1st waypoint using the GPS... whatever works for you the best. I kind of do it as part of my "preflight" checklist. More realism, you know...