Simviation Forums

When 'Drag Required' comes up on the FMC what does it mean and how do I prevent it, also how do you find out which runway to land, on arrival so I don't go head on into oncoming traffic?

During the descent, whenever I get drag required, it basically means that well... i need more drag on the aircraft in order to maintain my descent path.  I may be too high on the path descent when that happens.  Simply throw on the speed brake, and slow down to about where your flight director indicates and drag required will go off.  Thats the way I look at it anyways, im not absolutely sure its the right way (i think im at least warm), but it works for me hehe.  

To find out which runway to land, normally ATC arrivals will tell you (ie: "Expect ILS runway 34").  Or if your not flying with ATC for example, you will need to tune into the ATIS frequency, which will tell you winds and normally which runways are in use.  If they don't tell you which runway is in use, look at the winds, and find a runway that gives you a head wind.

Rocket Bird is pretty close...

ATC should assign you a runway for arrivals if you are flying IFR and even VFR in most cases. From there you should pull up the MCDU (Shift+6) and press the button DEP ARR. If you entered your flight plan correctly there should be an arrival option next to the arrival airport. Once you press this button you will have a few different options in terms of SIDS and STARS approachs and different runways. If you are getting vectors from ATC simply match the runway in your MCDU to the one ATC assigns you.