How do I manually enter a flight plan into a GPS or FMS?

To manually enter a flight plan in a flight simulator, initialise the GPS or FMS, enter the origin and destination, add en-route fixes or airways, select the departure and arrival procedures, resolve unintended discontinuities, then activate or execute the route. Verify every leg and select the correct navigation source before using autopilot.

This general flight-simulation workflow applies to panel-mounted GPS units and airliner flight management systems, though the controls and page names differ. An FMS is normally operated through a CDU or MCDU, while Garmin-style units use flight-plan pages, softkeys and concentric knobs.

What information do you need before entering the route?

You need the departure and destination airports, planned runway or procedure where known, en-route fixes and airways, and the expected arrival and approach. A typical route has the structure ORIGIN – SID – FIXES/AIRWAYS – STAR – APPROACH – DESTINATION.

Keep the route beside you rather than trying to remember it. If you still need to generate one, our guide to building a route with SimBrief explains the planning stage without duplicating the cockpit-entry process here.

The navigation database in the aircraft must contain the fixes, airways and procedures you intend to use. A route made with different navdata may contain an airway, waypoint or procedure that the installed GPS or FMS cannot find.

How do you enter the flight plan step by step?

1. Power and initialise the unit. Allow the GPS or FMS to finish loading. Airliner systems may also require a reference airport, present position or inertial-navigation alignment before normal route guidance is available.
2. Remove any unwanted preloaded route. Simulator world maps and saved flights can populate the cockpit automatically. Clear that route before entering another one, or you may create duplicate airports, procedures and waypoints.
3. Enter the origin and destination. Use their airport identifiers and confirm that the displayed name or location is correct. Airliner systems generally place these on an INIT or RTE page; panel GPS units place them at the beginning and end of the active flight-plan list.
4. Select the departure. Choose the runway, SID and transition matching the route or clearance. If no runway or SID has been assigned, leave the departure flexible rather than guessing and rebuilding it later.
5. Add en-route fixes and airways. For direct sections, enter each waypoint in order. Do not type DCT as though it were a waypoint. For an airway, enter or select the airway after its entry fix, then specify the exit fix. Older or simpler GPS units may require every intermediate fix to be entered individually.
6. Add the arrival and approach. Select the STAR, transition, runway and approach that join sensibly to the en-route portion. Check for duplicated fixes where the STAR and approach overlap.
7. Inspect discontinuities. Close an ordinary route gap only when the two legs should genuinely connect. Leave a VECTORS, MANUAL or similar discontinuity in place if the procedure expects radar vectors or pilot intervention.
8. Commit the changes. Press EXEC or its equivalent on systems that stage modifications. On a panel GPS, confirm that the flight plan is active and that the intended first leg—not merely the destination—is selected.
9. Verify the route. Step through every LEGS or FPL entry and inspect the map at a useful range. Look for backwards segments, loops, implausible distances, unexpected runway changes and a magenta line that jumps across the route.

For unit-specific control techniques, see our walkthroughs of the GNS 530 knob-and-button workflow in MSFS 2020 and manual G1000 flight-plan entry in X-Plane 12.

What is different between a GPS and an airliner FMS?

Neither type automatically completes the aircraft's performance setup. Cruise altitude, weights, fuel, speeds, thrust settings and vertical constraints belong on separate performance or VNAV pages where the simulated aircraft supports them.

Should you load or activate the approach?

Load the approach when you want it stored without immediately changing the active leg; activate it only when you are ready to join that approach. Activating too early can make the GPS abandon the en-route or arrival leg you were following.

Choose the transition matching your clearance and position. A vectors-to-final option is appropriate when ATC is guiding you to intercept final, but it can bypass initial approach fixes. If you are flying the full published procedure, select its initial fix or named transition instead.

Why is a waypoint, airway or procedure missing?

• Waypoint not found: check the spelling, region and coordinates because identifiers can be duplicated. The fix may also be absent from the installed navigation database.
• Invalid airway: confirm that the preceding waypoint lies on that airway and that the chosen exit fix is valid. If database differences remain, enter the published intermediate fixes individually.
• Missing SID, STAR or approach: verify the airport, runway and database coverage. Do not substitute a similarly named procedure without comparing its legs.
• Route doubles back: the wrong same-ident waypoint or procedure transition was probably selected. Inspect waypoint coordinates and leg distances.
• Repeated discontinuity: a procedure change may have inserted new legs without removing the old transition. Compare the complete route before deleting anything.

Why will the autopilot not follow the entered flight plan?

The autopilot follows the active navigation leg, not merely a route displayed on the screen. Confirm that the route has been activated or executed, the intended leg is active, and the CDI or navigation source is set to GPS or the correct FMS rather than VOR/LOC.

• Arm the aircraft's NAV or LNAV mode rather than leaving heading mode active.
• Intercept the active course at a reasonable angle if the mode remains armed instead of capturing.
• Cancel OBS, SUSP or sequencing suspension when it is no longer required.
• Check that a direct-to command has not replaced the intended active leg.
• Remember that lateral route tracking does not automatically provide VNAV, altitude control or approach capture.

Does cockpit entry also file the plan with simulator ATC?

Manual GPS or FMS entry does not necessarily create a simulator-level flight plan or send the route to built-in or online ATC. The cockpit avionics, simulator planner and ATC system may hold separate copies that do not synchronise after edits.

In Microsoft Flight Simulator, the world-map planner can preload some aircraft but add-on avionics may handle routes independently. Our explanation of how the MSFS planner interacts with cockpit avionics covers when to create the route outside the aircraft and when manual verification is still required.