When at an airport for the first time and you are ask to taxi to a certain runway, how do you know how to get to this runway, does the dispatcher give you a map or something.How does one find there way around for the first time without getting embarrassed for going down the wrong road? Thanks...........................Robert

The information can be found in the Airport Facility Directories. The directory lists detailed airport information, along with runways layouts and taxiways for bigger airports.Also, you can always aks the tower controller about runways/taxiway information (for smaller airport without a ground controller). On the larger airports, the ground controller will assign you runways to your parking destination (or the runway), which you have to follow according to the airport diagrams.Hope this helps,Pat

Hi Robert, Good question! I too (an probably many others), feel like an idiot when ATC tells us what taxiway/runway,etc. to take. I always park where I want LOL. Sometimes I ask for additional help ("unfamiliar with the airport etc.") from ATC, and follow that stupid hot pink line they lay down. How real is that! I wish they'd say "turn left, stop, turn right, hold it, back up" LOL!! Don't feel embarrassed, I don't. Maybe someone will help us out with this one. I'll be checking back for the answer. Thanks for the question. Jere:-)

I always consult (and print) the airport diagram before landing at an unfamiliar airport, as one would do in real life.

>I always consult (and print) the airport diagram before>landing at an unfamiliar airport, as one would do in real>life.Or..........at least in "real life",Use a GPS such as a Garmin 1000, Avidyne glass panel, or the new Garmin 496 hand-held, where airport diagrams appear on the screen, as well as your airplane's exact position on the ramp, taxiway, or runway.And it's not "cheating"! It's the future of knowing axactly where you are, at any given moment; instead of being confused, feeling like a dummy, trying to figure where you're at on the paper chart, diverting the tower's/ground attention, and so on!L.Adamson ---- true fan of the GPS! :-hah

In the real world pilots get lost everyday. I have never been lost,HA.I think at the large airports there are only a few pilots that know their way around and everyone else is following them.Unlike the sim though you cannot blame the co pilot.

Robert,Have a look at Manuel Ambulo's Airports Chart Viewer, available here on Avsim (airchv50.zip). It gives you charts of all FS2004 airports, including of any enhanced airport scenery you may have added. It produces a map of the airport with runways, taxiways and parking spaces labelled, and even a "You are here" symbol.Martin

Aren't you supposed to study the roads in the airport before you get there?

I have been wondering how do you read the Taxi way signs that supposed to help you find your way.

In real life, if you are unsure of how to go you can ask for progressive taxi instructions, which are very similar to the pink line, but its the controller talking you through it.http://www.kthxdone.com/images/kw_ft.jpgKen Weik [link:maam.org|MAAM-SIM][link:library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=kenneth+weik&Sort=Added&ScanMode=0&Go=Change+View]My AFCADs

And take all the fun, challenge, and adventure out of it? ;)Yes, they are an option, albeit an expensive one, in the real world. Personally though, they do take out a lot of the element in flying that real drew me to it in the first place.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

There was a tutorial available on the web about reading taxiway signs, but I have to look for it and post it later. Basically there are two colors on the sign with a letter or letter number combination. The letter or letter/number in the black section tells you that you are on that taxiway if it is facing you, e.g. Black square with letter J, you are on taxiway Juliett and the other letter indicates an intersecting taxiway. Sometimes three taxiways converge so an arrow will be added to indicate direction of a specific taxiway. Here is a screen shot that shows I am on taxiway Foxtrot (F) with with taxiways Alpha 4 (A4) and Alpha 5 (A5) to my left and right. If the other numbers are in a red box, that indicates runways.Hope this helps.

>Hi Robert, Good question! I too (an probably many others),>feel like an idiot when ATC tells us what taxiway/runway,etc.>to take. I always park where I want LOL. Sometimes I ask for>additional help ("unfamiliar with the airport etc.") from>ATC, and follow that stupid hot pink line they lay down. How>real is that! I wish they'd say "turn left, stop, turn right,>hold it, back up" LOL!! Don't feel embarrassed, I don't. Maybe>someone will help us out with this one. I'll be checking back>for the answer. Thanks for the question. >>Jere:-) That `stupid hot pink line` is one thing that is being considered for the next generation or airliners equipped with HUD's. Steering and stopping information would be fed by datalink so the Ground Controller can actually say `stop` - and the HUD will show a line and have the word `stop` come up. Life imitating art?Allcott

Payware but nice Jeppesen SimCharts 3. look here: http://www.jeppesen.com/wlcs/application/c...tegory_id=AT1E4(copy/paste the whole url in browser)You can download a demo.Rob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://fool.exler.ru/sm/fly2.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

>And take all the fun, challenge, and adventure out of it? ;)>>Yes, they are an option, albeit an expensive one, in the real>world. Personally though, they do take out a lot of the>element in flying that real drew me to it in the first place.These new gagets can actually add a lot of fun in a different way.You'll see references to this all the time in the experimental/kitbuilt/homebuilt aircraft forums. What's new from electronics vendors at Oshkosh is quite a big deal.Besides, being proficient with a glass panel such as the Garmin 1000, really IS a challenge..........of a different type! :7 L.Adamson