Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
About departing procedures at Schiphol

1. What things should I keep in mind when planning a flight?

A few things you have to keep in mind are:

- First of all, always DOWNLOAD CHARTS. We are unable to give you realistic and quality ATC if you don't have any charts. This is absolutely very, very important. I know it's a bit trouble to download and print them, but you'll enjoy your flight more on the end. Download charts here.

- Secondly, plan your flight according to enroute charts. You have to determine your destination first of all and have a look at the chart to determine your route. When flying IFR, always plan according to airways. After that you have to determine a SID (see below).

- Please help us to play the game as realistic as possible, and use a real callsign. At the brand new http://www.schiphol.nl you can find all actual flight data, including scheduled times, aircraft type, aircraft registration and actual gate. You really do us a big pleasure when using this information. I noticed many people are using the same (unrealistic!!) callsign over and over again. What's the fun about this guys? It's a small trouble and big pleasure for us to go to that site or to grab a timetable of the airline you're flying.

2. What is a SID and how should I use it?

SID stands for Standard Instrument Departure. It is the route you fly to get you from the runway on the airway. The usage of SIDs are very important at many major airports, because they also function as noise abatement procedures. You can find all SIDs in the chart package you can download at the site of the Dutch VACC. Have a look at the following table as a help to determine the SID you have to use:

Final Destination	Via airway(s)	Runway 01L	Runway 09	Runway 19L	Runway 24
Frankfurt Rhein/Main (EDDF)	UB1, UL603	PAMPUS	ARNEM	ARNEM	ARNEM
London Heathrow (EGLL)	UR1	REFSO	VALKO/REFSO	VALKO	VALKO
Brussels Zaventem (EBBR) & Paris Ch. de Gaulle (LFPG)	UB31	LEKKO	LEKKO	LEKKO	LEKKO
Copenhagen Kastrup (EKCH) & Hamburg Alster (EDDH)	UR12/UR700	SPIJKERBOOR	ANDIK	ANDIK	SPIJKERBOOR/ ANDIK
Geneva Cointrin (LSGG) & Roma Fiumicino (LIRF)	UB31/UA24 or UN852/UR7	LEKKO/LOPIK	LEKKO/LOPIK	LEKKO/LOPIK	LEKKO/LOPIK
Manchester (EGCC)	UL602/UB5/UB1	BERGI	BERGI	BERGI	BERGI
Zurich Kloten (LSZH)	UB1/UA9	PAMPUS	ARNEM	ARNEM	ARNEM
Keflavik, Iceland  (BIKF)	UL7	TEXEL	TEXEL	TEXEL	TEXEL
New York JFK (KJFK) and other American Destinations	UL602/UB5/UB1/ UR4/UL603	BERGI	BERGI	BERGI	BERGI

If you have any questions on your specific, not listed destination, contact ATC.

In case certain runways not available or another take off is in use (f.i. when certain runways not available or when very strong winds are reported), ATC will assign different SIDs according to the departure runway in use.

3. How do I choose a realistic parking position?

If you are doing a realisic flight, check out the official Schiphol Homepage to check out the actual gate. You may also want to look at the following table to determine a parking position:

Pier	Suitable for a/c types	Airlines usually parked	Gates suitable for Schengen-destinations
B-pier	F70/B737/B757/A320/A319/A321	Lufthansa, Air France, TAP, Sabena, Transavia	all
B-apron	Mainly cargo and commuter traffic (F50/ATR42/ATR72)	KLM Cityhopper, EuroWings, KLM Exel, KLM uk, etc	not applicable
C-pier	F70/B737/A320/B757/A319/A321	KLM Cityhopper, Transavia Airlines, Air Holland, EuroWings	all
D-pier	from F70 up to B767-300	KLM European fleet, British Airways, KLM UK (F100), Transavia, Air Holland, other European carriers	D3-D12/D42-D57
E-pier	from B737 (not common) to B747, usually 767/D10/MD11/B747	KLM (767/MD11/some 747), NorthWest, sometimes KLM European traffic	all
F-pier	DC10/MD11/B747	KLM (MD11/747), NorthWest, JAL, other intercontinental traffic	not applicable
G-pier	B737/A320/B767/MD11/B747 (basicly all types)	Martinair, Singapore Airlines, Cyprus Airways, Braathens, CSA, some other foreign carriers	all

4. What is a so-called slot time, and how shall I use it?

Schiphol is located in the middle of Western-Europe, one of the busiest airspaces of the world. To avoid traffic jams in the air, holding patterns or long qeues along the departure runway, a slot time, officially called CTOT (Calculated Take Off Time) is being assigned for most destinations. The responsible organization for this is the Central Flow Management Unit of Eurocontrol, located in Brussels (Belgium). To explain it as easy as possible, a slot time a place reserved in the air especially for your flight. This time has a margin of - (minus) 5 and + (plus) 10 minutes. The slot time itself is usually determined about 20 minutes from your estimated time offchocks. This is the time you normally find in a timetable or at the Schiphol Homepage.

To give an example, you plan to fly KLM flight 1929 to Geneva in Switzerland. Go ahead and have a look at the flightinformation of the Schiphol Homepage. Searching on KL flights to destination "Geneva" could give you the following result:

You notice that KL1931 departs at 13:50 from gate D57 today and is operated by Boeing 737-300 PH-BDH.
The time 13:50 is the scheduled time off-chocks. The slot time, however, is determined approx. 20 minutes after this time.
This would mean your slot time is 14:10 for today. This may vary from day to day.
In other words: your earliest airborne time is 14:05, but you should not be flying later than 14:20.

In some cases, your flight might be delayed for some kind of reason. In this cases you will have to contact your company (OPS freq) or handling agent to obtain a new slot time. In ProController, the Delivery Controller will inform you about any slot time. If you are not able to make it, inform ATC and he contact CFMU in Brussels to arrange a new (simulated) slot time for you.

5. When and where do I make initial contact?

Shortly before expecting to be ready for startup or when fully ready, you may contact Schiphol Delivery (EHAM_DEL) on freq. 121.970 to obtain your airway clearance. Flight plan details are available 30 minutes prior to your expected time of departure. In this airway clearance you may expect to receive details about the runway in use for your destination, the SID you have to follow and the Sqawk-code you have to set on your Transonder.

Make sure you readback this airway clearance completely. If unable to comply with some instructions, let ATC know as soon as possible. ATC will confirm that your readback was correct and, taking your slot time into account, give you the startup clearance. During outbound peaks, the Delivery controller might be assisted by a Schiphol Startup controller (EHAM_S_DEL), freq. 119.900. He will monitor your slot time and give you a call when you are cleared to start the engines or to start your pushback or push-pull procedure.

Note: if there is not Delivery or Startup controller online, you have to contact Ground, Tower or Approach in the given sequence.

6. What shall I do first, startup my engines or assigning my groundcew to push me back?

This depends on the gate you are parked on. Again, CHARTS is the keyword over here. On most stands, you are cleared to start your engines first and start your pushback when the startup is completed. However, many pilots still start the engines during the pushback. On some stands a so-called push-pull or silent pushback is applicable. A silent pushback means that you have to push first and start your engines after the pushback is completed. A push-pull means that the pushback is followed by a so-called pull-out. You will be pulled into the nearest pushback bay from where you can start your taxi.

7. How do I know the correct taxi route to the assigned runway?

Generally speaking you just have to study your charts. Keep in mind that there are 2 major taxi tracks, consisting of the INNER TRACK and the OUTER TRACK. The Inner track is used for traffic taxiing clockwise, the Outer track for traffic taxiing anti-clockwise. If you have any doubt, do not hesitate to ask ATC for assistance. During the taxi, you may be asked to monitor the other Ground frequency. In this case, switch Roger Wilco to the other Ground frequency. If you are using text only (poor you...), report the other frequency that you are on this channel. If you don't, the other GND controller assumes that you are on voice and will call you when he needs you. Monitoring means that you change freq but do not call them. Just listen out to what is said. Don't call them, they call you.

8. What is my initial cleared FL and the transition altitude?

As mentioned in the SID charts, the intial cleared Flight Level is FL060 for all runways on all SIDs. The transition altitude is 3000ft. It means that you have to set your altimeter on a standaard pressure of 1013 Hecto Pascal over here, in inches 29.91. Unless said otherwise, you can climb to FL060 intially. When clear of any conflicting arriving traffic, you will be cleared to FL090 or higher.

9. Important: why doesn't Tower say anything when I'm airborne?

A standard procedure at Schiphol is to contact Schiphol Departure when passing 2000ft. Schiphol Tower will NOT give a handover. You should remain on the Tower frequency intially and switch to Departure not earlier then passing 2000ft. Do not forget to report your altitude for identification by ATC.

When there are two APP/DEP frequencies available (EHAM_W_APP and EHAM_E_APP), refer to your SID map what frequency you have to log on.
Generally speaking use 121.200 for departures to the West and 119.050 for departures to the East.

10. Departure does not give any headings, am I doing something wrong?

Unless instructed otherwise, you may proceed on the SID you were cleared on in your airway clearance. Schiphol Tower and/or Schiphol Departure may assign different instructions, but never assume you will be given headings. Always proceed on your assigned SID without further instructions.