Section 1: Flight Planning.
Preparation
is an important part of any flight. Without proper preparation,
you can put yourself as well as the ATC-controller into a difficult
situation. Yourself because you probably won't be able to understand
the procedures ATC is referring to, the ATC-controller because
you are unable to comply with the standard procedures.
Procedures
are created to provide a simple and efficient traffic flow and
it's your job as a pilot to be informed about them.
1.2
- VFR or IFR?
Before
you login, you need to have a plan in mind. What kind of flight
do I wish to make? What kind of airplane is suitable for that
flight? What is my departure and arrival airport? And what about
the alternates? Once you have decided about those factors, you
may choose between VFR or IFR procedures. Which one to choose
for, basically depends on factors like the weather conditions,
as well as certification of the aircraft and pilot in command.
At Eurostar Aviation all FASS and Scheduled flights are IFR. Charters
may be of the pilots choice depending on Aircraft used.
IFR
means Instrument Flight Rules. They are based on flying on instruments.
Usually all commercial airline flights are made in IFR conditions.
VFR means Visual Flight Rules. Only suitable when the weather
situation permits and with certain kind of aircraft. Most general-aviation
flights are made in VFR conditions.
1.3
- Obtaining documentation
Most
documentation you need to make an IFR flight are usually in the
form of charts. Airport charts, SID/STAR charts, enroute charts.
Having the correct charts is very important. Without them you
will not be completely informed about the airport procedures,
airport layout, frequencies, etc. So where can you find them?
Check
the Pegasus 'Quick Links' page for links to sites for chart download
and also your ESA Hub page.
Often
you can find additional information about specific Vatsim procedures
at the site of the respective VACC you are flying through. For
their addresses, look under "VACC's" at the Vatsim
website.
1.4
- The airway system
Although
it seems so big when you look up, the airspace is not just a free
place where everyone is allowed to fly anywhere. Depending on
the type of flight and the conditions applicable on it (there
is a world of difference between VFR and IFR flying), regulations
and procedures determine how and where to fly exactly.
IFR
flights, about which we are talking in these paragraphs, take
place along a system of airways, marked by VOR(/DME) or NDB-beacons
as well as intersections (fixes). These altogether are called
waypoints. These airways are published on so-called enroute charts.
The system is basically that you enter an airway on a certain
waypoint, and fly along one or more different airways to your
destination. When approaching your destination, you will be taken
off the airway and depending on the airport and the available
facilities, be radar vectored onto the approach procedure.
Two
different enroute charts are available: low-altitude and high-altitude.
Low-altitude airways are airways up to FL195. They are marked
by numbers like R1, G1, etc. High-altitude airways are from FL195
and above. They are numbered by the same number as low-altitude
airways, with a "U" standing for "Upper" in
front. i.e. UR1, UG10, etc. Both low- and high-altitude charts
are shown at different maps. So there are maps for low-altitude
and maps for high-altitude. Which one to use depends on, of course,
the altitude (FL) you are planning to fly on.
Warning:
most flight planners, for instance FS-Navigator
or sometimes the FS2002 flightplanner (when using VOR- to
VOR-navigation) do NOT plan along airways. Officially, your flightplan
is incorrect that way. Be warned with flightplanners who seem
to plan along airways (like Whazzup). They use airways in their
flightplan, but often they pick up the airway at a wrong point
because they do not take any SID or STAR into account.
The
only way to be really sure you have planned a correct FP, is to
refer to some charts. (see links advice section 1.3)
1.5
- What is a SID and what is a STAR?
So
how do you get on and off the airway? For that problem, they have
invented SID (Standard Instrument Departure) and STAR (Standard
Arrival) procedures. A SID is a certain published procedure to
follow after take off to get you from the runway to the airway.
Every big or small airport usually has different SID's for all
it's runways to several directions. Each SID connects to an airway
and is usually named after their entry point to the airway.
In
many cases, SID's also function as noise abatement routings, so
strict adherence to these routes is absolutely required. Most
of the time SID's are flown automatically by the autopilot. If
you are a FSNavigator user, then the SID /STAR's may be updated
from online sources to keep the database up to date. Once the
flight is programmed in FSNavigator it's only a matter of clicking
on the "FP" flightplan button after take off, and the
internal FMC will fly the whole route for you. Apart of being
more convenient, you have more time that way to concentrate on
the other a/c functions and ATC. (note: Not all aircraft used
in FS2k2 will interface with FSNav correctly for this function
and as such this should be tested before flight off-line)
STAR's
are routes to get you from the airway to a waypoint called the
IAF (Initial Approach Fix). At the IAF's, the approach procedure
will start. This is usually done with radar vectors and in some
cases by a standard published procedure as it can be found on
the charts. Although you should include your intended STAR in
your flightplan, if under ATC they will normally provide radar
vectors from the IAF to the active arrival runway and its ILS.
Now
we are aware of how to plan our IFR flight, this may be done for
us to a certain extent using flightplanning s/w. Suggested s/w
would be FSNavigator link available from the downloads
/ utilities page. However you should be aware of the routes
not being generated 100% accurately and as such they should be
checked against the charts as advised earlier.
If
you have used FSNavigator to import or generate your flightplan,
you can export this in several formats from within FSNav via the
PLAN/EXPORT function...this includes the Squawkbox format for
submitting as your IFR flightplan from SB to ATC.
