Due to my work commitments flying is sporadic. I generally start a flight an hour befoe i go to sleep, wake up, save flight and continue after work. The problem is when i wake up i'm half a continent off course I always fly IFR, and during the flight ATC vectors me this way and that way every 15-20 mins hence while i sleep i miss all these course changes and end up god knows where. I then have to create a new IFR route to get back on track.So my qestion is, how can i stay on course while sleeping? can auto pilot acknowledge and follow ATC without me having to wake up every 15 mins to do it manually. I fly the Overland 747 and MD11 (no FMC) .. i have seen on a few different forums people mentioning they wake up and continue flying, do they end up off course and do what i have to do ?It probably is a simple thing but its defeating me.An suggestions, links, tutorials etc would be of great helpCheersJai

The only way I know of is getting a good add-on with an FMC. It's really not that hard once you get the hang of it and it's much more gratifying finishing a flight in something like a PMDG 737 or 747. With the FMC, you can pretty much program it, take off, get to altitude, and then let the plane do it's thing until the FMC gets to the Top of Decent.

The only way I know of is getting a good add-on with an FMC. It's really not that hard once you get the hang of it and it's much more gratifying finishing a flight in something like a PMDG 737 or 747. With the FMC, you can pretty much program it, take off, get to altitude, and then let the plane do it's thing until the FMC gets to the Top of Decent.

Would the Friendly Panels FMC work ? Not really looking to study another Phd at this moment in time :(

Yes all you have to do is change your mode to gps and hit the nav switch. It will follow the line on you GPS.

Yes all you have to do is change your mode to gps and hit the nav switch. It will follow the line on you GPS.

Wow it's that simple :( and does that mean the annoyingly dull ATC man keeps quiet throughout the flight. what about handoff to different frequencies while on route, is that taken care of too ?Thx for that, atleast i can sleep without worrying about being shot down over hostile territories.

No it wont handle frequencies but if your on a long flight frequencies are minimal if your over say an ocean or something. But you still need to handle ascending and desending but the nav switch will keep you on course.

You might consider purchasing an ATC add-on like Radar Contact. Its co-pilot function can control default aircraft via the autopilot, and most panels that use the default autopilot, while at the same time answering ATC calls. It will not control the autopilot for complex add-ons like the PMDG range, but as these have good FMCs you won't need it to do this. It will, however, still handle comms, should you desire. One of its most useful functions for us combined parents/spouses/employees/simmers (not necessarily in that order!) is that you can set it to pause the sim at any distance you choose from the destination. I typically set it to 300NM for a long haul flight.

You might consider purchasing an ATC add-on like Radar Contact. Its co-pilot function can control default aircraft via the autopilot, and most panels that use the default autopilot, while at the same time answering ATC calls. It will not control the autopilot for complex add-ons like the PMDG range, but as these have good FMCs you won't need it to do this. It will, however, still handle comms, should you desire. One of its most useful functions for us combined parents/spouses/employees/simmers (not necessarily in that order!) is that you can set it to pause the sim at any distance you choose from the destination. I typically set it to 300NM for a long haul flight.

PFE is another choice. With PFE you can let the co pilot fly the plane by himself. Including all the comms calls.Vololiberista

Wow it's that simple :( and does that mean the annoyingly dull ATC man keeps quiet throughout the flight. what about handoff to different frequencies while on route, is that taken care of too ?Thx for that, atleast i can sleep without worrying about being shot down over hostile territories.

In the real world, there is no ATC over large ocean areas (e.g. the North Atlantic) because VHF radio doesn't carry over long distances, but for some reason FS likes to hand you over from imaginary controller to imaginary controller on such a flight. In real life you get given instructions regarding route, flight level and times at pre-defined locations (so you don't catch the plane in front up) and then you are on your own out there. All you have is Short Wave communciation with your own airline for emergencies.What you can do to replicate this, when handed off early in the flight, is to not make contact with the next controller and then let the flight continue without any ATC communication under the Autopilot/GPS until you are not far from land at the other side, and then contact the appropriate controller (FS will automatically select the right one) and re-establish communication.Hope this helps,John

Hi to all

In the real world, there is no ATC over large ocean areas (e.g. the North Atlantic) because VHF radio doesn't carry over long distances,

It's true, VHF does not cover Oceanic Areas, but, and for example in the North Atlantic, we have Santa Maria Oceanic FIR and New York Oceanic FIR, between Europe and the U.S. using HF frequencies (2962, 6628, 8825 .... ) Over the Atlantic, the navigation is make based on latitude and longitude points, and by NAT rules, at each point an HF radio contact has to be made to report the following data:Aircraft CallSignPositonPresent/Last Position (Ex: 31N 62W) @ Time (UTC)Flight Level (Ex: FL390)Speed (Ex: Mach 0.82)First Estimated Next Position @ Time (Ex: 31N 61W @ 21:00 UTC)Second Estimated Next Position @ Time (Ex: 30N 60W @ 21:53 UTC)Wind Observed: (Ex: 270