Time for a tutoring from the experts: SIDs and STARs.

Sample SIDs, STARS, and IAPs for anywhere in the USA can be found here.

What I need is an explanation mainly on SIDs and STARs and what everything means, as I am bent on making my simming experience "as real as it gets," and in order to achieve that level of realism, I must follow standard procedures.

So, might anyone be kind enough to give me a lesson (crash course) on SIDs and STARs and interpreting all that valuable information?

A STAR...

Here's one I borrowed (its the example chart on the No1 AIDU website)



This is the MIRSI STAR into Hawarden airfield in the UK (where they build bits of Airbuses...)

I'm sure you'll be happy with the information at the top: elevation, various freqs etc, the H2 in the top right being the chart identifier code.

Moving down onto the main plate, at top centre we have the MSA circle - in this case the highest ground withing 25nm is to the southwest at about 2800ft - hence the MSA of 3800ft.

In the top right, the descent planning. We'll run through a MIR 1A, so as we can see from that we'd expect ATC clearance down to FL200 by 10 miles before the reporting point "MONTY".

So, the MIR 1A STAR. As you can see, that comes in for the bottom of the chart, routing along the A25/UA25 airways via MONTY and REXAM to the overhead of the WAL (Wallesey) VOR on a trk of 008 (trking up the 188 readial out of WAL). The numbers you see above the 008 are the track miles on each leg, in this case 10.5nm from MONTY to REXAM, and 20nm from REXAM to WAL. And that's about it til you get to WAL - you'll probably be given further descents on the way up to WAL.

At WAL you'll see 6 little diamonds either side of the next track. These are an SLP (as referred to in pt 4 at the bottom of the chart) - a Speed Limit Point, at which you have to be below 250kts. You'll also see we have to turn on to trk 065 for 17nm to fly to MIRSI. In this time, reading note 1 we see we have to have slowed down to below 230kts before passing MIRSI and entering the hold.

That effectively is the STAR, as after MIRSI and the hold, you are into the Approach.

Not the best explanation, but with the charts available...

Any questions, feel free to ask, and if you can find a decent SID plate I'll give it a stab...

The SIDs and STARs in the US are a bit different:

Here's an example of the O'hare One departure: http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0711/00166OHARE.PDF

And the Janesville Four Arrival into O'hare: http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0711/00166JANESVILLE.PDF

The charts are relatively similar to the IAP plate, so they shouldn't be too difficult to figure out.  I would explain them more, but in all honesty, I've never used one in my ~50 hrs of instrument flying.  I've never flown into an airport that has been large enough to require either.  Whenever I dealt with Chicago Center or O'hare Approach, they would always just vector me wherever they wanted me, and it seemed like they were doing the same for everybody else.  But I'm not sure exactly, so I should probably find that out.

For the most part, STARs are just a starting point, so that there's "defined" points, speeds and altitudes, for  approaching a major airport. They're also used almost exclusively by faster, turbine-powered aircraft, coming out of higher altitudes. You'd almost never fly a STAR in a small GA plane... you'd just be in the way. Even for the commercial jets, they don't always apply. The "CINCE SIX"  STAR that brings you into Cinncinati, Ohio (KCVG) from the east, starts not too far from the Pennsylvania border. A CRJ going from Columbus to Cincinnati would be taking off, 1/2-way into that arrival..

If the airport is busy, an inbound plane will be asked to report points along a STAR, and be warned if they'll be holding anywhere along the STAR (published holds are the most important part of a STAR)... But normally they'll just get vectored in.

Same with a SID. It's the published path away from the airport, but depending on how you filed (or had your flight plan amended), you'll be taking off and then flying direct to the first waypoint, regardless of the SID.

It's all just like instrument approaches. Unless you're at a remote airport where ATC just clears you for the approach  (where you're then expected to fly it as published, including procedure turns), 99 time out of 100, ATC will vector you to final... especially on an ILS.


Note:  If you're striving for, "as real as it gets".. you've no doubt mastered all types of precision/non-precision approaches; procedure turns, holds and all.. and can find your way cross-country, in 1 mile visibility, no GPS, in smaller slower planes before worrying about flying SIDs/STARs in big jets... 

Another question: where can you find SIDs, STARs, and AIPs for countries besides the US?

http://www.ais.org.uk/aes - for the uk, need to register though, it costs nothing however so dont worry