Hi all,Not sure if I am on the right forum for my question, but will try anyway.I recently purchased the above aircraft and flew the first tutorial with no problem but since then ran into a brickwall, which is the the FMC for this aircraft.I usual program my flights using the FS create a flight section and as such I program a flight from A to B using the available high level airways system, take off and transition to the airway system in done manually, then switch to autoflight for the enroute portion and then fly the ILS approach manually to a complete landing.The MD-11 has not even got a NAV radio display for manually input of ILS frequencies and since I use no STAR or SID facilities I have no way of knowing how to get into the approach part of the selected flight.Are there any MD-11 flight crews out there that could help me with this problem.???Thanks very muchSieghard

PMDG's support forum -http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showforum=136--

This bird my be over kill for you then as it is intended to be flown with the FMC and with the use of SID/STARS. PMDG tries to mimic the real deal as close as they can and they did a good job on the MD-11. Problem for some simmers (such as yourself) is it is overly complex for what they want.Try the tutorial a couple times and they also have another more complex tutorial doing KORD-KJFK. LINKOnce you learn how to use the MD11 to it's full extent it is a very rewarding plane to fly. I bet you will never use the built in flight planner again once you get the hang of it. :(

Seems like you have jumped in at the deep end as far as aircraft addons go for FS. The PMDG MD-11 is an excellent rendition of the real aircraft, but the trouble is, because that is so, you have to fly it like the real aircraft, and that may not be what you want, especially since the MD-11 is a bit quirky in terms of how the systems work in comparison to other airlines, and it is known for being a tricky aircraft to fly anyway, for example, it received the rather unkind nickname of 'The Scud' from some pilots, because they claimed you never knew where it was going to land! That is perhaps a little unfair, although, as you've already discovered, unless you use the systems on board in the 'proper' fashion, it simply will not do what you want.Because that is the case, you basically have two options. Either, carefully follow the tutorials for the thing and take it slow, learning how to fly the thing 'by the book', or if that is not something you fancy, you could find something a bit less involved that may suit how you prefer to fly. If you choose to do that, then you are in luck, because there are much less daunting MD-11s to be had for FS. among them, there is the Sky Simulations MD-11, and there is the MD-11's grandad, in the shape of the CLS DC-10. you can find reviews for both those aircraft on the Avsim site's main page link, and whilst they are not as complex as the PMDG, they are still fun to fly and complex enough to be enjoyable, which might be more suited to what you want to do. If you decide instead to stick with the PMDG MD-11, then the specific PMDG forum will probably be worth a look through, as many of your queries will already have been answered on threads you can find in there.Whatever you choose, just make sure you are having fun.Al

As others have said your best bet is to use the PMDG forum. Regarding the ILS, this is autotuned through the FMC so the FMC needs to be setup correctly, you do however have the option to tune it yourself through the RAD/NAV page for example 110.30/301I'm not sure why you dont want to fly the STAR as this makes your life a lot easier but you dont have to select it. Just select the arrival runway, the aircraft needs this to compute your VREFIt's all in the documentation, oh and despite having a very high approach speed at heavy weights it hand fly's beautifully even a it's max crosswind limits :)Regards

The best thing you could right now is probably look at other options, although I think the PMDG MD-11, once you get to know it, will be a real joy to fly. It is worth it to stick your head in the books and understand what the plane is doing at all times. once upon a time I also flew the "default" way, but now, after going through the PMDG 747 tutorials and type rating lessons, I have found that I understand a lot more of flying aircraft and I have ultimately more joy from it. I believe you will feel the same, but it will take time and much patience.

You know, guys, I don't know why but I'm getting more than a bit suspicious when someone just joins this forum to ask basic questions about expensive payware addons (we've had some cases lately) he bought cosciously (?) and it's not even in the dedicated forum (PMDG). Am I overreacting? If so, sorry. Just a thought.

You know, guys, I don't know why but I'm getting more than a bit suspicious when someone just joins this forum to ask basic questions about expensive payware addons (we've had some cases lately) he bought cosciously (?) and it's not even in the dedicated forum (PMDG). Am I overreacting? If so, sorry. Just a thought.

Ah, where is the world going if we start suspecting everyone for pirates? There is a really well done german video on youtube, its in German, though here is a version with English subtitles:

Enjoy.As to original post: you can't combine FS default planner with that of the MD-11. As everyone said, this is a complicated aircraft, well worth it's money, you don't only get great looks and VC, but also a very real cockpit with real world procedures, in which FS doesn't exist.

My first payware purchase ever was the PMDG 737NG way back in the summer of 2003. I'm still using it today, albeit patched and upgraded over the years. These things are daunting at first but really rewarding once you get used to them (though personally I still enjoy taking out an old fashioned steam driven bird and then flying real world procedures mostly by hand--it's more akin to what I do in real life, as I'm just a lowly MEL and IFR rated private pilot). A bit of advice for navigating in the more realistic FMC-driven aircraft:Go to flightaware.com and plug in the name of the airport that you're departing from, and then scroll through the list of departures or scheduled departures to find a flight going to the airport you intend to fly to in the simulator (you'll probably have to register to go back or forward more than a few hours--it's free and well worth it). Click the name of the flight. Alternatively, you can use airline timetables to find a suitable flight number and then input that data right on the home page. From there, you'll get a screen showing a lot of information, such as scheduled and actual time of departure and arrival, aircraft type, and so forth. What you really want is the filed route and cruise altitude.It'll look something like this (in this case COA458 from KIAH to KDCA):Route GUSTI1 SJI J37 SPA J14 JAXSN J14 RIC OJAAY1That simple line of text is all that you need to put a complete flight plan into the FMC. Simply enter that route into the FMC exactly as it appears (if the identifier shown has a number, it's either a complete SID/STAR or an airway--SIDs and STARs only come at the beginning or end of the plan, respectively, airways come in the middle; if it only has letters it's an actual waypoint/transition point) and then your aircraft will be programmed to fly the exact same route and departure/arrival procedures that the real world airlines are using. If any airway is shown, then the waypoint FOLLOWING it is the exit or transition point, so (using the above example) you'd input SPA via J37, and so forth. The user manual for whatever airplane you're flying should explain the rest (i.e. how to input SIDs, STARs, airways, and runway approaches).One note: sometimes the flight plan won't have a filed SID and/or STAR. This might be the case with smaller or less busy airports where they aren't really required (or even available). In the real world, pilots will usually fly with ATC radar vectors during the departure or approach phases. For your purposes, it's simple enough just to navigate arbitrarily on approach as you see fit (the default FS ATC can actually do this, but only if you file an IFR flight plan using the default flight planner--and in my experience it often gives strange and entirely inefficient vectors).A couple caveats to the above method: it only works if you're flying a scheduled real world route (flightaware shows most or all of the filed IFR flight plans to and from a given airport, so you'll also have a lot of GA routes to choose from as well--these are mostly business jets/turboprops and generally not suitable for aircraft without an FMS or full featured GPS, or for low altitude VFR flying, but they will give you "real world" examples if flying between two small/GA airports). It also only works for US domestic flights or international flights departing from or arriving to the United States. Finally, you'll probably need fairly recent AIRAC cycle data for whatever airplane you're flying, because SIDs and STARs can and do change regularly.Otherwise, you can use flightaware's online flight planning utility or some other flight planning utility.Good luck.