SID's and STARS.

[Si]

Hi,

Apart form when you are learning to gain the IR, is there any time you have had to fly a SID or STAR manually in a jet or heavy turboprop or is it all done on autopilot?

Thanks

[Nick Figaretto]

Depends a bit on what you mean by "on autopilot".

You can always fly a SID and a STAR on autopilot in Heading mode and any pitch mode. On newer airliners the SIDS and STARS are pre-programmed in the Flight Management System, so that you can fly the SID/STAR in FMS-mode, and the aircraft will make the appopriate turns automatically. (And the climbs, descends, approach and landing too. )

In "older" aircraft (like the Fokker 50 that I fly) the FMS is just an AREA NAV, which only uses cross-bearings from VORs and DMEs to calculate the positions. The FMS is almost useless up to 3-10 000 feet (depending on topography and nearby facilities) so you can't use it on a SID.

STARS is a problem too if they contain arcs, as these FMS'es only gives you point to point navigation. The position gets less accurate below 5-2000 feet during descend too (again depending on topography and nearby facilities) So - you need to use HDG mode.

Personally I always fly the SID manually, and I mostly fly the STAR manually too, depending on workload, weather etc.

If the weather is fairly nice, I remove my flight directors too. I do this to keep up my flying skills, and because it is more fun!

Nick.

[Si]

Nick,

Thanks for the reply, what I mean't by autopilot, was that the whole lot was disconnected and the autothrottle as well.

So the SID and STAR are both flown totally manually.

Thanks again.

[Nick Figaretto]

Then the anwer is: You never have to fly SIDS and STARS manually.

-If the autopilot is working.

Nick.

[StressFree]

I fly a 737NG from STN and frequently fly the whole SID, STAR and approach manually, ie. no A/P or A/T.
It stops me becoming bored and lazy and keeps up your manual flying skills.