Sometimes when on descent or anytime I want to manually set my heading that ATC gives you. The aircraft will not respond. Sometimes you switch from heading to track and back to heading and it does respond but sometimes it quits altogether. I still dont understand when I select a STAR and ATC wants you to turn off your STAR route for a heading they give you. This is when I select a ATC heading and the plane will not turn or turn very slowly. Should I cancel IFR and continue on my STAR arrival course since this seems smoother then listening to ATC as they give you the usual 90 degree ILS intercept approach?

When you select the heading with the heading select, are you pulling the knob to confirm the heading selection?

When you select the heading with the heading select, are you pulling the knob to confirm the heading selection?

Yes, somtimes I have to click on the heading / track button to make it turn to the heading selected. I just finished a KORD/KIAD flight and it seemed to work okay tonite. The descent profile had me high on arrival though but with some speed break and manual control of VS I was able to get on the glideslope in a nick of time for capture. I admit my flight time on this is low. I have been flying the PMDG 737 since it first came out on FS2002 but I dont fly FS9 anymore. The JS41 seemed easier to learn then the MD-11. I like to do IFR until on glideslope and switch to manual contol when runway is visible early. It seems difficult to do in this aircraft compared to the PMDG 737.

You pre-select your desired heading by turning the HDG knob in the direction you want to turn to the heading you want. You will see a white dotted arc on the ND showing the direction the plane will turn to acheive your pre-selected heading if activated now. The heading bug stays in outline form until Heading mode is selected, which you do by pulling the heading knob. The heading bug will then turn solid and the PFD LNAV mode will change to show the selected heading. It is not easier or harder then the Boeing way, just different.

I just finished a KORD/KIAD flight and it seemed to work okay tonite. The descent profile had me high on arrival though but with some speed break and manual control of VS I was able to get on the glideslope in a nick of time for capture.

Did you fly the ROYIL or SHNON? If you use the SHNON, it will do a better job because it's an RNAV arrival, which includes altitudes. The ROYIL has expected altitudes, but those are not coded into the arrivals in the FMC, so it will calc high. IAD is my home airport, so if you have any questions, just let me know.

Thanks for the help. I used the ROYIL 2 arrival with transition at the DRUZZ intersection. I wasnt at 11000 feet though when crossing there, more like 16000. I flew one more today KDFW to my old home town KBWI. I tried the old school manual VS and heading per ATC and finished with ILS 10 approach without any problems. Tomorrow I will try the RAVNN 3 (rnav) aprroach to ILS 10 without the ATC assist. I was curious, do most people fly IFR and cancel when close enough to transition to shooting a STARs for arrival? Thanks again for this awesome aircraft. Like everybody else, waiting on the 737NGX where I will officially uninstall FS9. P.S. The Ariane 737 is great but the PMDG is my favorite.

I was curious, do most people fly IFR and cancel when close enough to transition to shooting a STARs for arrival?

You're welcome. To answer your question, no. You're required to be IFR above FL180 in the US, so, most STARs beginning above FL180, this would be impossible. As far as IFR goes, unless you're flying IFR on your own (not as an air carrier, but in a little guy), you'll hardly ever cancel IFR before on the ground. There's really no reason to cancel IFR in the air unless the field is not tower controlled (or the tower isn't open). The reason you'd do that is to be nice to any IFR aircraft following you (because the approach controller cannot clear another aircraft onto approach at a non-towered field until you call on the ground and cancel, another reason would be so you don't have to try calling over the freq or on the phone when you get down).As far as the RNAV arrivals go, they have the altitudes hard set in the FMC (which is why you had a better descent this time around), but if you don't set an RNAV arrival (ROYIL, for example), you can still go into the revision page for the fix and enter in a crossing altitude wherever you need to (if it says "Expect to cross [FIX] at [Altitude]" there's a 99% chance you're going to get that altitude assigned by ATC anyway). The more information you give the FMC, the better it will perform. Because the ROYIL and SHNON vector you up to the airport and then on a long downwind in either direction, I have a feeling that it confuses the system, which is the reason for the high approaches. You should definitely try to leave it on PROF as much as possible, so utilize crossing altitude adjustments in the FMC instead of putting it on V/S. Also, giving the FMC the expected winds on the way down will help it compensate. A tailwind requires an earlier descent, but the wind may change on the way down, so it might end up off path if you don't give it the descent forecast winds.