SOACHA VOR

[Frank Otero]

I was trying to fly out of Bogota to Quito, Ecuador the other day and was told that no departures were authorized without a SID. OK. I pulled up the site and luckily for me the fixes for this SID were defined by VOR/DME. Unfortunately, the SOACHA (SOA) VOR is not in my FSX scenery, and threfore could not be received (only 10 nm from the airport) or pulled up in the GPS.

 

So my questions are:

 

1) Where can I get this VOR?

 

2) Why the controller could not offer vectors, or track a radial inbound, or direct to the first fix of my IFR plan, which was only 50 miles away (GIRARDOT VOR), and then as filed on the airway?

 

I would like to thank Fabio (forgot his last name), who was observing, and through chat helped me and informed me that SOA was a new VOR and needed downloading.

[Jose Nicolas Larenas 89785]

Hey Frank, I understan your problem, please contact me via PM.

[Frank Otero]

On FSX flight planner, I dragged the course line close to where SOACHA VOR should be, this made a new waypoint which prompts you for lat/lon. I then put in the lat/lon for SOACHA ( and the next waypoint since my "new" SOA VOR will of course not behave as a VOR and there is no way to track out bound using radials). The results are that my little default GPS and the flight planner show me the correct bearing and distances between the fixes as indicated on the chart.

 

Also using this method, I have plugged waypoints for RNAV procedures at other ariports - like in Vienna - and I can now use GPS to fly that SID or STAR. THe only problem is if the controller gives you a different procedure as what you have in your FSX flight planner.

 

So i guess in a way it was good SOA VOR was not in my scenery because it made me look around for a solution - not perfect, but it will do for now.

[Marco A Martinez 940080]

If you buy Colombia virtual Xtreme edition, it will fix all that plus give you nice scenery.

[Jonas Eberle]

vasFMC would also enable you to fly full procedures, also RNAV-based.

 

I guess the problem in mountaineous airports as Quito is: The MRVA is just too high to vector you after departure. So you need to fly a procedure to clear ground safely.

[Frank Otero]

Jonas,

 

Funny you mentioned Quito, I just departed there with 1.5nm vis and 1500ft OVC and indeed you better keep your nav in order. I have recently added the vasFMC (3 flights) and have really enjoyed it. I would love to add all the cool stuff, but running FSX on a VAIO with a PIV and 1gb of ram keeps me humble. I have been testing the Ifly 747 and it looks promising - easy on the FPS, just want to learn its FMC and other tricks before I venture out in the "RW"