I have troubles finding flight plans that are VATSIM approved.
I tried to create a plan from EDDM to EHAM but was told by ATC that they cannot work with that and that I should change the route. ATC was really nice and gave me an alternative route, but I couldn’t find the Waypoints in the FPLN on the MCDU.
I tried skyvector and My Little Nav Map, but they give me different waypoints in MSFS when I load the file.
It seems like I am to stupid to figure this out unfortunately.
Is there an easy way to find flight plans for Vatsim without having to use Simbrief which is a paid version?
what simulator platform are you using? Are you using a recent “FMS navigation database” (AIRAC)? If not, you will not be able to find those more recent waypoints.
In case you need to update your FMS navigation database (more than 1 year old) you better have a look at Navigraph (at a cost). They also feature the free flight planning platform “Simbrief”.
if you are creating your flightplans using simbrief, the routes for the popular airport pairs should be quite good. Ideally you should use the routes that have a “eurocontrol” sign next to it (and this should be most of the time the default selection for popular routes). Some more great tools for europe are the grd (GRD · Global Route Database · AeroNav Association) or edi-gla (https://edi-gla.co.uk/). The GRD validates the routes every month with the real world validation tools from eurocontrol and edi-gla provides real life routings, but both tools dont have all airport pairings in them.
If you want to get really detailed you can try to get a valid route yourself using skyvector and the “RAD” document, validating the plan with the eurocontrol route validator, but that is quite complicated to get a hang of.
To figure out valid routes within Europe I would highly recommend making use of GRD (database of valid routes maintained by the VATSIM community - there will usually be something for the popular airport pairs and only currently valid routes will be shown), edi-gla (database of real world routes - somewhat hit and miss whether you can find current or any routes for a given airport pair there, but particularly the popular connections usually have something), and SimBrief’s (which is, in fact, a free service - you just need to create an account with Navigraph) route suggestions with the “Eurocontrol” ribbon (the routes with those ribbons are manually maintained by various members of the flight simming, and in particular VATSIM-, community - like the other tools, the popular airport pairs will usually have routes with that ribbon).
If you really want to make sure your route is valid, you can run it through Eurocontrol’s validator in the Network Operations Portal; the validator is in the right column, second to last panel. I personally use the Free Text Editor as SimBrief has an option to copy the ICAO flight plan string, so I only need to paste the string in there. Any errors it spits out you can then crosscheck with the Route Availability Document (there’s also a consolidated PDF which you may find easier to use, but the link is AIRAC specific) and then fix according to the remarks in the RAD.
Though if you find a route on GRD, something reasonably current on edi-gla, or something with the Eurocontrol ribbon on SimBrief, that will be more than good enough for VATSIM.
Generally speaking, anything that you can do IRL, you can do on VATSIM. There are no specific “VATSIM-approved” routes. If you let us know the route, level, and aircraft type you tried to file, we can maybe figure out what the problem was.
However, some general suggestions (beyond what I said above already):
check the charts for your planned SID(s) and STAR(s) as there may be restrictions on their use - e.g., if you try to file via a SID that is only permitted for propeller aircraft, but you are flying a jet aircraft, ATC will not approve that route
check your route against enroute charts to make sure you are within the vertical limits of any airways that you filed or above the MEA for any DCTs
if you are flying during an event, check the event announcement on myVATSIM for any mandatory routes that may be in force during the event
Oh, and on a tangentially related note. You said you are using MSFS; in this case, you are in luck because MSFS somewhat regularly updates the sim’s nav database so you usually won’t be behind by more than 2-3 months, if at all. As long as there are no major procedure revisions at an airport you fly at or major changes to the airspace structure in a FIR that you fly through, you should normally be able to use the latest routes.
You took the route with the VATSIM ribbon here - in this case it’s valid, but more often than not, these routes are anything but (I’m currently going through one of our airports here in FIR Langen to add validated routes for all real world destinations as well as delete invalid routes and the amount of egregiously wrong routes with the VATSIM ribbon that I had to remove…). Whenever one or more routes with the Eurocontrol ribbon are available, as is the case for EHAM-LOWW, take one of those.
The ones with the VATSIM ribbon are basically just routes that someone at some point has gotten cleared for on VATSIM and oftentimes this will simply be a new controller not understanding what they have to look out for or a radar controller without enough capacity to properly check the routes.
Don’t confuse routes between waypoints with actual waypoints. Between two waypoints, there will always be a route. This route can either be an airway (e.g. Z739) or a direct (i.e. DCT); some tools may drop the route between two waypoints if it is DCT, but a proper flight plan requires a route between two waypoints, even if it is just DCT.
The route string you posted basically means: “from EDUPO, follow airway Z739 until MISGO, then fly direct to DIVUN, then direct to ESAMA, then direct to BOREP…” Where you file an airway, you need to fly to all the waypoints on that airway section that you are using (so in the case of your flight plan, you join Z739 at EDUPO, then go to NAPRO, from there to DEPAD, then AMOSU, and only from there to the next waypoint that’s fully written out in the flight plan, MISGO).
Okay, good. Instead of using the default A320Neo, I highly recommend switching over to the very realistic freeware FlyByWire A320Neo. Just download the installation software from their website and then choose the “Development Version”. This way you’ll get the latest fixes and updates, it is a stable platform.
The cool thing about the FBW A320Neo is that you are able to download the last flightplan that you have created at Simbrief, saving you entering all the waypoints and airways manually!
The FBW-team have prepared a nice set of documentation for their aircraft, including a beginner’s guide, taking you through all the steps to set up a flight. Do it!
No, I would not say this. Just proceed as the others have explained here above. I personally use Simbrief ONLY to fly on VATSIM, usually without problems. Just stick to the flightplans that come with the Eurocontrol icon, when flying in Europe.
Thank you so much for your help and support. I already use the Flybywire for a while now. It is really fun. I guess I was not taking the Taxi into consideration. There is still a lot I have to learn. I really appreciate your replies. Thank you.
