How to implement ATC vectors in the 744?

[Guest JTH]

Hi I am still a newbie to the 744 so please forgive this question! Anyways, when I take off and the 744 is flying away on autopilot (VNAV and LNAV engaged) I reach my initial altitude of say 10,000 ft. Then ATC will say something like "climb to 17,000, turn right heading 140 and resume own navigation".Now the A/P might be flying happily away at say heading 70 when this happens, so I am wondering why ATC would give me a heading that puts me off my route. And what do they mean resume own navigation? Do I turn right to heading 140 and then when I get there turn straight back to heading 70 again and fly away? That seems kind of strange.Finally, how do I actually instruct the A/P to turn right to this heading on the MCP without messing up my route? Thanks a lot for any help on this! Paul.

[Mats_J 2]

>Finally, how do I actually instruct the A/P to turn right to>this heading on the MCP without messing up my route? Thanks a>lot for any help on this! Paul.Paul,Use HDG SEL for ATC vectors. And remember that the default FS ATC works in very mysterious ways. :-)Hope it helps,

[Guest JTH]

Could you talk me through using HDG SEL? I tried with it before but it ended up messing up my whole route, I couldn't re-engage LNAV. Thanks!

[SAS263 1]

JTH, I

[falcon999 24]

There could be a number of scenerios why you would be vectored by ATC, but let's use the scenerio you suggested. The following is the flight plan: MSP2.RST.JVL.JVL4.KORD (disclaimer: I know this isn't a realistic route for 744 :-) )Minneapolis 2 Departure, Rochester transition, direct Janesville, Janesville4 STAR, Janesville transition.On departure from runway 32L after initial vectors, Minneapolis Departure requests something like: Turn left heading 160, Climb and maintain 17,000, direct Rochester, resume own navigation. You would do the following:1) Dial 160 in the heading window2) Push the Heading Sel button - aircraft should turn left to 1603) Dial 17,000 (assuming your already in VNAV and climbing)4) Go to the FMS legs page 5) Click twice on the LSK next to RST to select direct RST6) Hit the Exec button - you should now see the magenta line on the MFD move and show a path from your current position direct RST (may need to adjust MFD map range to see RST)7) Hit LNAV button - Your back in LNAV mode and will continue route (to JVL) after RSTHope this helps,EDIT: Just saw Tord's comments, as suggested you should review lesson 4 as well (we must have been typing at the same time!) :-)

[Guest JTH]

Ok thanks for the replies, I think I get it now.Basically, you go to the heading ATC tells you to go to, then you tell your FMC to fly direct to the next waypoint by double-clicking on it and pressing EXEC. By the way, the ATC in my case didn't say anything like "Direct Rochester", they just said "resume own navigation". So in this case, where they don't say, do I just fly from the ATC heading to the next waypoint that I haven't reached?Thanks again for all the help. I will take a look at Lesson 4 also, as advised.

[SAS263 1]

Paul, the FS ATC should have you pointing more or less towards the next waypoint when you get the "Resume own nav" clearance, so you

[Guest JTH]

Ok I've just flown a practice flight, implenting what I've learned here and it's worked fine, thanks a lot. One quick question though, is it normal to head back for your next waypoint STRAIGHT AWAY after you've rolled out on the new ATC vector when they've given you the "resume own navigation" tag with the vector. For example, you've been told to turn to heading 115 and resume own nav, do you start heading back to your next waypoint immediately after you've rolled out on heading 115? Thanks once again!

[Tabs 2,790]

Paul,Is this the default FS ATC you're using? If so, it's not very realistic at all and you're probably not hearing correct phraseology or getting realistic ATC at all for that matter when flying the 744.You're more likely in the real world to hear something like "Delta 1584 heavy, proceed direct Rochester when able, resume own navigation." They're not gonna give you a heading that is in a different direction from your intended waypoint and then tell you to resume own nav with no idea of what to do to get back toward that point.Another possibility you could hear when flying a published SID/DP after takeoff might be something like - "United 1584 heavy, Phoenix departure, radar contact. Turn left heading 360, intercept the Phoenix zero-zero-six radial outboud to join the SILOW ONE departure. Climb and maintain flight level two-one-zero."Looking at the chart in the above instance, you'd know the controller wants you to actually go intercept the proper published course (PXR 006 radial outbound) instead of going direct from your present position to the first waypoint on the SID/DP.Basically, real ATC is only going to give you "resume own navigation" after they've made it very clear what they want you to do prior to that. This instruction is basically them acknowleging that you're going to, from that point onward and until they tell you otherwise, fly your filed route exactly.If you want to learn how to fly in a realistic ATC environment, I'd suggest getting a VATSIM account and learning the ropes there with real human controllers - they have a great pilot training thing at the site - www.vatsim.netRadar Contact 4 is also good if you can't use VATSIM, but still won't be as 100% realistic as VATSIM usually is.