How Do We Access Database Of Arrivals?

[Guest cliffie1931]

In today's excellent AVSIM review of the MD-11 the following paragraph grabbed me."In real life it isn

[Richard McDonald Woods 168]

Cliff,I don't agree with the statement that in real life it isn't a good idea to fly a complex arrival by hand. Pilots, as a part of their on-going familiarity trraining, regularly fly arrivals by hand. It is dangerous to get dependent on automatics. PDMG has a very nearly complete database of arrivals in the FMC, with speeds and altitude constraints built in. Both Standard Terminal Arrival procedures (STARs) and approches are available to fly to many of the larger airports. Pressing the DEP/ARR kay on the MCDU will give you the available Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) for each runway, and the STARs and approaches for the runways when landing. When you choose an appropriate SID, STAR and/or approach, the waypoints, speeds and altitudes aopplicable will appear in your route, which you can view by pressing the LEGS button on the MCDU. The aircraft manuals will give you detailed information on how to use the facilities.HTH, Cheers, Richard

[VIPERGTSR01 22]

Cliff,I don't agree with the statement that in real life it isn't a good idea to fly a complex arrival by hand. Pilots, as a part of their on-going familiarity trraining, regularly fly arrivals by hand. It is dangerous to get dependent on automatics. PDMG has a very nearly complete database of arrivals in the FMC, with speeds and altitude constraints built in. Both Standard Terminal Arrival procedures (STARs) and approches are available to fly to many of the larger airports. Pressing the DEP/ARR kay on the MCDU will give you the available Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) for each runway, and the STARs and approaches for the runways when landing. When you choose an appropriate SID, STAR and/or approach, the waypoints, speeds and altitudes aopplicable will appear in your route, which you can view by pressing the LEGS button on the MCDU. The aircraft manuals will give you detailed information on how to use the facilities.HTH, Cheers, Richard

He is talking about the MD11, which is different, so:SIDS would be under F-PLN (button on the MCDU) press the left LSK of the departure runway which will take you into 'LAT REV' page of the departure rwy, then press the LSK of the SID menu and you have the choice of SIDS for that RWY (which you can also change the rwy while there). Choose the SID (and trans if you wish), 'Insert' it and it will take you back to the active flightplan page with all the data, which includes alt restrictions etc.For STARs it is similar except you choose the last waypoint before the destination rwy (left LSK it)and choose STAR in the 'LAT REV' page, rest is pretty similar. And yes as Richard said the FMS Manual and tutorial does give detailed instuctions how use facilities.Oh and PS, Personally I check the installed SIDs STARs database info by going into the SID STARS PMDG folder within FS's folders and opening them in notepad before I even start the FS.Jay V

[Guest cliffie1931]

He is talking about the MD11, which is different, so:SIDS would be under F-PLN (button on the MCDU) press the left LSK of the departure runway which will take you into 'LAT REV' page of the departure rwy, then press the LSK of the SID menu and you have the choice of SIDS for that RWY (which you can also change the rwy while there). Choose the SID (and trans if you wish), 'Insert' it and it will take you back to the active flightplan page with all the data, which includes alt restrictions etc.For STARs it is similar except you choose the last waypoint before the destination rwy (left LSK it)and choose STAR in the 'LAT REV' page, rest is pretty similar. And yes as Richard said the FMS Manual and tutorial does give detailed instuctions how use facilities.Oh and PS, Personally I check the installed SIDs STARs database info by going into the SID STARS PMDG folder within FS's folders and opening them in notepad before I even start the FS.Jay V

My thanks to both of you Richard and Jay. And, Jay, thanks to for drawing my attention to the "SID STARS PMDG folder within FS's folders" I hadn't realised it was there.Cliff

[downscc 1,327]

Hope you give the sidstar collection that I keep current for 68 US locations. The current set is in the AVSIM library: cycle_0813_sidstars.zipI customize the procedures (of course, the originals are there too) by adding connecting routes between runway and departure fixes for sids and between arrival routes and approaches for stars. The routes are realistic based in many cases on actual flight paths.

[Tabs 2,790]

And yeah, that's not really right at all to suggest that it's "not a good idea" to manually fly a STAR... it's exactly what pilots in non-FMS aircraft have to do all the time, which includes numerous 727s, DC-9s, DC-10s, and so on that are flying as cargo planes in the US, as well as plenty of other older analog aircraft that are in service elsewhere in the world.Using a chart to fly an instrument procedure manually using VORs (using the ND VOR mode and the RMI) is easily done and provides you with a much better understanding of how these procedures are actually designed and work. If all you ever did was use the automation, you wouldn't know for instance that an intersection fix that you cross during a SID or a STAR really is the literal intersection of two VOR radials, and that you know you're there when the two CDIs are both centered.This is really basic "raw data" IFR stuff that every real pilot flying automated airliners learned how to do long before he or she started flying jets with automation and it's something they could do at a moment's notice if the automation failed.