Comments and Questions

[russ69 0]

When it works the imersion factor goes way up. Oh, I've had my problems learning it but for the most part I like it. I wonder if I will ever be able to use it without the prompt. I'll keep trying. I have to admit I'm getting better at it but there always seems to be something new to catch me. I flew an IFR flight from KRHV Reid-Hillview to KMRY Monterey using Q99 South County and SNS Salinas as waypoints. My clearance was to 3500 feet. - not an IFR altitude. Next came a turn to 265 degrees and then to 150 degrees which headed me right for the mountains south west of SanJose. Having flown this area I knew I could go through the notch in these mountains because I've done it many times while instructing even though I knew a real IFR flight would be vectored over these mountains at 7000.I've read where the program is not aware of terrain. Still, I thought it would be fun to fly through the notch so I continued. I would have made it but at the last moment the controller said turn left to 120 degrees. That turned me away from the notch and right into the highest point on the mountain at 4081 feet. I turned to go around the mountain and of course had to listen to the conroller multiply times trying to turn me back to 120 degrees. When safely past the mountain I turned back on the 120 degree course. As soon as I did the controller told me to turn to 125 degrees and that headed me right for a 4049 foot TV antenna which I came much closer to than I ever have in real life. That was fun an of course, not very real, but the next clearnnce was to contact Oakland Center and to fly direct to South County. The problem is of course I had already passed South County.I could find no way to bypass South County or go direct to Salinas or Monterey. Is there one? The prompter gave me no options. Did I put a waypoint too close to my departure?I see why I was given 3500 feet. It turns out this is an old VFR flight plan. The flight, as far as it went, was fun but the questions are serious.Russ

[zfehr 1]

Hi Russ,The waypoint was too close to the departure airport. Another way around this would be to use a SID with altitude instructions. You do not have to fly to South County when you are given that instruction... you can just intercept your flight plan and continue on, the program will advance without having to overfly South County.Hope this helps,Zane

[russ69 0]

Zaane,Thanks for your answer but I don't understand - RHV doesn't have a SID. Are you saying make one up? As I recall it has a STAR but I never heard of anyone using it. I haven't tried SIDs and STARS because at this stage of my learning I want to keep the flight plan simple. Maybe I don't realize their power for this program.I mostly fly GA aircraft and to smaller airports where there are very few if any SIDS and STARS. Putting the first waypoint much further away than 20 nm seems appropriate for jets but not for smaller aircraft. As an instructor I want to see if I can use this program within FS2004 to teach my students good communications plus many other aspects of flying . It's 19 nm from RHV to South County. If that is too close how far away should the first waypoint be?Thanks again,Russ

[zfehr 1]

Hi Russ,The problem you are running into is when departure is trying to simulate the way you will be vectored out of a traffic area it is running you into the mountains close by. You can try a flight plan with a higher altitude to see if this will make it work better. You will only be able to use a SID for IFR flights, true KRHV doesn't have a SID but were you departing rwys 31L/R you would most likely be instructed to use one of San Jose's which would have you turn to 110 degrees after 500' and take you to the MOONY intersection maintaining 5,000' via Oakland R-121 (maybe not, I haven't flown down in that area since the mid 70's). VFR flights departing 13L/R probably wouldn't have this difficulty because you would already be heading in the right direction for your plan but winds need to favor this departure. For VFR flights using rwys 31L/R you could flightplan using the GILRO or HENCE intersection as your first waypoint which would take you further Southeast of South County and the vectoring might work a little better for one of those. I understand that you are wanting this to work for helping train VFR pilotage, it is frustrating when you don't want to teach bad habits ;). Meanwhile I will recommend to Tegwyn that distances for departure (as well as approach) vectors be shortened for slower moving GA aircraft... possibly a setting in the options window. I am going to go try that flight myself and see if I get any other brainstorms :). Don't need much of an excuse to go flyin.Enjoy,Zane

[zfehr 1]

Hi again Russ,I made the flight today but I think since I was told to use runway 18L the resulting vectors didn't get me in as much trouble. I am thinking a couple of things. The routing you made initially takes you South then turns Southwest. The program is either looking at the arrival airport and trying to head towards it... or it is possibly responding to the request for a VFR departure to the Southwest. I am going to try a refly of it tomorrow with a request for a South departure and see if that makes any difference. I will let you know.Zane

[zfehr 1]

Hi Russ,Let me correct that a little more because a South departure is what the prompter brings up. Ask for a Southeast departure and you should get much better results departing either runway, make sure you bring up the options menu after contacting approach so that you can request the landing runway and type of approach you want... if you don't like the vectors as you approach Monterey ask for a frequency change to tower frequency and request landing instructions and just fly a regular VFR traffic pattern (the prompter might not follow along, but you will be able to continue a dialogue). This is a particularly difficult VFR flight for VoxATC because of the surrounding terrain. An IFR flight using one of San Jose's SIDs and a full IFR approach into Monterey would probably give a more realistic simulation.Have fun flyin,Zane

[russ69 0]

Zane,Some interesting information:I made another flight yesterday - to Chico. I've always used SUNOL as my first intersection as is often done in real flying but taking into consideeration yoour information I thought that it might be too close so I changed to ALTAM. Ah, does the computer voice have a unique way of saying that one - and me trouble understanding it !My flight plan was RHV to ALTAM to SAC to GRIDD to CIC.Everything went fine till I approached GRIDD. As I approached the Chico area I tried to descend from 8000. The controller gave me 6000. Next at what seemed to be too close to GRIDD to be assigned the GPS31 approach wanted I asked again for a lower altitude and was given 5700. Note: for some reason I could not get ATIS & I wanted to request GPS31R for landing. The prompter never gave me a chance to choose an approach. Not having ATIS and not able to request an approach I said what the heck lets continue and see what happens. When maybe 5 miles passed GRIDD the controller cleared me for a VOR/DME 13L approach and to contact the tower.The VOR/DME13L IAF is at RBL. The controller gave me a clearance for the approach with no clearance to RBL as I see it and approximately 20 miles to go.RussToday I shall try to go to MRY again using HENCE as my first intersection and 7000 feet as my altitude.

[russ69 0]

Creating flights for VoxATCI hope your page 22 is the same as mine where it says,' always ensure the VoxATC is not enabled before ending or resetting a flight or loading a different one'. The wording in that sentence (not enabled) has me confused. Does that mean the proper shutdown sequence must be: 1. terminate VoxATC. 2. Terminate the flight.How can I be sure VoxATC is not enabled before loading a new fight?Russ

[zfehr 1]

When you have finished a flight in which you have used VoxATC, first disable VoxATC (this will also make exiting MSFS faster if that is what you want to do). Once you have loaded a new saved flight with flight plan you can activate VoxATC and you're ready to go again. If you are used to using SUNOL as your first waypoint on an IFR flight try placing it as the selected waypoint in a SID and also enter a crossing altitude, that way you fly directly to SUNOL (as you are used to doing) and the program will then continue with your flight as filed. For your descent try bringing up the option menu after your initial contact with approach, this should display the runway and approach options and you can then select which one you want to fly. An additional option that will allow you to ask for a specific altitude is being looked into.Zane