Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
sbclark

Challenging Arrival into Ontario CA (KONT)

Recommended Posts

----- Sorry, this needs to be moved to the PMDG 737 NGX forum ----

 

I like to fly out of Las Vegas (KLAS) to a variety of cities in the west.

 

Yesterday, I chose a flight from KLAS to Ontario (KONT), below is the flight plan:

 

KLAS BOACH4.HEC ZIGGY4.26B.HEC KONT

 

To fly the ZIGGY4 Arrival correctly into KONT, you have to read the chart as there is a comment at fix DAWNA that reads as follows:

 

VERTICAL NAVIGATION

PLANNING INFORMATION

Expect clearance to cross at 12,000 ft.

 

The first time I flew this arrival (before looking at the chart), I would have flown the PMDG 737 into the face of the San Gabriel Mountains if I had followed the FMC.

 

So what I did was set up a speed/altitude restriction of 230/12000 at DAWNA to avoid crashing.

 

To meet the altitude restriction at SBNB (latest Navigraph build 1211) of 2900, I was then forced to extend the spoilers, drop the gear, and then set up a decent rate of 2,200 ft/min using Lvl Chng. It was the only way to get down to this altitude restriction in this short a distance.

 

Note – SBNB has been replaced by PETIS on the latest chart, so the Navigraph data base looks like it may be incorrect.

 

My question is, how do you best fly this Arrival. I would be interested in hearing from others?

 

BTW, it is a pretty short flight.

 

Bill Clark


Windows 10 Pro, Ver 21H2

CPU I5-8600K 5.0GHz, GPU Nvidia RTX 3090 VRAM 24GB

Gigabyte Z370 Gaming 7, 2TB M2.NVMe, RAM 32GB

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
----- Sorry, this needs to be moved to the PMDG 737 NGX forum ----

 

I like to fly out of Las Vegas (KLAS) to a variety of cities in the west.

 

Yesterday, I chose a flight from KLAS to Ontario (KONT), below is the flight plan:

 

KLAS BOACH4.HEC ZIGGY4.26B.HEC KONT

 

To fly the ZIGGY4 Arrival correctly into KONT, you have to read the chart as there is a comment at fix DAWNA that reads as follows:

 

VERTICAL NAVIGATION

PLANNING INFORMATION

Expect clearance to cross at 12,000 ft.

 

The first time I flew this arrival (before looking at the chart), I would have flown the PMDG 737 into the face of the San Gabriel Mountains if I had followed the FMC.

 

So what I did was set up a speed/altitude restriction of 230/12000 at DAWNA to avoid crashing.

 

To meet the altitude restriction at SBNB (latest Navigraph build 1211) of 2900, I was then forced to extend the spoilers, drop the gear, and then set up a decent rate of 2,200 ft/min using Lvl Chng. It was the only way to get down to this altitude restriction in this short a distance.

 

Note – SBNB has been replaced by PETIS on the latest chart, so the Navigraph data base looks like it may be incorrect.

 

My question is, how do you best fly this Arrival. I would be interested in hearing from others?

 

BTW, it is a pretty short flight.

 

Bill Clark

 

The ZIGGY arrival to KONT can be challenging. I flew for several years with UPS Virtual Airlines, and KONT was my home base, so I have done this quite often.

 

For a runway 26R or 26L approach, the descent begins at DAWNA and ends at PETIS, which has an altitude restriction of 4,200 feet. You would, of course, be turning on to the runway 26R localizer at PETIS.

 

The distance from DAWNA to PETIS is 17 NM, and you need to descend 7,800 feet.

 

The secret is to reduce speed as much as possible BEFORE arriving at DAWNA. You'll note that there is no speed restriction at DAWNA on the chart, requiring you to maintain 250.

 

You mentioned that you selected 230 knots at DAWNA. I'd suggest a lower speed than that. I mainly did this arrival using the LevelD 767, and I would arrange to be level at 12,000 feet about 5 miles before DAWNA, and would reduce to 180 knots with flaps 5 by the time I would get to the waypoint.

 

Descending at 180 knots permits a reasonable vertical speed in the range of 1500 to 1800 feet per minute, with spoilers used as required. The only time it gets dicey is if you have a strong tailwind, though in these instances, the runway 08 approaches would likely be in use, in which case you would continue past PETIS to PDZ VOR, which permits a more shallow descent overall.

 

Doing it this way is not a problem in either the real or virtual world. There will be many KLAX arrivals traversing the same ground path from HEC to PDZ via DAWNA, but they will be several thousand feet above KONT arrivals on the ZIGGY STAR, so slowing early is not going to produce an airborne "traffic jam".

 

Don't attempt to cheat by descending to 4,200 feet early (before PETIS) - or you are likely to have an unpleasant terrain conflict!

 


Jim Barrett

Licensed Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic, Avionics, Electrical & Air Data Systems Specialist. Qualified on: Falcon 900, CRJ-200, Dornier 328-100, Hawker 850XP and 1000, Lear 35, 45, 55 and 60, Gulfstream IV and 550, Embraer 135, Beech Premiere and 400A, MD-80.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This airport seems quite interesting. It is also interesting that UPS selected this airport as a hub instead of the more-popular KLAX. When I first read about it, I thought it was referring to an airport in Ontario, Canada, which seemed weird, as Ontario is a province. How confusing!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Descending at 180 knots permits a reasonable vertical speed in the range of 1500 to 1800 feet per minute, with spoilers used as required. The only time it gets dicey is if you have a strong tailwind,

 

What a great post! There is no substitute for experience! Check out my "about me" section.


Frank Patton
MasterCase Pro H500M; MSI Z490 WiFi MOB; i7 10700k 3.8 Ghz; Gigabyte RTX 3080 12gb OC; H100i Pro liquid cooler; 32GB DDR4 3600;  Gold RMX850X PSU;
ASUS 
VG289 4K 27" Monitor; Honeycomb Alpha & Bravo, Crosswind 3's w/dampener.  
Former USAF meteorologist & ground weather school instructor. AOPA Member #07379126
                       
"I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me." - John Deere

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
This airport seems quite interesting. It is also interesting that UPS selected this airport as a hub instead of the more-popular KLAX. When I first read about it, I thought it was referring to an airport in Ontario, Canada, which seemed weird, as Ontario is a province. How confusing!

 

Real-world UPS flights do go inyo LAX too, but there are several advantages to Ontario as a main hub.

 

1. Less air traffic. KONT is served by several airlines, but the amount of airline takeoff and landing operations is far less than at LAX, which means less chances of UPS cargo flights encountering delays on departure or arrival. In a sense they "have the airport to themselves" in a way that they couldn't at LAX.

 

2. Infrastructure. ONT has two long runways, including 26R at over 12,000 feet long - ideal for even the largest, heavily loaded 747 and MD-11 freighters. UPS has a big cargo sorting and processing building at the southeast corner of the airport, with an enormous ramp capable of parking dozens of large aircraft. There is no way the company could have built such a facility at LAX, as the available real estate there is lacking, and even if if that wasn't a problem, I'm sure that the cost of land, and property taxes would be much higher.

 

3. Better weather. LAX, being immediately adjacent to the Pacific ocean, experiences low clouds and fog at certain times of year which could cause problems or delays for arriving flights, while ONT which is several miles inland, doesn't have that problem.

 

4. Probably the most important advantage to KONT is accessability to the ground transportation network. The airport is immediately adjacent to Interstate 10, which is the main east/west highway serving the Los Angeles metro area, and the main transcontinental rail lines of the Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads pass right by the airport as well. This makes it ideal for getting cargo to and from the airport. If you look at an aerial photo of the airport on Google Earth, you see that it is surrounded on all sides by many square miles of warehouses and light manufacturing facilities.


Jim Barrett

Licensed Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic, Avionics, Electrical & Air Data Systems Specialist. Qualified on: Falcon 900, CRJ-200, Dornier 328-100, Hawker 850XP and 1000, Lear 35, 45, 55 and 60, Gulfstream IV and 550, Embraer 135, Beech Premiere and 400A, MD-80.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great reasons! Perhaps there are similar reasons behind FedEx Express selecting KOAK over KSFO and KEWR over KJFK.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...