Black and white circles on VATSIM chart (what do they mean?)

[vtremsin10]

Hello,

 

When looking through some charts for Vienna Intl. Airport on their VACC website, I noticed little black and white circles on the chart. 

 

Attached are two pictures, first the whole chart, and then the zoom in to those circles.

 

Could someone please tell me what those circles mean?

Edited November 23, 2015 by vtremsin10

[Jakob Ludwig]

Could imagine that this may be obstructions with their corresponding hight.

If so, weird symbol. Isn't there e description on one of the charts?!

[vtremsin10]

Could imagine that this may be obstructions with their corresponding hight.

If so, weird symbol. Isn't there e description on one of the charts?!

No description. I think that that stands for the distance from a VOR, because the numbers increase as you get farther from the VOR

[Jakob Ludwig]

No description. I think that that stands for the distance from a VOR, because the numbers increase as you get farther from the VOR

Suggest you write a mail to vacc Austria and just ask there. Maybe it's just a glitch in the chart render.

[mgeiss]

Those are/were noise monitoring points. AFAIK, the numbers aren't distances, they are just numbered in sequence.

I think you don't find those in the current Navigraph/Jeppesen charts.

 

Here is a more detailed explanation for the noise monitoring at Dresden airport:

http://www.dresden-airport.de/company/noise-and-environment/noise-protection/noise-monitoring.html

Edited November 25, 2015 by mgeiss

[eMko]

Hello, for more clarity I put numbers into your picture, see attachment

 

1. VOR

2. RNAV navigation point, must overfly

3. RNAV navigation point, don't have to overfly (you can "cut corner" a little bit)

4. Noise measurment equipment (if you are a little loud, you're in a big trouble)

 

You probably mean the one which I labelled as 4. It's a noise measuring station - see noise abatement procedures for the airport. The're usually in a separate chapter of the airport information, don't know if the Austrian VACC published them. But the AustroControl (the real-world controlling agency) did, they're freely available - see page 2-26 of this document: http://eaip.austrocontrol.at/lo/151113/PART_3/AD_2/PRI/AD_2_LOWW/LO_AD_2_LOWW_en.pdf .

Edited November 26, 2015 by eMko

[vtremsin10]

Hello, for more clarity I put numbers into your picture, see attachment

 

1. VOR

2. RNAV navigation point, must overfly

3. RNAV navigation point, don't have to overfly (you can "cut corner" a little bit)

4. Noise measurment equipment (if you are a little loud, you're in a big trouble)

 

You probably mean the one which I labelled as 4. It's a noise measuring station - see noise abatement procedures for the airport. The're usually in a separate chapter of the airport information, don't know if the Austrian VACC published them. But the AustroControl (the real-world controlling agency) did, they're freely available - see page 2-26 of this document: http://eaip.austrocontrol.at/lo/151113/PART_3/AD_2/PRI/AD_2_LOWW/LO_AD_2_LOWW_en.pdf .

Oh, OK, so that really doesn't matter in VATSIM flying, does it?

And also, is it possible to overfly and cut waypoints using the default X-plane FMC?

[eMko]

You're right, it doesn't matter on VATSIM. I often take my B722 or B732 to extremely noise sensitive airports on IVAO or PilotEdge and nobody has ever risen an eyebrow. Last year I've even met a guy overflying continental Europe in a Concorde  . It's just a computer game anyway - therefore the number one requirement is to have fun   .

 

For the default X-Plane FMC, I believe that the answer is unfortunately 'no'. It's very limited in functionality. The SID/STAR procedures are implemented neither in the X-Plane default GPS (not even the new one which came in the 10.30 version) nor the Carenado G1000. You have to use either some kind of "aftermarket" universal FMC* or buy an aircraft which come with one.

 

Flight Factor made aircraft with very complete FMC, though they are not perfect. My personal favourite is their B757 - panel is a mixture of modern stuff and clock-work style of 1980s and FMC is from pre-GPS era so it can lose precision if you fly a long time without signal from DMEs (but within range it will calibrate its position automatically and AFAIK it's legal to fly real-world RNAV with equipment like this). B777 is more modern aircraft with modern systems, however it's Flight Factor's older model and it's noticeable. Just beware that their latest work, Airbus 350, doesn't support SIDs/STARs.

 

Another very popular option is JAR A320, however the FMC is lacking well behind Flight Factor. But it's perfectly usable and if you prefer Airbus over Boeing, it's a way to go. You can also check JRollon's CRJ-200 (here on X-Aviation.com is sold as Take Command! CRJ-200). An older model which looks rather simplistic compared to above mentioned aircraft, but with hands-down the best manual. It's probably the only aircraft manual which is fun to read  .

 

* Popular universal FMCs are X-FMC (freeware plugin, universal FMC with Boeing-style CDU), iFMS (again Boeing-style, but stand-alone for Android or iOS devices), AirFMC (standalone iOS; many people like it but I don't have any iOS device so I haven't used it) or UFMC (payware plugin, better than X-FMC in many aspects but quite intrusive).

 

Another way of VATSIM flying is to file a flight plan with equipment code /A (or /W if you want to fly above FL290). Then you don't need any FMC and it's more fun [redneck smile] . 

Edited November 26, 2015 by eMko

[vtremsin10]

You're right, it doesn't matter on VATSIM. I often take my B722 or B732 to extremely noise sensitive airports on IVAO or PilotEdge and nobody has ever risen an eyebrow. Last year I've even met a guy overflying continental Europe in a Concorde  . It's just a computer game anyway - therefore the number one requirement is to have fun   .

 

For the default X-Plane FMC, I believe that the answer is unfortunately 'no'. It's very limited in functionality. The SID/STAR procedures are implemented neither in the X-Plane default GPS (not even the new one which came in the 10.30 version) nor the Carenado G1000. You have to use either some kind of "aftermarket" universal FMC* or buy an aircraft which come with one.

 

Flight Factor made aircraft with very complete FMC, though they are not perfect. My personal favourite is their B757 - panel is a mixture of modern stuff and clock-work style of 1980s and FMC is from pre-GPS era so it can lose precision if you fly a long time without signal from DMEs (but within range it will calibrate its position automatically and AFAIK it's legal to fly real-world RNAV with equipment like this). B777 is more modern aircraft with modern systems, however it's Flight Factor's older model and it's noticeable. Just beware that their latest work, Airbus 350, doesn't support SIDs/STARs.

 

Another very popular option is JAR A320, however the FMC is lacking well behind Flight Factor. But it's perfectly usable and if you prefer Airbus over Boeing, it's a way to go. You can also check JRollon's CRJ-200 (here on X-Aviation.com is sold as Take Command! CRJ-200). An older model which looks rather simplistic compared to above mentioned aircraft, but with hands-down the best manual. It's probably the only aircraft manual which is fun to read  .

 

* Popular universal FMCs are X-FMC (freeware plugin, universal FMC with Boeing-style CDU), iFMS (again Boeing-style, but stand-alone for Android or iOS devices), AirFMC (standalone iOS; many people like it but I don't have any iOS device so I haven't used it) or UFMC (payware plugin, better than X-FMC in many aspects but quite intrusive).

 

Another way of VATSIM flying is to file a flight plan with equipment code /A (or /W if you want to fly above FL290). Then you don't need any FMC and it's more fun [redneck smile] . 

Thank you for that long comment!