I'd appreciate some advice on 'VECTORS'. 

I have set up a flight from Vancouver BC (CYVR) to Sydney Australia (YSSY) and the Route starts with three VECTORS waypoints. I have no idea how to deal with these. The flight starts at Runway 08L and the first Vector is on a heading of 083, which makes sense, but the aircraft simply heads in that direction for 'ever'. It does not switch to the next Vector or continue with the route set up in the FMC. I tried using ATC to direct me to Sydney but was unable to make the 777-300 capture the route, as I am used to doing with a FSX/P3D flight in other aircraft. 

Any suggestions?

a VECTORS entry in the SID or STAR means that you would normally get vectors from ATC at that point.

so for example the YVR9 departure means you would takeoff and fly at 83 (if you depart 08L) until ATC tells you where to go next. if you look at the chart it also shows a limit of 7000 ft which you would stay at unless you were specifically assigned something different during clearance delivery.

obviously if you aren't using an ATC addon that is aware of SIDS and STARS then this vectoring won't really happen in the sim. the default ATC doesn't pay attention to this stuff at all.

so at that point you have to kind of imagine what they would tell you to do, which is basically to get yourself headed towards the next waypoint in your plan using the HDG SEL mode. once you are on the way to that waypoint, typically you would line select that waypoint and copy it up to the top of your plan, overwriting the VECTORS entry, and it should realign your flight path to go through that point...then you'd switch to LNAV mode. in the real world it might be more complex with multiple headings and instructions... but would eventually end with something like "cleared direct to <x>, continue own navigation" where x is the first waypoint after the vector entries..really just depends...hard to be more specific in answering without knowing your full plan. 

cheers,-andy crosby

 

Hi Andy,

Many thanks for your very clear & concise reply. 

I'll have another go at it and try line-selecting the next waypoint and copying to the top of the plan. 

Are there in fact any ATC addons that are aware of SIDS and STARs?

Cheers,

Mark

53 minutes ago, freded said:

Are there in fact any ATC addons that are aware of SIDS and STARs?

Cheers,

Mark

Yup, Pro ATC X assigns SIDs and STARs depending on the weather and runway in use when you get your clearance, although you can if you wish override that.

4 hours ago, freded said:

Are there in fact any ATC addons that are aware of SIDS and STARs?

mark

as above, there are a few (PATC & VOX plus others) that are "aware" of transitioning / full SID's... but none in my opinion "emulate" real vector flows as needed / used @ cyvr & many other airports. 

The entire purpose of vector sections is to give controllers tactical control of spacing prior to dumping the sequenced aircraft onto their respective routes (specific to SIDs, at least). For that reason, you're not going to find anything that isn't a human that's going to give you a decent approximation of vectoring.

Self vector. Tutorial #1.5 on our downloads page gives an example of it. Granted, the information provided came with a little inside knowledge from my past jobs, but the basics are there: usually runway heading, a vector toward whatever fix is your first fix (with an intermediate turn perhaps), and then "proceed direct XXXXX, resume own navigation" (which is where you copy the fix to the top of the LEGS page and EXEC).

I prefer self vectors.... an ATC inside my brain which on reflection might not be the best idea. Anyway..., as Kyle said typical vectors you expect from ATC on departure are either towards first fix or first segment unless it's opposite direction (first fix is North and you take off South).  When opposite direction I fly a radar pattern that has the upwind leg 10 nm from airport (put the airport on a FIX page and put a 10 nm ring around it).... so take off and turn to crosswind (Navy calls it the breakout leg) then upwind (opposite of downwind) at 10 nm from airport then direct to first fix or segment.  I've tried a few of the ATC simulators but none of them are very smart as Kyle mentioned, but it helps that I have many years of experience.

I use Flightaware often to see how traffic is moving at my departure or arrival..., if you watch the ground tracks for awhile you start to see patterns that you can mimic in your simulation.