I am trying to learn how STAR arrivals work at large airports. How is which STAR that will be used be determine? Is it which runway is in use. I listen to Philadelphia approach quite a bit and it seems they use the same Bunts arrival when I am listening. So basically what I want to know is how do I set up my stars in FS2k2.Thanks for any info Andrew

hi Wad3 I know where u are coming from as i used to puzzle over this as well but from what i have learned over the last few months in the real; world an aircrft will rarely fly a complete STAR due to ATC traffic vectoring ,etc but if u want to fly the complete STAR I have used SimATC.com to get flight plans and quite often they will list STAR as part of the plan and then u can try a variety of websites like clearanceunlimited.com to print up approach charts, etc and then study them to see where the transiton points are according to the direction you are coming from and then let her rip!! hope this helps as i am not a real world pilot but from what I have learned this approximates how STARs are uesed.

You will need to pick up the terminal procedures for the Philly area and that will include all of the Inst. Approaches, Stars, & DP's for the area. Each STAR has specific instructions and many only apply to specific aircraft (ie Turbo Jet arriving from above above a certain alt or from a specific direction). A STAR is nothing more than a set of instructions for aircraft to fly (or expect to fly) to ease traffic routing into a busy airspace. In the real world you may file for a specific STAR or DP and more often than not be given differnt vectors by ATC.A single Govt (Naco)procedures book is only about $4.00 and any small local airport pilot shop will have them. Looks like you need NE-4 which covers PA and WV. Below is a link to the FAA site to see the publication info-http://avn.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/cata...rts/ifr/us_termOr if you want Jeppesen Procedures (Same info better format) which are commercial versions of NACO charts you will pay about $20 a set. In my RW flying I only use Jepps, but more $$$http://www.jeppesen.com

Typically the STAR that is used depends on the direction from which you are coming from. Typically a STAR is half-flown and ATC vectors you to the FAF/VDP.