Following a STAR while on Flight Following

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Ravioli

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This if for the controller types out there.

I'm an IFR student. Would you notice/care about this scenario. Assume severe clear whether.

I depart 3M0 and pick up flight following to T67 @ 8000'. Rather than Direct-to... I punch in the FSM.Sasie5 arrival and let auto and the 430W do their things.

I understand I'm own-navigation, but would the deviation North of the direct track raise an eyebrow?

In reality they'll either take over and vector me through the Bravo at the end or dump me and tell me to go around it.

Getting practice approaches is easy, but I'm curious about practice arrivals

Thanks.
 
Just request it. They'll more than likely approve it, plus ATC knows what your sneaky ass is up to. ;):D
 
My experience is that as long as you're headed in the proper general direction of the declared destination, ATC will allow the Flight Following pilot to continue without query.

But communicating your intentions never hurts.
 
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8000 instead of 8500 might get questioned. I can't find a Sasie5 arrival. What airport does it go to?
 
There’s no STAR into T67 so you would never get one. Do you have the arrival plate?
 
Sorry.. the STAR is to KAFW (6NM NE)

@AggieMike88 and it also serves KFTW where I do land routinely. Perhaps should have used that one as the example :(
 
Ravioli said:
it also serves KFTW where I do land routinely
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Discovering which SID's and STAR's that serve your home 'drome is some of the fun in flying in the system.
 
AggieMike88 said:
My experience is that as long as you're headed in the proper general direction of the declared destination, ATC will allow the Flight Following pilot to continue without query.

But communicating your intentions is really a good idea.
Click to expand...

FTFY
my favorite line so far has been: I’m gonna head up toward Laramie and hang a left at the state line.

I had a pax ask how I knew where the state line was. I replied that there was a black dashed line just like it was on the map. That got a snarky reply so when we got there I pointed to the power line that ran along the state line and said there’s the black dashed line...
 
We used to tell FAs that the fog on the river, in this case the Chattahoochoe R, was the GA/AL state line so we would know where we were. :cool:
 
Ravioli said:
Sorry.. the STAR is to KAFW (6NM NE)

@AggieMike88 and it also serves KFTW where I do land routinely. Perhaps should have used that one as the example :(
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Ah. I can't speak for ATC around there, I don't know their culture, pet peeves and tribal knowledge. But it pretty much shouldn't raise an eyebrow that you flew over FSM on your way to T67. Or even that you headed towards BYP next. Once they 'detect' that you seem to be following the SASIE5 after that there are some concerns that can come up. You would be right smack dab on the centerline of a route that a stream of airplanes may be descending on. You'd be below them most of the time. Plan on being down to about 4500 by SASIE and they shouldn't start getting all panicky. You could do this without talking to anyone, just stay out of the Bravo. I'd just tell Regional Approach I'd like to follow the SASIE5 for as long as I can before going to T67. Who knows, traffic may be light and you may get to do a practice approach to Alliance before going to Hicks.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Discovering which SID's and STAR's that serve your home 'drome is some of the fun in flying in the system.
Click to expand...

Which was going to be another probably not uncommon question. Is there anyway to determine the SID/STAR for a direction of departure/arrival rather than viewing them all to find the best direction? Other than looking at Fltplan.com to see the common routes? That hasn't always been an option.

Sure, out of the metromess heading South you're likely to get JPOOL9 departure and coming back will likely be DODGE5 arrival. How is it "known" that those are the South departure / North arrival without inspection?
 
Ravioli said:
Which was going to be another probably not uncommon question. Is there anyway to determine the SID/STAR for a direction of departure/arrival rather than viewing them all to find the best direction? Other than looking at Fltplan.com to see the common routes? That hasn't always been an option.

Sure, out of the metromess heading South you're likely to get JPOOL9 departure and coming back will likely be DODGE5 arrival. How is it "known" that those are the South departure / North arrival without inspection?
Click to expand...
ForeFlight has a thing called 'procedure advisor' I think it is, that gives a real good picture of that.
 
Ravioli said:
Which was going to be another probably not uncommon question. Is there anyway to determine the SID/STAR for a direction of departure/arrival rather than viewing them all to find the best direction? Other than looking at Fltplan.com to see the common routes? That hasn't always been an option.

Sure, out of the metromess heading South you're likely to get JPOOL9 departure and coming back will likely be DODGE5 arrival. How is it "known" that those are the South departure / North arrival without inspection?
Click to expand...

luvflyin said:
ForeFlight has a thing called 'procedure advisor' I think it is, that gives a real good picture of that.
Click to expand...

The "Procedure Advisor" in FF is just the thing. Especially the iPad version. That's how I discovered that the FSM.SASIE5 was likely to be issued to us, so I filed using that. And as you heard, how I got the "As Filed" routing.

This video might help explain how it works...

 
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I agree that it is a very good idea to inform ATC of your desired routing, otherwise you might get vectors and directs etc (especially in the big Bravo airspace).
You use the word "practice" in the request. Works for approaches, departures etc. They will understand.
And don't be surprised if you get a lot of "traffic 6 o'clock 10 miles, 500 below you, overtaking" or "1500 above you" since you'll be on an active STAR in a slowpoke airplane.
 
Yes, I do this all the time on the southeast side. We take the DODJE or YEAGR from CQY quite a bit under VFR for training purposes. When we're inbound, I tell them "N1234 is inbound to Executive/Mesquite/Grand Prairie/etc. We'll be following the DODJE5 on the way in." It's never been a problem.

If you need a CFI-I around these parts, give me a buzz.
 
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