Not able to fly DIRECT?

SimBrief Dispatch
1

Will SimBrief allow IFR flying DIRECT as my routing?

This may be a bug, however, when I try filing between two airports DIRECT, the generated flight plan reads: DCT between the two airports, and under Flight Plan Downloads, says "No FMS files are available. Make sure to enter a route and enable the “Detailed Navlog” option. Then when I got back into the edit page, the “Detailed Navlog” is unselected, along with ETOPS Planning and Plan Stepclimbs.

I suspect I’m doing something wrong, as I would hope I’m able to file DIRECT to airports.

Thank you.

2

No, the detailed navlog option (and FMS downloads) requires at least one waypoint other than departure and destination airports themselves. But one waypoint is enough.

Regards,

Tim

3

Thanks.

Any reason why this is? In real life, filing DIRECT is commonly an option.

4

Well for one, what are you doing - a flight across London from Heathrow to Gatwick or a flight halfway around the world; what aircraft type - a 172 or a B787 with everything?

5

I’m flying a C172 flying locally in the US between two controlled airports, which is a normal, real-world IFR training flight to shoot approaches. Between two TRACON facilities, filing DIRECT, in non-congested areas, is commonly approved by ATC.

Not sure why Simbrief won’t allow this.

6

Hi, currently this isn’t possible due to backend limitations.

I’ve added a task to revisit it, but it may take some time before I get to it. Both because it will take some work and also because there is limited benefit I feel. For example, if there aren’t any waypoints in the route, why bother importing it in the first place?

Best regards,

7

Thanks for addressing this and adding it as a task to revisit.

I would still advocate for the opportunity to be able to file DIRECT. As an IFR-rated pilot, when practicing approaches (which many IFR-rated pilots need to do to stay current), filing DIRECT is common. Additionally, the only way I can use BeyondATC (third-party ATC program) is through Simbrief, I would like the option to file a local IFR flight DIRECT.

Best,

Mark

8

The last point is an important one. As more and more addons are relying on Simbrief integration rather than the MSFS built in flight planner to function at all we will need to start using Simbrief just to tell the addon where we are flying, even if we do not need its flight planning features for that flight. For example, I use Foreflight for GA flying and Simbrief for airliner flying; now I will have to start using Foreflight + Simbrief for GA flights.

It is an added workflow step, and making it as lightweight and quick as possible would be very welcome.

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