that if that discontinuity is left before a flight you will not be able to engage LNAV. Someone correct me if I am wrong I am not an authority.

 

You'll be able to use LNAV up to the discontinuity. As Kyle said, sometimes a vectors segment presents itself as a discontinuity and are not errors that have to be removed.  Simply, if the STAR procedure (in the sidstar file) ends with a FIX name that is not an IAF for the selected approach then you will have a disco. If the STAR is written such that the last segment uses the keyword VECTORS then you will see a vectors segment in the LEGS page and it is not considered a discontinuity. That simple. One missing word from the procedure, and that depends on how the authority publishes the procedures which determines how it is translated into the sidstar syntax. No magic, very simple.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

BTW I just bought a computer with an 8 core 4GHZ processor, and a bunch of other stuff light years beyond what I was using. So crossing my fingers hoping the uninstall / reinstall goes smooth between computers.

 

Don't forget to release the license!

(If you do, it's not a huge deal. Try reactivating when you reinstall, and if it gives you an error, let us know!)

 

 

The problem with leaving a discontinuity is that LNAV will disengage upon reaching the last valid waypoint. 

 

That's not a problem at all. In fact, you want the aircraft in most cases to do that. If you hit the end of a STAR, you want the aircraft to drop into wings level. Using the CAVLR STAR into IAD as an example, note how the last instruction is an arrow with 012. That means "absent any other direction from ATC, maintain the same track you had between TRING and MIXNN." Of course, you may want to call them up to see if they have updated instructions and make sure they haven't forgotten about you, but that is definitely a case where removing the disco could royally screw things up.

 

With that, if you hit MIXNN and don't have any further directions, you actually want the plane to drop out of LNAV and continue on the present track. If you'd connected the STAR to the approach then the aircraft would've turned. That could put you in conflict with other traffic, and you'd be getting a phone number to call.

 

This is a huge simism.

 

It is perfectly fine to have a discontinuity in your route. In the right cases, it's actually advantageous.

 

 

I think, though not sure, that if that discontinuity is left before a flight you will not be able to engage LNAV. Someone correct me if I am wrong I am not an authority.

 

 

This is not true. You cannot engage LNAV on the ground if the first waypoint isn't within so many degrees of the runway. This has very little to do with discontinuities (it does, technically, but the disco will not prevent you from engaging LNAV entirely).

Complete success on the conversion. The internet has lots of help, and the digital download from PMDG had the key stored in my profile. I saved the download on my old comp, so I didn't have to re-download.

Had to re-purchase the one time navigraph to update the FMC, but again completely worth it, and you guys' products all work well together, makes life easy.

I do have a quirk with the new computer and the NGX, I'll start a new topic for if I can't find the answer already out there.