Simviation Forums

how do i find out the course of my flight? My dad is a pilot and he said its in the computers on the 737 but i don't think there are computers on fs2002

The FS2002 equivalent of a Flight Management Computer is the flight planner.  From the Create a Flight menu select Flight Planner and plug in the details - start, destination, altitude, VOR or GPS, etc.  and FS will compute a flight plan.

When you start your flight you can see it as a green line in the GPS.  To fly the plan turn your NAV/GPS switch to GPS and enable NAV HOLD in the autopilot.

If you can afford paying 20-30 euros I would suggest considering FSNavigator. It provides a whole world's map with a movable plane spoting your current position and a full FMC functionality. It will give a new dimension to your flights
If you don't want to spend any money, you can do a search in the web for freeware FMC programs. They are not that good but...

What exactly is the difference between "course" and "heading?" If I leave from Reno, NV and want to fly east to Front Royal, VA, what is my course; what is my heading? The runway at Reno is 16; at Front Royal, it is 9. Thanks.

Heading is the direction you're going right now.

Course is the direction you want to end up going, or a radial to a target.

Assume the runway at Fort Royal is 36 (360) because it makes a better example.   If I take off from Reno I head 90 (East) to Virginia, but I must eventually change course to 360 to line up with the runway.

So my heading will be 90 (due East) for 2697 miles, then I turn to 360 (due North?) for the 3 miles of approach to the runway in a small airplane, like a Cessna 182?

In a grossly oversimplified way, yes.

In practicality the only way you could (computer) plan a flight like that is a direct GPS to GPS.  If you just want to take off and head east you are flying what is called VFR (Visual Flight Rules).  If you can fly VFR for 3000 miles and hit an airport your are the luckiest SOB I've ever seen.  More likely and more realistically you would plan a VOR to VOR, where you are connected to your destination by a series of VOR waypoints, each about 150 miles apart and the final one being near your destination airport.

You will fly a series of different headings because the VOR waypoints aren't a straight line but each one will be close to 90 degrees.  

In a C182 you will run out of fuel long before you reach your destination but assuming a 360 degree runway, yes, you will need to change your course to 360 (so the APP HOLD can lock on to the ILS) before you get there - 20 miles out should be fine.

I am talkin' theory, here...