So how does one "get there"? We're familiar with the "You can't get there from here" response when asking directions from a local yokel. I may like to fly into Thompson Airport in Ithaca, New York, but man, some of them backwoods folks is just plain scary! So in an effort to avoid flying into some weird-o airport filled with banjo-playing scary people, the FS people were kind enough to put together things called flight planners.

Well, OK. Sounds like a match. You've got yer flight, and you've got yer plan. Put together, we can go from point A to point Z. And, the really cool part is, you can add B through Y along the way! Is this great or what?

Now this is something I don't normally share with just anyone, and heaven help me should The Boss find out, so keep this under your hat, OK? I'm an add-on junkie. Yes, it's true. I'm sure you never would have known that, had I remained silent. But, being the blabby kind of person I am, sometimes I just can't help myself and have to go opening the closet to air out a skeleton or two. And, being the add-on junkie that I am, I just have to buy nearly every damn air traffic control program ever written. You've heard of Vox-ATC? Got it. Radar Contact 1 through 4? Got 'em. Remember the one for FS2000? The name escapes me just now, but yep, got that one, too. And a host of others, mostly crummy ones that made me swear off buying add-ons after each purchase. Oh yeah, I'm an oak. Tall and sturdy in the face of my convictions! What a bunch of crap.

I discovered something, what with all these add-ons floating around my FSWorld. Many times, the program will have the temerity to insist that I enter my flight plan manually. What!? Didn't I just create the plan in FS? Well, actually, yes, I did. Unfortunately, this other program here, well, it just doesn't have the ability to "read" the FS plan, and so must either be recreated from scratch within the program itself (a la Level D FMC) or need to be brought, by hand, to the program personally (a la Radar Contact 4). Suddenly, this urge of mine to fly is beginning to wane just a tad, while I contemplate and achieve various pre-flight activities. Dammit, I want spontaneous flight gratification! Is it too much to ask to pick two airports, push a button and have the flight plan brought to every place it will need to be brought? In some instances, apparently this is so.

Then, some brilliant people decided to create software which they called flight planners. Not the default kind with which we of the FSWorld are familiar. No, these are huge, honking planners with maps, weather, flight levels, aircraft and hundreds of pages of instructions, tutorials and the like. And, of course, I've bought them all. Well nearly so, anyway. FSBuild? Got it. Flight Sim Commander? Got that, too. FSCom? Naturally. Now, there's something called Flight Operation Center. You have GOT to see this! I've not bought it yet, but I am certain it is only a matter of time. These are wonderful programs, each with their own peculiarities and functions. I can't begin to tell you which of them is best. I've used them all. I like them all. And I can't begin to tell you how to use any of them to even close to their full potential.

See, these are big programs. Huge. Reams of paper to teach one how to do it. And let me tell you, these are some fairly big-ticket items. I am sure I've only scratched the surface of functionality with each one of them. All I really want to do is create a plan and fly it. If not for my self-destructive inclinations to purchase nearly anything related to flight simulation, I probably would not have gone near these programs, for no reason other than they do so much more than I typically ask of them.

But guess what? I found this cool little program called FP to FMC by Gerd Winkler. Just look at this page:

That's it. Simple, neat and easy to use. It will export plans to FS, to the FS kneeboard and to PMDG 737/747, PSS 777 and Level D 767. It will identify airports with a partial name or ICAO. It will provide you with IVAO plans, should you fly there. And it is very reasonably priced! Here is the URL:

http://www.volkerundgerd.de/fp2fmc/fp2fmc.php

The RouteFinder program just happens to be freeware. What you pay for is Gerd's software that brings you directly to the page, re-calculates the flight plan created by RouteFinder, does a format thing (I won't even pretend to understand how this stuff works... it's all magic as far as I'm concerned) and presents the flight plan readable by the software listed above and Flight Sim (well, duh), ActiveSky and FsPassengers.

Here we have a plan from Reagan International to Boston Logan. Should you so desire, the RouteFinder web site has a map function attached to it (for a nominal six month at a time fee) that will permit you all sorts of nifty things to see and do. I'm sorely tempted to join, but then all I've done is created another monster of a flight planner, and I've already got more of those than anyone has a right to have. So, using the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid!), we follow this URL and learn all we need to know:

C:\Program Files\FPtoFMC\Documentation\FP2FMC.htm

This may or may not be different on your machine, depending on how you install the program.

Sure, I know, most of the other planners will export to several places, too. But with this little gem, I don't have to take a refresher course to figure out how to use it every time I wish to come up with a flight plan. Everything is there on one page. Not unlike yours truly: quick, cheap and easy!

There is something truly elegant about some of these software add-ons. And oddly enough, I find myself gravitating towards the simpler of the bunch. With those delightful monster planners I mentioned, the choices are truly bewildering. Happily, with RouteFinder, I've got a program that gives me all I need, with only a few clicks of the mouse, with very little in the way of input, and a one-button way to send my plan wherever it needs to go. And all on one screen, too.

Call me old-fashioned, call me senile, you may call me what you wish provided you remember to call over the barkeep for another round. As my beloved FS2004 and I age together, I'm finding the need for simplicity, at least in certain parts of my sim experience.

Now who would like to place a bet on whether or not I buy the damned Flight Operation Center?

Three Green!

Chip Barber
rfbarber2@verizon.net