Does anyone know of a site to visit which shows map details of the SIDs and STARs in the FMC database?Seeing them listed when programming the FMC is great but pretty useless if you've no idea what area (North, South, East or West) each one is covering.(Suggestion for future enhancement...? Dreamfleet's 737 FMC has a very useful option to see a simple map view of the SID/STAR to assist in choosing the appropriate one for your planned flight.)Thanks for any help.Toni.

It is better to have the sid/stars map if possible -but if you load a sid/star and look at the ND you will see the route in a broken line if it is ok then execute it and it will become solid, if it is not ok then just del. it and try another.Cheers,David Pedder

DavidIt's not the integrity of the SID or STAR that I'm referring to - it's which one to choose in the first place which 'matches' the direction I'm leaving or arriving from.....Toni.

Hi Toni,that depends on where you're flying. Vatsim's divisions have a lot of charts available. Apart from that, there used to be a free site for US charts, which has now become a subscription service (unfortunately I can't remember the name), Eurocontrol have now opened their own public database, the CAA in Britain provides free charts as well, so there's a lot to choose from. I suggest you check in the flightplans forum, there are a lot of useful links.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

David,FSNavigator has many SIDs and STARs available for download with the product and a small symbol against each shows the direction of the SID or STAR.This is one piece of software that is indispensible for serious flight simmers and can be purchased from here... www.fsnavigator.com/Cheers,

Toni,What I was meaning was if you have no plans available and still want to use sids/stars you can do the following;-Go to deptarr and choose your runway you will then find a list of sid or stars.If there is for instance -six sids then choose no.1, if on the ND it is in the wrong direction then del. it and choose no.2, again if it is wrong del. and try no.3 and so on.This seems a long drawn out job but it doesn't take very long and you will find the correct one (assuming there is one in the data base of course!).Ray,I do subscribe to FS Navigator and find it very useful but I was trying to show what could be done if someone had no charts -thanks for your help.David

Thanks David.I now understand your idea - good for SIDs. Any ideas for STARs?Toni.

>Thanks David.>>I now understand your idea - good for SIDs. Any ideas for>STARs?>>Toni.Although I haven't used the ND that way I would guess you can do the same for STARs as for SIDs.If you switch the ND to 'plan' mode you should be able to see the select STAR if you move through waypoints on the legs pages.TBH You shouldn't have such a problem with either SIDs or STARs depending on how you created your main flight plan.The en-route bit of your flight usually starts with the w'pt that is the end of a SID and ends with the w'pt that is the beginning of a STAR.Most SID/STARs are named after their respective w'pts so if you know the end w'pts of your main route you should be able to use those names to select the correct SID/STAR.Having said all that I think you will get far more enjoyment out of FS and the PMDG 737 by down loading the real charts for your departure and arrival airports, after all this a/c is not a 'step in and fly' a/c so I would expect it to attract the more serious simmer ;-)You already have some very good links and advice for accessing real charts but as a first port of call I would suggest visiting the Vatsim site local to your departure and arrival airports. Most, if not all, have links to real World charts as well as flight planning tools to give you the correct flight plan, or at least that part which is in their airspace.HTH

Toni,Vulcan has said it all -it works for stars as well.All sids,stars etc.are freely available for the UK, also most of Europe -the problem now seems to be USA .cheers,David

All DPs and STARs for the USA are available for free at www.myairplane.com. DPs and IAPs are listed by airport and STARs are listed together, alphabetically.Also, if you're trying to figure out which ones to use, many/most of the VATSIM ARTCCs have preferred route information. If you're interested in flying in ZLA (where I control), try www.laartcc.org and click on IFR Flight Planner.Hope this helps.Regards,Marc SykesSenior VP, LAX OperationsPacific West AirwaysZLA Controller

Hello Ray and the group, I agree with you. Even though I have FSBuild I never use any other planner except FSNav together with my maps. FSNav, IMO, a great software package.Cheers