Hi I am new to Flight Sim but trying to learn fast I have started to use the FMC in the excellent PMDG but when entering STARS and approaches I am just vectored off these by ATC making the use of them rather redundant Is this just a limitation of MSFS ATC or am I doing something wrong. I have FS2004. Thanks for your help in this.David

David,The best that you can really do is to create the flight plan in FS2004 as you would normally. Preflight the aircraft and the FMC. Then you can fly much of the route with ATC. Usually the deviations you make from a SID aren't that great - and you get the altitude assignments and traffic (particularly if using FSTraffic etc).Then I usually cancel IFR at or around TOD - usually when ATC start bleating about deviation from assigned altitude. You can then request flight following and get traffic - and then request a full stop landing at the destination once established in the approach sequence.Not the most ideal solution but it does work.Maybe someone will invent an ATC/FMC interface program. Hmm - wonder what Peter Dawson is doing for the next year or two :)Cheers

If you are just getting involved with flight sim the best thing you can do is get involved in online flying through VATSIM. They have an excellent pilot resource center that will help you get started and then you will be able to fly the SIDS/STARS with an online controller. Since you are new and obviously want to do the correct procedures this would be the best time to get into the good habits of doing it correctly.

Allow me to explain a little how it works from the controller perspective: SIDs and STARs provide a base plan for ingress and egress from the airport controlled space.The idea is that all aircraft fly a predictable and known departure or approach within the airspace to ensure adequate separation (lateral and vertical). The goal is to make sure that all inbound flights arrive through a known set of arrival or departure "gates" (waypoints).This said, it's only the base, and you must account for traffic, dynamic weather conditions, problems, pilots (dare I say problem pilots? :)) etc...In practice, you will more or less follow the published approach routes, and then be vectored in for landing by ATC. The instructions may or may not follow the routing, but should be reasonably close until you get very close to the airport. The closer you are to the runway, the more it will usually deviate.ATC will ask you to slow down, speed up, or deviate from the published approach if safety and conditions warrant it.Now, with MS ATC, it's a different story because while it's pretty good and a significant improvement over past implementations, it still has many quirks and flat out errors, especially with separations.As was posted above, I highly suggest you take a spin online on the free VATSIM network if you can and get closer to what real world ATC looks like. You can just observe at a busy airport so you get a feel for it. I know the first time I did this I didn't understand a thing the controller said to planes, yet they all talked together. Know that vatsim staffing varies, and because we all are volunteers, the most activity is seen in the evenings (local time) and of course, on weekends.Over the years I've used no ATC, graduated to MS ATC, when to Radar Contact, and finally said the heck with it and joined the controller crew at VATSIM which has helped me immensely as an armchair pilot knowing both sides of the equation.Cheers,

Thanks for all your help It confirms that I wasnt doing anything too wrongDavid

like jeremy said, get online & forget about the think default ATC & AI pilots, they're a waste of time!go to http://www.vatsim.net where you can find out about flying online with real controllers & real other pilots. you may want to join a virtual airline & focus your flight simulating on something like that.all the information is there...i would really recommend it!

Hi,I'm a controller at EGBB on VATSIM as well as a pilot so if you want somewhere friendly to take your first flight on VATSIM just drop me a [email protected]