Vatsim and old AIRAC's

[Vlad-Adrian Tataru]

Hello, I'm a new pilot just learning the ropes of the simulation world and vatsim. I'm not really comfortable using default MSFS Garmin for navigation but I learned a bit of the Garmin GTN750 trainer. The problem is that trainer is using a year old AIRAC. What problems can I encounter if  miss a SID or STAR or some waypoint I'm being directed to?

[Torben Andersen]

If you're unable to follow a certain SID/STAR you'll need to inform ATC. Don't fly an outdated procedure and don't expect ATC to give you an outdated procedure. It is simply not possible to remember all changes over a period of perhaps a year,  so ATC usually uses the newest ones only. You'll then be given vectors to the first waypoint on your route.

Happy flying

[Vlad-Adrian Tataru]

Yeah I'm not asking them to give me an outdated procedure, maybe just a different one that is not outdated. Also i'm thinking I could just follow a procedure in heading mode with a navigraph chart but from the few flights I had most of the time you won't follow the whole arrival most controller will vector you in to speed up the process. I'm trying to prepare for the time when that won't happen.

[Andreas Fuchs]

It's easier to update your AIRAC every now and then. If you need to be careful with money, try to buy single AIRACs at least 2 times a year.

[Jens Baumeister]

15 hours ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

It's easier to update your AIRAC every now and then. If you need to be careful with money, try to buy single AIRACs at least 2 times a year.

The problem is that the Garmin trainer uses the same data as the actual Garmin unit for airplane use, i.e. real-world navdata. That data is much more expensive than Navigraph (even a single AIRAC will easily cost more than $100).

19 hours ago, Vlad-Adrian Tataru said:

Yeah I'm not asking them to give me an outdated procedure, maybe just a different one that is not outdated. Also i'm thinking I could just follow a procedure in heading mode with a navigraph chart but from the few flights I had most of the time you won't follow the whole arrival most controller will vector you in to speed up the process. I'm trying to prepare for the time when that won't happen.

Did you try the GTN 750 add-on for MSFS? It doesn't replicate the full functionality of the device, but it does model a lot of it, and it works with Navigraph data. (Which costs far less for a whole year than you would pay for a single data cycle of the Garmin Trainer.) The basic version is free, so you can easily give it a spin.

As for controllers giving you a different procedure that's not outdated: That'd be really hard for them, als they cannot know which of the current procedures and waypoints your AIRAC already contains, and they usually won't have time to figure that out together with you on frequency. If you have access to charts form the current AIRAC, you could try and figure out which procedures are still current yourself and specifically request those. Controllers will most likely try to accommodate these requests as long as it is operationally possible. However, if you're flying without a current AIRAC, vectors are always a possibility, because they're the quickest way to get ATC and pilot onto the same page.