Do you need to input every waypoint or fix for the fmc?

[crvm 0]

Please sign your name on the forum, thank you. I don't ever use default ATC since it's not realistic. Have you tried on-line with Vatsim? This way your route and interaction IS KNOW.Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/southparkcartmad.gif[h3]I WANT MY 747![/h3]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)

[flightsimmer747 0]

I have ultimate traffic which to me is very realistic so i need atc.Joe

[Orlaam 328]

So you can see the flight plan in the FMC and it's getting saved to the PMDG folder, but won't load into the FMC?You may have to go over to the FSBuild forums (located on the FSBuild website) and ask someone. I can't figure why it wouldn't work.

[flightsimmer747 0]

I got it, you need to click on the rte page and activate it and confirm with exec. I'm still lost mind you and a little disappointed in myself but i guess it takes time. But my flight plan appeared with every waypoint and fix.Thank youRegards Joe

[Orlaam 328]

Yeah, I just went and tried it so I could remember. You basically have to click the flight plan from NAV DATA (it shows up at the bottom) and then put it into CO ROUTE. Then activate it.

[flightsimmer747 0]

Another question though what happens with atc now i can't have an ifr flight because fs9 will not direct me at the same waypoints as i filed with fsbuild. And i want to use atc?

[Guest Ruddman]

You can't import MSFS plans into the FMC though, so you'll have to enter it manually.

I heard you could? Like 767 PIC - co route or something? Not that I'm doubting you if thats correct!Jonno.

[flightsimmer747 0]

You see thats wha ti mean so if i want atc to match my flight i need to enter it manually problem here is it takes forever going back and forth entering all the victor airways or vors only for that matter!Joe

[Orlaam 328]

The MSFS format isn't the same, thus the PMDG won't recognize it.Also, most of us don't use the ATC in FS9 except just to request a flight plan. Get in the air above the airports own airspace and request a flight plan with the ARTCC. Then you'll get hand offs and traffic alerts, albeit worthless traffic alerts, but at least it's some communication. Then as soon as you can pick your arrival airport up in the nearest airport list, you select it's tower and request a full stop landing.To file an IFR flight plan would require you to create the plan in FSBuild and write down all the waypoints/VORs, then go into FS9s flight planner and create one exaclty like what FSBuild gave you, and that would be a lot of work. The ACT is horrible for IFR anyhow. They give you unrealistic vectors miles from the airport, which makes using the FMC almost worthless.

[flightsimmer747 0]

What about not using fsbuild and creating a flight plan in fs9 vor only delete some waypoints and then wit ha few say 5 or 6 legs put them in the fmc save the flight in fs9 flight plan and in the fmc then all would match. Fmc with fs9 flight plan meaning accurate atc vectoring. Right what do you think?

[flightsimmer747 0]

I do also agree with your idea, your saying take off visual fly the flight plan and then contact tower at arrival airport?? This will make the auto generate of a plan imported into the fmc from fs build or any other flight planner that pmdg accepts....

[Orlaam 328]

Yes and no. Most likely your take-off vectors would require some flying to a heading different than the FMC is programmed for, but it shouldn't be an issue as much as the approach. If you fly a long flight the FMC will work fine if it matches the FS9 flight plan, but about 70 miles from the airport the ATC will start giving you headings and altitude descents that won't match the FMC, thus making it useless at that point. When ATC starts giving you descent and heading instruction for approach, you'll have to disconnect LNAV/VNAV and use the other MCP modes, like HDG, SPEED, ALT, V/S, ect...Make sense?

[Orlaam 328]

>I do also agree with your idea, your saying take off visual>fly the flight plan and then contact tower at arrival>airport?? This will make the auto generate of a plan imported>into the fmc from fs build or any other flight planner that>pmdg accepts....Correct. This is more realistic since you wouldn't be getting strange zig zag vectors 70 miles from the airport in real life. You also wouldn't descend as early. Not using the ATC for an IFR flight will allow the entire flight to be controlled by the FMC. This is closer to real life. I just use the ATC to get a following for what I mentioned before.The only drawback to this method is sometimes you can't contact the arrival airport until you're rather close < 20nm, and this might make the approach difficult sometimes. You won't know what runway to select from the arrival page in the FMC unitl the last minute, so you have to be ready to do some fast entering in the FMC.

[flightsimmer747 0]

Yes it does make sense now, now any other flight planner like fsnavigator which has a module out to export into pmdg's fmc will give me the same problem with atc communication so back to just filing a visual flight plan then takeoff and call arrival/tower for clearance doesn't sound like much communication. Will radar contact solve this problem? Or maybe fsnavigator can be read by fs9's atc?

[Orlaam 328]

I've never used FS Navigator, although it's map is very cool. FS Navigator only runs inside of MSFS, but I don't know how it works with PMDG NG. I know it won't fly it like it will the default planes. So other than FSBuild, I have no idea. None of these flight planners will work with ATC no matter what. The ATC only reads what's in its default MS planner, thus you can't force it to follow STARs or 3rd party flight plans. You have to do it one way or the other. As far as communication goes, once you're in the air, you can request a flight following and it'll give you hand-offs from controller to controller and traffic warnings just like the IFR plan does. It just won't tell you what to do with regard to turning or descending/climbing. You're on your own for that, and thus that's where the FMC comes in.Radar Contact I believe will replace the default ATC for you and read your flight plan, but you have to import it into Radar Contact as well. I have it, but have yet to try it. My computer is slow, so I'm afraid it would slow me down. I believe what you do is create your plan in FSBuild and you can import the plan into Radar Contact so it knows what to tell you. This is probably the best and most realistic method, however, last I heard the current version didn't recognize AI planes, so I don't know how this works when you have default and RC ATC running at the same time. Someone who uses it can tell you more. Their forum is on here so you might want to post a question to them directly.