FS9 Air Traffic Control

[CaptLou 0]

Hello: This may already be discussed somewhere but my search did not turn up anything. In FS9, using the built-in air traffic control, I am sometimes within five minutes of an airport before I can contact it. It is really frustrating, especially if there are a lot of smaller fields around that show up first. Is there a way to determine what runway you will be directed to (VFR) before you get on the glidescope and finally manage to contact the tower? Also, can you change the runway FS9 uses. eg: Thunder Bay, ON - In real life the winds are normally out of the west but FS9 insists we land and take off on rwy 7. I would also like to find a way to have AI traffic landing use a different runway than the traffic taking off. I have aircraft disappearing because the wait is too long.Just thought I'd ask.Lou

[Guest philby]

HelloHave a look at radar contact v4.3 much more realisticthan the default ATC.It is payware but it is excellent.Phil :( :( :(

[sotiris 1]

Hello Lou,[it is really frustrating, especially if there are a lot of smaller fields around that show up first.]The FS looks for the nearest airports in the vicinity and shows them in a list. If you fly with a flightplan ATC will direct you with vectoring to your destination airport. If you fly VFR, you have to check the nearest airports list to find your destination. FS doesn't care about big or small airports, it lists them all.[is there a way to determine what runway you will be directed to (VFR) before you get on the glidescope and finally manage to contact the tower?]This depends on wind elements at that time. You can't choose rwy 12 when there are westerly winds of 8 kts or more.[Also, can you change the runway FS9 uses. eg: Thunder Bay, ON - In real life the winds are normally out of the west but FS9 insists we land and take off on rwy 7.]An easy way to make FS9 ATC use rwy 25 is to use built-in weather customization (change winds to the elements of that day), or, even better, if you 've got a weather setting program like ASA, FSMETEO, etc. You can also use FS9 downloaded weather.If you don't want to use weather at all, you may make it through AFCAD, closing rwy 07 for landing or take-off. [i would also like to find a way to have AI traffic landing use a different runway than the traffic taking off. I have aircraft disappearing because the wait is too long.]AFCAD will surely help you to do that too.Regards,Sotiris.

[Guest FengZ]

Yup, AFCAD is your answer to switching out runways. It's a very easy to use program. Or search the library here; the airport might already exist.I have the same problem w/ my local airport. We always use runway 21 unless the wind is crazy. This is because of noise abatement rules....something FS9 doesn't care about :) So for my virtual flying, i edited the airport and closed runway 3 :) as for the radio, set the freqs ahead of time, and contact them using the radio (manually dial it in) instead of the default list. It's always a good idea to set all your radio freqs before take off/cruise anyways. Then keep updating it as you fly, removing the ones you don't need. For a 4 radio setup, i like to have 1. Center 2. Destination Airport ATIS 3. Destination Tower 4. Alt Airport. Pre-take off, i have ATIS, Ground, Tower, Center.FS9's radio range is far greater than real life too...Oh, and if you have long waits at airports, use AI Smooth...it'll help...-feng

[red1 0]

if flying VFR, you can contact the airport when you are about 30 miles out. That should be plenty of time to set up an approach to any runway.

[chickster25 153]

Just to warn you, they are bringing out version 5 of Radar Contact very soon which is what I am waiting to get. If you go and buy version 4.3 now, it will cost you more to upgrade to version 5 later. Depends on if you want a payware product in the first place and how much money you have :(

[CaptLou 0]

Hello and Thanks to all who answered. I will try your suggestions. I have wondered about Radar Contact and if it was worth purchasing. I am now retired and do not have a company pension so rely on the Gov of Canada to supply my money and have to budget carefully. At the same time I now have more time to play with and learn the ins and outs of FS9. A new computer and FSX are not on the radar at this time. Lou

[vololiberista 205]

before you rush out and buy radar contact have a look also at PFE Pro flight emulator. The spoken language is much less robotic than RC and on screen messages are in english and not code.Both programmes will take a bit of getting used to as the set ups are quite complicated.Vololiberista