Hi, With FS2002 ATC I am always cleared upto a single flight level. How do I do a step climb? Thier is no way to ask ATC for a higher flight level. Also does anyone know were I could get SID/STAR plates for the US? Thier was a website but I forget the address. One other thing, when do pilots get issued a STAR? It would be on arrival surly because of the weather conditions determining the runway in use, if so, how do you get ATC to give you a STAR on arrival without building it into flightplan from the beginning in FS2002?CheersRic

>Hi, >With FS2002 ATC I am always cleared upto a single flight >level. How do I do a step climb? Thier is no way to ask ATC >for a higher flight level. Also does anyone know were I Correct, step climb isn't implemented. You need to keep climbing at over 500 (or was that 700) fpm until you reach within 300 ft of your cruise altitude.>could get SID/STAR plates for the US? Thier was a website >but I forget the address. One other thing, when do pilots >get issued a STAR? It would be on arrival surly because of >the weather conditions determining the runway in use, if so, >how do you get ATC to give you a STAR on arrival without >building it into flightplan from the beginning in FS2002? You'd get a STAR from approach control based on your flightplan most likely.Many airports work with radar vectors though, where the vectors more or less match the STARs and the paper ones are used only as backup when contact is lost for example.FS2002 ATC does not provide for SDs (SIDs) or STARs but only for direct radar vectoring which may or may not coincide with a published procedure.

Unfortunately if flying IFR with ATC you can not step climb. I cheat the system by climbing as normal then reducing climb rate to as low as ATC will allow when step climbing is necessary. I think I've managaged to climb at around 300fpm.Hope that helps. Kind of amazing really how microsoft ignored this all important fact!Boone

The way I do step climbs is to get to the first altitude I'll be using to burn off fuel. This will frequently be the filed altitude, but other times I will file for the final altitude after the step climb. Regardless, at some point I will be handed off to the next controller. I acknowledge and tune to the new frequency, but I do not contact that new controller. When you get to a point where you want to contact them again, tune the frequency (FS will update accordingly) and contact them. You won't lose your instrument flightplan.As for sites with SID(DP) and STAR plates, here are a couple:www.edj.net/cgi-bin/echoplate.pl/www.clearanceunlimited.com

I'll add that I do the same thing as Ken and it works very well. All you "lose" is the ATC chatter while out of contact. For me that is not an issue since if I'm step climbing I'm in a heavy, on a long haul, and most often flying over the middle of nowhere.Joe

You won't lose ATC chatter if you go ahead and tune in the next controller's freq but don't report in.http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboa...25b2aaaa7ec.jpg

"You won't lose ATC chatter if you go ahead and tune in the next controller's freq but don't report in."Interesting work-around...What happens though if you exceed the geographical limits of that contoller?Will he hand you over to the next one as if all is normal, even though you never made contact with him?Assuming the answer to the above is affirmative, can you go on progressing through all the Center Controllers like that, w/o ever contacting them, and only make contact with the Approach Controller?Stamatis

<< What happens though if you exceed the geographical limits of that contoller? Will he hand you over to the next one as if all is normal, even though you never made contact with him? >>Yes, you will be "handed off" even though you have made no contact with a contoller. If you watch the ATC box, the "tune-to" frequency changes as you proceed from one controller to another.<< Assuming the answer to the above is affirmative, can you go on progressing through all the Center Controllers like that, w/o ever contacting them, and only make contact with the Approach Controller? >>I have always contacted Center before I expected to start descending because Center usually issues the command to start the descent. I don't know about waiting until the Approach Control handoff, it seems that you would be too high to make a normal approach. (Don't you just hate a planeful of screaming passengers?) R-

"I have always contacted Center before I expected to start descending because Center usually issues the command to start the descent. I don't know about waiting until the Approach Control handoff, it seems that you would be too high to make a normal approach."Sorry, I was not clear: I would have start my descent long before contacting Approach, but without having contacted any en route controller. I wondered if that was possible, and based on your reply I think it might be. I want to contact Approach only when I have made certain that I am clear of mountains and other high terrain, as the MS Approach Controller doesn't seem to care about those... :-)Will try it during my next flight.Stamatis

To put it as simple as possible, after departure, acknowledge hand-off and tune to the next controller but don't report in. Call in atc (whoever it may be) before descend.

Yes, understood, but the whole point is that I want to experiment calling ATC after starting my descent, not before as you suggest.Let's see how it goes.Stamatis

Hi there Ric,One further option is to buy a commercial add-on that includes a MCDU, FMC or whatever you'll call it.Since I got such add-ons, I have never again used MSFS'sIFR flightplanning that IMHO is a bit mongrel.I simply program the MCDU and request departure straightout, and get handed off as I go. It also premits to step-climb according to aircraft capabilities and load.Phoenix A320 Pro and Flight1 737 comes to mind.Enjoy! I do.-Niels Christiansen

Another solution is to use Proflight 2000 and/or Radar Contact in lieu of FS2002 ATC. Even though you sacrifice FS2002's AI, you gain a great deal in more realistic ATC. I use Proflight 2000 for long-range international and Radar Contact for shorter range U.S. domestic.

"...or Radar Contact in lieu of FS2002 ATC. Even though you sacrifice FS2002's AI, you gain a great deal in more realistic ATC."The new version 3.0 of Radar Contact, which is in the last stages of beta testing, is a stand-alone program, not FS adventure-based, so you will not have to sacrifice FS2002 AI :-)Stamatis