I love IFR this is what I do:1. Fire up MSFS 2002 and do flight /fuel/weight planning2. Request IFR clearance3. Do before, start up, and after checklists4. Do the traditional Shift P (Can't request to MSFS ATC)5. Request to taxi/Taxi Check lists6. Request to takeoff- takeoff7. Fly the DIP to the numbers8. I have to CANCEL IFR to follow transition altitudes9. From there I have to imagine everything:10. Altitude changes, Vectoring Weather, etc you name it11. Initial cruise altitude: (?)12. Descending (try to do it by Steps) remember, now I'm flying VFR at FL350!!!!13. Approaching, Fly the Star by the numbers, (for those random holding patterns

Be all over the manual in the mean-time :-lol We're as anxious to get it to you as you are to get it!

>7. Fly the DIP to the numbers No, the DIP is the pilot who can't fly the DP properly. :)>8. I have to CANCEL IFR to follow transition altitudes With RC3 you will have two options for flying DP's:1. You can file the DP waypoints as part of your flightplan. If you do this, you will be expected to hit each waypoint...you'll be busted if you don't. You'll also have to maintain whatever altitude you're instructed to by the controller, even if it varies from the published DP (and it most likely will).2. You can omit the waypoints but activate the "flex DP" function. Once you do this, you will be pretty much free to fly wherever you want within a specific radius from the airport without being busted. Once you're outside that radius (I forget if it's 30 or 40 miles), you'll again be expected to hit all your filed waypoints.>13. Approaching, Fly the Star by the numbersRC will allow you to fly a STAR up until your handoff to approach (40 miles from airport); at that point you will be vectored. According to our pilot friends, this is the way it works in the real world as well...you would not expect to fly a complete STAR. You will again have to maintain whatever altitudes you are given by the controller. However, you can cheat by activating the terrain NOTAMS function, in which case you can again fly anywhere you want without being busted.Sidney Schwartz [KPDX]Horizon Pilot--flight plans and scenery for FS2002http://sidneyschwartz.homestead.com/index.html

When handed to APC you can request IAP and fly the rest of the STAR right down to the runway. No need to check NOTAMS.