OnCourse Software

Hey there, today I wanted to use the vectoring feature for the first time and things went bad.

I was on my way from BIKF to KJFK with my lovely 757 via the PARCH3 STAR for runway 4L.
After waypoint ROBER PF3 was supposed to vector me to the final which would have been straight ahead and then a 90 degree turn to the FAF.
But PF3 decided to vector me to the north west of JFK, let me fly over Manhattan with a heading of 300, and then it continued to vector me right heading 310.
It did not take me long to realize I am getting further and further away from my arrival (like 30-40NM) so I had to ignore the ATC and vector myself to the FAF. The flight took about 15 minutes longer than calculated due to the big diversion.

I am using the latest approach settings (use pre approach mod is NOT ticked in options2).
Does anyone have any suggestions, please, what could have caused this issue and how I can prevent that in the future? And how does request vectors work? Whenever I request vectors PF3 tells me "unable at this time"


My route: RALO4B RALOV DCT ROTIN DCT 64N030W 64N040W 62N050W DCT SAVRY/N0448F360 DCT QUBIS DCT ENE PARCH3

Screenshot of my actual flight path: https://i.imgur.com/Ieb9tI8.jpeg


Thanks in advance

Please can you provide the debug_monitor.log file for this flight (as mentioned at the top of the forum) so we can see what PF3 was doing.

Thanks,
Martin

pointy56 wrote: *

Sun Oct 23, 2022 9:05 pm

Please can you provide the debug_monitor.log file for this flight (as mentioned at the top of the forum) so we can see what PF3 was doing.

Thanks,
Martin

Here you are, I hope you can find anything helpful, thanks. I am also the guy who has the oceanic issue, haha so I guess any answer mid next week, huh?
Cheers

Because you requested runway 4L PF3 would normally take you over the airport and around, rather than crossing the approach path for 4R. I notice you have you FAF Distance set to 12 miles which obviously means you are going to be vectored a long way out. I would suggest you try setting that to 7 miles for a more compact approach pattern

dmarch wrote: *

Mon Oct 24, 2022 10:22 am

Because you requested runway 4L PF3 would normally take you over the airport and around, rather than crossing the approach path for 4R. I notice you have you FAF Distance set to 12 miles which obviously means you are going to be vectored a long way out. I would suggest you try setting that to 7 miles for a more compact approach pattern

I set my FAF accordingly to the charts which was 12 NM. I did not want to close the other runways via the settings since this was a 6 hours flight and I was not certain if the winds will change or not so I requested runway 4L as planned. Where can I find what altitude I have to be at when setting the FAF to 7NM since most charts only give you 12-13NM. I don't want to end up being too high for the ILS.
Do you have any suggestions for future flights, please? Would it help if I tick the pre 3.2 approach?

Thanks in advance

The recommended FAF altitude should be set to 3,000'. This is the generic minimum FAF altitude that ATC will instruct you to descend to during your final approach. However, this can be overridden for any specific airport and you can set those up according to your charts. The recommended FAF distance is 7 miles and this is the distance in miles from the runway threshold that ATC will attempt to have you lined up for your final approach. You might need to adjust these slightly for your own liking but personally I find they work fine set to their default values.

dmarch wrote: *

Mon Oct 24, 2022 3:25 pm

The recommended FAF altitude should be set to 3,000'. This is the generic minimum FAF altitude that ATC will instruct you to descend to during your final approach. However, this can be overridden for any specific airport and you can set those up according to your charts. The recommended FAF distance is 7 miles and this is the distance in miles from the runway threshold that ATC will attempt to have you lined up for your final approach. You might need to adjust these slightly for your own liking but personally I find they work fine set to their default values.

Does it mean 3000 above ground level or what should I do when I fly to high altitude airports?
Thanks in advance

It's 3000 above ground level and it works well in almost all cases. I almost never change it. Remember though if you are landing at an airport with potential obstructions due to mountains, you may want to fly a published approach procedure (at pilot's discretion) rather than a standard vectored approach.

Dan77 wrote: *

Mon Oct 24, 2022 6:38 pm

It's 3000 above ground level and it works well in almost all cases. I almost never change it. Remember though if you are landing at an airport with potential obstructions due to mountains, you may want to fly a published approach procedure (at pilot's discretion) rather than a standard vectored approach.

Thanks for the information, I hope this will resolve my issues
I really enjoy every flight with PF3 so far. The only issue we still need to solve is the oceanic flight issue from my other post ^^

Greetings Alex