What it is: AIRAC stands for Aeronautical Information Regulation And Control. In simming, it usually refers to the navdata package installed in the simulator or aircraft, covering waypoints, airways, SIDs, STARs, approaches, frequencies and runway-related procedure data for a specific cycle.
In practice: When you load an FMC or GPS and enter a route, the aircraft reads that AIRAC cycle to find fixes and procedures. If your aircraft, simulator and planner are on different cycles, you can run into missing waypoints, procedure mismatches or route import errors. That matters most in airliner operations, online flying and realistic IFR, where ATC clearances, charts and dispatch plans often assume current data. During a flight, the AIRAC affects what departures and arrivals are available, whether an approach can be selected correctly, and whether the route in your avionics matches the chart you are following.
Key considerations:
- Try to keep your planner, charts and aircraft navdata on the same cycle to avoid route and procedure conflicts.
- Some add-on aircraft use their own navdata, separate from the base simulator, so updating one does not always update the other.
