X-Dispatch
A free companion app for X-Plane 12. Browse airports on a 3D globe, set up your flight, and launch directly.
World Map
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Back in 2021, I asked Laminar Research if they had plans for a global airport map in X-Plane. They weren't interested. The idea stuck with me for years. I kept brainstorming how it would work, what it would look like, which problems I'd need to solve first.
The two hard parts were parsing X-Plane's airport data file (every smooth curve you see is a bezier encoded in a way that took me months to get right) and figuring out how to actually launch X-Plane with the user's choices (through an undocumented config file, and later an undocumented command line flag). I failed the first attempt with Flutter, shelved it, came back years later with MapLibre and Electron, and got it working.
X-Dispatch gives you a 3D globe with 35,000+ airports. Click any airport to see the full layout: runways, taxiways, gates, markings, all rendered from X-Plane's own data. Pick a starting position, choose your aircraft and livery, configure fuel and weather, hit launch. Or relocate mid-flight if the sim is already running.
Free and open source. Windows, macOS, Linux.
Features
Map & airports
3D globe with terrain elevation, hillshade, contour lines. 6 basemap styles. 35,000+ airports with custom scenery detection. Day/night terminator. Weather radar overlay with playback. Range rings by aircraft category.
Airport detail
Runways with surface types, dimensions, lighting, markings. Taxiways, aprons, pavement areas with signs. Gates and parking with heading indicators. Helipads, windsocks, beacons. All parsed from apt.dat.
Navigation
VOR, NDB, DME, TACAN, ILS/LOC with course visualization. High and low altitude airways. Airspace boundaries and FIR regions. SID, STAR, approach procedures overlaid on the map. X-Plane native data or Navigraph with AIRAC detection.
Flight setup & launch
Aircraft browser with search, filters, favorites. Livery selection remembered per aircraft. Fuel, payload, weight & balance. Start from any gate, runway, helipad, or custom pin drop. Air start, carrier catapult, frigate deck, glider tow. Weather presets or full custom. Direct X-Plane launch or mid-flight relocation via REST API.
SimBrief & live traffic
One-click OFP import with route visualization. Fuel breakdown, weight summary, nav log. VATSIM and IVAO overlays with pilot callsigns. Live METAR with flight category display.
Addon manager & tracking
Browse installed aircraft, plugins, liveries, Lua scripts. Drag-and-drop install from ZIP, RAR, 7z. Scenery priority management. Real-time flight tracking via WebSocket. Multiple X-Plane installations with quick switching.
Press
X-Dispatch Adds World Map Flight Launcher and Add-On Manager to X-Plane 12 - FSElite
X-Dispatch is a new freeware companion utility for X-Plane 12 that introduces an interactive world map, SimBrief flight plan integration, and add-on management tools designed to streamline flight preparation.
FSElite
Community
This is genuinely heartwarming. I'm glad people find it useful.
"Hands down the best add-on for X-Plane! Period! I absolutely love the design and how fluid and quick to react this tool is. Oh boy, are the MSFS guys & gals gonna be jealous of this one."
Haui
"X-Dispatch is the one stop tool that every simmer needs. I honestly thought Laminar would one day come up with something like this, but instead, you have taken the lead. I think Austin Meyer owes you a great one on this release."
DZ-Aviation
"WOW. You should contact Laminar so they recruit you."
Encounia
"Amazing utility app for X-Plane, I'm really enjoying the features, especially the 3D terrain viewer."
Sean McLeod
"This is essential, thank you!"
Tenebrae Aeternae
"Awesome application! Free and open source. Can't thank the creator enough."
Suh
"This is a very sleek UI. Well done."
ColinM9991
"Already shows great promise. The dev is very open to new ideas and looking for help to work out bugs. A big thank you for sharing this with the community."
kemosabe
Read more
Free and open source.
Windows, macOS, Linux. Requires X-Plane 12.4+.