Radar Contact 4 altitude problem

[Guest erwin969]

I fly from Cologne to Amsterdam with a Learjet 45. Everything going smoothly. But when I must decent from ATC to 16.000 ft I have some problems, ATC says: watch your altitude, your altitude is 16.000. But I was already on 16.000 ft. ATC repeat it 4 times, than I must switch to Amsterdam Radar. I must decent to 12.000 ft, but also Amsterdam radar repeat 4 times: watch your altitude etc. But I was on 12.000 ft already. What's that? I have this problem for the second time in a row now. But I don't no what it is. Please, someone have an answer for me?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

Hello,Are you sure you weren't told to "descend to Flight Level one six zero" rather than "sixteen thousand feet"?In Europe the Transition Altitude is much lower than in the US and varies from country to country. I suspect you have been using FS ATC where 18000ft is used worldwide.I suggest you read the manusl on Transition Altitudes and Flight levels because it sounds like you were at 16000ft when you should have been at FL160.It's all down to the pressure setting on the altimeter. In short, when ATC clear you to a Flight Level (FL160) you should set the altimeter to standard pressure - 29.92" / 1013Mb.When you're directed to a altitude - 4000ft - you should switch to QNH.Hope that helps.

[Guest erwin969]

No, ATC said to me 16.000 feet, not 160.000 ft. B.t.w. I had no problem any before. I thought is a bug. So saterday I fly from Rotterdam to London Luton with the learjet 45, also the same problems.Maybe it is a scenery issue? I installed 2 new scenery's for airports. Maybe, press first 'Rebuild Scenery db' in Radar Contact 4?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

No, ATC said to me 16.000 feet, not 160.000 ft.That doesn't make sense. There's no difference.Run the scenery rebuild as you have added new scenery. Can you attach a flight plan so I can load it into RC4. I haven't flown v4 for a while and need to refresh my memory.The TA in Holland is 3000ft and at Luton either 5000 or 6000ft so you should never hear "16000ft".

[Guest erwin969]

>No, ATC said to me 16.000 feet, not 160.000 ft.>>That doesn't make sense. There's no difference.>>Run the scenery rebuild as you have added new scenery. Can you>attach a flight plan so I can load it into RC4. I haven't>flown v4 for a while and need to refresh my memory.>>The TA in Holland is 3000ft and at Luton either 5000 or 6000ft>so you should never hear "16000ft".I attach a file for you

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

I need the FS plan please.

[Guest erwin969]

>I need the FS plan please.Here it is.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

I've created a plan for EHRD-EGGW and fed it into RC4. The Controller Info screen is below. Note the TA of 3000 at EHRD and 6000 at EGGW. I'm attaching the plan so you can fly it. Cruise is FL290.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192833.jpg

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

Our messages are crossing. Load your plan (or the one I supplied) into RC4 and open the Controller Info page. It should resemble my screenshot. Pay attention to the TA for both airports. Change your Cruise to FL290.I cannot see how you would not be cleared down to Flight Level 160 rather than 16 thousand feet.Let me know how you get on.

[Guest erwin969]

>I've created a plan for EHRD-EGGW and fed it into RC4. The>Controller Info screen is below. Note the TA of 3000 at EHRD>and 6000 at EGGW. I'm attaching the plan so you can fly it.>Cruise is FL290.>>http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/192833.jpg>Ok, thanks. I'll try it.

[Guest erwin969]

>Our messages are crossing. Load your plan (or the one I>supplied) into RC4 and open the Controller Info page. It>should resemble my screenshot. Pay attention to the TA for>both airports. Change your Cruise to FL290.>>I cannot see how you would not be cleared down to Flight Level>160 rather than 16 thousand feet.>>Let me know how you get on.Strange, I don't use your flightplan. I make a new plan with FS nav. And the flight was going smoothly. I keep attention on my altimeter, press manytimes the B button to have the correct altimeter setting and I have update the scenery db in RC4. Maybe that was the problem also.

[jd 57]

the "B" key doesn't work in non USA areas. there are several items in the manual about non-USA areas, the "B" key, and tranistion alitudes and transition levels.jd

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

Hi,I keep attention on my altimeter, press manytimes the B button to have the correct altimeter setting and I have update the scenery db in RC4. Maybe that was the problem also.The problem is caused by pressing the B button to reset the altimeter. That only works correctly in FAA airspace (USA). When outside that airspace such as Europe you must not use that key to reset the altimeter pressure.Instead, adjust the pressure on the gauge of your aircraft. If that is not possible and you have a registered version of FSUIPC you can assign buttons to Kohllsman Incr and Kohllsman Dec which will allow you to increment and decrement pressure. There is also a Kohllsman reset which will reset pressure to 1013.2 / 29.92.The scenery rebuild is irrelevant for this problem but you should always run it after installing new scenery.And are you now being told to "descend to flight level one six zero"?Cheers,

[Guest erwin969]

No, I'm not being told to decent to level one six zere, from 29000 to 28000 than to 24000, 19000 and then 11000 etc. So strange that I'm now not have any problem with the decending etc.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

Hmmm. Ignoring FL160 are you saying that during descent you never hear "descend to flight level two four zero" but instead hear "descend to twenty four thousand feet"?That still doesn't make sense. What value are you entering in the Cruise box? Is it 290 or are you entering 29000?I appreciate you may have resolved the problem with not being at the correct altitude but you should be cleared down through various flight levels and not altitudes in feet. That should only occur when you're cleared below the Transition Altitude.Cheers,