Is there a way to know what rwy your landing on before T/O

[n612ua]

Forgive if this has been asked before. Most of my flying has been done in freeware planes with no FMC. I have been using the captain sim 757 and level-D767. However I love the planes they are way to much of a frame hog for me. I am using the pmdg 737 as of last night. When I am setting up the FMC is there a way to know in advance what RWY I would be landing on so I can go ahead and enter it when I am setting up the FMC?

Thanks

[erau2012]

If you have a good idea what the wind conditions are at your destination, you can roughly estimate which runways are in use at your arrival airport. This is more true if you customized the weather options in the weather menu.

[ReggieF5421]

When pilots get the weather brief before their flight - they get an idea which runway they will be landing upon.

We have to look at various weather sources from FS to the real world and make up our own briefs.

However, one critical skill which real pilots must develop before they get incontrol of an aircraft like a B737 is the ability to reset the FMS in a few seconds for a new runway, new STAR, new approach.

Few FS pilots work on developing that flexibility.

[HoratioWondersocks]

If your destination airport has ATIS you can dial in its frequency into your comm1 or 2 and approx 150 -200 miles(cant be be sure about that distance) you will receive information about the weather and of course which runways are in use. Unfortunately not every airport in FS has ATIS ,and even if it does I find that the frequency given cannot always be entered into my comm radio (ie ATIS might be 124.97 and in the particular aircraft I am flying at the time the radio will only accept 124.96. These are just examples so those frequencies are jut made up, but hey you know what I mean.)
If you use AKSky you can use it to find out the wind direction at your destination airport ,and therefore make a good guess at which runway you should use (although of course wind direction might change during the course of say a three hour flight)
AKSky also has a thingy called SKYWATCH radio and if you can be bothered to set it up each flt (its no big deal to do really) at any point in your flight if you dial 122 into your comm radio you will get an up to date weather check for your destination airport.(it won't actually tell you which runways are in use ,but from SKYWATCH reports you should choose the right runway most of the time.),you have got to allow for FS doing weird and wonderful (which we all love )things from time to time though.
Andy

[HoratioWondersocks]

When pilots get the weather brief before their flight - they get an idea which runway they will be landing upon.

We have to look at various weather sources from FS to the real world and make up our own briefs.

However, one critical skill which real pilots must develop before they get incontrol of an aircraft like a B737 is the ability to reset the FMS in a few seconds for a new runway, new STAR, new approach.

Few FS pilots work on developing that flexibility.

That's interesting, because I find that's what I have to do with FSNav flight plans. On obtaining atis from my destination airport I find the runway I have selected is not always the one I have chosen for my plan,so I have to remove that particular runway and include the new one as per ATIS info , I then I have to re-create and re-load my plan whilst airborne and nearing my destination.
Andy

[davidjones]

There's no guaranteed way of knowing. So, what you do is check the weather at your destination using any one of the real world sources (assuming you're using real weather of course) and guess a runway - then when you put it into the FMC you'll usually get a DISCO between the last route waypoint and the transition. If you don't close the DISCO, the FMC will go ahead and compute your descent and speeds, and when you get close enough to your destination you can get ATIS and select another runway/approach if necessary and it will simply replace what you've got under the DISCO... easy and fast - close the DISCO and you're good to go.

DJ

[ReggieF5421]

I then I have to re-create and re-load my plan whilst airborne and nearing my destination.

That is one of the problems even with the most "realistic" FMS and other flight planning systems for Flight Simulator. They are designed for a start to finish complete flight plan, not of the changes enroute which happen thousands of times a day in the real world.

A big part is the interface issue. A real aircraft FMS or GPS has many options and buttons, where in FS we are stuck with a mouse-click system which makes reprogramming difficult. And the systems are designed for a 'full flight' mode.

A real world pilot has no problem hitting the Direct To button on the FMS/GPS. They practice being able to dump the flight plan and input a new approach, a new runway, a new 'Direct To' waypoint. I've watched a pilot in a Bombardier erase the FP, enter a new STAR and new approach for a new runway at an alternate airport. Took about 25-30 seconds. Though I can do some of that with the default GPS, it takes about 2 to 3 minutes (though I cannot enter the new STAR or alternate airport without using the Flight Planner). I can enter a new approach for a new runway in the default GPS, and keep the ATC happy.

An other issue is the general lack of knowledge of the airways and destination airspace which FS makes it easy to fly without. If I planned to approach a new GA airport with my real world instructor like I do a FS airport - he would throw me out of the plane. I have to learn the chart, the area, ALL available approaches, to know the area into which I am flying. The winds around Dallas make it very easy to know which runway I will be using when flying to any airport in this area, but if I cannot brief my instructor on the alternate approaches, including those for other runways, I'm in trouble. I also have to know the Class B airspace boundaries and restrictions - but that is a unique local aspect of flying.

It is so easy to get to a strange destination in FS without that preparation.

[sandokan]

Within FS9 it's possible to receive the ATIS at about 60miles from the destination airport.Unless you fly very short leg ATIS is useless.I installed in my plane the"FS9_in-flight_metar_ tool.zip by Andreas Trawny and I'm able to receive at any moment on my kneeboard the metars even before TO.Very easy to install and very easy to use.Only submit on the kneeboard the ICAO code of the airport you want know the weather conditions of.
Sandokan

[Brushstrokes]

If you WANT a certain runway, then change the wind direction in the weather option before you start your flight. More then likely, you will get that runway

[louross]

I was with the airlines and nobody I knew ever thought about the runway at the destination until we got there- at least close that is. I do the same now in FS.

[hamham500]

Runways get heading by what degrees the plane is at.
So if it is 270' it would be runway 27.

You could tune in to ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) by pressing down the ' key on your keyboard and click tune in to ATIS and this should tell you the active runway.

However if you want to flight plan your approach and if you zoom in or click at the end of the runway on map it should tell you the runway that way.

[scott967]

There's no guaranteed way of knowing. So, what you do is check the weather at your destination using any one of the real world sources (assuming you're using real weather of course) and guess a runway - then when you put it into the FMC you'll usually get a DISCO between the last route waypoint and the transition. If you don't close the DISCO, the FMC will go ahead and compute your descent and speeds, and when you get close enough to your destination you can get ATIS and select another runway/approach if necessary and it will simply replace what you've got under the DISCO... easy and fast - close the DISCO and you're good to go.

I have a friend who is an MD-10/11 captain, and that is his company SOP.

scott s.
.