Hello everyone, sorry if this has been raised before.
I am creating a simple IFR route for a C172 in South Africa from FALE to FAEL. The auto select altitude defaults to 4000. This works when flying down the coast. ( no CFIT but still not correct when I look at the safe block heights) If I mix things up and decide to route inland using VORs PMV and MHV the enroute altitude generated does not seem to change. When I generate the flight plan it sends me at 4000 straight into terrain - this is even depicted on the final cross section chart picture of the route that is generated in the flight plan?
Am I doing something wrong, or does the auto altitude feature just default regardless of the routing flown which is completely pointless. Surely it should look at minimum block heights on the chart ?
I have tried on a few other routes but the generated altitude never seems IFR correct and is always below the MEA?
Any help appreciated.
Hi, terrain clearance isn’t currently considered for the cruise altitude. Mostly because SimBrief is designed primarily for commercial jets, where this is almost never an issue.
It will probably come in a future update at some point though.
Best regards,
Hi, thanks for the reply on this.
In IFR planning this is one of the most important things to look for.
The incredibly detailed OFP produced has every other possible option and really is fantastic.
It however completely fails in this vital area of (auto) selecting a level that is higher than the grid MORA on the route you are trying to fly!
The grid MORAs are clearly displayed on the Enroute chart and will never change.
Obviously, it’s up to the PIC to check this himself and avoid terrain, but I was really hoping that this tool would cross check, or at least provide realistic guidance if you are planning a route in a country/area you have never ever flown before (what the sim is for).
Please try and add this feature as it would be a benefit to so many training/charter/lower level type IFR flights.
You already have the terrain cross section of the flight being auto generated in the OFP, so this should be relatively easy to do?