SID & STAR: KJFK → KBOS

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📍 Route: KJFK → KBOS — SID/STAR practice⏱ ~6 minutes📊 5 steps🎓 Line Flying

JFK 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.

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Step-by-step: SID & STAR: KJFK → KBOS

  1. On the RTE page, enter ORIGIN KJFK. Type KJFK and press 1L.
  2. 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).

  3. 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.

  4. Open DEP/ARR. Pick a KJFK SID from the left column.

    KJFK SIDs available depend on the assigned runway. DEEZZ and SKORR are common northbound departures from RWY 31; the picker shows whatever NASR data provides.

  5. Pick a KBOS STAR from the right column.

    KBOS STARs from the south-west include JFUND, OOSHN, ROBUC, WOONS. They feed into the ILS approach corridors at BOS. 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.

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