Selecting STAR problem.

[Maratib Ali]

I have this issue and i don't know how to select STAR,in all of the checkride here at AAV i had STARS selected for arrival and also transitions.but what should i do for secting STAR during my normal online flights and also which transitions to choose.If i go to online sites for downloading charts,there are a lot of them for each airport,and it takes nearly an hour to just plan the flight let alone fly it,I use FScommander i can select sid by choosing each one and then checking the map to see if suits my flight plan.But is there an easy and quicker way to select STAR and transition and downloading only the needed charts? and how should it know which star and transition to use?

[Wayne Pierce]

Selecting the STARs and SIDs at large airports can be tough as, your correct, there are many.

Some Virtual ATC areas on VATSIM have the listed preferred STAR and SID for the large airports.

Using FSComander or any program which will put on the screen the STARs and SIDs is a good way to go, but if the data is not up to date they will be incorrectly numbered.

One easy way to do it is use a site like, Airnav, and of which there are several around, which list the Stars available for each airport. If you know your route look for the transition VOR or intersection as the STARs and SIDs are usually listed with those transition in the title.

I also use flight aware and find real world flights from my virtual airports and they list the routes already, which include all the SIDs and STARs used.

If you use the FAA for the charts they just have big numbers and are not easy too read.

I personally just spend a few minutes to find one that suits me.

Good luck,

[Michael Blakely]

it takes nearly an hour to just plan the flight

Isn't that part of the fun?

[Maratib Ali]

it takes nearly an hour to just plan the flight

Isn't that part of the fun?

It is actually,but here in virtual world if i spend 1 hour planning out of my 5 hour flight,i will only get to log 5 hours,also here we need to unlock planes and get promotions so 1 hour is a lot of time,if spend off the virtual plane.But i am not saying that one shouldn't spend that time planning,i myselft had preferred to be a top ranking pilot quickly so i don't spend that time planning.One thing interesting i wonder is that since all the VA are called virtual arilines and not airlines,why not we call ourselves virtual pilots as well?

[Norberto Rivera]

The flight planning is most of the fun for me. When I started out it was all about flying the airplane, but now it's about my plan coming together as intended. It's not just getting from A to B, it is getting there on schedule, safely and keeping the fuel burn under control.

The easiest way I have found to select departure and arrival procedures is just to look them up on flightaware.com (for US flights) or vroute.info (for flights across the ponds). Since this is not something I do everyday there would be no easy way for me to stay on top of the preferred procedures and routes otherwise. I find that using these tools is a good compromise. My opinion, however, is that if we are trying to emulate any air operation then we should try to practice good airmanship insofar as possible given the constraints of virtual flying. Flight planning is the single, most important phase of completing any flight and significant time should be allocated to it. Just my 2 cents.

[Theodore Martin]

Like Wayne I use Flight Aware for most of my flight planning. Normally you can enter the flight number and it will give you the flight plan used by the RW flight, as well as the altitude, SID, and STAR used. Our AAV timetable gets out of date sometimes and the flight numbers don't match so in those cases you simply have to enter the departing and arrival airports and Flight Aware will provide a list of flights between those two points.

Sometimes you wouldn't get a SID or STAR so I take the flight plan and go through the SID/STAR charts for the appropriate airport to find one that is in the direction of my flight and whose transition matches my first or last (depending on SID or STAR) waypoint. FSCommander helps because it displays the SID's/STAR's on the map for you. I normally use MyAirplane.com for all my charts and you can quickly go through the charts to see their direction and exit/entrance transition points. It's a great free service that covers all NA airports.

[Arturo Carvajal]

I use Navigraph nDAC3 to select the SID and STAR of my flights.
I do that preflight work on line as soon as I know the wind conditions on departure and arrival airpors.
Select the proper SID and STAR requires some analisys and orientation.
Finally some adjustments are needed in FMS to fit route to SID and STARS , flight safe and comply with all ATC requirements.
I enjoy that preflight work!!