Save Flight Plan as .fms for X-Plane 10

[JoHubb]

There's a sticky from September 2013 on these boards describing how to save a PlanG  flight plan to X-Plane.

www.tasoftware.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2478.0  - last entry.

It says "create the flight plan and save it as .fms file", then copy this file to your X-plane 10\...\...\FMS plans folder.

There seems no way to save a PlanG flight plan as an .fms file, only .plg.

Clearly, I am  missing something...

I'd be grateful for advice.

John

[w9nwrwi]

John,

Lets see if I can get this right.   Go ahead and save your plan as a .PLG for planG.  Take a look under FILE/Recent (from the PlanG main ribbon) and it should be there. 
Give it a mouse click and it should open up and show the route.

Go back to File but this time select Export and the select X-Plane 9/10 FMS Flightplan - export.

Another window should open (X-plane 10 Output FMS plans).  You can now hit SAVE and the FMS plan is saved to the Xplane Output file under FMS plans.

I use the the X-plane  FMS Keyload command to get my selected FMS plan into the  X-plane  FMC or GPS.

Chuck

[JoHubb]

Thanks, Chuck!  :)

In fact, I found out that if I created the flight plan on the map, I could 'export' it directly as an .fms into the FMS plans folder in X-Plane 10.

If only the sticky had said 'Export as .fms' and not 'Save as .fms'. 

Otherwise, those instructions work perfectly. It's very handy to set up '/' or '\' as 'FMS/key load' under Joysticks and Equipment/Keys. The plan is in the GPS in microseconds! 

John
PS Is there a difference between FMC and GPS in X-plane 10?  Yep, I'm newish to this sim but liking it more and more. 

[w9nwrwi]

Glad you got it going John,

Regarding the FMS/GPS, kind of a mixed bag between aircraft, some do some don't.  You can load a flight plan FMS file into X-plane FMC (Flight Management Computer) and sit back with your drink of choice and just let it fly you plan pretty much hands off and watch the route on plan-G.  I am not real familiar with loading a GPS with a FMS file, think I did it once, again, depending on aircraft capabilities.

This link may be of some interest to you:  http://home.earthlink.net/~x-plane/FAQ-Using-FMS.html
The specific area of your interest;  Following a programmed flight plan.


This for your GPS:  http://forums.x-pilot.com/topic/5728-flight-plan-for-x-plane-10/      See post #2.
 
Then of course with the latest X-plane 10.30b1 version (presently installed in the default C172) we have this little gem:   http://developer.x-plane.com/2014/03/new-approach-capable-gps-navigator-in-x-plane-10-30/

All kinds of neat stuff, not enough hours in the day.

Have fun,
Chuck

[JoHubb]

Thanks again, Chuck.  Those are very useful links. It's not always easy to find how to do things in X-plane but I guess it's no worse than its competitors. 

The new GPS unit should make a huge difference. I've not dared to install the 10.30 beta - got my fingers burned in the past! 

How right you are, lots of goodies and not enough hours.....!  How did I ever find time for work? 

Happy flying! 

John