G'day all,

 

Ten years since I last booted up a flight sim, having never learnt procedures, aircraft etc. to a great extent. I am having some early hiccups into my re-entry to the hobby. Details below, trying to keep as brief as possible:

I am trying to fly the filed route by QFA438 YSSY-YMML, as follows: DCT DOSEL Y59 TESAT DCT.

 

In the CDU RTE page the route is entered and accepted with no issues, appears as below.

 

After entering the route, I move over to DEP ARR and program the SID (DOSEL8 from RWY34).

 

Understanding STARs are assigned en-route, I program before departing, primarily as I’m new to SIDs and STARs. Back on DEP ARR page, I select an ILS approach for 34R, and the STARs are listed as pictured:

 

Selecting RIVET.34B (unsure of what the .34B denotes as the chart states the STAR is called RIVET2), I go back and check the RTE page (there is no transition for this STAR). I am presented with a route discontinuity. I am unsure of A) why this has occurred and B ) how to rectify.

 

For info, I have the latest FMS data/AIRAC cycle and am referencing my Lido (Navigraph) charts. Route sourced by Flight Aware.

 

Appreciate any assistance and hope you good people can help me into enjoying the hobby again.

 

Cheers.

Hi,

 

 

I am trying to fly the filed route by QFA438 YSSY-YMML, as follows: DCT DOSEL Y59 TESAT DCT.

 

You mean YMML - YSSY ? because Dosel is the first enroute point following the SID Dosel 8 and TESAT is a waypoint over YSSY.

 

The discontinuity you have at YSSY is because you last enroute waypoint should match with the first waypoint of your STAR if you don't want to have a discontinuity between the route and the STAR. In this case, RIVET2 starts at RIVET which is also a waypoint of the Y59 airway.

So your route should be DOSEL Y59 RIVET, with Dosel8 departure and Rivet2 arrival.

 

However in your case with the route DOSEL Y59 TESAT, you have a discontinuity because there is no link between TESAT the last waypoint of your route and RIVET, the first waypoint of your star in that way.

However, if you go to the leg page (the best way to check discontinuities and resolve them), you will see that RIVET is already present on your route before Tesat. So to clear the discontinuity, just click on the LSK close to RIVET (the second one, corresponding to the beginning of the Star). It will bring RIVET in the scratchpad. Then click now to the LSK close to the Rivet already part of your route (first one).

 

As for the RIVET2.34B, I would have to check on my NGX because I don't recall having seen that the last time I flew that route. It should be RIVET2.34R (for the rwy 34R) or RIVET2.34L but 34B, I don't know.

does the route look complete if you move up rivet to the extra line above? - David Lee

Hi Romain,

 

Thanks for the quick response. You're right, it is indeed YMML-YSSY (perhaps not enough coffee today).

 

That makes perfect sense to me and I was able to program the arrival using both methods you described. With that clearer in my head, I'm still a tad confused. 

 

Using YMML as another example, route filed by QFA826 to YSCB is DCT DOSEL Y59 NONUP J142 CB. If landing on RWY17, the STAR appears to be the MANDA8, which has a transition via NONUP. The filed route however continues to CB. Is this because the plan must file to a point/navaid at the aerodrome? In the case of the Canberra arrival, would the crew on the real aeroplane enter the route as above, and when programming the arrival to RWY17 via the MANDA8 STAR, just remove the disco's and clean it up on the legs page, as you've described?

 

Just trying to understand the logic, but your explanation has made things incredibly more clear in my head.

 

 

Using YMML as another example, route filed by QFA826 to YSCB is DCT DOSEL Y59 NONUP J142 CB. If landing on RWY17, the STAR appears to be the MANDA8, which has a transition via NONUP. The filed route however continues to CB. Is this because the plan must file to a point/navaid at the aerodrome? In the case of the Canberra arrival, would the crew on the real aeroplane enter the route as above, and when programming the arrival to RWY17 via the MANDA8 STAR, just remove the disco's and clean it up on the legs page, as you've described?

 

That's a good question. Most probably the crew would be vectored at some point on the Y59 or J142 to the final 17 or 35 rather than directed to a STAR but I don't have a documented answer to that.

If I had to plan a flight YMML - YSCB without any info of the real route, I would probably plan DOSEL Y59 ARRAN because ARRAN is a transition to STARs for both runways 17 and 35.

 

By the way, it shouldn't be DCT DOSEL, because DOSEL is the last point of a SID. Dct [WPT] in a flight plan is usually used in out of SID departure, for omnidirectional departure or vectors.

That's a good question. Most probably the crew would be vectored at some point on the Y59 or J142 to the final 17 or 35 rather than directed to a STAR but I don't have a documented answer to that.

If I had to plan a flight YMML - YSCB without any info of the real route, I would probably plan DOSEL Y59 ARRAN because ARRAN is a transition to STARs for both runways 17 and 35.

 

By the way, it shouldn't be DCT DOSEL, because DOSEL is the last point of a SID. Dct [WPT] in a flight plan is usually used in out of SID departure, for omnidirectional departure or vectors.

 

You're a legend mate. I appreciate your help. I'll go off now and see if I can do a few sectors to/from various airports and see if I run into any further issues/confusion. At least now I can program and fly A to B, at least with the two flights we've spoken about.

 

Cheers.