Hi everyone,As of late, I have been flying the MD-11 allot more, and although I have always made heavy use of Nav Aids in conjunction with my FMC flight plan; I have noticed a feature present in Boeings to apparently not be available in the MD-11. This is the operation of the FMC's fix page; on a boeing, once the fix is entered, you can enter a distance and it will place a green veil around the point, however, in the MD-11 I cannot see how to do this, only how to enter radials to the waypoint.. I do know how to enter PBD waypoints, and I know this is one method of performing approaches such as DME arcs, but for step down approaches like the famous River 19 visual, the bands really are necessary, and so, is this simply not available in the MD-11, or am I missing something?Thanks in advance, Charlie Reed

The MD11 FMS can't create the distance rings.Paul

The MD11 FMS can't create the distance rings.Paul

Thanks Paul

It won't display rings, but it can still display radials. You'd have to guess at which radial it would cross the river at the right DME, but there are two things about the RivVis that are going missed here: one, you don't need the range rings as you already have DME on the nav display (the altitudes are recommended anyway, so there's no need for extra precision on hitting altitudes exactly at X DME), so the better option would be to force the DCA VOR's display on the display using the NAVAID page (FMS Guide - FMS.40.20); two, as much fun as it is, the lovely Reagan airport is not a suitable airport for an MD-11. A 757 is about the max you can fit in there, and lightly loaded at that.I just felt like expanding on the above post, because while you can't get range rings like in a Boeing, you can still get radials off a point that intercept your route. All of that effort is probably better spent just working on PBD for the approach (which would go against the whole visual aspect of the approach, but you could still always use them for reference).

Is there a VOR at the airport? You can use that to give you your distance, and with some mental math, it will work quite nicely.

It won't display rings, but it can still display radials. You'd have to guess at which radial it would cross the river at the right DME, but there are two things about the RivVis that are going missed here: one, you don't need the range rings as you already have DME on the nav display (the altitudes are recommended anyway, so there's no need for extra precision on hitting altitudes exactly at X DME), so the better option would be to force the DCA VOR's display on the display using the NAVAID page (FMS Guide - FMS.40.20); two, as much fun as it is, the lovely Reagan airport is not a suitable airport for an MD-11. A 757 is about the max you can fit in there, and lightly loaded at that.I just felt like expanding on the above post, because while you can't get range rings like in a Boeing, you can still get radials off a point that intercept your route. All of that effort is probably better spent just working on PBD for the approach (which would go against the whole visual aspect of the approach, but you could still always use them for reference).

Thanks for the help, I do know that the MD-11 is totally unsuitable for Reagan Intl., I only used that because it was the first step down approach that came to mind. A better example I guess would be the Highway Visual into Anchorage (25L) (which I know for a fact the MD-11 does occasionally do). I also get that you can enter PBD waypoints with appropriate altitudes, thus creating a vertical profile, however I just find the range rings so useful (particularly in the 737, which can make into smaller fields).Thanks for your help though.Charlie

I'd agree, they're a definite help in terms of a visual reference, but you still always have DME. Sorry to jump on you about DCA. Controlling on VATSIM I see people try it from time to time. Yes, it's a simulation, so there's no harm in it, but really? That's for another rant, another day though...