Chicago O'Hare KORD SID's STARS's and ATC questions

User Support Hub ATC, Traffic & NAVAIDs
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I’ve noticed a few issues whilst flying to and from KORD going back years even to MSFS2020.

Whenever I take off, there never seems to be a suitable SID so I manually have to manoeuvre the aircraft to the next waypoint or select the next waypoint in the FMS. Is this normal for such a massive and busy hub?

I just did an arrival there and the STAR felt like it sent me all around the universe and again, I had to manually select or manoeuvre to a certain waypoint to put me on the path for final. Also, despite the indicators saying I was at the right altitude and decent rate (the green dot), the aircraft never descended in time to catch the ILS glideslope. I was at least 1000-2000ft too high so had to force the nose down and bring her down manually.

I have the option selected that makes me follow the ATC’s choice of runway and approach. I have always assumed this is based off real-world and somewhat up to date information. But on this occaision, it asked me to land at 10L with the wind behind me whilst all the AI traffic was approaching from the opposite end.

Lastly, the temperature was -14°C at KORD so I assumed the runway was going to be icy or snowy (it wasn’t) but in the A350 when setting up the landing preferences on the tablet and BTV, there are options for possible contaminated runways. How are you to tell a short time in advance if the runways will be wet, dry or icy etc?

Thanks in advance.

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The SID and STAR behavior is largely expected for a couple reasons.

There is only one published SID for KORD, and all departures are controlled by ATC vectors. This is as in real life.

STARS all terminate before the ILS approaches and all planes are vectored to approach by ATC. This is also real life.

The common problem here is MSFS ATC doesn’t do vectors at all :person_shrugging:

So super busy international airports like KORD are always a mess, unless you fly VATSIM I suppose.

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Beyond ATC is pretty good at vectors but it’s seems to be hit or miss. Some airports seem to confuse it but most seem pretty good and they seem to be getting better.

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Per your last question, airports issue runway condition reports (RCR) in a standardized format when runway contaminants (snow, ice, slush, rainwater, etc) are present.
I can’t speak to how airlines handle it, but USAF aircraft all have a minimum RCR they can accept. If the reported number is too low, you go elsewhere or wait it out until you have to go to an alternate.
I had an “interesting” discussion with the WCP trying to negotiate a number to get an EC-135 (the very old plane, not the new helo) into Minot AFB in midwinter. It’s not the thing you normally “negotiate”!

Regards