SIDs, STARs, and Approach Transitions - Worked Example III

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In the thread with the Australian example (YSCB - YPAD), Mark asked about the route KSEA - KLAX. I thought that might be interesting to work through, since there is an excellent free source of real-world US routes out there, flightaware.com. (This is the third worked SID/STAR/transitions example. It is somewhat more complex than the EKCH-ENGM and YSCB-YPAD examples I posted previously, so if you find the instructions in this post difficult to follow, you may want to start with one of the other two). A word of caution: I have the excellent ORBX PNW scenery, but I've found that FSX tends to throw a hissy fit and CTD on me when I fly the NGX in the Seattle area. Regardless of what scenery you use, I would suggest that you turn autogen and AI traffic down to a minimum when near Seattle. (I'm not blaming any individual developer for this problem, by the way - Seattle has always been a problem area for me in FSX). This is a long post with many images. Unfortunately, AVSIM places an upper limit on how many images can be included in a post, so I've had to split it into several separate posts. Anyway, here goes: (1) To obtain a route, go to the flightaware.com website. In the left column, in the blue area at the top, there is a link to "Pilot Resources". Follow that link and look in the middle column, below the list of states where you should find a link to "recently used IFR routes". If you follow that link you should get a page with an "IFR Route Analyzer", with a search form where you can enter an origin and destination airport. (If you cannot find this page by following my instructions, this is a direct link). Enter the airport pair KSEA - KLAX and press the "Find flights!" button. This is what came up when I did the search earlier today: The "Route Analysis Summary" section shows information about the most recent real-world flights between KSEA and KLAX that have been tracked by flightaware.com. When I did the search, there was a total of 64 flights in this list, 35 of which had filed the route KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA JINMO Q7 AVE SADDE6 KLAX. Another 10 flights had filed a slightly different route, KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA Q9 DERBB SADDE6 KLAX, and so on. A bit further down, under the heading "Route Analysis Itemized List", there is additional detail about each flight. Notice that the first one in the list on my screenshot is an Alaska Airlines flight using a Boeing 737-800. (From a quick glance through the list it looks like ASA is the only carrier flying this particular route with the 737 - both classics and NGs - while other carriers use the Airbus 319 and 320, CRJ-200s and CRJ-700s). Since the route KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA JINMO Q7 AVE SADDE6 KLAX appears to the the most popular, let us use that one. (2) Determining which SID to use is simplicity itself since it is already included in the route we found above: SUMMA7. (If you fly online in the US, go ahead and include the SID and STAR in the flight plan that you file. Leave them out when flying in Europe - you will get the SID on the ground as part of your route clearance, and the STAR will be assigned while you are airborne, by the center or approach controller). The Federal Aviation Administration website has all the charts you need to plan your flight. Follow the link under the "Applications" heading titled "digital - Terminal Procedures Publication (d -TTP) and Airport Diagrams". On the page that opens, look under the "Product" heading. Today's date is August 19, so 1108 is the current edition. Follow the link titled "digital - Terminal Procedures (1108)" to open the current terminal procedures. (This is a direct link. I've included a few of these, but do note that these direct links will become invalid when the current cycle expires). (Earlier today I had some problems acessing the FAA website. If this happens to you, you can find the same charts on the myairplane.com website. I prefer to go direct to the source whenever possible, though). To find information about KSEA, there are several options. I prefer searching by ICAO identifier, so click the "ICAO" radio button, enter KSEA as the airport identifier, and press "Search". Begin by opening the airport diagram (found on the second page of the KSEA search results). From the diagram you can see that there are three parallel runways at KSEA, 16L/C/R and 34L/C/R. I don't know enough about real-world operations at KSEA to say which runway it would be most realistic to use, but often the longest runway is used for departures, so for this example we'll be using either 16L or 34R. (The default FSX scenery only has two runways at KSEA, but 16L/34R should be available regardless of what scenery you use). The KSEA METAR at time of writing is KSEA 190653Z 02010KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A3012 RMK AO2 SLP202 T01670106. With northerly winds from 20 degrees at 10 kts we should plan to use runway 34R for departure. Also on page 2 of the KSEA search results, at the end of the list, you will find a link to the SUMMA SEVEN departure procedure. Go ahead an open it (direct link) The SUMMA7 SID instructions are a little complicated, so here is a step-by-step breakdown of how to fly it:

• After takeoff we should climb on heading 342 degrees, then intercept and follow radial 341 from the Seattle VOR (SEA, 116.8 MHz)
• Upon reaching NEZUG intersection, which we must cross at 4,000' or above, we turn right and fly heading 70 degrees
• We continue on heading 70 degrees until crossing radial 139 from the Paine VOR (PAE, 110.6 MHz), at which point we turn right onto a heading of 165 degrees
• Continue flying heading 165 degrees, passing KSEA on your right-hand side, until you intercept radial 146 from SEA VOR
• (e) Follow SEA radial 165 until SUMMA, at which point we can continue direct to JINMO, the first waypoint of our flight plan after SUMMA.

The SUMMA7 SID is in the NGX navigation database, so you take the easy way and fly the departure in LNAV. Or you can tune the SEA and PAE VORs on the nav radios - you should do this in any case, as a backup - and fly the departure with the ND in VOR mode (using the HDG SEL and VOR LOC modes on the MCP as appropriate). Note that the initial climb altitude on the SUMMA7 SID is not specified - this would be given to you as part of your flight plan clearance. Since there is a requirement to cross NEZUG above 4,000' I would suggest that you set the MCP somewhere around 7,000' initially - that should give you time to get the airplane cleaned up before you have to worry about resetting the MCP altitude. Transition altitude in the US and Canada is standardized at 18,000'. (3) Choosing a STAR has also taken care of - our flight plan specifies that we should fly the SADDE6 arrival into Los Angeles. Go back to the FAA website and locate the SADDE SIX STAR diagram and narrative (for learning purposes you should make an effort to find it yourself, but if that fails here is a direct link to the KLAX pages). Note that there are two pdf files covering SADDE6, one containing a plan view and the other a textual description. Looking at the SADDE6 STAR diagram, we can see that there is a number of transition points from enroute flight onto the STAR - The Avenal, Fillmore, Shafter, San Marcus, Ventura, and Palmdale VORs, and the DERBB, DINTY, and ELKEY intersections. All of these transition routes come together at the SADDE intersection. The last enroute waypoint in our flight plan is the Avenal VOR (AVE, 117.1 MHz), which is one of the SADDE SIX transition points. The STAR routing takes us from AVE via DERBB and REYES intersections to the Fillmore VOR (FIM, 112.5). From FIM, SADDE6 continues to the SYMON intersection, which we should plan to cross at 12,000' and 280 knots. Next is SADDE intersection where our speed should be 250 knots, and then BAYST which we can expect to cross at 10,000'. From BAYST we continue to the Santa Monica VOR (SMO, 110.8). What happens next depends on which direction KLAX is operating in. (a) If landing and departing to the EAST (runways 6L/R and 7L/R), the SADDE6 STAR terminates at SMO. From there you would be vectored back towards the west and south, to intercept the localizer for your assigned runway. (b ) If landing and departing to the WEST (runways 24L/R and 25L/R), the STAR continues along SMO radial 68 degrees until 9 DME from SMO (JAVSI intersection). From that point you would be flying on ATC vectors further east and south onto the localizer. It should be noted that it is common to be on ATC vectors before you complete flying the STAR. Exactly where ATC will begin vectoring you depends on how much traffic there is going into your destination airport, as well as other factors. (4) Approach. I'll cover both the landing directions here - let us begin with the case where KLAX is operating in the WEST direction, since this is the simplest: (a) KLAX landing and departing WEST. Let us assume that we will be landing on runway 24R - the shorter of two parallel runways on the north side of the airport. Go back to the FAA web page, search for KLAX, and open the plate for the ILS or LOC RWY 24R approach. (this is a direct link.) Looking at the ILS or LOC 24R approach plan view, you can see that there are four initial approach fixes (IAFs). One of them is the Santa Monica VOR (SMO, 110.8 MHz) which is near the end of our STAR, so that is the one we will be using. From SMO we continue on radial 68 until 16 DME (SAPPI intersection), then we make a right turn onto radial 330 from the Seal Beach VOR (SLI, 115.7). Note that this is 330 degrees from SLI, so we will be flying a ground track of 150 degrees. We continue on this track until crossing the 057 degree radial from Los Angeles VOR (LAX), at which point we can begin a right turn to intercept the final approach course of 249 degrees. Glideslope intercept is at JETSA, at 2,200'. You can fly this approach in LNAV or, if you are feeling adventurous, with the ND in VOR mode. If you use VOR mode, I suggest you think through beforehand how you are going to set your radios up with active and standby frequencies. Initially you will need to have SMO and SLI tuned until you reach SAPPI, then SLI and LAX. After turning to intercept the localizer you will need the ILS frequency tuned and the course set on NAV1 (and eventually also on NAV2 if performing an autoland). (b ) KLAX landing and departing EAST. This time let us land on runway 06L. From the approach plate (search for it on the FAA website, or use this direct link) we can see that the initial approach fixes we can choose from are WAKER, EXERT, MERMA, and TANDY, none of which are on the SADDE6 STAR. WAKER looks like it is the best bet with the direction of our arrival, so let us use that. At this point you have to decide if you want to fly the STAR to its end point (the Santa Monica VOR), or if you want to leave the STAR early. If you fly the approach from SMO to WAKER, you will have to make a 170 degree right turn back towards WAKER. It may be better to leave the STAR early, at FIM for example, and continue direct to WAKER from that position. Let us assume that you will be flying FIM DCT WAKER in this example. On the ILS or LOC RWY 06L approach plate you can see that radial 158 from FIM will take you to WAKER. The distance FIM-WAKER is 19.6 nm, and the minimum safe altitude on this leg is 5,100', so let us plan to cross WAKER at 5,100'. From there you will fly another 7.4 nm on FIM radial 158, until you cross radial 257 from the Los Angeles VOR (LAX, 113.6 MHz), at which point you can begin a left turn to intercept the inbound course of 69 degrees. Stay at 3,700' or above until crossing NATHN, then you can descend to intercept the glideslop at ALISN at 1,800'. Summarising what we have done so far, we have: 1) Found a route that includes both a SID and a STAR: KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA JINMO Q7 AVE SADDE6 KLAX2) Discussed how to fly the SUMMA7 SID from departure runway 34R to our first enroute waypoint, SUMMA.3) Discussed how to fly the SADDE6 STAR from our last enroute waypoint, AVE4) Discussed how to transition from the SADDE6 STAR to the approach with two different scenarios: (a) KLAX landing and departing to the WEST, and (b ) KLAX landing and departing to the EAST. Now we need to enter all that information into the CDU. I will begin by describing how to configure the flight management system for the part of the route that is the same regardless which direction KLAX is operating in.Next I will describe the two separate cases, (a) with KLAX is operating in the westerly direction, and (b ) with KLAX landing and departing to the EAST. Aircraft is parked at KSEA gate C15, power is established, IRSs are 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: Now press the DEP/ARR key on the CDU. Then press the left LSK1 next to the <DEP prompt, select departure runway 34R and SUMMA7 SID. (Note that there are two transitions below the SUMMA7 SID, Baker City (BKE) and Lakeview (LKV) VORs. We will not be selecting any of these as we are only following SUMMA7 until SUMMA intersection - refer back to the SUMMA7 SID diagram if in doubt about this). From this point the instructions differ depending on whether you want to land to the WEST or to the EAST. If you want to land EAST, skip down to the Landing EAST heading. If you want to land in the WEST direction, continue with the steps below.

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(a) Landing WEST: Press the DEP/ARR key again, then press the right LSK2 next to the KLAX ARR> prompt, select the ILS approach to runway 24R and the SADDE6 STAR. This time the CDU displays transitions both on the left side, underneath the SADDE6 STAR, and in the right column, below the ILS 24R approach: - In the left column, use the LSK to select the AVE (Avenal VOR) transition from enroute flight onto the SADDE6 STAR.- Press the NEXT PAGE key on the CDU, then select the SMO ( Santa Monica) transition from the STAR onto the ILS 24R approach. Next press RTE to see the routing: At this point we have a small problem - there is a discontinuity between the endpoint of the STAR (JAVSI) and the approach transition (SMO). To understand why this happens, look at the STAR diagram again: The STAR routing takes us past SMO to JAVSI, from where we should be vectored on to our approach course. However, since we do not have any ATC coverage, we loaded the approach starting at the SMO initial approach fix. Rather than trying to fix this problem for us by simply taking us from SMO to JAVSI on the STAR, then back to SMO to start our approach (which would take over JAVSI again), the CDU inserted a discontinuity to alert us to the issue. Now that you know why this is happening, it is simple to fix: ACTIVATE and EXECUTE the route, then press the LEGS button and use the NEXT button to display LEGS page 4: As you would expect, the legs plan shows the SMO waypoint followed by JAVSI, and then the discontinuity followed by a second SMO waypoint. Use the left LSK5 to select the last SMO waypoint, then use left LSK2 to move it from the scratchpad on top of the first SMO: Now EXECUTE the changes you've made. At this point you are done setting up the route. Now complete the rest of the preflight and fly the route! (b ) Landing EAST: After setting up the departure from KSEA we will now configure the flight management computer for a landing on KLAX rwy 06L. Press the DEP/ARR key again, then press the right LSK2 next to the KLAX ARR> prompt, select the ILS approach to runway 06L and the SADDE6 STAR. This time the CDU displays transitions both on the left side, underneath the SADDE6 STAR, and in the right column, below the ILS 06L approach: - In the left column, use the LSK to select the AVE (Avenal VOR) transition from enroute flight onto the SADDE6 STAR.- In the right column we would have expected to see the WAKER transition in addition to the three already listed there, but it seems to have gone missing. Let us see if we can work around the issue somehow. If you look at the ILS 06L approach plate again, the EXERT IAF is close to what we want. Since we decided to leave the STAR at FIM we are going to have to edit our route anyway, so select the EXERT approach transition onto the ILS 06L approach. Next press RTE to see the routing: There are two issues that we need to deal with. First, we really don't want to fly SADDE6 all the way to JAVSI. Second, we currently have the wrong IAF in our flight plan - at the moment the route contains EXERT, but we would like to use WAKER instead. Let us begin by shortening SADDE6: ACTIVATE and EXECUTE the route, then press the LEGS button and use the NEXT button to display LEGS page 3: (continued)

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Delete the waypoints after FIM - SYMON, SADDE, BAYST, SMO, JAVSI - by pressing the DEL key followed by the left LSK next to each waypoint you want to delete and press EXEC. At this point your LEGS 3/5 page should look like this: To fix the approach portion, delete the EXERT and IYODU waypoints that were inserted automatically when we selected the EXERT transition to ILS 06L (refer to the approach plate to see why we don't need these waypoints). Then use the keypad on the CDU to enter WAKER and use a left LSK to insert WAKER after FIM. At this point you should have: To see if what we have done makes sense, compare the information in the CDU with the approach plate. According to the CDU, the distance from FIM to WAKER is 19.6 nm, exactly what it is supposed to be according to the ILS or LOC 06L approach plate. The bearing is a couple of degrees off - the CDU says 160 degrees from FIM where the approach plate has 158 degrees, but this is close enough for our purposes (if you want to be exact, fly this portion of the approach with the ND in VOR mode, tracking the 158 degree radial from FIM). Our last step is to remove the discontinuity between WAKER and DNITA. Use a left LSK to transfer DNITA to the scratchpad, then hit the LSK next to the line with the five small empty squares and press EXEC. You now have an unbroken route from rwy 34R in KSEA to rwy 06L at KLAX. If you like you can finish by entering the 5,100' minimum altitude at WAKER (see the approach plate) by using the CDU keypad to enter "/5100", then use the right LSK next to WAKER to enter the restriction. Press the EXEC button after making your change. That's it! Complete the rest of the preflight and enjoy flying the route. / Tom

[raymar 961]

Geez, I can't keep us with you. I will come back and make the pdf later today. Ray

[IFR7700 228]

Hey Ray, where's the .... oh, ok I see you're on it.

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Geez, I can't keep us with you. I will come back and make the pdf later today.

Your efforts are much appreciated, Ray! / Tom

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Another good source of US charts is skyvector.com. If you enter you route, you have very simple access to enroute charts for your flights. Airport information and terminal procedure charts can be found by clicking on the airport names in your flightplan, or by searching for individual airport ICAO codes.

[CrashEd 8]

Excellent tutorial as ever Tom! Many thanks!How about a more complicated departure arrival?LOWI - LSZH or LOWI to Sion perhaps? Loving flying in this area at the moment!

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Excellent tutorial as ever Tom! Many thanks! How about a more complicated departure arrival? LOWI - LSZH or LOWI to Sion perhaps? Loving flying in this area at the moment!

You are most welcome. If I have some time Monday or Tuesday I'll take a look at your suggestions.

[newtie 376]

In the thread with the Australian example (YSCB - YPAD), Mark asked about the route KSEA - KLAX. I thought that might be interesting to work through, since there is an excellent free source of real-world US routes out there, flightaware.com. (This is the third worked SID/STAR/transitions example. It is somewhat more complex than the EKCH-ENGM and YSCB-YPAD examples I posted previously, so if you find the instructions in this post difficult to follow, you may want to start with one of the other two). A word of caution: I have the excellent ORBX PNW scenery, but I've found that FSX tends to throw a hissy fit and CTD on me when I fly the NGX in the Seattle area. Regardless of what scenery you use, I would suggest that you turn autogen and AI traffic down to a minimum when near Seattle. (I'm not blaming any individual developer for this problem, by the way - Seattle has always been a problem area for me in FSX). This is a long post with many images. Unfortunately, AVSIM places an upper limit on how many images can be included in a post, so I've had to split it into several separate posts. Anyway, here goes: (1) To obtain a route, go to the flightaware.com website. In the left column, in the blue area at the top, there is a link to "Pilot Resources". Follow that link and look in the middle column, below the list of states where you should find a link to "recently used IFR routes". If you follow that link you should get a page with an "IFR Route Analyzer", with a search form where you can enter an origin and destination airport. (If you cannot find this page by following my instructions, this is a direct link). Enter the airport pair KSEA - KLAX and press the "Find flights!" button. This is what came up when I did the search earlier today: The "Route Analysis Summary" section shows information about the most recent real-world flights between KSEA and KLAX that have been tracked by flightaware.com. When I did the search, there was a total of 64 flights in this list, 35 of which had filed the route KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA JINMO Q7 AVE SADDE6 KLAX. Another 10 flights had filed a slightly different route, KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA Q9 DERBB SADDE6 KLAX, and so on. A bit further down, under the heading "Route Analysis Itemized List", there is additional detail about each flight. Notice that the first one in the list on my screenshot is an Alaska Airlines flight using a Boeing 737-800. (From a quick glance through the list it looks like ASA is the only carrier flying this particular route with the 737 - both classics and NGs - while other carriers use the Airbus 319 and 320, CRJ-200s and CRJ-700s). Since the route KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA JINMO Q7 AVE SADDE6 KLAX appears to the the most popular, let us use that one. (2) Determining which SID to use is simplicity itself since it is already included in the route we found above: SUMMA7. (If you fly online in the US, go ahead and include the SID and STAR in the flight plan that you file. Leave them out when flying in Europe - you will get the SID on the ground as part of your route clearance, and the STAR will be assigned while you are airborne, by the center or approach controller). The Federal Aviation Administration website has all the charts you need to plan your flight. Follow the link under the "Applications" heading titled "digital - Terminal Procedures Publication (d -TTP) and Airport Diagrams". On the page that opens, look under the "Product" heading. Today's date is August 19, so 1108 is the current edition. Follow the link titled "digital - Terminal Procedures (1108)" to open the current terminal procedures. (This is a direct link. I've included a few of these, but do note that these direct links will become invalid when the current cycle expires). (Earlier today I had some problems acessing the FAA website. If this happens to you, you can find the same charts on the myairplane.com website. I prefer to go direct to the source whenever possible, though). To find information about KSEA, there are several options. I prefer searching by ICAO identifier, so click the "ICAO" radio button, enter KSEA as the airport identifier, and press "Search". Begin by opening the airport diagram (found on the second page of the KSEA search results). From the diagram you can see that there are three parallel runways at KSEA, 16L/C/R and 34L/C/R. I don't know enough about real-world operations at KSEA to say which runway it would be most realistic to use, but often the longest runway is used for departures, so for this example we'll be using either 16L or 34R. (The default FSX scenery only has two runways at KSEA, but 16L/34R should be available regardless of what scenery you use). The KSEA METAR at time of writing is KSEA 190653Z 02010KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A3012 RMK AO2 SLP202 T01670106. With northerly winds from 20 degrees at 10 kts we should plan to use runway 34R for departure. Also on page 2 of the KSEA search results, at the end of the list, you will find a link to the SUMMA SEVEN departure procedure. Go ahead an open it (direct link) The SUMMA7 SID instructions are a little complicated, so here is a step-by-step breakdown of how to fly it:

• After takeoff we should climb on heading 342 degrees, then intercept and follow radial 341 from the Seattle VOR (SEA, 116.8 MHz)
• Upon reaching NEZUG intersection, which we must cross at 4,000' or above, we turn right and fly heading 70 degrees
• We continue on heading 70 degrees until crossing radial 139 from the Paine VOR (PAE, 110.6 MHz), at which point we turn right onto a heading of 165 degrees
• Continue flying heading 165 degrees, passing KSEA on your right-hand side, until you intercept radial 146 from SEA VOR
• (e) Follow SEA radial 165 until SUMMA, at which point we can continue direct to JINMO, the first waypoint of our flight plan after SUMMA.

The SUMMA7 SID is in the NGX navigation database, so you take the easy way and fly the departure in LNAV. Or you can tune the SEA and PAE VORs on the nav radios - you should do this in any case, as a backup - and fly the departure with the ND in VOR mode (using the HDG SEL and VOR LOC modes on the MCP as appropriate). Note that the initial climb altitude on the SUMMA7 SID is not specified - this would be given to you as part of your flight plan clearance. Since there is a requirement to cross NEZUG above 4,000' I would suggest that you set the MCP somewhere around 7,000' initially - that should give you time to get the airplane cleaned up before you have to worry about resetting the MCP altitude. Transition altitude in the US and Canada is standardized at 18,000'. (3) Choosing a STAR has also taken care of - our flight plan specifies that we should fly the SADDE6 arrival into Los Angeles. Go back to the FAA website and locate the SADDE SIX STAR diagram and narrative (for learning purposes you should make an effort to find it yourself, but if that fails here is a direct link to the KLAX pages). Note that there are two pdf files covering SADDE6, one containing a plan view and the other a textual description. Looking at the SADDE6 STAR diagram, we can see that there is a number of transition points from enroute flight onto the STAR - The Avenal, Fillmore, Shafter, San Marcus, Ventura, and Palmdale VORs, and the DERBB, DINTY, and ELKEY intersections. All of these transition routes come together at the SADDE intersection. The last enroute waypoint in our flight plan is the Avenal VOR (AVE, 117.1 MHz), which is one of the SADDE SIX transition points. The STAR routing takes us from AVE via DERBB and REYES intersections to the Fillmore VOR (FIM, 112.5). From FIM, SADDE6 continues to the SYMON intersection, which we should plan to cross at 12,000' and 280 knots. Next is SADDE intersection where our speed should be 250 knots, and then BAYST which we can expect to cross at 10,000'. From BAYST we continue to the Santa Monica VOR (SMO, 110.8). What happens next depends on which direction KLAX is operating in. (a) If landing and departing to the EAST (runways 6L/R and 7L/R), the SADDE6 STAR terminates at SMO. From there you would be vectored back towards the west and south, to intercept the localizer for your assigned runway. (b ) If landing and departing to the WEST (runways 24L/R and 25L/R), the STAR continues along SMO radial 68 degrees until 9 DME from SMO (JAVSI intersection). From that point you would be flying on ATC vectors further east and south onto the localizer. It should be noted that it is common to be on ATC vectors before you complete flying the STAR. Exactly where ATC will begin vectoring you depends on how much traffic there is going into your destination airport, as well as other factors. (4) Approach. I'll cover both the landing directions here - let us begin with the case where KLAX is operating in the WEST direction, since this is the simplest: (a) KLAX landing and departing WEST. Let us assume that we will be landing on runway 24R - the shorter of two parallel runways on the north side of the airport. Go back to the FAA web page, search for KLAX, and open the plate for the ILS or LOC RWY 24R approach. (this is a direct link.) Looking at the ILS or LOC 24R approach plan view, you can see that there are four initial approach fixes (IAFs). One of them is the Santa Monica VOR (SMO, 110.8 MHz) which is near the end of our STAR, so that is the one we will be using. From SMO we continue on radial 68 until 16 DME (SAPPI intersection), then we make a right turn onto radial 330 from the Seal Beach VOR (SLI, 115.7). Note that this is 330 degrees from SLI, so we will be flying a ground track of 150 degrees. We continue on this track until crossing the 057 degree radial from Los Angeles VOR (LAX), at which point we can begin a right turn to intercept the final approach course of 249 degrees. Glideslope intercept is at JETSA, at 2,200'. You can fly this approach in LNAV or, if you are feeling adventurous, with the ND in VOR mode. If you use VOR mode, I suggest you think through beforehand how you are going to set your radios up with active and standby frequencies. Initially you will need to have SMO and SLI tuned until you reach SAPPI, then SLI and LAX. After turning to intercept the localizer you will need the ILS frequency tuned and the course set on NAV1 (and eventually also on NAV2 if performing an autoland). (b ) KLAX landing and departing EAST. This time let us land on runway 06L. From the approach plate (search for it on the FAA website, or use this direct link) we can see that the initial approach fixes we can choose from are WAKER, EXERT, MERMA, and TANDY, none of which are on the SADDE6 STAR. WAKER looks like it is the best bet with the direction of our arrival, so let us use that. At this point you have to decide if you want to fly the STAR to its end point (the Santa Monica VOR), or if you want to leave the STAR early. If you fly the approach from SMO to WAKER, you will have to make a 170 degree right turn back towards WAKER. It may be better to leave the STAR early, at FIM for example, and continue direct to WAKER from that position. Let us assume that you will be flying FIM DCT WAKER in this example. On the ILS or LOC RWY 06L approach plate you can see that radial 158 from FIM will take you to WAKER. The distance FIM-WAKER is 19.6 nm, and the minimum safe altitude on this leg is 5,100', so let us plan to cross WAKER at 5,100'. From there you will fly another 7.4 nm on FIM radial 158, until you cross radial 257 from the Los Angeles VOR (LAX, 113.6 MHz), at which point you can begin a left turn to intercept the inbound course of 69 degrees. Stay at 3,700' or above until crossing NATHN, then you can descend to intercept the glideslop at ALISN at 1,800'. Summarising what we have done so far, we have: 1) Found a route that includes both a SID and a STAR: KSEA SUMMA7 SUMMA JINMO Q7 AVE SADDE6 KLAX2) Discussed how to fly the SUMMA7 SID from departure runway 34R to our first enroute waypoint, SUMMA.3) Discussed how to fly the SADDE6 STAR from our last enroute waypoint, AVE4) Discussed how to transition from the SADDE6 STAR to the approach with two different scenarios: (a) KLAX landing and departing to the WEST, and (b ) KLAX landing and departing to the EAST. Now we need to enter all that information into the CDU. I will begin by describing how to configure the flight management system for the part of the route that is the same regardless which direction KLAX is operating in.Next I will describe the two separate cases, (a) with KLAX is operating in the westerly direction, and (b ) with KLAX landing and departing to the EAST. Aircraft is parked at KSEA gate C15, power is established, IRSs are 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: Now press the DEP/ARR key on the CDU. Then press the left LSK1 next to the <DEP prompt, select departure runway 34R and SUMMA7 SID. (Note that there are two transitions below the SUMMA7 SID, Baker City (BKE) and Lakeview (LKV) VORs. We will not be selecting any of these as we are only following SUMMA7 until SUMMA intersection - refer back to the SUMMA7 SID diagram if in doubt about this). From this point the instructions differ depending on whether you want to land to the WEST or to the EAST. If you want to land EAST, skip down to the Landing EAST heading. If you want to land in the WEST direction, continue with the steps below.

Thanks so much for this Tom. I'm slowly getting used to the big iron and your help is invaluable. Its funny before I decided to buy the NGX and commit to learning how to fly it, the FMC was a total mystery. Now, I can't do without it!

[CrashEd 8]

You are most welcome. If I have some time Monday or Tuesday I'll take a look at your suggestions.

That would be fantastic! These tutorials are really helping me learn the fundamentals of flight planinning - something I've struggled to find online in such depth and clarity. It's excellent material in the absence of Tutorial #2 from PMDG or AOA :(

[JokersWild 34]

Flightaware.com and LiveATC.net are always open on my backup computer. They really are fantastic resources. I may have overlooked it in the OP, but flightaware has quick links to the pdfs at the top of the page when you've selected your airport.

[i. cruz 0]

there's a website where you simply put the AIRPORT ICAO CODE and it generates a PDF with all the airport's information(US ONLY).here's a link for it: http://pdfplates.com/GeneratePlate.aspx iberê cruz

[Scott434 12]

Your efforts are much appreciated, Ray! / Tom

+1 Ray. Big help! BTW, I responded to your PM.

[wanabflyer 51]

Huge thanks to Tom for this thread. So much better than Youtube videos. SIDS, STARS and Transitions my weak spot.