On approaching John Kennedy ILS 15R I received the "Nav Invalid" message and was consequently unable to land with the help of the APP button.When I checked on the FSX map I found no listing for Runway 15R at KJFK despite the FMC on our new 747X offering 15R as an option. Are there other checks I should have made to deal with this message?Cliff

Interesting that the FMC offers an ILS15R... I'm not at home where I can cross check for you but KJFK doesn't have a 15R, and neither my sidstars or navdata show 15R data but again I can't cross check the FSX data. I'll look at it later today, meanwhile, what was your flight plan?

Finally got a chance to look at the navdata 0710 that ships with the 400X, and KJFK looks normal (i.e., no runway 15R listed).Not sure what happened to you.

Dan I do appreciate your help. It's resulted in notching my learning curve down a bit as I've discovered where I went wrong.Once in the air after leaving Boston's runway 15R I switched to the KBOS ARRIVALS page where I saw STARS on the left and APPROACHES on the right. What I didn't note well enough was that the page was headed with the Boston, not Kennedy, information. I'd wrongly thought that, once airborne, the ARRIVALS page would apply to the destination.Okay. Lesson learned.May I ask further guidance please?Near Kennenedy I access the page of Kennedy STARS and ARRIVALS. I choose runway 13L BUT after that am stumped as to how to choose the appropriate STAR. Regards,Cliff

choosing a STAR is more of a flight planning decision. You should look up the STAR's listed for Kennedy(KJFK) on www.airnav.com. STARs are nothing more than approach procedures that take you to a waypoint to prepare for final approach. Look for IAP's(intial approach fix/waypoints) on the runway charts for KJFK. Each STAR may have one or more ending waypoints that correspond or are close to IAPs of a particular runway.You can also see reported flightplans of some real flights and what STARS and Departures they used at www.flightaware.com (great for tracking ongoing flights too)For more help on navigation see this premier tutorial site: http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/or any of Captain Mike Ray's excellent books on jetliner flying.

>>Near Kennenedy I access the page of Kennedy STARS and>ARRIVALS. I choose runway 13L BUT after that am stumped as to>how to choose the appropriate STAR. >Normally, once you select a runway in the ARR page, STARS appropriateto that runway should be listed. Perhaps the Navdata is incomplete in the case of JFK.That being said, in the instance of a flight from BOS to JFK, there really isn't an appropriate STAR to use. There are two STARS that feed traffic into JFK from the northeast, the KENNEBUNK FOUR and the PLYMOUTH FOUR, but both are used almost exclusively by inbound flights from trans-Atlantic routes. The FAA-preferred BOS-JFK routing is: LUCOS SEY067 SEY PARCH CCC ROBER.Jim Barrett

With the tips and information in all your replies I reckon I can handle the problem from here on in.My thanks to all of you.Cliff

Here's what you could do:Download my SIDSTARS. The KJFK KENNEBUNK arrivals are routed ENE ASPEN PVD TRAIT PARCH CCC ROBER... and I provide routing from ROBER to the approaches for 4R 13L 22L & 31R. Select the arrival and delete the segments from ENE to TRAIT such that you pick up the route at PARCH to follow the FAA preferred route. This will give you a fairly realistic route (without ATC).In any case, it's very helpful to have a copy of the chart on hand.

Dan I'm not sure where to locate the link to "Download my SIDSTARS". Please....what's the link for this download?Regards..........Cliff

In the AVSIM library, FS2004-Flight Plans. I recommend you select the Extended Search, and search for Author = Dan Downs, then sort the results by Date. The latest uploads will be on top. Or you can look for filename cycle_0711_sidstars.zipNote that cycle 0710 (that shipped with the 400X) is still available too. There were lots of changes in 0711 at KATL and KSLC, so it's up to you if you want the latest, but if you do you should also get the latest navdata from Navigraph.There is an article on SIDSTARS in the PMDG Ops wiki section that you may also find useful: http://ops.precisionmanuals.com/wiki/SIDSTARS I updated this last night for FSX file locations.

Dan, you're a Prince. Tonight when you return home tell your wife/partner that I reckon you deserve a Gold Star.Directing me to the PMDG Ops article is both interesting and useful. I'm going to print and read it right now.Thanks.Cliff