Hi

 

Very often when flying the NGX and Radar Contact, the ATC will say descend to FLxxx I need you there within 30 miles.

 

Is there any way to program a point in the FMC, 30 miles from your current location ?

I find that they hand me over to approach control when I'm 30 miles away from my landing airport, so I set a fix to the airport then put a range ring of 30 miles and make sure I'm at their requested Flight level by then. To do this enter your arrival airport icao in the legs page, then underneath where you enter it put /30 You can do it for any distance. Hope this helps, I use radar contact too.

Guys,

 

You got the principle right but the distances are incorrect.When descending you are asked to be down to your approach altitude within 30 miles.The handover to approach contol takes place between the 40/37 miles to run.Make your fix and use/40 and you will always have that visual reminder.

Thanks guys, but not quite what I was asking.

 

The question is, is there any way to create a 'marker' i.e. waypoint or range ring 30 miles from your current position and along your current flight plan route.

If you know your distance from your current waypoint, you can create an along track waypoint. Details for this are on page 870 of FCOM v2.

To do what you describe, take your current distance to the next waypoint.

If it's more then 30nm, then subtract 30 from the current distance and input that number as a range ring in the FIX page for that waypoint.

 

i.e. you are 53nm from fix RIIVR. Subtract 30nm from that, which gives you 23nm. Draw a 23nm range ring around RIIVR in the FIX page by typing /23

Now you know that 30nm from your current position will be 23nm away from RIIVR closest to your current track

 

If your distance is less then 30nm to the waypoint, i.e. 14nm from RIIVR, take the difference between 14nm and 30nm (16nm) and draw a 16nm range ring around RIIVR in the FIX page ( /16 )

You now know that 30nm from your current position will be 16nm on the far side of RIIVR along your current track.

 

You should realize though that radar contact doesn't accurately descend you on your chosen STAR according to altitude restrictions.

This is one of the reasons I don't use radar contact anymore.

Basically subtract 30 from your current distance to next waypoint and install an along track bearing distance waypoint in the FMC.

 

E.G. 80 miles to run to OSI vortac.... ATC wants me at 8000 feet in 30 miles from current position. 80-30=50. That's the distance from the OSI vor that I should be at 8000 feet. If I'm tracking heading 090, than the bearing from OSI is 270. Enter in the FMC in this format FFFFFRRR/DD

 

Where:

FFFFF is the Fix name up to 5 characters

RRR is the bearing or radial and must be 3 characters (include leading zero's if any)

DD is the distance up to 2 characters

 

example of above scenario. I would enter OSI270/50 as my waypoint to be at 8000 feet.

 

Jeff Smith

Thanks for the info guys.

 

What you describe appears to be the best way to solve this problem. For some reason I had it in my head you could create a waypoint or ring frrom your current location, I don't know where I got that from.

 

Anyway problem now solved - Thanks

Regarding Radar Contact, the FIX page comes in handy: RC will ALWAYS want you at 11000/12000 feet 40nm from your destination.

 

You can go in the FIX page, and, assuming you're flying to KSEA, create a new fix at KSEA. Then insert /40 on the second line: this will create a 40nm wide ring around your destination airport, which will be visible in the ND. You'll also see that the very moment you get into the circle, you will be handed off to approach by RC.

E.G. 80 miles to run to OSI vortac.... ATC wants me at 8000 feet in 30 miles from current position. 80-30=50. That's the distance from the OSI vor that I should be at 8000 feet. If I'm tracking heading 090, than the bearing from OSI is 270. Enter in the FMC in this format FFFFFRRR/DD

 

OSI/-50. Easier and better in that it will always put you on your route. and you dont have to figure out any radials.

Peter,

 

Thanks for that info :) I never knew it could be done that way.

 

Jeff Smith