There’s a version of flight simulation where you load the default GPS, click “Direct To” on your destination, and follow the magenta line. It’s perfectly valid. Then there’s the version where you build the route yourself – airways, waypoints, altitude constraints, STAR procedures, fuel planning with alternates and contingency – and every detail corresponds to something a real crew would do. The tools that bridge those two worlds have gotten very good, and most of them are free or close to it.
SimBrief: the flight planning backbone
SimBrief is probably the most widely used flight planning tool in the simulation community, and for good reason. It generates a full operational flight plan – OFB format – complete with fuel calculations, ETOPS analysis where applicable, alternate airport planning, weight and balance, and a complete weather package. The output mirrors what real airline crews receive before departure, which means add-ons that integrate SimBrief can import the plan directly into the FMS.
The PMDG 777, Fenix A320, Toliss aircraft, and most other study-level add-ons have native SimBrief integration: you enter your SimBrief ID in the FMS initialization page and it pulls the full flight plan automatically. This single feature eliminates the most error-prone part of setting up a long-haul flight and turns what used to be a thirty-minute process into about two minutes.
SimBrief is free for most users. The premium tier adds additional features but the free version covers everything you need for VA operations.
Navigraph: current charts and navdata
Navigraph solves the navdata problem. Flight simulators ship with a navdata cycle that was current at release, but real-world procedures change every 28 days (AIRAC cycle). Over time, the simulator’s internal navdata drifts from reality – procedures that appear in real charts aren’t in your FMS, waypoints have moved or been renamed, and STARs and SIDs no longer match the charts you’re reading.
A Navigraph subscription keeps the navdata for your simulator and SimBrief on the same current AIRAC cycle, and also gives access to Jeppesen-format charts for virtually every airport in the world through the Navigraph Charts app. For anyone flying on VATSIM or IVAO where controllers expect you to fly real procedures, current charts are essential. The subscription is one of the first paid tools most serious simmers add.
SkyVector and the free chart option
SkyVector is a free web-based flight planning and charting tool that covers US airspace with FAA charts and has global IFR routing capability. It’s not as polished as Navigraph for international operations, but for US domestic routes or for quick route visualization, it’s fast and accessible without a subscription.
The global high-altitude airways chart in SkyVector is particularly useful for sketching transatlantic or transpacific routes – you can see the published airways, identify common oceanic tracks, and get a sense of routing before committing to a full SimBrief plan. I use it as a whiteboard before building the detailed plan elsewhere.
Little Navmap: the in-flight moving map
Little Navmap is a free desktop application that connects to your simulator and displays a detailed moving map of your flight. It shows your aircraft position in real time against a database of airports, navaids, airways, and procedures. You can also use it as a standalone flight planner – build a route, export it in multiple formats, and import directly into SimBrief or the simulator.
The weather overlay, the airport information pages (runways, frequencies, procedures available), and the elevation profile view for the planned route make it more than just a map. It’s become my standard secondary display during any flight – particularly useful during descent planning when I want to see the terrain profile and the distance to the top of descent point at a glance.
Vpilot and ATIS tools for online flying
Once you’re flying on VATSIM, the information workflow changes. You need the ATIS at your destination airport before top of descent, and you want weather information that matches what the online controllers are using. The vATIS client displays current ATIS information from connected controllers, and metar-taf.com gives you live METAR and TAF data for any airport worldwide in a clean, readable format.
For route building specifically, the VATSIM prefile tool integrated into the VATSIM website lets you file a flight plan before connecting – which is required for IFR operations and which controllers can see before you even appear on their scope. Pre-filing removes the awkward “stand by for IFR clearance” hold at the gate while you type a fifty-waypoint route into the ground clearance frequency chat.
Putting the workflow together
A practical pre-flight workflow for a typical virtual airline sector looks something like this: check the route in SkyVector or SimBrief to understand what the published routing looks like, build the full plan in SimBrief with current weather and fuel, review the charts in Navigraph for your departure procedures and arrival STAR, pre-file on VATSIM if you’re flying online, then load the simulator, import the SimBrief plan into the FMS, and brief the key altitudes and waypoints before pushback. Little Navmap sits on the side monitor throughout.
None of this is mandatory. You can skip any part of it and have a fine flight. But the more of this workflow you adopt, the more the simulation reflects the actual cognitive work that real crews do – and that’s the part that keeps the hobby interesting over the long term.