Simviation Forums

How should i navigate in flight high and low altitude airways? I know how to navigate using vor to vor and direct gps method, but not airways. Just tested high airway IFR mode using GPS navigating and hoped that the autopilot catch my point but no!! The first waypoint was departure airfield's VOR, i missed it and GPS showed that the next waypoint was that VOR, even when i was 70nm out from that airport.

In real IFR flight if you are departing (for example. I am most familiar with the Northwest.) Seattle.  The departure might require you to fly back to the VOR before heading on your way.  FS is no different.  If you set up your flight plan and it requires you to cross a particular VOR or navaid, you must do that before continuing on with the flight.

Now since you know how to navigate from VOR to VOR you are way ahead of the game.  High and Low altitude air routes might have intersections.  These do not have a frequency assigned so you must use VORs to navigate from one waypoint to the other.  

Lets say I am flying IFR from Boeing Field to Tacoma Narrows.  My flight might look something like KBFI to SEA to SCENN to KTIW.  SCENN is the initial approach fix (waypoint) for the ILS 17 at Tacoma.  I would have to navigate from the Seattle VOR to SCENN so that I can intercept the ILS.  This is a small scale of navigating to waypoints or intersections using a VOR.  

If you are flying form Seattle to Bowerman (on the Washington Coast) you might have many intersection along the way.  You might be tracking outbound from the Seattle VOR to an intersection and using the Olympia VOR to let you know when you have arrived at the intersection.  Once at an intersection you might be making a turn towards Bowerman using the Hoquiam VOR and track towards that.  Think of the air routes as highways in the sky.  ;D

I hope that is not too confusing.  It might be possible to do some research on the internet for articles and images.

All you need to know is the radial of the air way. A nav map would show these. You can buy the real ones at any general avaition station or from jeppson. Jeppson also has ones for flight simulator 2004. If you turn on the jetways and airways on the gps you will be able to see them then you can figure out the heading needed to fly from one to the other.

Thanks guys for great answers. I just flew a successful flight from Helsinki-Vantaa to Tegel using a high altitude airway and GPS (altough i almost ran out of fuel in the final), it was very simple....with GPS, but i still can't figure out that how to navigate to an intersection using 2 VORs if that intersection is not directly between those VORs. How do i know what radial should i take and when i'm above that intersection? If i had a navigation charts it would make more sense..

Yes, charts would make more sense of it. All intersections are always defined by a vor radial and dme from that vor.  Some intersections use triangulations of 2 vor radials and dme readings from those vors.  It used to be confusing to me until a co-worker was cleaning out his desk and he found an airway manuel of my home region, Pennsylvainia, USA and gave it to me knowning I like flightsimming.  Its a 1998 copy but so far, everything is still accurate up to FS9.  Smaller airports that don't have navaids are also located in the same manner as interesections and fixes. An area vor, a radial from that vor, and a dme reading.  Its fairly simpleonce you get onto it. FMC's also navagate that way to in that you must enter a beginning of an airway and then close it with a vor at the other end.

Of you want to try something really interesting download a vintage jetliner.  There are excellent 727, L1011, DC10, VC10, and A300 panels available.  Go to simulfly.com and download the Civa INS package and install the gauges in yer fav vintage airliner.  You can navigate airway using INS equipment.  If you check the text part of your flightplan files the geo co-ordinates of all your waypoints are always listed.  
the fact of the matter is that no matter how you navigate, the FS flightplanner references every waypoint by geo co-ordinates just like using an INS computer.  Anyway, its interesting to see how airliners wee navigated before glass and FMC's.