Click on one of the following to open the Flight Plan dialog box:
Click the Create Flight Plan button,
.Click Preflight > Plan Route.
Press CTRL+F.
Use the route planning tool when you are ready to generate a route or a leg of a route. The route planning tool generates a route based on the departure, destination, route-around settings, and route type. While the Flight Plan dialog box is open, you can still navigate the enroute chart by zooming and panning, changing your chart preferences, performing a Navaid search, changing your route-around options, and selecting an airport to view airport properties.
| NOTE | To get landing and departure calculations for stops along a route, create and save each leg as its own route (KGAF -> KONA, KONA -> KHFY, and so on). |
To create a route:
Click on one of the following to open the Flight Plan dialog box:
Click the Create
Flight Plan button, .
Click Preflight > Plan Route.
Press CTRL+F.
In the Flight Plan dialog box, type the departure ICAO or IATA airport identifier, airport name, or city; and press TAB or ENTER to begin the search.
Type the destination airport identifier, name, or city; and press TAB or ENTER to begin the search.
| NOTE | When more than one match exists for the information entered, the Select an Item dialog box appears. Select an airport and click OK. |
Type a destination alternate airport (optional).
JIFP creates a direct route from the destination airport to the alternate airport.
A SID and STAR procedure can be added to the alternate route.
Waypoints can be added between the destination airport and the alternate airport by using the rubberband feature.
In the Time fields, set your departure date and time:
To change the date field, click the date drop-down arrow. Use the displayed calender to change the date.
To edit the time, click on the up/down arrows to the right side of the window.
You can also manually type in new numbers for date and time.
Select the route type for your route by opening the Route Type drop-down menu and choosing an option:
Great Circle (No Avoidance) is the route that is the shortest distance between the two points on a sphere. Great Circle routing always generates a single straight line route with no deviations or terrain clearance.
Low Airway and High Airway routing provides you with auto-routing through the high- or low-altitude airway network. This routing is the simplest type since the path network is pre-defined. The ability to avoid airspace is not as important in airway routing because the network is generally already free of these obstacles. JIFP does not generate routes below the published minimum enroute altitude (MEAs) along the airways to ensure proper terrain clearance.
Plain Language takes direct input of VORs, NDBs, airports, terminal intersections and enroute intersections.
When selecting Plain Language Routing, a text box appears between the departure and destination airport. Enter any combination of VORs, NDBs, airports, terminal intersections, and enroute intersections separated by a space. Currently, the system does not take Victor or Jet airways and Lat/Long coordinates.
GPS/Direct routes follow the shortest path from departure to destination. Terrain clearance automatically defaults to 500 feet.
VOR/NDB/Airport plans a route using VORs, NDBs, and/or Airports as navigation points. Specify which types of waypoints to use by clicking Tools > Options > Routing > VOR/NDB/Airport. Terrain clearance automatically defaults to 500 feet.
| TIP | You can also add specific waypoints by using the rubberband method after the route is generated. |
Select the flight rules to follow for your route by opening the Flight Rules drop-down menu and choosing an option. JIFP includes flight plan types for FAA regulations only:
IFR
VFR
| TIP | If you need to plan a Defense VFR (DVFR) flight, generate your route with one of the available flight rules, add a waypoint at the ADIZ crossing by using the rubberband method, and selecting the DVFR check box in the FAA flight plan form. |
Select the type of aircraft for your flight plan. The available aircraft models in the drop-down menu reflect your choices made in the Aircraft Library Manager.
If you decide to use an aircraft other than the default, your default aircraft setting in the Aircraft Library Manager dialog box reflects the change as well.
If you do not have any aircraft models for selection, you can leave the selection blank. JIFP uses a standard aircraft model with random aircraft parameters.
Enter your cruise altitude in the Altitude field. The default entry is taken from the selected aircraft model. If you want to change the default altitude of the aircraft model, see Default Settings for information.
For IFR and VFR flights, the altitude entered in the Flight Plan dialog box is used as a suggested altitude. JIFP attempts to adjust the altitude to meet IFR and VFR flight rules. It also adjusts altitudes on the route and alternate route to clear terrain by 500 feet and clear MEAs (except Great Circle Routing). It continues increasing the altitude until it meets these requirements, but it stops before exceeding the aircraft's ceiling altitude (see Basic Aircraft Data).
The altitudes adjustments are not seen until the route is generated.
Click OK to generate the route.
| NOTE | If JIFP cannot find a path
for your proposed route displaying a message "No airway path could
be found between 'departure' and 'destination'", you might need to
clear some avoidance check boxes (see Selecting
Route-Around Options).
This message also appears if the departure or destination airport is within
a TFR.
In situations where you have to fly from a TFR or into a TFR to reach your airport, plan your route with a nearby airport outside the TFR. When the route is generated, use the rubberband method to drag the waypoint from that airport, and drop it on the airport where you need to fly. This procedure should work for outgoing and incoming routes. |
After a flight plan has been created, view detailed information about your route at the bottom of the screen in the Profile View. You can also place your pointer over the route line to view a tooltip displaying information from the departure airport to the destination airport:
The route name
Aircraft used
Total mileage
Total fuel used
Total time
Placing your pointer over the alternate route displays a tooltip displaying:
The aircraft used
Total mileage of the alternate
Total fuel the alternate route uses
Time between the destination airport and the alternate airport
