Hi there - although not a 'newbie' to MS/FS family - I have always flown VFR. However, I recently purchased 737NG 600/700 and I enjoying starting engines and getting into commercial flying at last. But I have a question relating to the FMC and I wonder if anyone could help me please. If I decide to plan a route say London Stansted to Rome Ciampino, do I:-Use FS9's flight planner first in order to find waypoints etc?If not, how do I find all that information - is is programmed into the FMC?How do I associate the FMC with FS9's ATC - do they work 'hand in glove' ?Sorry for such a basic question - but I am only just finishing the tutorial on the test flight! And there was me thinking Falcon 4.0 was complicated!Anyone who can spare the time to help this old fogey - many thanks in advance..................Malcolm Osborn

Hi Malcolm, Along with FS9's flight planner there are a number of ways to find a route from (a) to (:( using additional software such as FS Navigator and FS Build. There are utilities available which will load all of these methods including FS9's flight plan directly in to the FMC. However I like to plan the route via the flight planner in FS and then programme each particular way point and jetway directly into the FMC (I also acquire real life flight plans and load them in directly). By doing it this way I get direct hands on interaction with the FMC. Of course this route can then be saved for future use (i.e. company routes).Unfortunately FS9's ATC does not interact correctly with this flight plan, which is annoying to say the least! You can work around it by filing VFR or getting on VATSIM.I can not reccommend highly enough 'Timothy Metzingers Advanced Operations Tutorial V2'. This will have you up and flying by the numbers in no time. You will be blown away by what this thing can do. Warning - Prepare yourself (and your loved ones) as you'll be glued to your PC for days!Best RegardsBoone,[email protected]"Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle. It's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes."

Hi Boone - thanks for that, I will now obtain the utilities and the tutorial. This is such a superb simulation, it deserves all the time it takes to even begin to uderstand all the complexities of the FMC.Thanks for replying, I really appreciate that.Mal