Hello all.,I have a question regarding direct gps flight planning.Basically, i load my flight plan in RC3 which i have saved from FS2004 (eg Madrid direct gps to Heathrow). I have no en-route waypoints or vor's etc. Not long after departure atc tells me to "resume own navigation". If i continue on my current heading then i am told i am of course during descent somewhere over the english channel. When told to "RONavigation", after departure, should i instead turn toward the purple line which i can see on the Heading Indicator?(I am flying level-D767 by the way). I have read previous posts on related problems, and gone through the manual, but i am still confused.Also, there seems to be an inherent problem with "FS longitude arc-line"... therefore should i plan a flight with at least one vor waypoint en-route? If so no problem. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as i love RC and been a user for around two years but have never got to the bottom of this.If it is simply that i am not following real-world procedures i would also be grateful for any comments on that, or perhaps should i use FSBuild/Nav?Many thanks for any advice hereDan :-walksmile

>When told to "RONavigation", after departure, should i instead>turn toward the purple line which i can see on the Heading>Indicator?(I am flying level-D767 by the way). Nope, that only ticks the controller off. :) It expects you to head directly from where you are straight to the next waypoint, and trying to get back on the planned course just takes you further away from where it wants you to be. Haven't flown the LDS767 enough to know if you can select direct to a waypoint in the FMS, but that would do it I think. "Direct to" IFR routing is probably not realistic for commercial airliners, anyway. A good flight planner like FSBuild will generate flight plans using airways between navaids, including DPs and STARs where available. Makes for a more interesting flight and gives the FMS more to do, too. :)Mark Kuebeler

Thankyou Mark.,I thought direct gps was a bit simplistic!. I will use FSBuild and finally get into waypoints SIDS and Stars, Jet Airways etc.. Just wanted to be sure.CheersDan :-)

you should really put some checkpoints in there. and be sure to have a final checkpoint somewhere close to your arrival airport.jd

Thanks jd., thats exactly what i did tonight. I loaded flight plan in fs9 using High Altitude Airways to LHR just deleting a few of the en-route vor's and waypoints. RC and LevelD worked together like a charm. Much better than flying direct gps which i have been doing for quite some months :-)All the bestDan

If your flight plan application shows the long-range high-altitude VOR portions of jet routes, ideally they are included in the flight plan. There are long distances between them.If you look at arrival STARS for the US available at:http://naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/online/d_tppyou will note that they include NAVAIDS or waypoints fairly close to destination.At some point you will leave the jet route to merge with the STAR. At some point along the STAR RC will start vectoring you to do a proper integration for the established landing routes in force.I am not familiar with the LD but I see frequently STARS in the download libs at AVSIM that can be added to the LD FMC database. Include the proper STAR waypoints in your flight plan (many flight planners have a feature for this having STARS in their data base).In many cases, the STAR you choose depends on the aircraft performance and the arrival direction, not necessarily the active runway in use at arrival time. Works for me :) .

Thanks for the website address Ronzie, much appreciated.Yesterday i loaded KLAX to EGLL in FS9 flight planner. En-route were VOR's, NDB's and waypoints, and i then deleted a few of these to avoid vectoring over Alaska. I believe that you are saying i can then include SDP's and STAR's in my flight plan as well. If so can i use FS9 to create these flight plans or should i use another flight planner such as FSBuild or FSNAV to implement this?CheersDan

Oops.., Mark has already answered my question. Looks like i'll be getting a flight planner tommorrow!. I am sure you can enter the flight plan into the LD FMC by the way. Will let you know how i make out.Thanks everyoneDan