SIDs, STARs, and Approach Transitions - Worked Example II

[trisager 2]

Here is an example of planning a flight in Australia, from Canberra (YSCB) to Adelaide (YPAD). It began as a reply to another forum user in this thread about using vRoute for flights in Australia, but since there are some differences planning this flight from the EKCH-ENGM example, I thought it might be useful to work through it at the same level of detail. 1) Begin by finding a suitable route. This is a screenshot from a route search using the payware version of vRoute: (There is some information about getting routes from other sources than vRoute in the EKCH-ENGM thread). At first glance it would appear that there are four different routes YSCB-YPAD, however on closer examination we can see that they are very similar and are almost exactly the same length. The third on the list appears to contain the most detail, so we'll start with that one and see how well it matches with the departure and arrival procedures. Omitting the starting and ending "DCT" which aren't necessary, our route is YSCB CB W148 WG Q60 BLACK V454 AD YPAD. This is a more detailed view of this route in vRoute: The route begins at the Canberra VOR (CB), then procedes via the W148 airway to Wagga Wagga VOR (WG), via the Q60 airway to BLACK intersection, and finally via V454 to Adelaide VOR (AD). But note that the distance from YSCB to CB is only 1nm - the VOR is on the airport itself. Also note that vRoute does not provide a distance from AD to YPAD, so again this VOR must be located somewhere on the airfield. 2) To find a SID out of YSCB we need charts. A quick Google search for "Australia AIP" gave me this page that has all the charts we need for Australia: http://www.airservic...ocChartsTOC.htm (The information on that page is valid until August 24, 2011. If you read this at a later date, go to the main Australia AIP page (http://www.airservic...cations/aip.asp), agree to the terms of use, select the link to the current "Departure and Approach Procedures (DAP)", and finally select "Aerodrome and Procedure Charts"). The first two charts in the Canberra section are aerodrome charts. It appears that YSCB has two runways (or four, depending on how you count them). Rwy 12/30 is 1,679m long (5,509') and rwy 17/35 is 3,283m (10,771'). We'll want to use the longer runway for takeoff, so either rwy 17 or rwy 35. Current winds are 330 degrees at 9 knots, so rwy 35 is the one we will be planning for. Looking a bit further down on the web page (still in the Canberra section), we can see that there is a total of 5 SIDs out of YSCB. Start by taking a look at the one titled "SID CANBERRA SIX DEPARTURE (RADAR) - RWYS 12, 17&35". Looking at the textual description of this SID we can see that, regardless of departure runway, it ends with "Contact DEP/APP for radar vectors". This is not terribly useful when flying offline with no ATC, but if you have to fly a SID like this one, this is how you could do it: 2a) SID with vectors. Departing runway 35 on the CANBERRA SIX SID, first note that there is a minimum climb gradient of 6.6% until you reach 3,400' (airport elevation is 1,886' - can be found on the aerodrome chart), then 3.3% until above minimum safe altitude (MSA - see the lower left of the SID plan diagram). The safest way of flying the SID would be to use LVL CHG initially to ensure compliance with these climb requirements. Looking at the remaining CANBERRA SIX instructions for a runway 35 departure, you should fly runway heading until past the departure end of the runway (DER), then turn right a few degrees and track CB radial 353 until reaching 3,400'. If outside of tower hours we should climb to at least 5,000' before contacting departure, and since we have no-one to talk to that's what we will be doing. Going back to the detail view of our route in vRoute, we can see that the track from CB to WG is 262 degrees. Looking at the 25 NM MSA diagram on the CANBERRA SIX plan view, we can see that our minimum safe altitude on the 262 degree track is 5,900' within 25 miles of CB. Currently we are tracking CB radial 353, and at 5,000' we are already above the 25 NM MSA on this track, so the safest course would be to continue tracking CB radial 353 until above 5,900', then proceed direct WG VOR and continue along the planned route of our flight. 2b) RNAV SID. Go back to the Canberra section of the web page. In addition to the CANBERRA SIX departure procedure, there are four RNAV sids organized by departure direction. Note that there are different SIDs for jet and prop aircraft. That leaves two to consider when flying the NGX, one for departures to the north, and one for departures to the south and west. The direction of our flight is westerly, so the latter is the one we want - the one titled "SID RWYS SOUTH & WEST (JET) (RNAV)" Looking at the plan diagram for south and west departures, we can see that there are four SIDs to different enroute transition points - HOWLY, WG, NONUP, and TANTA. WG is the second waypoint in our flight plan, so we should fly the WAGGA SIX departure. The initial departure instructions from rwy 35 are the same for all four SIDs, and as with the radar SID there are minimum climb gradients to comply with, so LVL CHG would be my preference until after 3,400'. After passing 7,000' turn left to MAJOR, then proceed to WG and continue along the planned route. One thing to notice here is that, unlike the SID out of EKCH that we used in the EKCH-ENGM example, there is no mention of an initial climb clearance anywhere on this SID plate - this would be given to you on the ground by clearance delivery. Since I'm assuming you are flying offline with no ATC addons, you will have to pick an initial climb altitude yourself. A reasonable choice would be 7,000' since that is the highest altitude mentioned in the SID, but you can choose whatever you think works best. Transition altitude is 10,000' in Australia, transition level is FL110. Also note that you will not be able to arm LNAV on the ground when flying this SID, since that requires that the track of the first leg is within 5 degrees of runway heading (FCOM2, page 4.10.12). Turn right a couple of degrees after passing the end of the runway, then right onto 353 degrees after passing ECKKS. At that point you can engage LNAV to guide you through the rest of the SID. At this point we are done with the SIDs. Our amended route is YSCB WAGGA6 WG Q60 BLACK V454 AD YPAD (getting rid of "CB W148" from the route string we began with). 3) To select a STAR into Adelaide, go back to the web page and scroll up to the Adelaide section. Looking at the aerodrome chart, we can see that Adelaide - like Canberra - has two runways. Runway 12/30 is 1,652 m long (5,420') and the longer runway 5/23 is 3,100 m (10,171'). We want the longer runway, and with current winds from 220 degrees at 13 kt we'll plan for runway 23. Looking at the available STARs on the web page, they appear to be organized by the waypoint where the STAR begins (ALEXI, BLACK, DRINA, etc). They are also qualified by the type of aircraft that can use them, e.g the STAR beginning at ALEXI can be used by jet aircraft and the Dash-8, the one beginning at BLACK is for jets and so on. Looking at our flight plan, the BLACK NINE STAR looks attractive since BLACK is one of our waypoints, so let's take a closer look at that one. Looking at the details of the BLACK NINE STAR, we can see that it is split into two different procedures for runway 23, BLACK NINE ALPHA and BLACK NINE UNIFORM. The difference between the two is the type of approach you will be flying. ALPHA ends with you intercepting the localizer for rwy 23, whereas UNIFORM ends with an RNP approach to the same runway. Charts for the RNAV-U (RNP) approach are not available on the website, so we will be using the BLACK NINE ALPHA STAR in this example. BLACK NINE ALPHA takes us from BLACK to PLEZN, which we must cross at or below 9,000'. Next is KERRS with an altitude restriction of 5,000' or more, then GULLY and a left turn onto our inbound track of 222 degrees to the MBY NDB (377 kHz). Once again we can amend the route we got from vRoute, deleting V454 and the AD VOR which we replaced with the STAR: YSCB WAGGA6 WG Q60 BLACK BLACK9A YPAD 4) Approach. Go back to the website one last time and follow the link to the "ILS OR LOC RWY 23" procedure. As you can see, the MBY NDB that terminated BLACK9A is the initial approach fix for this procedure, so we now have a complete route that takes us from rwy 35 in Canberra all the way to touchdown on rwy 23 in Adelaide. To summarize:1) Our amended route (without SID/STAR) is YSCB WG Q60 BLACK YPAD2) YSCB departure runway 35, SID is either CANBERRA SIX (vectors) or WAGGA6 (RNAV)3) Arrival runway in YPAD is 23, STAR is BLACK9A4) We'll be flying the localizer or ILS approach to runway 23 at IPAD. CDU preflight: Aircraft is parked at YSCB gate 6, power is established, IRSs aligning and position has been entered. On the RTE page 1/2, start be entering the origin, destination, and flight number: Go to RTE page 2/2 and enter the route: When entering the WG and BLACK waypoints, the CDU will present you with a list of "WG"s and "BLACK"s to choose from sorted by distance from your current position. Usually the ones you need are at the top of the list - that is the case here - but do compare the lat/long on the CDU with the information in your flight plan to make sure. Now press the DEP/ARR key on the CDU: Press the left LSK1 next to the <DEP prompt, select departure runway 35 and WG6 SID (in whatever order): (The vectored Canberra Six SID is not included in the navdate in the NGX. If you wish to fly that SID, load the departure runway with no SID selected, then tune the NAV1 radio to the CB VOR (116.7 MHz) and fly the SID with the ND in VOR mode). Press the DEP/ARR key again: Press the right LSK2 next to the YPAD ARR> prompt, select select the ILS 23 approach and the BLAC9A STAR: Note that in this case there are no transitions to choose between. BLACK9A takes us right to the initial approach fix, MDY. And that's it. Now complete the preflight and enjoy flying the route (A note for those using Aivlasoft EFB with ORBX Canberra: For some (probably perfectly sound) reason, ORBX chose to implement YSCB as two airports on top of each other, giving the general aviation part a separate ICAO identifier, ZSCB. Unfortunately that means that when you look at the ground map of YSCB in EFB, you will only see runway 17/35 and its adjoining taxiways and parking positions.) / Tom

[trisager 2]

... and for those reading this without having seen the EKCH-ENGM example, this is a good collection of links to real-world sites with charts etc: http://www.simforums.com/forums/finding-charts_topic39667.html

[Sorelimbs 0]

Great stuff i really enjoy doing these. Many thanks for taking the time to post. I will have a crack at doing it when i finish work tomorow.Iff ppl are gonna start to post these in more numbers it would be great to have a sticky in these forums.

[trisager 2]

Great stuff i really enjoy doing these. Many thanks for taking the time to post. I will have a crack at doing it when i finish work tomorow.

Glad you like it - let us know how it goes. / Tom

[IFR7700 228]

Me as well. Hey Ray, where's the PDF??

[newtie 376]

Glad you like it - let us know how it goes. / Tom

Hey Tom- You need to be writing tutorials for PMDG, iFly etc. I'm an educator with an MA in educational technology. Your style is right out of the textbook, which is to say very effective! (one action, one picture, summarize) Is KSEA-KLAX somewhere in the future? Thanks from a beginning pilot,Mark

[raymar 961]

Me as well. Hey Ray, where's the PDF??

Sorry, I am busy putting together a flight tutorial for you guys. I gave up on the paintkit release so I am going to prepare a 'bridge' tutorial - something to do while waiting for the offical Advanced Tutorial 2 from Ryan. Ray

[raymar 961]

OK, here is the downloadable pdf file for the above. Ray

[Guest]

Much appreciated again!

[IFR7700 228]

OK, here is the downloadable pdf file for the above. Ray

Hey, I was only halfway joking. Gosh, there are a lot of great people on this forum. I'm throwing a party and everyone's invited. Looking forward to your tut, Ray.

[CrashEd 8]

Many thanks Tom, you've done it again, great tutorial! That list of chart is also incredibly useful!

OK, here is the downloadable pdf file for the above. Ray

Many thanks for this Ray, any chancy you could 'pdf' the first tutorial from EKCH-ENGM in your own inimitable style? (after the bridge tutorial :() Looking forward to your bridge tutorial!

[Guest]

Many thanks for this Ray, any chancy you could 'pdf' the first tutorial from EKCH-ENGM in your own inimitable style? (after the bridge tutorial )

You mean this one...? #22

[raymar 961]

Many thanks Tom, you've done it again, great tutorial! That list of chart is also incredibly useful! Many thanks for this Ray, any chancy you could 'pdf' the first tutorial from EKCH-ENGM in your own inimitable style? (after the bridge tutorial ) Looking forward to your bridge tutorial!

You gotta read all the posts. It is out there waiting for your click to download. Ray

[trisager 2]

Is KSEA-KLAX somewhere in the future?

Many thanks for the kind words, Mark. I decided to do the KSEA-KLAX example since it is a bit more complex than the two other examples I've posted. You can find it here: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/345450-sids-stars-and-approach-transitions-worked-example-iii And a big thanks to Ray for pdf'ing this one

[CrashEd 8]

You gotta read all the posts. It is out there waiting for your click to download. Ray

Not sure what you mean Ray, if I'm not mistaken I asked for the 1st tutorial to be pdf'ed before it had been posted? Or do you mean the bridge tutorial?? If so, quit messing with me and post a link!!