How to Create Flight Plans in SimBrief — Step by Step

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How to Create Flight Plans in SimBrief — Step by Step

I spent my first week with SimBrief completely lost. Every serious flight sim community swears by it, but the interface felt like I was staring at an air traffic controller’s workstation — honestly, it was intimidating. The buttons made sense once I understood what they actually controlled, but getting there took trial and error I didn’t need to repeat. If you’re looking for a SimBrief flight plan setup guide that doesn’t assume you’ve memorized aviation shorthand, you’re in the right place.

Here’s what SimBrief actually does: it generates realistic flight plans for your flight sim. Not arcade-game routes — real ones with actual waypoints, fuel calculations based on aircraft weight, and weather routing that matches what real pilots fly. Every serious MSFS, X-Plane, or P3D pilot uses it because the alternative is spending hours manually entering waypoints. But the learning curve? Steep. The official documentation reads like it was written by someone who forgets that not everyone speaks aviation fluently.

Let me walk you through the exact steps I wish someone had shown me on day one.

Create Your Account and Load Your Aircraft

Start here: go to simbrief.com and create a free account. Email, password, done. You don’t need to pay for premium features to follow this guide — honestly, the free version handles everything we’re covering.

Once you’re logged in, the main screen is deceptively simple. Your first real task is selecting your aircraft. This matters more than you’d think, and here’s why: SimBrief’s entire fuel and weight calculation hinges on knowing your aircraft’s exact specifications — maximum takeoff weight, fuel capacity, cruise performance numbers. Get the aircraft wrong, and your fuel calculations will be wildly unrealistic. You’ll either be overweight on takeoff or showing fuel reserves that don’t match your actual aircraft.

Look for the “Aircraft” dropdown on the left side of the flight planning screen. Click it. You’ll see a search field pop up. Type your aircraft model — let’s say you’re flying a Boeing 737-800. Just type that.

The database is genuinely comprehensive. You’ll find dozens of 737 variants sitting there. Pick one that matches your in-sim aircraft as closely as possible. If you’re using the PMDG 737 in MSFS, search for “PMDG 737-800” specifically. SimBrief includes livery and airline data too, but that’s cosmetic — what actually matters is matching the 737-800 airframe specs correctly.

Here’s the honest part nobody mentions: your exact aircraft might not be in the database. I once wanted to fly a regional aircraft variant that SimBrief didn’t have. I selected the closest match — another variant of the same airframe — and manually adjusted the fuel capacity in the “Options” section. Took thirty seconds and kept my calculations realistic instead of guessing.

If you absolutely can’t find your aircraft, use the parent model. A 737-700 database entry will get you 90% of the way there for a 737-800. The differences are negligible for flight planning purposes, and you’re better off than leaving it blank.

Enter Departure and Arrival Airports

This is where most beginners hit their first wall. Probably should have opened with this section, honestly.

You need ICAO airport codes, not IATA codes. There’s a difference, and SimBrief won’t accept IATA. IATA codes are what you see on luggage tags — LAX, JFK, LHR. They’re short and memorable. ICAO codes are what air traffic control actually uses. LAX becomes KLAX. JFK becomes KJFK. London Heathrow (LHR) becomes EGLL. They’re longer and include regional prefixes.

Why does SimBrief demand ICAO? Because it’s integrated with real-world flight data and ATC systems. IATA codes aren’t precise enough — multiple airports can share similar IATA designations in different countries. ICAO is globally unique and unambiguous.

When you look at the departure and arrival input fields, you’ll see two boxes asking for these codes. Type the ICAO code into each one. Don’t guess. Use airnav.com — it’s the FAA’s official airport directory. Search for your airport name, and it will show you the ICAO code prominently displayed. Google Maps will sometimes give you the IATA code instead, which will fail in SimBrief and waste your time.

Real example: flying from New York JFK to London Gatwick. You’d enter KJFK as departure and EGLL as arrival. See the K prefix on the US airport and the E prefix on the European one? Those prefixes are part of the ICAO standard — they indicate the country or region.

After you enter the airports, SimBrief will ask about runways. This is optional but matters if you want realism. SimBrief defaults to a runway based on current weather conditions at the real airport right now. If you want to override it — maybe you’re flying during a specific weather scenario in your sim — click the runway selector and choose manually.

For now, let the defaults handle it. You can always adjust this later if your flight sim’s weather doesn’t match what SimBrief assumed.

Set Fuel and Weight Parameters

This section trips up intermediate simmers too. The fuel screen has multiple fields, and honestly, they sound like they overlap.

You’ll see “Contingency Fuel,” “Final Reserve Fuel,” and “Alternate Fuel” listed. Here’s what each one actually means: Contingency is a safety buffer for unexpected headwinds or route changes — typically 5% of trip fuel. Final Reserve is the absolute minimum you need to land safely — if you hit that number, you’re diverting immediately. Alternate is fuel required to reach a backup airport if your destination becomes unusable.

For flight sim purposes, SimBrief fills these automatically based on real-world regulations. Don’t overthink it. The defaults are realistic and match what actual commercial operators use.

The two fields you’ll actually adjust are “Payload” and “Cruise Altitude.”

Payload is passenger and cargo weight combined. If you’re flying empty — common for flight simmers testing routes — set it to zero or a light value like 5,000 pounds. SimBrief calculates total takeoff weight by adding your aircraft’s empty weight, the fuel it’s calculating, and whatever payload you enter. This matters because if you load too much weight, your aircraft won’t take off. Period. It will be overweight, and your sim will either refuse to let you rotate or you’ll stall on the runway because you don’t have enough lift.

Concrete example: Boeing 737-800 from KJFK to KMIA (Miami). SimBrief calculates realistic fuel for this route at roughly 20,000 pounds. Your 737-800 has a maximum takeoff weight around 175,000 pounds. The empty aircraft weighs about 75,000 pounds. That leaves roughly 100,000 pounds for fuel and payload. Add 20,000 pounds of fuel, and you have 80,000 pounds available for passengers, cargo, and reserves. That’s realistic and within limits.

Here’s the mistake everyone makes: trying to max out fuel “just in case.” If you tell SimBrief to load 40,000 pounds of fuel on that same Miami flight, your total takeoff weight becomes around 195,000 pounds — over the limit. When you load the flight plan into your sim and try to take off, the aircraft will refuse to rotate. You’ll either stall on the runway or simply won’t generate enough lift. Heavier sims like PMDG are especially strict about this, and they’ll punish you for it.

Set cruise altitude based on where you’re flying. Most commercial flights cruise between 35,000 and 41,000 feet. East Coast to Miami? 35,000 feet is typical. Cross-country? 39,000 feet. Trans-Atlantic? 41,000 feet or higher. SimBrief uses this to calculate fuel burn and optimize your route for winds aloft.

Generate and Download Your Flight Plan

Once your aircraft, airports, and fuel are set correctly, you’re ready to generate. Look for the big blue “Generate OFP” button. OFP means Operational Flight Plan — that’s aviation jargon for “your route plan.”

Click it.

SimBrief will crunch the numbers for about ten seconds. It’s calculating the optimal flight route using real airways, current winds aloft, and international airspace restrictions. The result is a PDF — your official flight plan with everything printed out.

That PDF contains everything you need: your assigned route with waypoint names, fuel checks at each waypoint, estimated times, winds aloft forecast, weather briefings for departure and arrival, and runway information. Print it, save it, reference it during your flight. Real pilots do this — it’s not just a SimBrief thing.

Below the PDF, you’ll see a “Dispatch Release” section with multiple format options. This is how you import the plan into your flight sim. Different sims accept different formats. MSFS uses a specific file type. X-Plane uses another. P3D varies depending on your version. SimBrief generates all of them automatically — just select the format that matches your simulator and download it. Your flight sim’s flight planning menu will import this file directly.

Troubleshoot Your Plan — Common Errors and Fixes

Three problems pop up constantly. Here’s how to fix them without wasting thirty minutes like I did.

No Route Found

You hit “Generate OFP” and SimBrief returns an error saying it can’t find a route. Usually two causes: wrong airport code or airports too close together.

First, verify your ICAO codes. Go back to airnav.com and double-check. Copy-paste them directly into SimBrief to avoid typos. I once spent fifteen minutes troubleshooting before realizing I’d typed KEJK instead of KJFK — just a simple transposition that broke everything.

Second cause: airports too close together. You can’t file a realistic flight plan between two airports that are thirty miles apart. SimBrief requires a minimum distance for a proper route to exist. If you’re testing with nearby airports, increase the distance to at least 200 nautical miles.

Aircraft is Overweight

SimBrief calculates that your aircraft exceeds maximum takeoff weight. The error message will tell you the exact number — something like “MTOW exceeded: 185,000 lbs (limit 175,000).”

You have two fixes: reduce payload or reduce fuel requests. If you’re flying with no passengers — common for test flights — set payload to zero. If that doesn’t help, reduce cruise altitude slightly. Lower altitudes burn more fuel, so SimBrief will calculate lower fuel requirements, bringing your total weight down. Or request a shorter route by flying between closer airports.

Route Goes Over Water or Mountains Unexpectedly

SimBrief optimizes for fuel efficiency and winds. Sometimes this means routing over oceanic airspace or mountainous terrain you weren’t expecting. This is realistic — airliners do it constantly because it’s more efficient.

If your sim’s performance tanks over certain terrain, or you want a specific routing for testing purposes, use SimBrief’s “Cruise” tab and manually edit waypoints. Click on any waypoint in the route display and drag it to a new location. You can also delete waypoints and add custom ones by entering their coordinates. This gives you manual control without regenerating the entire plan.

Don’t fight realistic routing — embrace it. That’s what makes SimBrief valuable. But you have the option to adjust if you need to for sim performance reasons.

You’re now ready to generate actual flight plans. Your first few will feel slow — you’ll double-check every single field. By your tenth flight, it takes two minutes max. That’s the entire point. SimBrief automates the complexity so you can focus on actually flying instead of hunting for waypoints.

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