Newcomer - help with STARs

[sempr]

Hello all,

 

First post on this great forum - thought I'd join after reading countless threads (old and new) and receiving a ton of help to set up and enjoy my flight simulation. Looking forward to returning some of that help and joining the community.

 

I have recently taken the plunge and started (well, trying to) flying airliners. I purchased Aerosoft's A319 and had a blast practicing the tutorial flight. I however, am stumped when I try to fly my own routes.

 

I am trying, for instance, to fly the LFBH (La Rochelle) to EGKK flight. Using a route that was generated online (using Online Flight Planner - Simbrief produced a similar route).

 

LFBH SID LUSON A25 TIRAV UN863 AVANT STAR EGKK

 

So, it all seems fine. However, in every tutorial flight I've done up until now, the route ended at the same waypoint the STAR begins. Here, and with another flight I'm trying to do from LFBH to EGSS, the last waypoint before the STAR on that route is already two or three waypoints into the STARS as they appear in the airport charts.

 

So I was just wondering - is the route wrong? Is there a simple procedure to join a STAR at a waypoint other than the one in begins at in charts? I tried just programming it all into the FMC but it does not seem to work (I get a flight plan discontinuity as the route "goes back" to the first waypoint before returning through all the STAR's waypoints).

 

Sorry if this seems obvious, but I've tried searching for the answer to no avail. I'm not quite sure what I should be searching for in the first place.

 

I hope all of this makes sense,

 

Sempr

[dspaulding]

Sounds like the route is joining the STAR on a transition past the first transition fix. Best thing to do is input the correct transition for the STAR and just delete the previous fixes so it doesn't take you back to the first fix on the transition. That way you know everything beyond the adjoining fix is correct. Clear as mud?

 

Edit: the problem is the FMC doesn't have a transition built for that STAR to properly sequence itself for when the enroute portion joins the arrival portion. It happens sometimes in RW flying.

 

Or that the route generated could be incorrect. Only way to know for sure is to use a flight tracking website that shows the filed route of an actual flight between those two airports.

[sempr]

I see - thanks, that is actually very helpful. I never really thought about just removing the previous fixes to make the route work, sounds like a simple enough solution to make the STAR match the route.

 

So there's nothing fundamentally wrong with joining the STAR past the first transition fix? The only other answer I could find on the matter online seemed to hint that it was something that was "not done" in RW flying.

 

If its fine though, in this case (my flight to EGKK) I could join any of the WILLO 4C, 3D, 3J STARs at the AVANT waypoint, bypassing all of the transition fixes that are part of the STAR prior to that AVANT waypoint?

 

Looking at the flight route on Flightaware, that seems to be exactly what RW planes are doing.

 

Thanks again for the help - the exact reason why I joined the forum in the first place!

 

Sempr

[dspaulding]

Well sometimes if the flight is so short you could not get a transition at all. I'm not familiar with STARs in the UK. In the US, you can't FILE to fly to a fix after a transition fix. You could always get a short cut while enroute, but if the fix is on a transition, then it may not be correct.

 

For example, today I flew into KORD on the FYTTE3 and was filed the ZZIPR transition. After passing ZZIPR we where given "cleared direct FYTTE and FYTTE3 arrival". It was around 7am local so traffic wasn't much of an issue.... Yet.

 

If you want to do this RW style, I recommend getting routes from flight tracking sites and not from sites that just generate the routes. As Forest Gump once said, those routes are like eating a box of chocolates. "You never know what you're gonna get."

[sempr]

I see - sound advice there about the routes, thanks!

 

I'll keep looking around to see if I can find the same information for the UK, looking at the flight path of RW flights from LFBH to EGKK on FlightAware they "seem" to be following the same route as I would be (the route bit says n/a, and there are no live flights until next summer now).

[dspaulding]

Oh bummer. That's all the advice I can give. I hope you get it squared away before summer! [emoji41]