I have only recently started using STARs with Radar Contact, previously accepting vectoring to the ILS.My problem is that by the time I have heard from the airport approach control (through RC) and received the active runway information it is too late to use a published STAR as I have passed the transition point.Is there a way around this or am I misunderstanding what I should be doing?Best wishes, John M.

I use the technique of assigning a STAR by arrival direction and only keeping the common waypoints to all runways in the .pln sent to RC. If the runway specific waypoints are within about 35 nm from destination by that time you also can request an IAP from RC after you ack your first vector and then from that present position you can use your nav gear to guide you to the intercept.If you are using nav gear STARs as on FMCs the waypoints up to you get the IAP must coincide with the .pln sent to RC. I am attaching a guide based on FSBuild on how I go about this.FS ai follow a complex assignment procedure beyond just weather so my preference is to let RC observe ai and assign the runway.If you a confident ai will use a specific destination runway you can assign it preflight in the RC controller page or request the runway from approach at flight time. You also have the option of setting ai off or very low in FS to reduce or eliminate conflict.

Hi John ,Do you use a weather program or are you using FS own weather?RC offers you an option to leave the frequency to get weather at 50 miles out.If you use that option you will receive the runway in use at that time.You will have the information before approach control is in contact.If you are using Star charts make sure that at least one waypoint is within the 40miles radius of your destination.I check on my arrival airport weather before departure and this enables me to input my Star details prior to departure.When I get the weather,on approach(50Mls) I can then make any adjustments to the Star but this is rare.I fly sectors of 2-3hrs.If you do not use an external weather program I would urge you to consider that investment.Norman

Thanks for the tips and advice, I am working on them. I use Active sky so that should be a help,Best wishes, John M.

I have only recently started using STARs with Radar Contact, previously accepting vectoring to the ILS.My problem is that by the time I have heard from the airport approach control (through RC) and received the active runway information it is too late to use a published STAR as I have passed the transition point.Is there a way around this or am I misunderstanding what I should be doing?Best wishes, John M.

you may try "real ATIS" for FSX. just tune the ATIS frequency even at 100nm away. you should get it in real life too on that distance. just browse at sim market.Sent from my iPad HD using Tapatalk HD

Hi Shahie did you find that RC and RealATIS works fine together? Or better, does RealATIS give the same runway of RC atis or the runway differs many times?

Hi John, this can be a real concern when lading at an airport with multiple runways with specific STAR's for the runway and the winds are light and variable or during/after a thunderstorm when winds are shifting. The technique I use is while planning my flight I go the National Weather site http://aviationweather.gov/ and get the metar for my destination and the terminal area forecast. That gives me a pretty good prediction on which ways the winds are going to be blowing when I arrive. So i use this info to pick the runway I expect to land on and the STAR if appropriate to use. Now this can get to be dicey, the other day I was on a flight from KLAX to KMIA. Forecast for winds were 150-170 at 10k and thunderstorms. So I picked the SSCOT star and using runway 12. When I got there I was told to hold due to weather by RC. After the hold the winds had gone to 200/5 and RC then directed me to use runway 26L. I followed the vectors and changed all my FMC info, lots of fast inputs.

 

I also use AS2012 and tuning weather 100 miles out sometimes can prevent these kinds of problems, however using the destination TAF's keeps me out of a lot of problems.

 

Cheers

 

Bob

Runway specific STARs usually have common waypoints until they split. In these cases just send the common waypoints (which must match your FMC) in the plan sent to RC. When RC assigns your arrival runway you can update the final waypoints from your FMC and use the IAP option in RC which will let you navigate totally on your own to the assigned runway unless the arrival description requires vectors.

 

Also be aware of the NOTAMS option in RC which gets you some flexibility in RC (except the crossing restriction requirements).

 

ai have been documented by observers as behaving with variability regarding winds depending on aircraft type and some tail winds are accepted in order to gain better runway navaid suitability. That is why ai observation at about 40 nm out and again closer in is RC's first priority in runway assignment. If no ai are observed at either inspection point then RC uses its own priority methods of winds and runway facilities.

Regarding the comment about RealATIS — I was interested in that product a couple of years ago, and submitted a question to the developers as to whether it was compatible with 64-bit operating systems. They replied that it is 32-bit only, which ruled it out for me.

 

[Later edit]

 

Unfortunately, it appears that it still hasn't been updated. I've just checked on simMarket and found the following comment dated 25th April this year:

 

Excellent program however i have renewed my PC the OPS being win7.Its a pity this program is no longer compatible.Would be nice to see an upgrade.....

 

Just in case that might present a problem for you, too.....

 

Cheers,

 

Brian