First, I am a newbie with some experience...However, I just setup the FMS using FSBuild with the FAA approved flight plans from KIND to KCVG...using SIDS and STARS on the MD-11...I was flying at the recommended ALT. I noticed there was a difference from the actual FS-2004 and the map on the FMS screen...In other words I had to adjust all the "STAR" crossings about 1000 ft lower than the charts to make an approach into 18L at KCVG for autoland..It seems I read somewhere in the early materials (can't put a finger on it) that you had to make a ten mile or so difference from the actual charts to setup the modern FMS properly...Hope I explained this ok...Need some practical experience to see if others have had this problem, and if this was the problem, what did you do to solve it?Robert Adams FDX183p.s. I love flying the PMDG MD-11 which I purchased on March 28, 2009 with the latest Version 1.20.0055 By the way is there any "new" versions I don't know about? It appears that most of the post are "outdated"

Hi, you have the latest current version there.Never noticed any problem with altitudes, I use Navigraphs airac 0903 at the moment with Dan Downs excellent modifications for US airports.John Ellison

Thanks John. Robert, there are a few but not many places where a STAR altitude restriction keeps you too high for an approach. Usually only where the arrival is a straight-in to the runway and then it is rare. Most of them get you into approach airspace about 40nm out and you spend what seems like all day slowly descending to pattern altitude. Many newer arrivals keep you 10000-12000 until turning downwind and then you drop but the speed is usually down to 210 and the rates are well under 280 ft/nm. So, if you are having a problem with constraints try slowing down a little.. ATC usually puts the brakes on your airpseed when they have everyone lined up one behind the other in a train to final.Secondly, FS2004 map is so obsolete that you shouldn't use it for anything but casual looks. Most SIDSTARs now have fixes that were not defined at the time of the FS9 release, many airports have added runways and the change list goes on and on including VORs in different locations with new names.Lots of places to get current US charts. I use the FAA web site but you can get them from flightaware.com... this is an excellent site to become familiar with if you want to learn how the real traffic departs and arrives... you can get current flight plans on almost any flight originating in the US.Update navdata from Navigraph.com.... the next cycle comes out this week 9 Apr. That is a good time to update. You can find my sidstars in the avsim library using advanced search with author=dan downs and then sort results by date. I have KIND and KCVG and I have custom departure routes at indy that give you a reasonable fascimile of the actual ATC routing and at cincy I have the arrivals connected to at least four ILS approaches... as I update procedures I am slowly adding connections from all stars to all ILS approaches.

Thanks Dan I will do a little research on your response....Robert Adams FDX183