SID & STAR: KJFK → KBOS
PremiumintermediateJFK to Boston: about 185 nautical miles, no airway needed, and therefore a pure SID-and-STAR drill.
What this scenario covers
Enter the route, pick a departure at JFK, pick an arrival at Boston. With no enroute structure to speak of, the flight plan is essentially the two procedures joined together — which makes it the cleanest exercise in DEP/ARR on the 737.
The verification habit is the real content: after each selection, look at LEGS and see what the FMC built, including any discontinuity where the two halves should meet.
How it applies in flight ops
The Northeast corridor is dense enough that direct routings are the exception. Crews fly the procedures, and expect to have the arrival loaded before departure because there is no quiet cruise in which to do it.
Short sectors also mean the descent begins almost as the climb ends. Anything not programmed on the ground competes with the approach briefing, and the briefing is the thing that gets rushed. Loading both procedures at the gate and then scrolling LEGS end to end costs a minute on the ground and buys back several in the air.
Fly this one with Premium
Everything about this scenario is on this page, steps included — reading it costs nothing and always will. What Premium adds is doing it: the CDU validates every entry as you make it, and tells you when an entry was accepted but wrong.
Step-by-step: SID & STAR: KJFK → KBOS
- On the RTE page, enter ORIGIN KJFK. Type KJFK and press 1L.
- Enter DEST KBOS. Type KBOS and press 1R.
JFK→BOS is ~185 nm — a 45-min hop. Real airlines run multiple daily flights (Delta, JetBlue, American shuttle).
- Set COST INDEX 50 on PERF INIT. Type 50 and press 5L.
CI 50 is mid-range for short-haul. Above 40 is typical for shuttle ops where on-time matters; below 30 is unusual on this leg.
- Open DEP/ARR and press <DEP on the KJFK row. Pick a SID from the left column.
The right column of the departures page lists KJFK's runways, and picking one narrows the SIDs to those that serve it — the same runway the RTE page's RUNWAY field holds, because on the real 737 they are one field. DEEZZ and SKORR are common northbound departures from RWY 31; the picker shows whatever the FAA's coded procedure data (CIFP) provides.
- Go back to the index and press ARR> on the KBOS row. Pick a STAR from the left column.
KBOS STARs from the south-west include JFUND, OOSHN, ROBUC, WOONS. They feed into the ILS approach corridors at BOS; the arrivals page lists those approaches and the runways alongside them, and picking an approach picks its runway with it. STAR selection completes the route programming.
What to take away
- On a 185-mile sector the procedures are the flight plan.
- Check LEGS after each selection — especially for discontinuities.
- Load the arrival before departure; the cruise is too short.
- Directs are rare in the corridor; plan to fly what is published.
The rest of Line Flying
KLAX → KJFK Transcon (J146)
PremiumadvancedLos Angeles to New York on the 737: RTE, a LAX departure, J146 across the country, and a JFK arrival.
📍 KLAX → KJFK via J146⏱ ~10 min📊 11 stepsKSEA → KJFK Transcon (J70)
PremiumadvancedThe northern transcon: Seattle to New York via J70, the same skills as J146 on a different corridor.
📍 KSEA → KJFK via J70⏱ ~10 min📊 10 steps
Background reading
- GuideThe Boeing 737 CDU / FMC Explained: Every Page
What is the 737 CDU and FMC? A plain-English guide to every Boeing 737 CDU page plus the EXEC/MOD workflow. Practice free in our CDU trainer.
- GuidePMDG 737 FMC Tutorial: Program Your First Flight Plan Step by Step
Program the PMDG 737 FMC from scratch: IDENT, POS INIT, ROUTE, PERF INIT, takeoff speeds, and VNAV setup. Every CDU page explained with the exact inputs.
- Guide737 FMC Constraints — 250B/, 10000A, and Every LEGS-Page Format That Actually Works
Every 737 CDU constraint format that works: A and B suffixes, speed/altitude pairs, the trailing slash rule, windows, DELETE, and why entries get rejected.