So, don't be surprised if you find yourself off to one side of the runway, while on approach. Having reasonably updated charts and associated airac data, is the price we pay to play with high fidelity add-ons such as the Q400.
[/quote

 

Well, for some.   Me, I'm happy with the Dash 8 because:

 

1.  It uncannily manages to have exceedingly complex implementation & graphics of the real deal and yet does it w/ virtually no impact on frame performance.

 

2.  I can still fly it the way I fly all the rest, just using the funky built in ATC in P3D--this way it never affects me, the mismatch between it's own airac data that is to say.  All I need is access to P3D's navaids which are guaranteed to line me up correctly ;o)   

 

Quite clearly I'm not going to use the Dash 8 like some will, but the freedom to go there is present.  I flew the canned sids/stars on one flight the other day and perhaps my next step will be to find another ATC that might work better w/ the Dash 8's airac data

In my view, having a disconnect between the navaids and the 'physical scenery' adversely affects suspension of belief much more than simply using the default sim's synchronized database.

 

Since this is not a certified simulator anyway, using current data isn't really all that important. I just pretend that I'm fixed in time on groundhog day, circa 2005 or thereabouts.

In my view, having a disconnect between the navaids and the 'physical scenery' adversely affects suspension of belief much more than simply using the default sim's synchronized database.

 

Since this is not a certified simulator anyway, using current data isn't really all that important. I just pretend that I'm fixed in time on groundhog day, circa 2005 or thereabouts.

 

I am with you. Flew for a VA for awhile and subscribed to Airac, but once I started flying GA aircraft and using Plan G to do my flight plans, I see no reason at all to update Airacs. 

OK I'm hooked now.  Little NavMap is an awesome freeware ap but I don't see SIDS/STARS published on it.  I guess it's charts I need as has been said.

 

I went ahead and updated the FMS data using fsaerodata so updated P3D and the Dash 8 and Little NavMap.   What I wonder is where does the SID/STAR data that is displayed in the Dash 8's FMS come from?  Is there a vendor of charts that they use to get their FMS SID/STARS synced up w/ those particular charts?

 

Thanks!  I'm getting there slowly but surely!

Hi Noel,

 

If you updated your navaid then you can also increase a small step the "realism" of your flight preparation without needs to learn the full approach plate immediately.

 

For flight in USA, the skyvector site give you access to approach plates. You don't need to learn at first how to read all the information in them as the frequency and approach course for ILS are very easy to find. They are the first two sections at top left of each plate.

 

An example for Boston, you go to :

https://skyvector.com/airport/BOS/General-Edward-Lawrence-Logan-International-Airport

 

Then find the icon for the approach you want. Lets try ILS or LOC RWY 04R which is the first one in the "instrument approach procedure (IAP)" section of this web page.

 

If you open it, you find the frequency for LOC/DME Boston on the first square top left of the chart; 110.3

then second square on the chart is the approach cursor ; 036 degres.

 

Maybe with the time you will want to go a bit further and relate those information on what you find on the approach plates.

 

If one day you are interested to learn a bit more about the content of approach plates without reading to much, There is several illustrated figures in this official FAA document that provides a quick overview of chart contents.

 

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/instrument_procedures_handbook/media/Chapter_4.pdf

 

I followed that path over the years, first flying on the sim and slowly learning by small step until I got really hooked and decided to go for a real flight training and instrument training. 

 

But first of all, important is to have fun as you said........   blue sky...!!

I found this hilarious for some reason. I keep thinking Very Very Low Cost Airline Pilot quote.

 

  Since I don't even know how to read charts and don't particularly care to learn, I just need the ILS frequencies that are within P3D. 

I followed that path over the years, first flying on the sim and slowly learning by small step until I got really hooked and decided to go for a real flight training and instrument training. 

 

But first of all, important is to have fun as you said........   blue sky...!!

 

Pierre--awesome, thanks for taking the time to post this, that is very kind of you.  Two great references, and the sky vector site is free to use?  Fantastic!   I won't be moving towards real flying but this is my go-to indoor fun for when the weather is cold & wet, and lots of that happening right now where I live--wettest rainy season since 1926!  My passion for 'real' activities & for excitement is 'flying' my 787 Dreamliner which I took x-country and back last summer:

 

 

I found this hilarious for some reason. I keep thinking Very Very Low Cost Airline Pilot quote.

 

Indeed--I know I sure wouldn't want me to be the pilot flying the plane I am about to board!

Hi Noel,

 

Yes SkyVector is a free ressource at https://skyvector.com/

 

Great machine for outdoor season in your California.......  Here in Quebec the winter is much colder and longer.... thus P3D during winter for training and fun (oups.. not allowed on P3d).

 

Here is my outdoor machine for summer. With the recent GTN 750 installed a few months ago. Another thing I get hooked first on the sim before wanting it in my plane....

 

Here at CYRQ (Three River airport). Midway between Montreal and Quebec...

 

 

Wow good for you.   You definitely need P3D to keep your scanning up to par and all the rest.  I can't believe how complicated full VFR and commercial flying must be.    I feel very lucky to learn in P3D and enjoy the immersion as best I can.  I can say w/ my riding I adopt a very serious approach to scanning and my own flight plan so there are parallels--it's a high risk activity that demands fully staying in the present.

 

I've had some good success so far w/ using unpatched version 1.019 Pilot version of the Dash 8, but it is a little buggy here and there as is to be expected.  I had a couple of weird things happen today and not quite sure what I did differently, but I know the former version for P3D V3.0 users isn't supported by Majestic any longer.  If I can't discover how to eliminate a few niggles, I'll be forced to upgrad P3D to at least 3.3 I which am really loath to do as I've had trouble free operation since Sept 2015 w/ V3.0.  I've come to really appreciate stability!

If you're still here...

 

I'm using SkyVector.com to look at SIDS/STARS/other stuff but they aren't that intuitive to read for me depending on which one I'm looking at.   They are helpful but I'm looking for a cookbook approach on how to select a specific SID/STAR, preferably within the FMS, not need to look outside to a chart or what have you.  The SIDs seems pretty easy to follow depending on where I am, but the STARs less so.

 

My question is:  does the Dash 8's FMS sequence the various choices listed for a SID or STAR based on what might be the best under the circumstances, i.e. from where you are going to be transitioning so that you enter the rest of the approach in a logical way w/ enough time to get ready for your final approach?  I haven't noticed but maybe they were alpha numeric ordered I forget.  What if a pilot did not have a chart to look at?  Would they try choosing different ones and see how the route displays and decide that way? Or are the SIDS/STAR options in the FMS pretty much not very useful unless you have charts or SkyVector etc?  

 

Thanks in advance

Hi Noel,

 

Selecting the right Star can requires some digging and definitively some time to get acquainted to. There is often several transition to enter the Star and also several exit path depending on the runway in usage.

 

Now i'm using Foreflight on Ipad with a subscription. They have created a very intuitive tool that show the contour of each Star available and it make it very simple to see depending of your direction which one is appropriate.

 

But before Foreflight, my only way to select a Star was to look at them one by one.....

 

I dont think any aircraft or the Gtn 750 have a way to organize the information better....

 

 

Any other way to get to the ILS freq within P3D?

 

Hi Noel,

 

You may want to query in AVSIM library for:

 

FSX/P3D Quick ILS Utility Ver 3.1.5 (quickils315.zip)

 

Hope this may help: I find this tool extremely useful, cause it displays actual P3D ILS freqs for IFR purposes.

 

Cheers,

In my view, having a disconnect between the navaids and the 'physical scenery' adversely affects suspension of belief much more than simply using the default sim's synchronized database.

 

Since this is not a certified simulator anyway, using current data isn't really all that important. I just pretend that I'm fixed in time on groundhog day, circa 2005 or thereabouts.

 

Sage wisdom--I wished I'd thought deeper about that before using fsaerodata and navigraph!  Now when I arrive at it seems many larger terminals I have to double-check I'm at the correct airports because the runways don't exist!  What happened?  I guess they were rebuilt and renumbered or something, but talk about adversely affecting the suspension of disbelief!    I see it made a backup so maybe I can reinstall that, the only problem is the FMS data has been changed now too.  Probably ok to leave the Q400 as it is as I'm going into smaller airports with that plane but maybe if I uninstall the PMDG stuff and reinstall I can get back to their synced up version after figuring out how to get P3D's data restored to default. 

Sage wisdom--I wished I'd thought deeper about that before using fsaerodata and navigraph!  

 

 

FSAerodata and Navigraph allow you to use all GPS and FMS systems on different air frames that used to read the old default FSX/P3D navigation database only. Now you can fly into complex addon airports in planes with default GPS and follow current updatable approaches, SIDs and STARS. How about that?

 

Dirk. 

Yep Dirk it's working out fine.  In non addon airports I just keep FSA DISABLED, and can ENABLE when flying out of addon airports.  I am stumped about how one can [quickly!] chose a SID from Skyvector.com.  Departing at large terminals can mean 12 SIDs to chose from w/ names that don't mean anything to the uninitiated!  I haven't even dealt w STARs yet.