I need help flying a transition in the 737NG into a RWY...

[Guest imoz]

Hi,I just bought the 737-600/700 and the -800/900 add-on a couple nights ago. The plane is really impressive and I think I am going to pick up the 747 too once I've mastered the 737.I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction or explain what I am doing wrong in programming the FMC. As an example, tonight I flew from Logan Int'l to Kennedy Int'l. I flew the ENE4 arrival, so I took off from KBOS, flew northwest to enter the arrival. ENE4 terminates at the JFK VOR. I was able to program in the slowdowns/descents along the arrival (250/12000 at CCC and then 9000 at ROBER. This brings you in at 276 degrees over JFK.The problem I'm having is I wanted to fly the ILS RWY 4R approach. When I selected that approach and the ZETAL transition, I get a ROUTE DISCONTINUITY error in the FMC. And I cannot figure out how to make the discontinuity go away. I wind up having to manually use the autopilot to get the plane to cross ZETAL headed in the right direction.Once I got the plane to ZETAL I was able to use the autoland. My question is how can I avoid the route discontinuity error in the FMC when getting from the arrival route to the appropriate transition for the approach? Is this a flight planning error on my part / should I have selected a different STAR, or am I missing a step when programming the FMC, or is this normal operating procedure? I picked this particular STAR because it seemed to be the one most closely aligned with the route FS2004 auto-generated for me in the flight planner.Thanks for an awesome product!Joe Mozelesky

[Farlis 2,277]

You are doing everything right as far as I can tell.The STAR states that you can expect radar vectoring to final. So this would normally happen somewhere enroute between ROBER and the JFK VOR. You won't need the FMC route after that point anyway.However if you want to keep flying in LNAV mode using a FMC programmed route then you should press the button right next to the first fix of your IAP on the FMC and then click on the button right next to the line that says rte discontinuity.This should give you the desired route.

[Guest tmetzinger]

Arrivals generally do NOT lead you to a fix that is part of an instrument approach (though some do). Normally they lead you to a fix from which point ATC will give you radar vectors (heading and altitude assignments) to get you established on an approach.If you want to give yourself vectors, just switch to HDG mode, increase the range of the navigation display so you can see the waypoints to your approach, and fly a path that puts you on a 30 degree or so intercept to the final approach course. Be sure and use the VS or LVL CHG mode to set your altitude appropriately.The suggestion given above to close the disconnect between the last waypoint of the STAR and the first waypoint of the approach may not always work, because you may need to make a "U-Turn" onto the approach.Best Wishes,