American Airlines Virtual

I can answer one;
8- Is 700 FMP at touchdown only a bit bumpy or would have I destroyed the gears?

If you did this on a checkride, you would be repeating it. We have a limit of -500 vfpm, over that you damage our aircraft and make the passengers very upset.

WLP

I'm not a real world pilot but I would say to (1) you would adhere to your filed flight level unless you obtain clearance by ATC. If there isn't any (like on Vatsim) then I would refile my flight plan with a different FL and assend or descend to the new level. Again not a real world pilot just what I would do.

As far as (2) goes you would climb to your assigned FL if there is no ATC on and there isn't any restrictions on the departure route. Some Stars have height and speed restrictions just like SID's do so you have to follow those as well. For the Cruise altitude, pretty much anything high enough to clear obstacles and/or the minimums on airways or jetways are acceptable as long as it's correct for direction of travel.

(8) -700 fpm you would probably be snapping the gear off and belly landing the sucker. That's a very hard landing. I'm not going to attempt the other ones I didn't answer. I'm still fairly new with the FMC so I don't know yet. I do know that if you input your departure and arrival airports and your weights into the FMC, it will give you a cruising altitude for efficiency. Doesn't mean you have to use it but it does suggest one.

I'm not a real world pilot either but here's my input...opinion.

1. I don't know about the ATR72 but I have flown a/c that will vibrate if you are in an overspeed condition. If you are not overspeeding and think the vibrations are being caused by turbulence you can request a different altitude if ATC is online. If no ATC is available you can change altitude at your discretion and refile your FP as Todd mentioned above.

2. For choosing altitudes, first you must follow the rule of flying even or odd altitudes based on your direction of flight. In the real world many factors are taken into account (a/c weight, winds, most efficient for a/c, etc.) but the primary one is the expected winds aloft. You want the most favorable winds for the majority of your flight. For us "virtual" pilots it's simply the direction of flight (and if you are flying international some of the Jetways will define an altitude range).

3. Sorry don't have any answers or input for this one.

4. For ILS approaches, if you have ATC they will vector you to the ILS localizer which normally means deviating from the last few waypoints on the STAR. So at that point you would have to switch to HDG to follow ATC's commands (unless you are start "hand flying" at that point). If no ATC is online and you have the appropriate STAR and Transition selected you can switch from LNAV to APR a little before reaching the IAF.

Normally you want to establish on the localizer below the glide slope. When the slide slope becomes active the general rule is you lower your gear when the glide slope indicator is one notch above the center line. Deployment of flaps is always based on speed and is dependent on a/c weight. The FMC will provide appropriate approach and landing speeds. You should plan to cross the threshold at landing speed.

5. Cruse speed for the ATR is difficult for me to answer. I'm sure there is a single answer for real world a/c but for FS I've had ATR's that would do 300+ knots and some that would not com anywhere close to it. It all depends on the virtual a/c modeling and how close to realistic it is. For virtual a/c as long as you are not in an overspeed condition you are fine. I can't answer for real world a/c.

6. I think it is ok for the ATR to fly Jetways as long as it can get high enough to meet Jetway restrictions, however I don't truly know the correct answer to this question.

7. Altitude selection was addressed in #2. If you want to be as real as possible you can go to www.flightaware.com and enter your flight number or the departure/arrival airports and see real airline flights for that trip. It will provide routing, SID's, STAR's, and cruise altitude flown by the real world flight.

8. This was answered by several people already.

3- When performing a VOR approach, when am I supposed to start the "Before Landing Checklist"? Should I be already at 150 knots, flaps 30, and gear down (ATR 72 500) at the IF of the instrument approach procedure? Before of after it? [For the VOR17 procedure at MMAS I switched from low cruise flight profile to approach flight profile between D15.0 and D10.0 (the latter is the IF). Did I do it wrong? How would it have been done in real world?

In most cases I call for the "Before Landing Checklist" when I am ready to configure the aircraft for landing. I typically want to cross the FAF in a configured state so I will call "Gear down, before landing checklist" 1-2 nm prior to the FAF. This typically allows me to cross the FAF is a stabilized state. Basically the landing gear creates a lot of drag and you don't want it down and locked until you need it.

6- Can "Jet Airways" (as named on Jeppesen enroute charts) be flown by my ATR (even if of course it's not a jet) if their MEAs are lower than 21000 feet?

Yes ATR's can fly on Jet Airways. The Enroute airway system in the USA is split into Low (Victor airways) and High (Jet Airways) and this has nothing to do with the engines or type of aircraft. The main difference between "Victor" and "Jet" airways is that ALL Jet Airways are in Class A Airspace and thus an IFR clearance is mandatory. For "Jet" Airways it is also rare to see a published MEA since in most cases MEA's are for terrain clearance. Since ALL Jet airways are at or above FL180 and the highest terrain issue in the US is at 14400 (add the required 2000ft of clearance an MEA would provide and you get 16400) MEA's on Jet Airways are rarely used unless they are for conflicts with other Jet Airways. So you may see a Jet Airway with a MEA of 28000 but that will typically be for coordinating with other overlapping routes.

Hope this helps.