Hello everyone! I’m currently doing an long haul from Singapore to New York, and I wanted to ask about the best way to effectively plan flights and get to destinations earlier. I use sim brief & flight plan database to get my flightplans is there a way where I can plan my routes by getting myself into a jet streams and tailwinds which pushes my planes to go faster?
Hi! I hear that aviation weather .gov is a great resource for weather planning. Hope that helps!
Tools like Simbrief and FlightPlanDatabase are probably your best bet. They tend to supply flightplans previous flights have used, which typically always take advantage of tailwinds.
I could be missing a major thing, but I think you’re on the right path as is.
All the best,
Adam
2 Likes
Yeah they do, however I was tracking my flight and I actually left 50 minutes before another plane which was also going to the same destination and it appears that he’s caught up with me but has used a different route and going faster than I am actually. Looks like he’ll be getting there before me. Is infinite flight live weather frequently updated?
It could be more to do with cruising speeds. Are you sure they’re cruising at the same speed as you?
I’m not too sure about the weather though I do know it’s quite consistent with real life…
According to the tracker were cruising at the same Mach but it seems like he’s being pushed by tailwinds taking him upto over 600mph
You can also use FlightAware’s IFR Route Analyzer.
Windy app lets you see the wind speed at different altitudes all over the world in seconds!
As well as considering winds long hauls use “great circles” in route planning …I’m not sure how to flight plan using great circles, but I imagine the usual websites people use would allow for this…?
(Great circles are the most direct route over long distances as they follow the earths curvature).
I came across https://fpltoif.com/ which uses simbrief too. I use MSFS2020 and everything before it and always have used simbrief, so its nice to have it integrated into a website that is fluid with IF.
1 Like
Simbrief/fpltoif work very well and would get you the result you want. You can prove it to yourself by computing the flight plan multiple times on different days/times, and you will see it generates different routes/altitudes based on the weather. In my experience, with smooth accelerations/decelerations to the speeds given in the flight plan, my flights are within 5 minutes of the calculated flight time 99% of the time.
Apart from the already mentioned tools, I always check my route on skyvector.com
There you have the option to adjust your route according to your preferences (e.g. actual NATs), and also display the winds at different FLs and their forecasts. It is time consuming, but worth it imo.
This topic was automatically closed 3 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.