How to program the FMC when airport has no ICAO code?

[Nevian 0]

Hi all! My first post

I was fooling around with the 737 NGX, and came across a problem when trying to program the FMC as I planned to land at an airport that didn't have an ICAO code. In FS Commander it is designated as W99, but I'm not able to put this in as my dest. in the FMC.

 

The FMC manual states that you should the able to input a temporary dest. for just such cases by inputing it's location etc. in the REF NAV DATA page. However, I have not been able to. Is it at all possible?

[MED1473 18]

Hi. Very practical answer not at all guaranteed operationally sound.

Have you tried specifying the final fix to the airfield as a custom wp (eg bearing/dist to a nearby database wp) selecting the altitude as your MDA and your speed as your Vref+xx?

It will prob work but as I've said it's prob not right. Operational wise

[acko52 13]

Gday

Sorry if im wrong, but maybe its not accepting it because the r/w is to short for the 737, im not that advanced on the fmc as yet, so i dont know the answers to your question. Welcome to the PMDG forums, and it is required to sign your real name on your posts.

jeff

[Polar 30]

You can find an airport nearby as your destination so to fly the FMC nav route, (WYPTS), then pick up an NDB,VOR in the route to get you to the airport of choice and fly using radio instead of FMC. Obviously you will not be be able to load a STAR or runway at the final destination, but at least you can fly a programed route most of the way.

 

VB

[cx822 4]

American airport.... have u tried inputting KW99 into the fmc?

 

Joe Li

[Gazzareth 824]

I have not tried it, but the most I can find about it is on p1057/8 of FCOMv2. If it is implemented then it looks like you can enter the airport, but not runway data...

 

G

[RWFeldman 159]

Probably a case of not all 25000 airports are in the Navagraph FMC database. Could use the WADDI, PETEF and MACGD as the airport fix.

[serviceceiling 135]

You shouldn't depend on the FMC too much, just pick a FIX and shoot a non precision approach if there is one. If not, you'll have to fly a fully visual approach using landmarks as visual references.

[Gazzareth 824]

American airport.... have u tried inputting KW99 into the fmc?

 

Just tested and this works fine, not ALL airports are in the database this way though, not sure what the filtering criteria was but it does not just seem to be runway type/length. You do not seem to be able to add anything into into the temporary/supplemental database(s) directly (the manual does not seem to go into adding into the supplemental database at all). Although of course you can add temp waypoints in your plan by coordinates or bearing/distance or along track.........

 

G

[Fabo 213]

You can edit the database manually, it is really just text. You can find some help with that on the forums here.

That is actually how you can properly fly to Kai Tak, there is a script that adds it to respective files.

 

These files are overwritten by every NavData update, so get ready to re-add every couple weeks.

Aerosoft claims their navdata are better in small airport coverage, compared to Navigraph, btw. Maybe worth checking out, if you like this type of flying.

[Gazzareth 824]

These files are overwritten by every NavData update, so get ready to re-add every couple weeks.

 

Good to know that I can edit manually, although my NAV data is from some time in 2011 (I think) - the FSX world has not changed since then either .. ..

 

G

[xkoote 57]

In the future, what you can do to remove all doubts is to place the 737 on the airport in question and hit the ARPTS button on the EFIS control panel. If its in the database file it should show up as a blue circle with its ICAO code next to it. If nothing shows up, its probably not there.

 

Cheers,

 

Xander

Curacao

[jostytosty 1]

I would go to the nearest Fix and the type in the coördinates for the airport.i guess using lat-lot is the correct way of using a FMC/GPS.

[FlyingAxx 2]

If you do have the proper airport data you need to edit two files, 'wpnavapt.txt' and 'airports.dat' (also a text file). You may want to use the tool MakeRunways 4.612 of Peter Dowson. It is free and produces a XML-File containing all data you need to amend PMDG's data if necessary with those coming directly from FMX. However, first you have to decypher PMDG's file format which should be not too complex, I guess.

[Nevian 0]

American airport.... have u tried inputting KW99 into the fmc?

 

Just tested and this works fine...

 

I too am able to type in KW99 into the REF NAV DATA page, but all it does is display the airports coordinates and runway info. This proves that the airport is indeed in the data base already - so why can it not be entered as a destination in the RTE page?