When to set arrival

A question, because the last month most of the time simbrief and the ingame MSFS don’t use the same departure and arrival setup (atc surely).

In simbrief i get a routing from airport A to airport B with a departure and arrival.
But the last months most of the time i get an other departure and arrival routing then stated in simbrief. The departure is most of the time an easy change but i struggle with the arrival part, especially when it’s given so late and often a complete other routing. The routing itself with navigraph and plates costs me some time, but my real problem most of the time is decending to the right altitude in then not overshooting. Are there some groundrules for this to make it easier?

Rule No.1: do not use ingame ATC…

If Simbrief gives you SID and STAR just fly this because most of the time it is correct. You can check the runway in use on tracking sites like Flightradar24 and change it in Simbrief if there currently is some other runway config, before generating your briefing.

If you want a good (at least better) ATC buy Pilot2ATC or use Vatsim (best & free !!).

In Europe normally you would file the STAR in your flightplan and most of the times the last fix of the STAR is your clearance limit. You can check Navigraph charts for altitudes you have to meet when descending. Otherwise you have the mandatory altitudes from the approach charts for the ILS and can use those to get your TOD calculated.

Easy maths:

  1. groundspeed x 5 = fpm v/s (for a 3° descent)
  2. altitude difference/1000 x 3 = distance you need to get down (TOD)

Approach is given late but the problem is the approach speed. If you are at 220 knots when around 20 miles from airport you have time enough to enter the approach in the GPS or CDU if you have the screen ready to select the given approach. If you are faster then too many things happen in short time and stress is granted.

I play with stock planner and only chose my SID but leave approach in automatic. I also use the stock ATC but supported by charts for the approach. I can manage the approaches by just following these speed rules (unless instructed orherwise by ATC setting lower limits):

  • Above 10.000ft: >300 knots (normally up to mach 0.9)
  • Below 10.000ft: 250 knots
  • 20 miles to land: 220 knots
  • At ILS localizer: 180 knots|
  • At glideslope: 160 knots|
  • 5 miles to land: 140 knots (landing speed depending on each aircraft)

ATC will guide you to the target altitudes from cruise to approach so you don´t need to worry about calculating any altitude. Just be ready to follow the assigned approach and get all prepared in advance for entering the navigation data.

As in charts you have all localizers/VORs data you can just configure navigation very fast once you know the assigned approach. I don´t like to set a defined approach as I see this more realistic and dynamic (wind may change, traffic may change, etc). Anyway if for some reason you prefer another one you can always request it to ATC as well.

Cheers

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Are you saying that while you are flying the STAR from SimBrief, ATC changes the STAR? I suppose you can not accept that STAR. I don’t know how that is done with a 3rd party ATC. Using the MSFS ATC, the process to “reject” an ATC clearance is to cancel IFR (changing to VFR) and then immediately refile the flight plan. ATC always tells me “Cleared as filed.” It is very clumsy but seems to work.

Works for most jets:

(Turbo) prop aircraft don’t need to level-off or reduce rate of descent for deceleration segment, reduce to flight idle at IAS x 10 (e.g. 250 kts = 2500 ft), using this your are stable at 500 ft AAL, for IMC add 500 ft to be stabilized at 1000 ft AAL.

Thats all there is to it, I am using those rules of thumb for years in real life. Especially when flying a new aircraft type its helpful, eventually you know when to start deceleration and effect of wind and weight on the flight path.

A lot of airports have speed schedules more or less like you described:

  • 250 kts below 10.000 ft
  • 220 kts at 20 nm from touchdown
  • 180 kts at base
  • 160 kts from localizer intercept until 4 nm
  • Vapp thereafter

By the way, 300 kts up Mach 0.9?! Guess that is a typo?

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Not a typo. Normally the speed limit is set to match 1 even if if some countries it´s completely unrestricted above FL180. And you could be also flying on a fighter in game. On the other hand you are expected to execute most of the approaches themselves below 10.000ft. That´s why I pasted those rules cause they are quite general and valid in most cases.

Cheers

I was assuming the OP was asking about airliners or turboprops. I thought already, what aircraft has a speed profile of 300 kts up to Mach 0.9 :joy:. In Europe there usually isn’t a speed limit above FL100 as long as it isn’t supersonic.

No this info helps me a lot. But still, i do hope the soon will fix the ingame ATC, because with not always a mic installed (or more with me) things like Vatsim aren’t always an option.

My main problem still is, when imported a simbrief route, changing and finding the right chart for certain approaches. Especially at busy airports. And MSFS ATC does most of the times give a complete other sid or star or ILS approach. Winds and metar are sometimes completely of the real deal.

But i will try your tips and trics this christmas weekend. First, a lot of food to eat!!

Merry Christmas everone

[quote]when imported a simbrief route, changing and finding the right chart for certain approaches. Especially at busy airports. And MSFS ATC does most of the times give a complete other sid or star or ILS approach.
[/quote]
AFAIK SimBrief does not provide approaches in their flight plans. The departure and arrival runways are entered into SimBrief but the approach is given by ATC. It should be possible to request a different approach. I usually have Skyvector open for the arrival airport so if there are any changes, all of the charts are available.

Does MSFS exactly follow the simbrief route? And could you maybe send a screenshot what these routes look like? I mostly know what arrival and approach to expect from real life. Usually I check the weather and flight radar what runway is in use and then select the arrival and approach for that runway in the main menu (the approach I often leave blank, as MSFS creates a huge arc to the intermediate fix for some reason when an approach is selected).

You have an option in simbrief to export the flight plan to Msfs and load it on the screen where you select airports. Use the space bar to load that flight plan and you should be ok.
For the STAR - you need to know the FMC and how to manage the Stars there because ATC can give you a different star than planned

I know this is old, but just in case, anyone is interested. If you make sure to enter your simbrief flight plan into the world map drop downs even after you import it, ATC will give you the correct routing in the game. When you import the file, it gets the waypoints, but most of the time, it leaves the approach on automatic, which means ATC will give you whatever ■■■■■■ approach they would like. Usually, a VOR, in my experience. Double-check all the drop-downs if you want a smooth flight.

This is very helpful. I was searching for info on planned versus assigned approaches during IFR and this is pretty much what happened in flight today.

I planned a low IFR route but set the approach as Automatic. During transition, I was assigned a completely different fix which was incompatible with my aircraft. I got confused and cancelled IFR and just landed VFR at the nearest airport.

I’ll try again with the same plan but this time selecting the desired approach in the in-game planner and see what happens!