OnCourse Software

So normal morning flight from Washington National (KDCA) to Memphis (KMEM) - live traffic, live weather. PF3 running (but TGS turned off), A PIlots LIfe 2 running, Self Loading Cargo running and FS Realistic Pro.

Departure was normal...and enroute started fine so once I was stable I loaded up AIG Traffic Controller becuase I wanted some of that sweat FedEx traffic in/around Memphis. Then I hopped on the exercise bike and did a class...finished working out right before top of decent and checked in with ATC to make sure that I hadn't received an enroute descent that I missed...I didn't. Passed TOD with no decent and realized that I hadn't heard ANY ATC interactions in a long time...not traffic...no nothing. ATC still confirmed that I was on freq...still could get ACARS ATIS...but I never got a decent. Switched over to the designated approach frequency (looking up the freq from PF3 Display) ... no response. Got closer doing following the SID...switched over to tower ... no response and no live traffic either.

I've attached the logs ... can you tell what exploded in my computer? Would have been around 0645-0700 on the log clock that something happened I think.

And by the way - do you have a decoder program for the log files...they're just gibberish in plain text.

Cheers, mike

Hi Mike,

I 'think' what happened here was the end of your SID was OTTO so PF3 assumed the previous waypoints were part of the SID, yet you bypassed them. In this case you could have removed REVGE, BEBLE, RGIII, CUKLI, DUDD and REBLL. OTTO would then have been your first waypoint and therefore the end of your SID. Alternatively, add the actual waypoints for your SID

I might have to think about handling such things going forward

Messed up SID - you know that reminds me that I was planning for a RW1 departure but got told to use RW13 so I had to update the FMS quickly and you're right - that update didn't make it back into PF3...so PF3 would have seen me skipping a bunch of way points. I'm surprised it wasn't yelling at me but I guess it doesn't do that for a SID.

Quote:

I'm surprised it wasn't yelling at me but I guess it doesn't do that for a SID.

Correct, but I should handle it more gracefully really, so one for the drawing board

I'll be honest to allow for maximum flexibility at some of these busier airports i've starting cutting out the waypoints ahead of the final SID waypoint and after and any runway separation on STARS...the jet FMS will have the correct waypoints but PF3 will just consider me maneuvering on the STAR/SID. That allows for runway changes while still maintaining the PF3-expected waypoints. I'm going through and editing altitudes on STARS anyways so it's really not a big deal...i just need to remember to do it.

It's a good idea to leave out of your PF3 flight plan (or remove on the waypoint page) any waypoints that are runway-specific, so your first waypoint will be one you are certain to cross regardless which runway is used for departure. Same in reverse for approaches. This issue usually comes up when flying in the U.S. and Canada because the SIDs/STARs are used for multiple runways. You will probably include some but not all of the SID/STAR waypoints in your flight plan, removing any that are runway-specific. See section 20.5 in the User Guide for more info.