Sorry Paul,but is there any video tutorials about VORs and FMCs. How would you type up a VOR or NDB in the FMC?

And thanks for the links everyone, they help!

captainklm, Sorry to butt in on this discussion and I promise to butt right out after this. It is my impression that you are still avoiding following the basic lessons recommended and trying to go directly to using the FMC without understanding the details of VOR navigation and approaches. I believe that, if you successfully complete these recommended lessons, you will find all the VOR information in the FMC section of the PMDG manual much easier to understand.

captainklm, Sorry to butt in on this discussion and I promise to butt right out after this. It is my impression that you are still avoiding following the basic lessons recommended and trying to go directly to using the FMC without understanding the details of VOR navigation and approaches. I believe that, if you successfully complete these recommended lessons, you will find all the VOR information in the FMC section of the PMDG manual much easier to understand.

Agreed 100%. Sorry Joe, there are no shortcuts to learning, so you may as well have fun.

Im not trying to take shortcuts, Im learning the VOR but just wanted to experiment it with the FMC

Joe, You definitely need to read about the difference between a precision and non-precision approach. That's what's at the root of your confusion here. VOR, NDB, most RNAVs etc - these are non-precision approaches where you fly minimum descent altitudes between the fixes on them (aka "dive and drive" or "step down fixes") There is no glideslope and you cannot autoland with them. Many of them don't even line you up with the runway - they just get you to a position where you can make a visual landing or circle to make one. You never EVER go below minimum descent altitude on any leg of a non-precision approach - numerous major accidents in the real world including the one last year that killed the President of Poland and most of his government and military brass have been caused by descending below MDA in instrument conditions with no visibility. If you reach the final leg's MDA and can't see the runway - you execute the missed approach. Period. A precision approach is an ILS or certain special types of RNAV approaches (LPV, LNAV+VNAV, or RNP usually) that give you a radio-based glideslope or a computer-generated glidepath. Only certain ILSes in the real world have autoland operations certified - the ILS system, the aircraft, and the crew themselves have to be certified before one can be legally performed. No RNAV approach is autoland certified - you disconnect the AP at minimums and land visually just like a normal non-autoland ILS.

Thanks tabs, that was indeed on of my confusions. So does that mean you cant use the VOR as part of the LEGS in the FMC?

Huh? What has VOR got to do with the LEGs page? Sorry Joe, but you really don't seem to have a grasp on the basics. Do the navigation training flights in FSX and look at the tutorials mentioned in post #4 on this thread. Until you learn the basics, you just wont be able to play with the cool stuff.

Captainklm, On a positive note, I believe your question about VOR A, B, C is not answered in the recommended lessons but, if you Google “aircraft operations volume 1 flight procedures” and download the document from the Danish site and search it for “VOR-A”, you'll find the official answer to your question. You may see how this has been applied at Haneda. Although many of those responding to your question may know the answer, it's good to find things for yourself from the source.

Thanks Dugald, its English right?I have found a very very good youtube tutorial on the non precision NDB using the PMDG 747 however its in french :oand Paul,you know the LEGS page right? Where you program all the way points etc, I was wondering if a VOR can be used. I think you can enter NDBs in there correct me if Im wrong

On the Legs page, you can enter anything known to your navigation database including VORs, NDB's, waypoints and so on. You can also enter almost anything that can be related to the navigation database using Place/Bearing/Distance. The point ten miles southeast of the VOR called ABC would be entered as ABC135/10. You can enter the intersection of the radials from two different VORS using Place Bearing/Place Bearing so the point where the 110 radial from VOR XYZ intersects the 320 radial from the VOR QRS is entered as XYZ110/QRS320. And of course you can enter latitude and longtitude cordinates aswell. The manuals will tell you how to do all of this cool stuff, but they cant tell you when or why. For that, you have to learn the basics of navigation. It really is not that hard and will greatly improve your flying pleasure.

And last but not least, you can tell the FMC at what speed and which altitude/flight level you want the aircraft to cross those inserted waypoints/VORs/NDBs/radial intersections/...

On the Legs page, you can enter anything known to your navigation database including VORs, NDB's, waypoints and so on. You can also enter almost anything that can be related to the navigation database using Place/Bearing/Distance. The point ten miles southeast of the VOR called ABC would be entered as ABC135/10. You can enter the intersection of the radials from two different VORS using Place Bearing/Place Bearing so the point where the 110 radial from VOR XYZ intersects the 320 radial from the VOR QRS is entered as XYZ110/QRS320. And of course you can enter latitude and longtitude cordinates aswell. The manuals will tell you how to do all of this cool stuff, but they cant tell you when or why. For that, you have to learn the basics of navigation. It really is not that hard and will greatly improve your flying pleasure.

Thanks so much Paul!I was looking for something like that. Now I'm going to go try that outOh and how do I find the name of a VOR?

Thanks so much Paul!I was looking for something like that. Now I'm going to go try that out Oh and how do I find the name of a VOR?

You can go in your PMDG installation folder and look for the map "NavData". The file named "wpnavaid.txt" contains all the current navaids (VORs,NDBs,ILS Localizers,DMEs) with their coordinates and radio freq.

Even simpler, just open the map in FSX. It will show you the VORs with their names and frequencies known to FSX. If they dont show up, change the options along the top of the map until VORs are enabled. I really, really recommend that you at least look at the web site with the navigation lessons that I gave you. http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/index.htm