If you are issued a SID as a part of your departure clearance, you are expected to follow the instructions on the chart. The example below is for Tucson International Airport, KTUS and its the Tucson Six Departure (TUS6.TUS). You would file this in your flight plan in this order. KTUS-TUS6.TUS then the rest of your flight plan to your destination as well as the STAR (explained below). Also, the .TUS after the TUS6 is called a transition. There can be many on a given arrival. In this instance, there are a five! Depending on the direction you want to go after departure, simple enough, isn't it? Going West they are TUS6.SUNSS, TUS6.PXR, TUS6.GBN. So you would fly to the SUNSS intersection or PXR or GBN VOR, that's your transition. The triangle is called an intersection. You fly to this first. And they are on the default GPS for flight simulator. As well as almost every add on navigation program, like FS Navigator. Anyway, going East, you would have the TUS6.SSO and TUS6.CIE, respectively. The airport is in the center of the image. And all SID descriptions are on the page. I recommend downloading these charts from http://www.airnav.com, and printing them out, so you have them. There are other sites with charts available on the resource page. It makes picking a SID easy. The chart is self explanatory. One note is very important though. Once Departure gives you a different heading or altitude than those shown on the SID, the procedure is over. The SID is only valid if you are following all of the directions on the chart. If anything changes, altitude, heading etc., then the SID is no longer in effect. SID's are an effective way to send aircraft out on their various routes in a planned and organized fashion. After doing one SID, you will be an old hand at it and will find it makes your job easier, and the controllers life easier! I think of SID's as an "on ramp" to the expressway. They get you out of the area and on to the super highway in the sky. Keep in mind SIDs are updated on occassion, so you should always make sure you have the most current version of the departure.

If you are issued a STAR as a part of your arrival clearance, you are expected to follow the instructions on the chart. The example below is for Tucson International Airport, KTUS, and it is just like a SID only in reverse! The example below has three transitions. They are defined as the GBN.DINGO5, PXR.DINGO5 and TFD.DINGO5. Notice the transition VOR is in FRONT this time. Because its what you will intercept first on the arrival. I call these the "off ramps" on the express way. Most STAR's have crossing altitudes, plan your descent accordingly. They will also have speed restrictions. Expect to cross these intersections (the triangles on the map) at the specified speed. Say you have to cross BASER intersection at 11,000 feet and 250 Knots. You would simply cross that intersection at 11 thousand feet, and 250 knots indicated airspeed. You will continue on the arrival until MAAVA where you will get vectors from this intersection, for you final approach course, as with the case with most STAR's. Keep in mind, all aircraft below 10,000 feet should go no faster than 250 Knots indicated airspeed. Also STARs are updated on occassion, so you should always make sure you have the most current version of the arrival.