Interesting topic. If we get the right discussion going, we will see how different - with different goals - people use IF.
General
I donât fly real world routes, so real-world flight plans I donât bother with. My flight plan always includes the destination and departure airport. This may sound obvious, but youâll be blown away by how many pilots end their flight plan on a fix near an airport somewhere.
Departure flight plan
If the fixes are available, I will always make a complete straight out departure, right to the end of the cone. My next waypoint is placed so that I donât have to make a sharp turn to anywhere, with the risk in clashing in my parallel takeoff.
Arrival flight plan
Near my arrival airport, I include a fix 100 NM out and another one 50 NM out. These are two important waypoints in the flight plan. Itâs where I will be descending. If I want I can use the flight assistant app to automatically start my descent, so that when I reach 50 NM out I will be at 16-18,000 feet. By the time I get there, I check the airportâs ATIS, determine the runway, and add some fixes to my fligtplan that bring me near the runway. I do this in such a way, that I will be coming in via a downwind leg.
When thereâs enough fixes available, I set my fixes all the way into the ILS cone.
On-route flight plan
After I create my departure flightplan and I have set the fix 100 NM out of my departure airport, I get a straight line between these points. I then scan the route of this straight line, and when I see a few airports along this route, I include them into my flight plan.
So there you go. How to setup a happy real-non-world flight plan :-)