Every flight so far at least once, atc will tell me I am way off course. They will tell me that and give me a heading to fly, then tell me to resume own navigation when able. All of this is happening when i am directly on course. My FMC and nav radios show I am perectely on course. Also, some times on t/o they dont vector me to the first point. I'll take off, and ATC will give me only altitude directions. I never gte course vectoring. This usually happens when I t/o without a SID. Any suggestions?BRad

if the controller tells you are off course, you are, in his mind.when this happens, look in the advdisp, what is the next checkpoint? is it in front of you, or behind you. when departure tells you to resume own navigation, that means fly direct to the next checkpoint, not back to the where the gps thinks is the line from your last checkpoint to your next checkpointid departure does not give you headings to fly, then you are on a departure procedure. how far is your first checkpoint from the departure airport?jd

Explaining it another way, if your first checkpoint (in the filed plan) is within 30 nm from the take-off point, it is assumed you are flying your own filed departure procedure and will receive altitude, but not vectors.I not recall tower ATC giving me a turn direction on take-off with a close waypoint so I have to be aware of traffic from a parallel runway if present and avoid crossing the path of another departing aircraft.Version 4 will be more AI aware (as announced) and with FS9 AI now doing parallel operations I hope that will be a consideration.If you are flying especially in dense traffic areas, a TCAS with altitude and altitude trend identified targets in a nice gauge to have in your panel.If you are flying out of an airport where departure radar can not acquire your transponder due to distance and/or terrain features affecting departure radar, your clearance will specify an initial heading with a reporting point and altitude and reporting time window to contact departure or center if your first waypoint is far enough out to eventually get vectors.

I don't know if it's a problem, but I've noticed that when you load up a .PLN file for RC, sometimes it may be different than what's in the FMC, eventhough both were loaded from the same file. I'm flying the Phoenix A-319, and a lot of times it leaves out the first VOR, waypoint, or intersection for some reason. I've been lectured by ATC about it enough that I double check it now before leaving the gate.It's a PSS problem, but confusing when ATC starts talking about some point not on your flight plan. You can usually identify the problem when he tries giving you a heading that's behind you!LVP