Export a VFR route as GPX, Garmin FPL, PDF or ICAO

Updated

A plan is only useful if you can take it with you. AirPlotter exports the same plan in four ways, and each one is made for a different job: a GPX file and a Garmin flight plan carry the route to a device or app, a PDF is for the kneeboard, and the ICAO flight plan is the text you file. This guide explains what each file contains, so you can pick the right one and check it after you load it.

Where the exports are

Open the nav log of your plan in the planner and use the Export menu in its toolbar. It lists the nav log PDF, GPX, Garmin and ICAO. The GPX and the Garmin exports work with just a route. The PDF and the ICAO flight plan also need an aircraft, because they use its speeds, fuel flow and registration, so the menu asks for one if you have not chosen it.

GPX: the route for apps and devices

GPX is an open file format for tracks, routes and waypoints, and a lot of flight apps and handheld devices can read it. The AirPlotter file holds the route as one list of points in order, each with its latitude and longitude, its identifier as the name and the place name as the description. When the elevation of a point is known, it is included in metres.

Two things are left out on purpose. The points that AirPlotter computes along the way, such as the top of climb and the top of descent, are not written, because they are not places you navigate to. The alternate aerodromes are not written either, so the file is the route you fly and nothing else.

Use GPX when your app or device asks for a route file and does not name a flight plan format. Look in its import or "load route" option, because each app puts it somewhere different, and read its manual for the way to bring in a file.

Garmin FPL: the Garmin flight plan

The Garmin flight plan file, with the extension .fpl, is the format Garmin uses for flight plans. AirPlotter writes it in the Garmin Flight Plan v1 layout.

Aerodromes with an ICAO identifier are written as airports. Every other point, such as a reporting point or a place you added on the map, is written as a user waypoint with its coordinates, so the device does not have to find it in a database. Identifiers are written in capitals, with at most 12 characters, and a number is added to make two identical ones different. The route name and the comments are in capitals and cut to 25 characters, as the format requires.

Use the FPL file when your device or app can import Garmin flight plans. If it can only read GPX, use GPX.

PDF: the nav log and the route map

The PDF is the paper version of the plan. The nav log PDF prints the table you see in the nav log window, with the columns you chose, and adds a route map page. The route map also exports on its own as a one-page PDF that fits a kneeboard. Print it, or keep it on a tablet.

The ICAO flight plan: text to file

The ICAO export builds the text of a flight plan message for a VFR flight, with the aircraft details, the route, the times and the other information that the form asks for. You copy it into the form or the system you use to file. The panel shows the text, and tells you what it left blank because AirPlotter does not know it, such as the emergency and survival equipment and the name of the pilot, which are yours to add.

A flight plan is required for some VFR flights, such as one that crosses a border, and the rules for filing differ by flight, so check what applies to yours before you fly.

Check a route after you load it

A file that loads is not always a file that loads correctly. After you import a route into a device or app, check it before you rely on it:

  1. Count the points. The route should have the same waypoints as the nav log, in the same order. A missing or reordered point changes the whole leg.
  2. Check the legs. Compare the total distance and a few leg distances with the nav log. A big difference means a point is in the wrong place.
  3. Look at the names. A device may match an identifier to a different point with a similar name, so check that each aerodrome is the one you meant.
  4. Look at the map. Check that the route runs where the chart in AirPlotter shows it.

If something does not match, fix it in the plan and export again. Do not edit the file by hand.

Where to go next

Before you export, read the nav log on screen. The guide to reading a VFR nav log explains every column, and the guide to planning a VFR flight in Spain puts the whole process in order.