Click Preflight > Plan Route, or click the Flight Plan icon 
located on the Standard toolbar. The Flight Plan dialog box appears.
The AOPA Real-Time Flight Planner (RTFP) system incorporates a Flight Plan function to make it easy to plan every route. Use the Preflight menu to access flight planning options. The Flight Plan dialog box prompts you for the information needed to plan the flight.
Click Preflight > Plan Route, or click the Flight Plan icon located on the Standard toolbar. The Flight Plan dialog box appears.
In the Departure field, type the ICAO 4-letter identifier, the IATA code, a city name, or airport name, and press TAB. If the name you entered corresponds to multiple possible waypoints (for example, a city where there is more than one airport), IFP displays a selection dialog box from which you can choose your desired departure point. Click OK to accept or Info to view additional information about your selection.
In the Destination field, follow the same directions as for the Departure field.
By default, the Departure Time fields contain the current date and current time. Edit the date by manually entering a different date or by clicking the drop-down arrow and selecting a new date from the calendar that displays. Edit the time by manually entering a new time, or by highlighting the hour or minutes by clicking them, then clicking on the up/down arrows to the right of the time field.
RTFP utilizes two different route types.
Use the Route Type drop-down list to select whether you want to plan a Direct or Airway flight.
Great Circle (No Avoidance) is the route between two points on a sphere that is the shortest distance between the two points. The Great Circle routing type always generates a single straight line route with no terrain clearance.
Airway routing provides you with auto-routing through the low-altitude airway network. The ability to avoid airspace is not as important in airway routing because the network is generally already free of these obstacles. RTFP uses the altitude entered for the generated reports as long as it is not below the published minimum enroute altitude (MEAs) along the airways to ensure proper terrain clearance.
Use the Aircraft drop-down list to select the aircraft to use for your flight.
In the Altitude field, manually enter your desired flight altitude. RTFP does not take into account IFR/VFR hemispheric cruising altitudes. It is your responsibility to ensure you have entered the correct IFR/VFR cruising altitudes.
Note: Your default cruise altitude as entered with your aircraft model will display here. You have the option of entering a different cruising altitude at this point.
Click OK.