It took forever to make this flight successfully, mainly because of problems getting the route into the FMS.The standard route for KPHX-KLAX is BXK2.BXK.J4.TNP.SEAVU2, which is what I tried to enter. Try as I might, though, I couldn't get the FMC to accept J4 to TNP. I finally looked up some advice in an online forum to see how to do this. It's a lot easier on the 737 and 747.
Even after getting the route part worked out, I still had the impression that the FMC wasn't following the route properly, and it didn't seem to be respecting altitude constraints. It's hard to know how much of this is the real aircraft, how much of it is the simulation, and how much of it is me. I hand-flew quite a bit of the approach without any difficulty, and the landing was smooth, but the systems on this aircraft are frustrating. Maybe I'm just out of practice.
