ATC problems

[Guest]

Hey y'all! I've had this problem before, but never got a response (not even an "I don't know"). I'll take off from one of the NZ airports (once from Christchurch, going to Santiago; the second going from Auckland to Rarotonga) and head east. About 10-15 minutes into the flight, all ATC disappears. By that I mean, the window just flashes out of existence, and no amount of hitting ~ will bring it back. On my Santiago trip, the window came back after 12 hours of flying (about 100 nmfrom the destination airport). On the Rarotonga trip, it never came back (but the flight was only 4 hours long). Has this happened to anyone before, and does anyone know what might cause this? I'm at a loss. Thanks for any insight anyone can provide.Rob D.

[Guest RonB49]

Were you flying IFR or VFR? I'd be happy to try to replicate your flight and see if my ATC dies but I'd need your flight plan if it was an IFR flight. R-

[Guest]

Cool. That'd be great.It was an IFR flightplan generated by MS Flightplan (I'd deleted the "loop" on departure, where MS tries to send you from NZAA to WP and back to AA before heading out to sea). I was flying the POSKY 767-300ER of Air New Zealand, and had real-world weather loaded. I guess I should also mention that I'd gone through contacting all the "centers" until cruise, where I didn't make the final changeover (the "long-flight" IFR trick), and it was about 5 minutes after that that it all went missing. Anything else you need to know, just let me know. Thanks!Rob D.

[Guest RonB49]

"Anything else you need to know, just let me know."Well Rob, since you asked, it would be helpful if you could email me the flight plan (*.pln). It should be located in the FS2002FlightsMyflts folder. My email address is RonB49@aol.com R-

[Guest]

It's on its way...

[Guest RonB49]

Well Rob, now I've flown your IFR flight plan route twice (Auckland NZAA to Rarotonga NCRG in a 767) and I suppose that I've discovered something. On the first flight, I stayed in contact with ATC from Auckland Departure to Auckland Center to Honolulu Center to Rarotonga Tower, and I had ATC contact all the way.The second flight, after acknowledging the handoff from Departure to Auckland Center, I tuned to the new frequency but did not contact Center. After a very short time, the ATC display just disappeared, as you said it did for you, and would never reappear. Even as I approached Rarotonga and landed there was no ATC display despite repeatedly depressing the "~ / ` " key. I often use the trick of not contacting center while flying around the U.S. and I've never had the ATC display disappear.But the fact remains that you, Rob, aren't "losing it," it happened to me too. Thanks for the opportunity to fly the route. I've learned something, I'm just not sure what it is. Does anyone know what I've learned?R-