On a flight from Barcelona to Heathrow at 18,000 ft, a short while after passing over the mountains between Spain and France (at N44*47 and E001*15,)I wanted to land at the nearest alternative airport suitable for my DC 9.I tried to find an airport using FS Nav but that was no help.(Maybe I just don't know how to use it well enough)Is there an answer? (In real life I well know that I wouldn't have started the flight without planning alternative landing sites)

Planning in advance is indeed the answer. Failing that, take some charts along and look at those (keeping track where you are of course).In the real world, ATC would also help with alternates if needed (say for example if the planned alternate was incapable due to weather), another option FS does not (yet?? Bill knows what's the come) offer.

There isn't an automatic way of finding a suitable airport. What you are looking for is an airport with a suitable runway for you to land on. What I would do is click the button in FSNav that turns on the display of the ILS localiser arrow thingies (I just can't think of the proper name at the moment) This will show you likely airports - you're probably not going to find too many grass strips with ILS equipment! If you zoom in on a likely airport and hover the mouse over one of the runways it will give you the runway length. If you know how much runway your DC9 needs, then you will be able to see straight away if you can get your bird in ok.

Hi cliff,you could also try the Reality XP nearest find feature that allows to set minimum RWY length (useful in the case of the DC9). You'll have all the airports around you, and all the RWY/ILS/ALTITUDE..., with a few key presses. Besides, if flying above the mountains, it also features the Minimum Safe Altitude and the Minimum Enroute Safe Altitude.Hope this helps!

My thanks to all of you. I'm now much clearer about the "problem".Have a great day!

Here's my philosiphy (sp??) on this subject: If you need to land it, you'll find a way to put it down at any airport and still be able to stay on the runway.