OnCourse Software

Hi all,
I have the Majestic Dash 8, and i have to confess that the FMC is giving me a Royal headache. Every single tutorial i have viewed on You Tube has them flying without ATC, good reason for that is you can do what the FMC is programmed to do however, here is the problem. In the real world you do as the controller tells you, not what your FMC says. It seems that PFE gives the expected runway very late in the flight, you can try to predict the landing runway, but you have about a 50% chance of getting it right. Tonight i flew from East Midlands, looked at the wind direction at Dublin, and programmed a Star approach into rnway 10, but ATC gave me 28, and than i confess to being hopelessly lost as i am not being vectored and can't seem to work out how to enter another star, or find my way to 28 from where i am...any advise or suggestions? I know you can request 10, but this can cause all sorts of problems like meeting AI aircraft landing on the opposite side of the runway.

I use Active Sky for my weather engine. If you load your flight plan into AS and select the option to "Force destination weather zone" you can be sure that the wind at the destination will not change en-route, and you are almost 100% guaranteed to get your expected runway.

Alternatively, you could simply request vectors from PF3 if you cannot program your FMC to follow the approach you have been given.

I think requesting vectors does not work after reaching the last waypoint, so by the time ATC tells you the runway, it is too late to switch to vectoring, and I think switching from vectoring to "final at pilot's discretion" does not work either.
So your best bet would be to tune to your destination's ATIS early enough that you could enter another STAR.
Or don't enable the STAR option in PF3, but use hotkey 1 (Request Cleared To Final At Pilot's Discretion) if the runway announced in ATIS matches the one you have entered into the FMS.

Edit:
Look at http://majesticsoftware.com/forums/disc ... -in-flight:

Quote:

If you press FPL>MENU>CLEARANCE you'll get an overlook of what SID/STAR you currently have selected. If you want to change the STAR for example, proceed again via FPL>MENU>DEPART/ARRIVE, where you can then change your SID/STAR.

Are you saying that after listening to the ATIS for your destination you cannot re-programme your FMC?

jimble wrote:

It seems that PFE gives the expected runway very late in the flight, you can try to predict the landing runway, but you have about a 50% chance of getting it right.

Depending on your route, you can also try making your last PF3 waypoint a bit farther out (within reason), which will cause PF3 to assign the arrival runway sooner and give you a bit more time to get set up. There is still a chance however that there may be a runway change if PF3 makes the initial runway assignment based on wind and then later detects AI at your destination doing something different.

Thanks for the replies guys, some useful information here.
Pssclute I like that idea of locking down the wind direction. I use REX, but it doesn't have that feature, i have had my eye on AS, but i do like using REX.

ThamasAH That might be the crack right there. If i get the runway i have programmed, then use hot key 1 and fly the STAR If it's not the runway, then continue receiving vectors.

Vololiberista The answer to your question is yes(he admits blushing). I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but wouldn't have considered this beyond my capability. If i am on the tarmac at departure airport, i can enter all this info without a problem, and it is displayed like poetry. I have tried waiting until assigned a runway, and then enter this info it just displays a straight line to the destination airport. I have tried activating the approach phase, but i can't seem to sus the logic behind it. At some point, it will display, but it's too late to follow the STAR, as i am hopelessly off course. I have watched tutorials, scoured the Manual (not very comprehensive) but it has me beat. If anyone has this aircraft and has worked it all out, please let me know.

Dan77 Yes, will give that a try. The sooner the better.