Garmin GNS 530/430 Flight Plan
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Hi,
is it possible to load a flight plan into the Garmin ?
Thanks.
@Dinamika70 a work around that i found is have your vfr map open before you end the flight, go to world map, make your flight plan then start flight. Hopefully this works for you.
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@Black-Square Thank you very much for the detailed explanation, I really appreciate the time you took to clarify the situation.
Now I understand that this is a limitation related to how the GNS 530/430 reads the flight plan only once at initial load, and that aircraft with hot-swappable avionics disabled by default will therefore never detect the flight plan in MSFS 2020. That explains exactly the behavior I am seeing.
I also completely understand why the current development focus is shifting toward MSFS 2024, being the latest platform. At the same time, I must admit there is a certain level of disappointment, as a very large portion of the community is still actively using MSFS 2020. Unfortunately, MSFS 2024 still suffers from several significant stability and development issues, which makes it difficult for many users to migrate at this stage.
Precisely because of BlackSquare’s well-known professionalism and attention to realism, I believe that continued support — even limited — for MSFS 2020 would further reinforce the seriousness and reputation of your work. For a team with your level of expertise, addressing impactful limitations like this one would be greatly appreciated by many long-time users.
Just to be sure I fully understand the available options:
- There is currently no supported way in MSFS 2020 to have the GNS 530/430 reliably load a SimBrief / Little Navmap flight plan unless the aircraft is forced to always load with that avionics configuration active from startup.
- Loading the flight plan in the World Map after the aircraft is already loaded will not be picked up by the GNS 530/430.
If that is correct, then at least I now know this is a platform limitation rather than a configuration mistake on my side.
Thank you again for your transparency, your support, and for the excellent work you do on these aircraft. Even with this limitation, the level of realism you deliver remains outstanding.
Best regards.
@Dinamika70 Just to clarify, it is not my priorities that have shifted away from MSFS 2020. Personally, I agree with you that MSFS 2024 still hosts many bugs that I find offensive to the "seriousness" of my simming, as you put it so well. I don't just plan on fully supporting my 2020 aircraft for the foreseeable future, but I also plan on releasing all my future aircraft for 2020, as well. Also to clarify, the Black Square team is just me
In this case, it's Working Title, the creators of the GNS 530/430, who would be responsible for a fix to this issue. I have spent many hours trying to edit their code, just so I could present them with a working solution as a way of encouraging the change, but alas, it's a very hard problem, at least for someone of my skill level.
It does seem that there are some users who have found workarounds for this, but I don't completely understand how they function, so I have been weary to recommend them. There has been more discussion about this on the various MSFS Official Forum threads regarding my aircraft, and a few other high quality addons. I hope you can find something there, or someone might come here with an explanation of their workaround too. Sorry again that you're dealing with this limitation. Trust me, I would do something about it if I could, but it would still be a mod-to-a-mod without Working Title releasing the update for all platforms.
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@Dinamika70 Just to clarify, it is not my priorities that have shifted away from MSFS 2020. Personally, I agree with you that MSFS 2024 still hosts many bugs that I find offensive to the "seriousness" of my simming, as you put it so well. I don't just plan on fully supporting my 2020 aircraft for the foreseeable future, but I also plan on releasing all my future aircraft for 2020, as well. Also to clarify, the Black Square team is just me
In this case, it's Working Title, the creators of the GNS 530/430, who would be responsible for a fix to this issue. I have spent many hours trying to edit their code, just so I could present them with a working solution as a way of encouraging the change, but alas, it's a very hard problem, at least for someone of my skill level.
It does seem that there are some users who have found workarounds for this, but I don't completely understand how they function, so I have been weary to recommend them. There has been more discussion about this on the various MSFS Official Forum threads regarding my aircraft, and a few other high quality addons. I hope you can find something there, or someone might come here with an explanation of their workaround too. Sorry again that you're dealing with this limitation. Trust me, I would do something about it if I could, but it would still be a mod-to-a-mod without Working Title releasing the update for all platforms.
@Black-Square Thank you very much for taking the time to explain this in such detail — and also for the clarification.
First of all, I really appreciate your honesty and the fact that Black Square is essentially a one-person operation. That actually makes the level of quality, realism, and support you provide even more impressive. It also means a lot to hear that you plan to continue fully supporting MSFS 2020 and even release future aircraft for it — that commitment is rare and genuinely appreciated.
I also completely understand now that this issue ultimately sits with Working Title’s implementation of the GNS 530/430, and that any fix without their involvement would effectively be a mod-on-a-mod solution. Knowing that you have already spent many hours digging into their code just to try to encourage a proper fix says a lot about your dedication, even if the problem itself is outside your control.
Your hesitation to recommend workarounds that you don’t fully trust makes perfect sense, especially given the level of seriousness and reliability your products are known for. I’ll take a look through the MSFS Official Forum threads you mentioned and see if any of those solutions are clear and robust enough to experiment with.
In any case, thank you again for the transparency, the effort you’ve already put into this, and for the exceptional aircraft you create. Even with platform limitations like this one, your work remains among the most realistic and enjoyable experiences in MSFS.
Best Regards.
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@Dinamika70 a work around that i found is have your vfr map open before you end the flight, go to world map, make your flight plan then start flight. Hopefully this works for you.
@Moonflower_414 Thank you very much for sharing this workaround, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain it.
I’ll give it a try and report back if it works for me. Thanks again! -
My solution was to put the PMS 750 free version in the Community folder. You don't have to install it, just put it in the folder. Then when you need the FP in the 530/430, open the PMS from the menu and add the FP there, it will then populate in the 530/430. Definitely not elegant, but it does work.
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My solution was to put the PMS 750 free version in the Community folder. You don't have to install it, just put it in the folder. Then when you need the FP in the 530/430, open the PMS from the menu and add the FP there, it will then populate in the 530/430. Definitely not elegant, but it does work.
@lilycrose Thank you very much for sharing this workaround, I really appreciate.
I’ll give it a try and report back if it works for me. Thanks again! -
@Dinamika70 a work around that i found is have your vfr map open before you end the flight, go to world map, make your flight plan then start flight. Hopefully this works for you.
@Moonflower_414 Thank you very much for the workaround — I tested it and it works for me as well, so thanks a lot for sharing it!
The only downside I noticed is that once the flight plan is loaded and visible in the GNS 530, it seems to be handled purely as a sequence of waypoints. This becomes a limitation when dealing with SIDs, STARs, and approaches, since they don’t behave as structured procedures anymore.
I was wondering if you’re seeing the same behavior on your side, or if you’ve found a way around this too.
Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!
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My solution was to put the PMS 750 free version in the Community folder. You don't have to install it, just put it in the folder. Then when you need the FP in the 530/430, open the PMS from the menu and add the FP there, it will then populate in the 530/430. Definitely not elegant, but it does work.
@lilycrose I forgot about that trick! Thank you for the reminder!
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@Moonflower_414 Thank you very much for the workaround — I tested it and it works for me as well, so thanks a lot for sharing it!
The only downside I noticed is that once the flight plan is loaded and visible in the GNS 530, it seems to be handled purely as a sequence of waypoints. This becomes a limitation when dealing with SIDs, STARs, and approaches, since they don’t behave as structured procedures anymore.
I was wondering if you’re seeing the same behavior on your side, or if you’ve found a way around this too.
Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!
@Dinamika70 does loading sids stars and approaches via the procedure page not work? I dont recall noticing that problem. I dont use the gns anymore since i use PMS50.
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@Moonflower_414 Thank you very much for the workaround — I tested it and it works for me as well, so thanks a lot for sharing it!
The only downside I noticed is that once the flight plan is loaded and visible in the GNS 530, it seems to be handled purely as a sequence of waypoints. This becomes a limitation when dealing with SIDs, STARs, and approaches, since they don’t behave as structured procedures anymore.
I was wondering if you’re seeing the same behavior on your side, or if you’ve found a way around this too.
Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!
@Dinamika70 I don't use FS2020 any more, so I can't be sure, but I remember being able to add procedures including SIDs, STARs, etc, to the 530 enroute.
