Hi all, hope this is the right place to post this - if not, my apologies! I couldn’t find a tutorial here about this and I honestly haven’t been able to figure out yet how to follow these instructions so…
Can somebody explain how to navigate around an airport before taking off (from parking to the runway) and when landing (from runway to parking) without the use of the nav guide?
The only time I was able to stop at an actual parking spot is after taxing around the whole airport until I finally saw these little guys standing there in the dark (not even lighted up so they can actually see stuff?) and I assumed that’s where I had to park. Every time I get a long explanation on where to taxi via runway this/that and a bunch of numbers, I’m confused. I tried reading what the little yellow signs say at some airports but it’s kind of hard to read from the plane (for me, at least).
Since the in sim taxiways and parking spots are numbered differently than the real world, you really only have one option if you want to navigate yourself;
Get LittleNavmap, and synchronize it with the MSFS database. You’ll now have all the in-sim taxiway names and stand numbers.
If you request taxi from ground, they will tell you which taxiways to follow. You should see marshals at the location you’re directed to.
If you’re flying into smaller airports, just taxi to the platform, and look for the marshals.
You can always park at any of the parking spots without the marshals, should still count for the logbook etc.
After landing, leave the runway to the closest taxiway and hold there. Ask for the solo for taxi to the gate and they will give you the sequence of numbers an letters that you said. When received, check around for some boards on the lateral of taxiways (they are yellow). You will see 3 sequences os letters and numbers. The letter on center (black background and yellou letters) shows the current taxyway. At left and right, with yellow background and black letters and numbers shows the taxiways that derivates from yours (normally it also have some arrows to help the direction. For exemple: | <-N M N2-> |
It means “you are at taxiway M. At your left you have taxiway N, at your right you have taxiway N2”.
When ATC gives you a sequence, just follow it. For exemple: M N2 O P3 it means that you have to go throught taxiway M until N2. Enter N2 and go straight until O. Enter O and go ahead until P3. Enter in P3.
To help, try to search the departure and arrival charts on internet before flight… search for those who has the taxiways letters and gate number. Those maps help a lot
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has decided to just call it an end at a random parking spot!
Thanks for the explanation though @MorolTheDuddles, that really helps!
I could, but it’d be nice to actually know how to do it without it Plus there is an achievement where you have to go complete a 300+ miles flight from parking spot to parking spot without using assistance.
Actually that achievement (My Way) won’t work if you taxi to the parking spot yourself. Unless it has been fixed, the only way to get credit is to turn on the AI copilot after clearing the active and let him/her handle the taxi to parking and shut down.
I did this by planning a flight to a very simple airport (1 runway, only a few stands, and select the destination stand in the flight planner (and remember where it is).
Then just fly to it, park in the correct spot, and presto.
Perhaps the achievement has been fixed, but that strategy didn’t work for many of us. I tried multiple times, even verifying the parking in advance, and it still never worked. There is a long discussion of this problem in the achievement thread.
that’ doesn’t work with MSFS ATC, since the taxiway letters and stand numbers don’t line up with MSFS. That’s why I suggested LitteNavMap, since it’ll import the runway designations from the game database.
Be nice if we had this (from the much maligned X-Plane - real foggy weather and an Airport Navigator plugin depiction of KNPA). Hope someone comes up with a similar one for MSFS, but not much use at the moment as MSFS airports don’t hav
