More Tools to Get Started
Tools, guides, quality of life programs and flight trackers. There are many, many extra applications which can enhance your flight simulation. In this article I’ll go over some of my favourites, and why I use and like them. Do bear in mind however that new items are released every single week and the best on the market now may not be so in the coming years. I will preface the rest of this article by mentioning that these addons are taken from a PC perspective.
For starters, do you want something to record your flight data, store screenshots, monitor progress, give detailed 3D route data and save your all-important landing rate? If the answer to these questions was a resounding “Yes!”, then let me introduce you to Volanta. Volanta is designed to enhance your flight simulation experience by providing a comprehensive suite of tools for tracking and analysing your flights. With its user-friendly interface, you can easily record your flight data, including landing times, block times, flight duration, and distance travelled. One of the best features of Volanta is its ability to store screenshots from your flights. Thus allowing you to revisit your favourite moments and share them with the community. The software offers detailed 3D route visualisation, giving you a clear view of your flight path and helping you to analyse your all-important landing performance.
The program receives regular updates from a team of committed developers and is also completely free! Therefore lowering the barrier to entry. If you want to continually support the development, you can subscribe for a low price every month to benefit from even more features… These include: Higher resolution screenshots and more screenshot space, the ability to sync in real-time with your simulator, quick-save options if you happen to lose your flight with restore options and much, much more! This program is a must-have for anyone even remotely interested in tracking their virtual sectors. I personally love this program for its ease of use, UX UI and brilliant social tools, such as being able to set up parties with friends, group flights and creating schedules.
Another company and service I can wholly vouch for is Navigraph, an ultra-powerful planning tool. Offering a whole host of user-friendly charts, flight planners, navigation data, and world map features. Navigraph was originally a company wholly focussed on the provision of up-to-date AIRAC data for the simulator along with providing users with Jeppesen navigational charts. Both of these offerings are still exquisite and work flawlessly to this day. Navigraph is a large company with a highly skilled and very dedicated staff team who ensure that all of their products are maintained and kept up to date every month with accurate navigational data for your flying needs. Additionally, the company have recently forayed into the act of flight-planning, they were aided by acquiring a company called Simbrief.
Simbrief is a free-to-use online flight planning tool which aims to provide a seamless, integrated experience to its clients. The user will fill out various information (Aircraft type, registration and departure and arrival airports) and the program will automatically generate a route from numerous sources with the most notable being Eurocontrol aiming to further bring accuracy and realism into planning. Once planned, you are able to export the flight-plan to a network or into your aircraft with their many in-built offerings. I will sing the praises of Navigraph for all eternity! They are a godsend to the community, offering many products at many different price points to suit everyone’s needs. In addition, they conduct a survey every year which helps the community to understand habits and trends. The results from this survey have aided me in writing these posts too, thus enabling the community to be kept factually informed.
The last developer we’ll touch on in this segment is REX. A long-standing and highly respected developer in the space. They have a nearly 20-year product line covering all things weather! REX’s products have seen use in many Microsoft simulators and Lockheed Martin’s P3D. They specialise in environment texturing and enhancement modifications. Making the default world look a little bit more realistic and lifelike. REX offers detailed season simulation for the latest Microsoft simulators in the form of their “Weather Force” and “Atmos” products, as well as possibly their most well-known product to span generations “Accu-Season’ which does what it says on the tin. REX Weather Force offers a weather-injection program with a “Metar-Based Dynamic Real-Time Weather Engine” program as well as exemplary aircraft effects and details, such as icing simulation if the conditions permit. In addition, the program boasts historical weather data too, so you’re able to navigate through that major storm or relax in the beautiful summer weather we all long for.
REX’s next offering is Atmos. This being a complete overhaul and reskin to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020’s default weather engine, this product is a must-have for those wanting to enhance their atmospherics within the simulator. The product is compatible with other, third-party weather engines as well as Asobo’s own weather engine. The program has a newly overhauled UI with a clean and organised layout. Some more of its new features include a noticeable upgrade to the cloud textures and new Ozone Rayleigh scattering, as well as endlessly customisable weather scenarios. What’s better is that REX has ensured compatibility with even low-end systems, which allows even entry-level users to enjoy its products, this has been and continues to be a point of vocality for those in the community who don’t own a high-end Desktop.
This was just a brief look at a few of the best tools you should invest in right away to get your simulator journey up and running. As always, please go and do your own research as to which products and services are tailored to your needs, as everyone has different requirements for their fulfilment. These are some I cannot live without and have to be running alongside me whenever I am flying, whatever I happen to be flying!
