Frequently asked questions.

It's a simple, satellite-based cockpit companion for flight simulators. It shows your aircraft on a moving map, helps you plan and fly approaches, runs checklists, and gives you the situational awareness to fly with confidence — without the clutter of a full flight management suite.

No. The satellite moving map is how you see your flight, but SimFlyMinimums is built to help you fly better: stabilised-approach guidance and go-around support, with missed-approach information taken from the approach chart; phase-based checklists; a rules engine that alerts you when something is off; a virtual first officer; a flight recorder with an end-of-flight report; georeferenced FAA charts; a chart that compares your speed and altitude with a real flight loaded from a CSV file; and the option to add your own aircraft models, with AI filling in technical data such as flaps, cruise speeds and weights.

Beginner and intermediate simmers who want clarity and confidence. If you've ever lost track of where an airport is, struggled with descent planning, or wanted to learn proper checklist flow without a steep learning curve, it's built for you.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024 and X-Plane 11 and 12. MSFS connects via SimConnect; X-Plane connects over UDP. Phase-called checklists and rules work with both. Adapting SimFlyMinimums to Prepar3D (P3D) is in progress.

No. Those are excellent, deep tools. SimFlyMinimums deliberately does less: it focuses on situational awareness, simple planning and cockpit confidence, kept simple enough to use on every flight. Many people use it alongside other tools.

Navigraph is a professional-grade data and charts service, with data refreshed every AIRAC cycle and polished apps and integrations. Little Navmap is a powerful, free and open-source planning and moving-map tool created by Alexander Barthel, with a large community around it. SimFlyMinimums doesn't try to match either on depth or data currency. Its own idea is in the tagline: Minimum clutter. Maximum awareness. SimFlyMinimums is a cockpit companion for beginner and intermediate simmers — it doesn't just show where you are, it helps you learn and fly properly: approach and go-around guidance, checklists, alerts, a virtual first officer and a flight report. If you want the deepest planning tools or the freshest data, use them; many people use SimFlyMinimums alongside.

It's a play on words. Approach minimums matter — and the app helps with them — but the real idea is "minimum clutter, maximum awareness." Keeping things simple is the whole point.

No. SimFlyMinimums is for flight simulation and entertainment only. It must never be used for real-world navigation or flight operations.

The navigation database is refreshed twice a year. As the community of subscribers grows, we expect to update it more often — the number of subscribers will decide how frequent updates can be. It does not follow the 28-day AIRAC cycle, so some recent procedure changes may be missing. That is one more reason SimFlyMinimums is for simulation only.

No. The moving map uses MapTiler and is included with SimFlyMinimums — there is nothing to set up. If you prefer Azure Maps, you can still use it with your own key (see our setup steps).

BYOK = "Bring Your Own Key." Instead of us reselling AI services (and Azure Maps, if you prefer it to the included MapTiler map), you use your own provider keys. This keeps the app cheaper, puts you in control of those services, and means your usage is your own.

Nothing for the map: MapTiler is included with SimFlyMinimums. If you choose Azure Maps instead, its free tier comfortably covers normal sim use.

No. AI features (AI First Officer, AI chat, automatic chart extraction) are optional Premium extras and need your own OpenAI or Gemini key. Everything else — map, planning, checklists — works without any AI.

Yes. In Flight Plans, tick No RNAV: RNAV (GPS) and RNP approaches and RNAV STARs are hidden, so you only see procedures you can fly with VOR, NDB and ILS, and Gen Route builds the route on conventional (VOR/NDB) airways only — no Q or T routes. Departure procedures (SIDs) are not filtered yet; that is coming in the next update.

Yes. The Input Events Explorer is free for everyone: enumerate an aircraft model's input events, read live values and browse the MobiFlight table. It is SimFlyMinimums' contribution to the developer community. Sending events, saving and editing are part of Premium.

Not fully. The satellite map, charts and navigation data are fetched online, so the moving map and most features need an internet connection. Offline you can still set the app up: add aircraft, create checklists and generate control panels.

No. Registering, the Free version and the 14-day trial never ask for payment details. You register once on this website with your e-mail address, confirmed by a one-time code (no password), and then you can download the app. A card is only needed if you later choose to subscribe to Premium.

Yes. The Free tier — moving map, flight planning, simulator variables, PDF charts and basic checklists — is free forever, with no time limit.

If you don't subscribe to Premium, the app simply continues on the Free tier. You keep all your free features — you just lose the Premium-only ones until you upgrade.

You can install SimFlyMinimums and use the same Premium subscription on multiple personal devices. Your subscription is for your own use and must not be shared with other people. There is no password to manage: you register once on this website with your e-mail and a one-time code, and Premium is activated in the app with your license key. For activation help, contact novreis@simflyminimums.com.

Cancel anytime by contacting novreis@simflyminimums.com or Paddle buyer support. You keep Premium access until the end of the period you've already paid for, then drop back to the Free tier automatically. See Pricing for details.