I know VOXATC is "grounded" for the moment with server problems and there doesn't seem to be another forum to consult with at the moment, so any help from what few users out there would be great!, the problem is this: ATC is not seeming to give sufficient time to decend to approach altitudes if a straight in approach is indicated. For instance, I have made straight in approaches to 9L KMIA, from the west and had to do a missed approach, I simply could not decend fast enough even at -2000 FPM to get down. I start atFL330 and it didn't start me down until I was about 110 miles out, this has occured repeatedly with other straight-ins. Other programs and FS9 would have started decent at around 130 miles out or more, but the VOXATC controller wants a much closer pattern for some reason. THis has occured at several other airports when a straight in approach is indicated. If you have to do a downwind leg, then there seems to be time, but not by much. Am I doing something wrong? ....I even asked for premature decent, and that helped some, but still, the approach vectors and altitude callouts by ATC is really really tight and difficult. Several commuter flights at 15000 and such were just fine. Hope I explained the problem well enough!!Randy Jura, KPDX

Hi Randy,You are making the right move by asking for a descent a little earlier. You can also start slowing the aircraft earlier on descent, this will improve your angle of descent. Don't get too frustrated... this is the kind of thing that frustrates real pilots all the time. You can always perform a descending hold or 360 degree turn to lose more altitude. The guy sitting behind that radar screen doesn't always know that you're gonna have a rough time getting your aircraft down or slowed down. My father had to once ask a controller around Chicago for a slower speed because they had him going too fast to lower his gear and we were getting pretty close to final... BTW that was in a Navajo.Have fun with the program.Zane

OK, well, maybe when the website is fully up, I'll post my comments. I'd rather the VoxATC controller be a bit more aggressive in getting the plane down than me requesting premature altitude changes, but till then I'll have lots of fun!Randy Jura, KPDX

>I start atFL330 and it didn't start>me down until I was about 110 miles out, this has occured>repeatedly with other straight-ins. This should not happen in real life while flying a jet to big airports with large traffic flows. Such airports usually implement fixed step-down where an aircraft is expected to be at certain altitude by certain fix or a sector boundary. They better fix that.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

Your other option would be to enter a STAR with the "Altitude ATC assigned" checked. The program would then step you down along the STAR at the assigned altitudes. You will need to research the STAR's for the airport you are going in to and include the waypoints in your flightplan so you can use them in the SID & STAR Setup. What you will find is there are going to be STAR's used for East, West, North and South arrivals so pick the one that best fits with your existing flight plan and be sure you look at the crossing altitudes on the printed chart.Hope this helps,Zane

If this is an available option then it may be good enough.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

>I start atFL330 and it didn't start>me down until I was about 110 miles out, this has occured>repeatedly with other straight-ins.Randy,Don't know what airplane you are flying but technically you should have enough room to descend. We are running here (at NASA Ames) a professional ATC-simultion and a 'nominal' descent profile for say a 737 requires about 90 NM (~ 105 sm) range to descend from FL350. Such continuous descents are rare in real world but according to Zane you can program your own step-downs - that should have a desired end effect. By the way, some of those step-downs are result of a STAR and some of an LOA (Letter Of Agreement) or SOP. SOPs and LOAs are not published anywhere (for pilots) but ATC knows about them and will bring you down for compliance. I do have a list of all LOAs and SOPs for ZOB (Cleveland Center) and it is a HUGE document. Also 2000 fpm should not alarm you. In fact a 'nominal' descent rate for a 737 at FL300 is about 2700 fpm.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

If they would like a temporary or even permanent forum here, we'd be happy to oblige. Please pass the word on to them. :)

2700 !! WOW, How do they keep from excessive speed or maybe they don't worry about that. I've never used more than 1800-2000 FPM, but now I don't know why! The STAR Option would be cool though. I think VOXATC should take up Tom's offer of a forum here, this program is going to generate a lot of good chat I think!Randy Jura, KPDX