Simviation Forums

TAKEOFF: When ATC says to take a taxiway (e.g. D B L), what does that mean?

TAKEOFF: When asking for takeoff clearance, how do I know which direction I will be going since there is no compass on the GPS?

LANDING: When ATC says to land at a certain runway (e.g. 16), how do I know which one that is if I'm in the air?

PLEASE answer these questions of mine.

First of all, you don't have to ask for people to answer questions of yours. They either will or won't.

Anyway.

TAKEOFF: When ATC says to take a taxiway (e.g. D B L), what does that mean?

Next to the taxiway, there's little signs that have those letters. Check the ground school lessons for a more detailed explanation.

TAKEOFF: When asking for takeoff clearance, how do I know which direction I will be going since there is no compass on the GPS?

There is a compass on the GPS. It would be rather pointless without it

LANDING: When ATC says to land at a certain runway (e.g. 16), how do I know which one that is if I'm in the air?

You need to know that in advance, or go to the VC and zoom in.

Okay, thanks a lot fly_boy

LANDING: When ATC says to land at a certain runway (e.g. 16), how do I know which one that is if I'm in the air?

The runway number is just an abbreviation of the runway heading - runway 16 has a heading of 160 degree's (give or take 5 degree's in either direction). You just need to an add a '0' to the runway number in order to give you a fairly good idea of which direction the runway is facing.

Cheers,

TSC.

flyboy_28 holy cow that was the BEST answer i have EVER heard in my life!  it explaned EXACTLY evrything he needed!.  ::)

Sorry for the scarcasm but it wasent verry discriptive

the letters ATC gives you are basicly the directions to the active runway, D B L (Delta, Bravo, Lima) are the taxiways you bring you plane along,  live atc (online) will sometimes say: "turn around and taxi to Delta turn right to Bravo and and turn left, continue to Lima and turn right." They will say this if you ask for progressive in multiplayer with live ATC, FS doesent have this option but it will paint a line on the taxiway to help you find your way.

there is a compass on your panel and in the gps.  the only options you will have when requesting takeoff is either the right or left runway, ATC chooses the runway based on wind direction, if the wind is blowing from the north they will choose runway 36, ect.

To figure out what runway you are landing on add a 0 to the end of the runway number they have given you and you will have the runway heading  so if you are landing on runway 16 the runway heading is 160  if its 16R or 16L  just land on the runway to the right or left.  However some airports are confusing beaucse they have 3 runays all going in the same direction, (Sky Harbor comes to mind) here they have 24L 24R and 25   you know which one to land on beacuse the L and R are next to eachother then the 25 is on the other side of the airport.  some airports though rare (to me) have 3 and are numbered 24L 24C 24R, simply land on the left runway with 24L, land on the center runway with 24C, and land to the right with 24R.

The numbers change with the airport so just rember to add a 0 to the end of any runway number and you will have the heading :

rw 36 = 360, north
rw 09= 090, east
rw 18= 180, south
rw 27= 270, west

i hope you have understood what i have said and good luck

EDIT: again sorry for the scarcasm flyboy_28
also   2 people posted in the time it took me to write this   i must be a slow typer  ;D

thanks a TON benny, in the last forum i posted you helped me a lot too. you're awesome!!

flyboy_28 holy cow that was the BEST answer i have EVER heard in my life!  it explaned EXACTLY evrything he needed!.  

Sorry for the scarcasm but it wasent verry discriptive

Fantastic. Guess what? I really don't care.

More on what BAW said, there are some instances were there are 4 runways going the same way.  (In this case, KLAX)  I believe they have 6L, 6R, 7L, and 7R.  Now, all the runways are pretty much going the same direction.  For that, pretty much the only thing you can do is look at a map or something to find out where to land.

If you bring up FS9's map and zoom in on an airport, it will tell you which runway is which.  Invaluable, but youj have to zoom in quite a lot.....

Scott Horne

Rimshot really explained it fine for someone who may not know that much about aviation, there are little signs that identify taxiways, there is a compass on the GPS, and you do need to know the runways in advance, so I guess it is an okay answer.

The letters are the name of the taxiways, and as Rimshot flyboy said, they are on the little signs with next to the taxiways and runways.  If you don't know them, you can just ask Ground Control for progressive taxi instructions, and they'll tell you were to go.

You should use the heading indicator, as it is much less susceptible to changes in bank, speed, heading, or magnetic declination than the magnetic compass, but you do need to set the heading indicator with the compass, so you need that anyways.

Also, if there are 3 runways, they can sometimes be runway 27L (left), 27C (center), and 27R (right).

thanks a TON benny, in the last forum i posted you helped me a lot too. you're awesome!!

why do you keep calling me benny?  ;)  if anything shouldent it be bravo atleast?  but glad i could help

More on what BAW said, there are some instances were there are 4 runways going the same way.  (In this case, KLAX)  I believe they have 6L, 6R, 7L, and 7R.  Now, all the runways are pretty much going the same direction.  For that, pretty much the only thing you can do is look at a map or something to find out where to land.

oh yea  forgot about those dang 4 runway airports    also i THINK in that situation the runway with the lower number is to the left, so when looking twards the runway on approach (looking left to right) it should go 6L 6R [airport] 7L 7R, this is based on casual observation so i am not quite positive

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why do you keep calling me benny?

The only problem I have with the taxiway letters is that ATC doesn't tell me which way to turn. They just say N- taxi D-L-B to RWY 28R, but they never tell you which way to turn onto any of the taxiways. This can be solved very simply however, all you need to do is add a few AI planes.

At a guess it's because at the bottom of your  posts you have quoted Benny Hill and it looks like it could be your name

forgot about that... humm

The only problem I have with the taxiway letters is that ATC doesn't tell me which way to turn. They just say N- taxi D-L-B to RWY 28R, but they never tell you which way to turn onto any of the taxiways. This can be solved very simply however, all you need to do is add a few AI planes.

for that its a simple FS solution   after they give you the directions, you respond, then there should be an option to request progressive taxi, select that and it will guide you to the runway,  if you fly at the same airport you will learn the way and no longer need progressive taxi.