JoeMNY

That is not what a VOR approach is. A VOR approach gets you to the airport and heads you toward the runway but it is a visual "style" approach. What I mean is that once you turn toward the runway on the inbound leg you must fly it visually. It is not an ILS.

Greetings,VFR flight planning is one of the most confusing things for a new pilot to learn. In my ground school class (I am an FAA Advanced Ground Instructor) it generally takes students about a month of practice to get it right. So, here we go.1. Using your sectionals, plan your route using navaids, or pilotage, or a combination. Just make sure you pick waypoints that are no more than 20-30 nm apart so that if you get lost you can return to your previous waypoint easily. Also, if you are using pilotage, pick things that are "unique" and highly visible from the air. (e.g. airports, major intersections, etc.)2. Once you have drawn your course on the sectional, use a plotter to determine True Course.3. Calculate your TAS for your planned altitude using an E6B, any of the tools available on the internet, this wonderful little calculator, or a rule of thumb.4. Next it is time to calculate your WCA (wind correction angle). Again, use your E6B (there are many web based ones available). Add or subtract (East is Least - subtract/West is Best -add) your WCA to/from your TC to get your True Heading.5. Now look at your sectional and find the Magnetic Variation for the leg and add/subtract that from your TH to get your Magnetic Heading now add/subtract your Compass Deviation to get your Compass Heading.6. Next, calculate your fill in your distance for the leg and calculate your Ground Speed. 7. From that you can estimate your Estimated Time Enroute and your Estimated Time of Arrival.8. With your times in place. You can estimate your fuel needs. Don't forget to add 2-3 gallons for start up, taxi, and take off. This is just a quick primer. There are many other nuances but I hope I made it simple enough to understand. By the way, there are many navigation logs available on the net. Just search.

Plan G. A great freeware (yes, I did say freeware) planner. The newest version will be out shortly. But yes, it does include all waypoints in FS9/FSX as it builds it's database from the scenery installed. Try it out at http://www.tasoftware.co.uk/. Registration required but again, totally free.

KMCO for me. The approach end of RWY 17L is 1.3 miles West. And KORL is approximately 10 miles NW.

I agree with WhiteKnight. The VA I belong to (shameless commercial, Virtual Pilots Association, www.virtualpilots.org) requires you to post your image using an offsite (photobucket, etc.) website. That way you don't have to worry about storage space.Joe

A while back I worked with a retired senior controller from NY TRACON. He in fact named many of the intersections in and around NYC. They were named for members of his and other controllers families and things like APPLE, GRITY, EMPYR, etc.

Sounds like you've been taking lessons from PMDG. :( Thanks for all your hard work

There are some ICAO codes missing from the database. I can't remember the ones I have run across. They are added very simply by opening the appropriate file found in your PMDG directory within FS and adding the airport/aerodrome following the syntax. There are other posts on the PMDG forum concerning this. Search there.

There are no free sources of the data necessary to operate the PMDG products FMC. They all use Navigraph. The credits are not expensive 20 Euros = 200 credits. And once you download one source you may download all the sources including vroute and other products at no additional charge. There are also options for discounts.

Jimmy is correct. What happens most of the time is there is another waypoint listed later in the legs that is either the same as another or behind the waypoint where the disco is. This happens when you enter a SID and an approach with identical waypoints. Just scan through your legs, you will find the problem child.

Can't say it enough. Thanks again Dan for your tireless work!Joe Morrison

Steve,I'm back. Give me two more pieces of information and I'll get to work. What were the winds and fuel load/distribution on the day in question?Thanks,JoeM

OK, I'll wait for your post. I'll be away tomorrow but I'll review it on Monday.JoeM

OK, check your take-off page on the FMC. That will limit the throttles to a maximum based on weight and conditions. See what that says and match it to your readings when you apply full throttle. I'm clutching at straws here but trying to help.If that looks good, give me a list. TOW, Airport, RWY, Weather conditions, ZFW, etc. and I'll try and duplicate it to see if I come up with the same results.BTW are you using the registered version of FSUIPC?JoeM

Steve,Have you tried using the TO/GA button with Auto-Throttle and see what happens?JoeM