Nav Programs: FS Commander 9 vs Ernie Alston's FSBuild-2 vs Abacus Co-Pilot Pro

[Paul K]

I'm considering buying a commercial flight planning utility and have been looking at reviews of these three as possibilities;

FS Commander 9
http://secure.simmarket.com/flightsim-commander-9.phtml


FSBuild-2
http://secure.simmarket.com/ernie-alston-fsbuild-2.phtml


Abacus Co Pilot Pro
http://www.abacuspub.com/default_fs.html ( scroll down to the bottom left )

I had the Abacus Co Pilot version for FS98 and thought it excellent, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has experience of the others ( or all three ) and can provide some guidance or comparisons.

I'm using FSX & SP2 and REX2.

Thanks in advance.

[trisager]

Don't forget the freeware Plan-G: http://www.tasoftware.co.uk/

[IanP]

I've used FSBuild and FSCommander and, to be honest, prefer the latter. Although neither are particularly good at automatic TransAtlantic routing, which is the test I like to throw at them, FSCommander gave me a lot fewer very strange routings and, if you include them in a manual plan, does allow you to download and include NAT and PACOT Tracks. You can certainly download the "live" NAT tracks for the day, although I've never looked into PACOT tracks.

FSCommander is also of use when flying - if you have a second PC and WideFS, or are prepared to fly in windowed screen - as it will act as a moving map showing your position, that of AI traffic (or online traffic) around you and you can zoom right in to the airport to look where your parking spot is and check out your taxi route to get there.

I also used to really like Co-Pilot, but I think the version I had is about the same age as yours so cannot comment on current capabilities.

Ian P.

[Paul K]

Yep tried that Trisager, and while very good, I'm after something with more features.

Ian P, thanks for that. Very useful info

[IanP]

I presume you are also aware that you can try FSCommander as a demo, Paul?

Just download it from their website. It's session time limited (unlimited sessions of limited length) and some features (save route, export route, for examples) are disabled, but it'll give you a good idea of what it can and can't do.

Ian P.

[Paul K]

Indeed, Ian, I've been trying out the FS Commander demo. I've now also read elsewhere that it is superior to FS Build. I'll hold out for a while though.