Build and store a G1000 flight plan in X-Plane 12

Build and store a G1000 flight plan in X-Plane 12

X-Plane has no standalone flight planner; the map is a chart viewer, not a route editor, so routes are built inside the aircraft's avionics. This task uses the G1000 in the default Cessna 172 and ends with the route written to disk as a .fms file.

Every character of every waypoint is entered with the FMS rotary knobs. There is no keyboard entry and nothing to paste; the whole task is knob and softkey work.

Setup (before recording, or trim it off after): New Flight ▸ aircraft Cessna Skyhawk 172SP G1000, location KSEA, engines running. Start Flight.

1. Click anywhere inside the MFD display area (right-hand screen) to pop it out as a large panel; the plan is much easier to read there, and to record.
2. Click the FPL key to open the Flight Plan page. If a previous plan is present, clear it: MENU ▸ turn the FMS outer rotary to Delete Flight Plan ▸ ENT.
3. Confirm KSEA sits at the top of the plan as the origin; it is filled in from the airport you started at, not typed.
4. Add the SEA VOR (Seattle VORTAC). Click the centre of the FMS rotary to bring up the cursor, turn the outer rotary to the first empty line, then turn the inner rotary to begin entry. Set each character with the inner rotary and step to the next one with the outer rotary: S, E, A. Press ENT twice to accept.
5. Add the BTG VOR (Battle Ground) on the next line, the same way.
6. Add KPDX as the final waypoint. The plan now reads KSEA → SEA → BTG → KPDX.
7. Store it: MENU ▸ Store Flight Plan ▸ ENT. The G1000 names the file itself, from origin + destination, and it lands as KSEAKPDX.fms in Output/FMS plans/. There is no save dialog and no choosing the name.
8. Turn the FMS inner rotary one step to the Flight Plan Catalog page and confirm KSEAKPDX is listed there.

Optional, not graded: press PROC and load a STAR into KPDX. It adds a STAR line to the saved file, but published procedures change with the nav cycle, so it is left out of the criteria.