Interpreting a flightplan

[Guest SuperFortress]

Ok so I've just created a simple flightplan ,using Routefinder, from KJFK to KORD. I get the following result.KJFK PELUE2 NEKDE DCT DRAPE J60 DJB OXI3 KORDI would like to understand exactly what I am seeing here in more detail. First of all why are certain things marked in BOLD? I understand that DCT means direct but what does PELUE2 mean? Any basic info would be greatly appreciated or if you can point me to a resource that will help me to understand the basics of flight planning. Thank you.

[Guest SJDickson]

The bold items are waypoints and the non-bolded items between them indicate how to get from one waypoint to the other. Waypoints are either airports, intersections or navaids. KJFK and KORD are obviously airports; NEKDE and DRAPE are intersections and DJB is a VOR. PELUE2 is a SID (standard instrument departure) for KJFK, DCT indicates direct, J60 is an airway and OXI3 looks like it is a STAR (standard terminal arrival route) for KORD. So, you would take off from KJFK and follow the published PELUE2 SID to the NEKDE intersection, then fly direct to the DRAPE intersection, then follow the J60 airway to the DJB VOR and finally use the OXI3 STAR to approach KORD.http://www.airnav.com is a valuable resource for finding information about airports, navaids etc.

[Guest SuperFortress]

>The bold items are waypoints and the non-bolded items between>them indicate how to get from one waypoint to the other. >Waypoints are either airports, intersections or navaids. KJFK>and KORD are obviously airports; NEKDE and DRAPE are>intersections and DJB is a VOR. PELUE2 is a SID (standard>instrument departure) for KJFK, DCT indicates direct, J60 is>an airway and OXI3 looks like it is a STAR (standard terminal>arrival route) for KORD. >>So, you would take off from KJFK and follow the published>PELUE2 SID to the NEKDE intersection, then fly direct to the>DRAPE intersection, then follow the J60 airway to the DJB VOR>and finally use the OXI3 STAR to approach KORD.>>http://www.airnav.com is a valuable resource for finding>information about airports, navaids etc.>>>>Thank you very much. That clears up a lot for me. Couple of other questions. Can I assume that the next entry following the departing airport will always be a SID?Can I assume that the entry right before the arriving airport is always a STAR?How do you tell that NEKDE and DRAPE are intersections, that DJB is a VOR, and that J60 is an airway? (I'm guessing that intersections are always 5 letters, VOR's always 3?)

[Guest flight78]

Hi i can help u here if u dont mind.You are correct about intersections always are 5 letters and VOR

[Guest SJDickson]

>Can I assume that the next entry following the departing airport will>always be a SID?Not necessarily. Your flight planning software may automatically use SIDs if they are available or you may need to specify that SIDs are to be used. The RouteFinder site has an option which allows you to specify whether SIDs are used.>Can I assume that the entry right before the arriving airport is always >a STAR?Again, not necessarily. It depends on the flight planner.>How do you tell that NEKDE and DRAPE are intersections, that DJB is a >VOR, and that J60 is an airway? (I'm guessing that intersections are>always 5 letters, VOR's always 3?)Fixes and intersections are always denoted by 5 letter codes which must be pronouncable. Navaid names do not conform to any standards that I'm aware of, beside the stipulation that they must be unique. Some navaids have names as short as two characters e.g. the HE NDB in Hope, BC, Canada. Airway names have one or more characters followed by one or more digits. The prefix is often a J or a V, with V denoting a low altitude airway (often called a Victor airway) and the J denoting a high altitude airway (often called a jet route). In the US, low altitude airways extend up to 18,000 feet and high altitude airways are above 18,000 feet. The altitude separating low from high altitude airways differs from one country/region to another. The number in the airway name is even for airways running east-west and odd for airways running north-south.

[mgh 89]

>>So, you would take off from KJFK and follow the published>PELUE2 SID to the NEKDE intersection....> In the UK, most (at least all the ones I've checked) SIDs are named after their terminating naviad or waypoint. As a result the terminating point of the SID doesn't seem to be included in the flightplan. For example, at London Stansted (EGSS) a departure from RWY 23 using the Compton SID (which terminates at the Compton VOR) would be CPT3R UB321.... where UB321 is an airway.EDITAt the major London airports STARS terminate at holding points which are also either navaid aids or waypoints. Although there are published Initial Approach Procedures from the terminating points to the FAP/FAFs for a subsequent instrument approach, flights are generally radar vectored to the FAP/FAFs.

[Guest SuperFortress]

>In the end of each>flightplan you will find an intersection if the intersection>has a number like urs a 2 for OXI3 its a STAR and PELUE2 its a>SID.Can you please clarify this statement? Thank you.

[ErnieAlston 33]

>>In the end of each>>flightplan you will find an intersection if the intersection>>has a number like urs a 2 for OXI3 its a STAR and PELUE2 its>a>>SID.>>Can you please clarify this statement? Thank you.What he's referring to is really just the ID code for the SID/STAR procedure. OXI3 is the code for the KNOX3 Star. 'OXI' being the identifer of the Knox VOR.They often do take on the Name of a Navaid or Intersection within the procedure itself. But this is not always the case.It becomes clearer if you see the actual charts. Places like myairplane.com, and airnav.com have downloadable versions of these charts you can view.See this .pdf link to the OXI3 chart from myairplane.com.http://www.myairplane.com/databases/approa...s/00166KNOX.PDFRegards.Ernie.

[Guest lamont]

SuperFortress:Just for further clarification, not all airports have SID/STAR procedures. In this case you will be more than likely vectored to your first waypoint for departure. At you destination you will again be vectored to the airport from your last waypoint.

[Guest SuperFortress]

Thank you all for the great info, it really helped me understand things much more. Now my next problem is actually entering the plan into the FMC Here is the plan once again:KJFK PELUE2 NEKDE DCT DRAPE J60 >DJB OXI3 KORDI have the latest AIRAC and SID/STAR files already installed. I have entered the departing and arriving airports but I am getting a ROUTE DISCO. Attached is a pic of the FMC. How can I correct this? Thank you.

[mrfuni 0]

>Thank you all for the great info, it really helped me>understand things much more. Now my next problem is actually>entering the plan into the FMC Here is the plan once again:>>KJFK PELUE2 NEKDE DCT DRAPE J60>>DJB OXI3 KORD>>I have the latest AIRAC and SID/STAR files already installed.>I have entered the departing and arriving airports but I am>getting a ROUTE DISCO. Attached is a pic of the FMC. How can I>correct this? Thank you.You will need to delete the disco's (this is normal, happens to me all the time) hit the del key on your FMC and then press the appropriate LSK key. In your case from your picture it will be the LSK 3 or 4R or where the 4 boxes are awaiting input from you. once you del all disco's your flight plan should be ready for activation.

[Guest SuperFortress]

>>Thank you all for the great info, it really helped me>>understand things much more. Now my next problem is actually>>entering the plan into the FMC Here is the plan once again:>>>>KJFK PELUE2 NEKDE DCT DRAPE J60>>>DJB OXI3 KORD>>>>I have the latest AIRAC and SID/STAR files already>installed.>>I have entered the departing and arriving airports but I am>>getting a ROUTE DISCO. Attached is a pic of the FMC. How can>I>>correct this? Thank you.>>>You will need to delete the disco's (this is normal, happens>to me all the time) hit the del key on your FMC and then press>the appropriate LSK key. In your case from your picture it>will be the LSK 3 or 4R or where the 4 boxes are awaiting>input from you. once you del all disco's your flight plan>should be ready for activation.Once again thank you for the invaluable help. Ok now that I've managed to clear the DISCO's I notice that there are now a few other additional waypoints that have been inserted not by me but automatically by the FMC. They waypoints are still along the correct route but I want to know why there were created and if it's correct to keep them or delete them? Thank you.

[mrfuni 0]

>Once again thank you for the invaluable help. Ok now that I've>managed to clear the DISCO's I notice that there are now a few>other additional waypoints that have been inserted not by me>but automatically by the FMC. They waypoints are still along>the correct route but I want to know why there were created>and if it's correct to keep them or delete them? Thank you.They are put there after you select the star and runway for the arrival airport. Perfectly normal. You do not want to delete these as they are the arrival procedures for the particular runway that you select at your destination.Hope this helps as I just learned most of it in the last two weeks after buying an FMC based addon jet from PDMGP.S not every airport has stars so you will not always have these; but when you do it does help especially in bad weather.

[Guest lamont]

>>>Thank you all for the great info, it really helped me>>>understand things much more. Now my next problem is>actually>>>entering the plan into the FMC Here is the plan once again:>>>>>>KJFK PELUE2 NEKDE DCT DRAPE J60>>>>DJB OXI3 KORD>>>>>>I have the latest AIRAC and SID/STAR files already>>installed.>>>I have entered the departing and arriving airports but I am>>>getting a ROUTE DISCO. Attached is a pic of the FMC. How>can>>I>>>correct this? Thank you.>>>>>>You will need to delete the disco's (this is normal, happens>>to me all the time) hit the del key on your FMC and then>press>>the appropriate LSK key. In your case from your picture it>>will be the LSK 3 or 4R or where the 4 boxes are awaiting>>input from you. once you del all disco's your flight plan>>should be ready for activation.>>Once again thank you for the invaluable help. Ok now that I've>managed to clear the DISCO's I notice that there are now a few>other additional waypoints that have been inserted not by me>but automatically by the FMC. They waypoints are still along>the correct route but I want to know why there were created>and if it's correct to keep them or delete them? Thank you.Those extra waypoints lie along the J60 airway. When you enter a route "VIA" like J60 you enter the beginning waypoint and then the ending waypoint. The FMC will fill in the other waypoints that lie between the two. They should be left in.

[mgh 89]

Historically, in the UK the airways were named by colour such as Red One. Other colours were Amber, Green, Blue and White. Purple was reserved for temporary airways for royal and VIP flights. They now use letters and numbers such as UN866.