OnCourse Software

If you are flying VFR Free-Flight, Departure will terminate services when you leave their area, and it's up to you as to what to do next. You can fly without ATC until you near your destination, at which time you contact destination Approach to announce your landing intentions and get further instru...

I'm not familiar with procedures in the US, but I'm assuming that it would be more realistic if OOSHN (~37nm from KBOS) had been marked as the STAR entry point rather than AJJAY. I think the best way to set that up is mark AJJAY as the STAR entry point (which it is) and use OOSHN as the last waypoi...

Hi Martin,

Glad to know that it will work, but being handed to Approach 100 miles out is not realistic. I think the last waypoint should be closer in any event.

Perhaps someone can review Bill's log and see what happened; he never got a handoff to Approach as far as I can tell.

For example, if flying in the USA where STARS are very long, you are unlikely (I think) to be in contact with Approach at the start of the STAR. Correct. At your STAR entry waypoint, you are cleared by Center to continue via the STAR. You will not be handed to Approach until later. When you reach y...

I’m pretty sure that ABLAK was set as Start of STAR, because I specifically wanted to try a STAR approach. I’ve checked my FP and confirmed it still is set. The start-of-STAR designation is used to start your STAR at a waypoint OTHER than the last waypoint. It is not used at the last waypoint. If y...

I took a fast look at your log and I'm not sure what happened, so we'll need to ask Dave to take a look. You set a waypoint for end of SID but I can't see that a waypoint was designated in PF3 as start of STAR, and apparently you never got a handoff to Approach. One thing I did notice is your last w...

In all my flights where I use only a SID, I mark the End of the SID in the FP, but do not tick the SID Active checkbox, and all works as it should. Hence, I thought my understanding of the new feature was correct. So, on my first attempts at using a STAR, I did not tick the SID Active or STAR Activ...

That said, how do I contact ground or tower after landing? You should contact Approach when you near the destination airport, whether or not you have been getting enroute flight-following services. Once you are in contact with Approach, you will be asked to report when you have the airport in sight...

There are some illustrations in Sections 8.1 through 8.3 in the User Guide, located in your PF3\Help folder.

Just to add to what Dave said above, if necessary you can request a different runway after one is assigned by Approach, but you can usually tweak the flight plan so it can be used regardless which runway is active for departure or arrival. See Section 20.5 in the User Guide for some tips and more in...