What is smartCARS 3?
smartCARS is a flight tracking and management system for Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Prepar3D, X-Plane, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. A flight tracking system (known as an ACARS) to help pilots plan, track, and report flights to either their own logbooks or their virtual flying community.
Many tools exist for this purpose, but smartCARS packs in a host of additional features to make online flight simulation more fun and more reliable. It is used by hundreds of virtual airlines, loved by thousands of pilots, and is the most advanced flight tracking system available for desktop flight simulators.
- Overview of features
- Differences between smartCARS 3 and VaBase Acars
- Compatibility and system requirements
- Glossary of Terms & Terminology
Overview of features
- Incredibly detailed flight tracking
- Plan flights on SimBrief without leaving smartCARS
- View and review past PIREPS
- Integrated map showing online Canada Air traffic
- Create a one-of-a-kind experience by installing (or creating) plugins
- Listen to music and live entertainment via integrated Sky Blue Radio players
- Integrates with industry leading software1
- All major desktop operating systems and simulators are supported
1 Including our custom-built VA management system, which means we have much greater control over how we handle pireps and flight dispatches.
Differences between smartCARS 3 and VaBase Acars
smartCARS 3 and our previous Acars application from VaBase are similar, but there are some significant difference that we'd like to point out here:
smartCARS 3 has these additional features:
- full searchable access to all of our schedules directly inside the application
- ability to bid on/dispatch multiple flights
- a logbook that displays your entire flight history with Canada Air Virtual
- integrated flight planning with Simbrief
- import of a Simbrief generated flight
- viewing of a Simbrief OFP inside the application
- proper handling of simulator pause state
- automatic pirep submission on engine shutdown (optional), so you no longer have to worry about forgetting to submit your pirep
- instant approval of pirep if all parameters of flight are within acceptable values
smartCARS 3 does not have these features that you may have been used to:
- no performance metrics
- this means there no longer is a performance score awarded after the flight
Note that smartCARS 3 is under active development, and we expect new features to be added over time as TFDi Design continue to improve the application.
Canada Air Virtual is not able to make any changes inside smartCARS 3 itself. We can only control what we do with the data that is sent to and received from smartCARS 3.
Compatibility and system requirements
- Windows 10 or later, x86_64 Linux, MacOS 12 or later
- 1GB or more of RAM
- 250MB of hard drive space
- Ensure the tracking provider is set properly in the Settings
Glossary of Terms & Terminology
This is a small glossary of terms as they are used in smartCARS 3 in relation to our website or other common verbiage we use.
- Charter - a charter flight is an ad-hoc flight that a pilot is creating. The pilot may choose any departure, arrival, airplane, and other variables to build a custom flight which then becomes a Dispatch to be flown.
- Dispatch - also called Bid in smartCARS 3 - is the record of a flight that a pilot is intending to fly. This is what shows in the My Dispatches page on the website or in the Flight Center screen in smartCARS 3. Dispatches or Bids are turned into Live Flights when smartCARS 3 is tracking them. A Dispatch is created by dispatching a scheduled flight, a tour leg, an event, or a charter flight.
- Live Flight - this is a flight that is being actively tracked by smartCARS 3. It is visible to others, either on the Live Flights screen in smartCARS 3 or in the various Live Flights sections on our website.