Navigating from point A to B can be such a daunting prospect for newcomers to flight simulation. It can be a challenge for the more experienced amongst us too, but it’s a necessary skill that we all need to get a basic grasp of to get us to where we want to be and in an incident-free manner. As we usually enjoy our flight time alone (as we can’t afford a co-pilot), we need to have all of our navigational information at hand in order to help the experience become more realistic yet we crave something more organised to make the whole process of a flight easier.
Navigraph has been synonymous with flight simulation for over a decade. For a monthly fee or full yearly package, most of us rely on Navigraph to keep our favourite aircraft’s navigational systems up to date with the use of their AIRAC cycles. We also get the latest professional worldwide airport/terminal charts from Jeppesen. “The aim is to describe approach and departure procedures from airports with a clear presentation of altitudes, obstacles and landing minima during Instrument Flight Rules”.
My route planning go-to software is SimBrief which is a simple free-to-use website that can be used in conjunction with the latest Navigraph AIRAC cycle and the Navigraph Charts app. For those of you that use other route planning software, the route plans can be imported very easily from a saved file plan on your PC. If you don’t use any flight planning software, then a route can be entered manually. I will be looking at what the latest version of the Navigraph Charts app for Windows 10 has to offer and to determine whether this is a necessary utility for newcomers and the more experienced desktop pilots.
My usual routine with a simple IFR flight whilst using a single monitor is having a lot of windows open on my web browser for example; a route planner (SimBrief) and several airport charts which will include SIDS, STARS, parking and ground information, taxiways, runway information and ILS approaches. So as you can understand, it’s overwhelming and slightly disorganised. Navigraph Charts is a utility that aims to alleviate all of the “clutter” and give you all of the information you need at the click of a button (or two).