Waypoints, waypoints, where art thou waypoints?

[Guest pmangiafico]

Hey all,I've just finished my third Vatsim flight (successfully) and have found everyone to be very helpful and nice, which is really great considering it can be an overwhelming experience at times. That's my general positive comment!Now, my question is regarding clearance delivery (and requires a short description setup):I'm primarily flying Cesnna's and other props (I am not up to the level of a big jet, either in flying experience or navigation ability). I use FSNav to help me plan a flight, but I usually just plan for a direct or maybe VOR to VOR flight (rather than letting FSNav calculate an autoroute using SIDs and STARs). The last couple times I have requested clearance on Vatsim, I have been provided with a route full of waypoints, most of which I had no idea how or where to locate. The last time around, I grabbed departure charts from www.myairplane.com prior to going online and was able to locate the first couple waypoints in the CAP 5 departure out of IAD, but after that, I would have been lost. The controllers have always been nice and simplified it down to a couple of VORs when I have asked, but I would like to be able to actually fly their requeted route. I tried searching (unsuccessfully) for the waypoints in the FSNav database, but I am sure they are not all there, plus controllers will usually use the abbreviated form.So, how do you pros know how to decipher the clearance delivery? Do you have stacks of charts for your entire anticipated route that you can refer to? Any insight is appreciated! Cheers & Happy Thanksgiving. - Peter

[SAS263 1]

Hi Peter.Not sure why ATC would need to amend your flightplan if it contains at least some VORs along the route. Anyway, have you updated the navdata in FSNav? If not, go to www.navdata.at and follow the links to the FSNav section. This should mean that you