Dispatch Planner 3 review

There are those amongst us (myself included, when time permits) who seek the ultimate in realism when performing their simulated flights. This might include using real-time weather, accurate flight plans, approach charts etc. Dispatch Planner 3 offers another level of realism by providing you, after inputting the required data, a detailed Dispatch sheet for your proposed flight which you can print out and keep handy for the flight.

Prior to version 3, Dispatch Planner existed as an Excel spreadsheet which, whilst useful, was not the most user friendly solution. For version 3, the author has created a nice, clean and easy to use interface:

As you can see, it’s nicely laid out and pretty intuitive. The author provides a detailed PDF manual which explains all elements of the interface.

To get your dispatch sheet, you enter the data requested on the main screen. The interface has links to web sites allowing you to look up the ICAO codes for your departure and arrival airports and to create a flight plan.

The program scans your flight simulator directory for a list of aircraft, which you can then select from the interface. If you add a new aircraft to your simulator, you just need to open the Settings dialog box, then close it again and re-start the application. It will then re-scan your aircraft.

All the required fields have tool-tips, which will explain the required input, making data entry very easy. During the data entry process, if you select “Show WX information on dispatch?”, the program will download the current weather data for you and show it on the dispatch report.

Once you’ve entered all the data, click the big green tick and you’re presented with your dispatch sheet:

Dispatch Planner 3 also includes a more detailed weather planner. Simply enter your departure and arrival airports and any alternates, and it will generate a detailed weather report:

Dispatch Planner 3 is a useful tool. When preparing for a “realistic” flight, I tend to find I’m getting data from various locations. I’ll get my weather from one place, a flight plan from another place etc. Dispatch Planner 3 is useful in that it brings all this data together and allows you to print it so you have reference to all the data you need during the flight.

This program falls nicely into my favourite “do one thing and do it well” category and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who would like to have this data with them for their flights. Dispatch Planner 3 can be purchased from the author’s web site for a very reasonable £12.99.

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