ATC Shortcut: Going Direct

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📍 Route: EGLL approach — direct routing⏱ ~4 minutes📊 5 steps🎓 Enroute Operations

"Direct OCK" on descent: stage the waypoint on LEGS, recover from a mis-hear, then EXEC it.

What this scenario covers

A direct-to on the 737 is done on the LEGS page: put the waypoint in the scratchpad, line-select it to the top of the list, and the FMC stages a leg from present position to that fix, deleting everything in between. Nothing happens until EXEC.

The scenario includes getting it wrong first, because the realistic risk is not the manoeuvre — it is having staged the wrong fix and needing to erase before committing.

How it applies in flight ops

Directs are the most frequent clearance change in the air, and they routinely arrive when the crew is doing something else. The staged modification is the 737's defence: there is a moment between typing and flying in which the other pilot can look.

What disappears matters as much as where you are going. Everything between present position and the new fix goes, including any crossing restriction sitting on those waypoints — which then has to be reinstated if ATC still expects it.

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Step-by-step: ATC Shortcut: Going Direct

  1. You're inbound EGLL. ATC: "Speedbird 123, route direct OCK." Open the LEGS page — that's where you stage direct-to on a 737.

    The 737 does have a direct-to page of its own — the DIR INTC key, which §11.10.3 describes as showing the page “to modify route to fly directly from present position to any waypoint or to intercept any course to any waypoint”. This trainer has it too, on the bezel: it opens LEGS with DIRECT TO boxes at 6L. This scenario teaches the other real way, and the one crews use constantly: on LEGS, type the ident and line-select it to 1L, which stages it above the active leg, then EXEC to commit.

  2. Type OCK into the scratchpad and press 1L to stage the waypoint.

    OCK is Ockham VOR (115.30 MHz), a high-traffic London TMA fix often used for direct routings into Heathrow. Staging puts it on the top line — nothing has been sent to the autopilot yet. The title flips to MOD, the EXEC prompt appears, and on the real flight deck the execute light on the EXEC key illuminates white.

  3. Re-listen to the tape — ATC actually said "direct BIG", not OCK. Press ERASE (6L) to discard OCK before EXEC.

    Standard recovery when you mis-key or mis-hear a clearance. ERASE only affects the staged direct on the top line — the live flight plan is untouched. Always read the clearance back to ATC before pressing EXEC — once executed, you're committed.

  4. Now stage the correct waypoint. Type BIG and press 1L.

    BIG (Biggin) sits south-east of London and feeds several STARs into RWY 27L/27R. Once staged, the title reads MOD and the commit prompt appears — on the aeroplane this is the moment the execute light comes on.

  5. Read the clearance back to ATC, confirm with the PM, then press the EXEC key to commit the direct.

    Pressing EXEC commits the change: the FMC draws a magenta line from your present position direct to BIG, drops any intervening waypoints, and the autopilot turns toward it on LNAV. The trainer simulates the keystrokes accurately but doesn't redraw the flight plan afterwards — on the real aircraft you'd see the new track on the ND.

What to take away

  • Direct-to is a LEGS operation: line-select the fix to the top.
  • It is staged — ERASE is available right up until EXEC.
  • Deleted waypoints take their constraints with them.
  • Read back, look at the modification, then execute.

The rest of Enroute Operations

Background reading

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