After tuning into ATIS or a landing request from ATC and finding out which runway i can use to land on, how do i make a choice of which star to use for which runway? Do i need to get hold of some kind of airport/local area chart or is it pure common sense lol???At the moment i'm still learning so i'm just practising direct flight from airport to airport then inputting a HOLD at the arrival airport untill i can find the appropiate star for the selected runway.

The STAR selection should occur during preflight and is normally a part of your flight plan. The STAR route is selected based on the direction that your flight is approaching the destination and many procedures have all destination runways incorporated into their routes.Many short haul routes are simply a SID connected to a STAR at a common VOR. I recommend flightaware.com for a good look at what routes are flown real world. Charts are available from this and many other sources. Good luck and keep on learning.

>The STAR selection should occur during preflight and is>normally a part of your flight plan. The STAR route is>selected based on the direction that your flight is>approaching the destination and many procedures have all>destination runways incorporated into their routes.Right so i need to get hold of some charts then. Thankyou i will give it ago.

Hi Keiron,This site has a very comprehensive list of charts and flight planning links which spans the globe:http://usa-w.vatsim.net/charts/Some of the links may have died but overall, it's a very helpful starting point in most cases. Jim Karnhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_pf.jpg

i've done some reading through the info off that site above which is VERY helpfull. Thanks!I think i get the idea that before i plan a flight to a certain airport i need to check the charts to see which STARS would be a good choice to choose from my approach direction yes?So for example if i was flying inbound from the south east to EGLL use STARS; OCK or BIG as show in the diagram below.http://www.ais.org.uk/aes/pubs/aip/pdf/aer...es/32LL0707.PDFis that correct?Also would it be a good idea to get runway selecion details off ATIS then on further approach go into a HOLD before flying into STAR untill i can get a landing slot off ATC then after conformation input arrival runway into FMC, come out of the HOLD into the STAR & runway approach?I've noticed that i have several stars to choose from with the same name but prefixed with a different number or letter on the end eg; BIG1E, BIG3A, BIG1D etc... what does that mean is it the same route?