Okay, that was most of a flight plan, but it got me to the Palm Springs waypoint, and then it cut off, what did I do wrong?

 

-Jeremy Chesney

Hello Jeremy, This is how I do SIDS. I assume you have the current AIRAC installed from Navigraph, good. Go to your browser and punch in Rfinder Asalink.free and add it to your Favourites in the PC. Open Rfinder and select your depart and arrival airport and click Find Route. The route short cut is at the bottom of the page. Suggest you print it. Make sure the start of the route has SID thereon as some routes state Direct instead, no sid. Note the first waypoint after the word SID. Install the route into the FMC and go to Legs page where route should be shown, minus the SID. Go to Depart where the SIDS are on the Left side and open each one starting at the top and you will see the name of the Waypoint I told you to note. Select this SID and on the Right side you will be given a choice of Runways for that SID. select runway and execute. Go back to Legs page and you should find the route expanded with the SID. The Arrival STAR is almost a copy of the SID procedure. Hope this helps. Richard Welsh.

Well... I have no clue what AIRAC from Navigraph is... the way that giomania told me works very well, do you know how to get the flight plan to be completed though, because it has multiple waypoints before they just stop, how do you just add a star or sid or whatever it is to the end? I'm new to all of this so you're gonna have to guide me through it.

 

-Jeremy Chesney

Possibly the reason it cut off at Palm Springs is because you didn't apply the STAR in the DEP/ARR page, or maybe selected the STAR but didn't assign the actual runway? The other possibility is that you need a transition waypoint between the STAR endpoint and the final approach point.

 

The most important thing is to go through the LEGS page line by line and use the PLAN view on the ND. Once set on PLAN, press 'step' on the FMC to cycle each waypoint and visually check that they are connected by the magenta line all the way to the runway (unless of course you are going to be assigned a SID by ATC before arrival).

 

As with all things in aviation from route to weights to fuel to contingency, proper planning before you even turn the main battery on is absolutely key

 

Also, like operating any piece of equipment, understanding the functions and operations is important - delve into the FCOM or one of the two tutorials provided by PMDG (the latter if like me you learn better from doing!)

 

Hope that helps!

Alright, thanks for that. If you could, please explain the PLAN view on the ND, I don't know what that is exactly. And what if the pink line isn't connected all the way through, what is a way to fix that, what needs to be done?

 

-Jeremy Chesney

OK - assuming you're sitting in the left seat, you'll see a set of dials above the two main screens (left is called PFD - Primary Flight Display, right is ND - Navigational Display). The ND will show your route, terrain, waypoints etc which are all controlled by the set of dials and buttons just under the windscreen and to the left of the autopilot. One of the dials says 'APP / VOR / MAP / PLAN'. The dial to the right of this sets the scale for the ND which can be useful for getting close in on the final bits of the route, or zooming out for the longer legs.

 

On the LEGS page of the FMC, check that all the waypoints follow each other, and that there isn't a line on the LEGS page saying 'ROUTE DISCONTINUITY'. If there is, click on the waypoint below the ROUTE DISCONTINUITY and click on the button next to the line saying ROUTE DISCONTINUITY. this will overwrite the 'disco' (for the sake of not writing ROUTE DISCONTINUITY again - there, I did it!!) with the waypoint. The line on the ND should become a broken white line. This indicates that the change is visible but has not been applied. You must press 'EXEC' (execute) to apply the change so that the FMC will fly it

So then it effectively deletes that waypoint and skips to the one following it? What if it never said route discontinuity for me, and yet after it reached a certain waypoint, that was the end of it, even though the plan stated PHX-LAX - then what do I do to solve that issue?

PS something that might help if you can afford to get it is to purchase one of the Just Planes 737 vids (e.g. Westjet) - these will let you see how everything fits together visually in terms of planning, procedures etc.

 

(to not make any blatant product pitches, I should point out that other 'in cockpit' videos are available. I think

Jeremy, i think that the best thing for you is to do the tutorials provided with the ngx, especialy no.2 . It has a lot of explenations about the fmc. It is the best way to lern the plane. Do it twice

Jeremy, i think that the best thing for you is to do the tutorials provided with the ngx, especialy no.2 . It has a lot of explenations about the fmc. It is the best way to lern the plane. Do it twice

 

Absolutely agree. They will walk you through step by step, with images, and between two airfields that are definitely in your scenery!

Here's another question - even if I have a route loaded, must I get a STAR or whatever it's called to complete it, or should it be pre-placed?

 

Alright, it says route discontinuity, and there is no button next to it to overwrite it. I don't get this at all. The tutorials make no sense, they only teach you for 1 specific flight, they don't even teach you for future flights. Someone help me :(

 

Here's one of my final questions... I make my routes on simroutes.com - where it says STAR: [Choose/None] am I supposed to pick something there, could someone please check that site and tell me if I need to select anything...

 

-Jeremy Chesney

Here's another question - even if I have a route loaded, must I get a STAR or whatever it's called to complete it, or should it be pre-placed?

 

Alright, it says route discontinuity, and there is no button next to it to overwrite it. I don't get this at all. The tutorials make no sense, they only teach you for 1 specific flight, they don't even teach you for future flights. Someone help me :(

 

Here's one of my final questions... I make my routes on simroutes.com - where it says STAR: [Choose/None] am I supposed to pick something there, could someone please check that site and tell me if I need to select anything...

 

-Jeremy Chesney

 

In my tutorial, I leave them blank,then enter them when needed into the flightplan on the FMC

I'm not sure where you live,but in Europe it's best to start with your home ground.

 

To get the idea, try with EIDW to EGGP (Dublin to Liverpool)

EIDW usually departs via RWY 28 but to make it easy, use RWY 10 and land EGGP with the same RWY heading.

Now for the SID/STAR parts.

For SID, pick LIFY2E as in this link

http://airh5.x10.mx/...eidw_charts.pdf

and for the STAR to EGGP try TIPOD1A from the chart below

http://uvairlines.co...charts/EGGP.pdf

 

It should get you started and the flight's short enough not to get bored.

Where did you get the LIFY2E? And where exactly do you enter the SID and STAR on the FMC?

Alright, nothing will work at all anymore. This is what happened for a flight plan KPHX-KDAL, clearly the aircraft was going for a vector that it would never find, and it wasn't going the correct direction. The actual waypoints were somewhere else. I need help bad guys! Why won't anything work!? Someone pleaseeeee help.

 

Did you set the fmc speeds? It seems you donthave speeds on fmc