Originally Posted by
wsoeldner
Are you flying online or are you flying with the FS ATC?
I can't tell you about FSX, but with FS9 ATC you can ask for a different landing runway. As for flying specific departures (SIDs) and arrivals (STARs), you out of luck. FS9 just isn't smart enough. There are several add-ons you can buy to enhance that though.
As for online, a lot of it depends on time of day, traffic, who's working the various controllers spots and where you're flying to. I know flying out of Denver, you'll almost always get a standard departure (SID), especially departing to the west. Arriving at Denver it's almost always a STAR.
Online you can always ask for a specific departure or arrival too. As for runway selection, FS9 always gives you the main runway closest to the wind direction. Online, you usually be told what runway to expect for take-off by the ground or tower when you get your clearance. You can always request a runway too. On landing, your arrival will pretty much give you a clue to the runway, you can listen to what runway others ahead of you are landing on, and again, you can ask approach what runway to expect.
In real-life... it's a crap-shoot. Unless you fly that route often, or are local, well.. that's what CRM (Cockpit Resource Management) is for.:p
Cheers,
Warren