Since in v5 we will have both instrument and VFR flights, will you be able to detect the type of flight for each AI aircraft and generate the correct type of chatter? That is, will VFR traffic request flight following on (US) approach frequencies, report position on traffic advisory frequencies etc. Would bring a lot of flair to the sim and add to the sense of "being there" that RC really excels at...

Since in v5 we will have both instrument and VFR flights, will you be able to detect the type of flight for each AI aircraft and generate the correct type of chatter? That is, will VFR traffic request flight following on (US) approach frequencies, report position on traffic advisory frequencies etc. Would bring a lot of flair to the sim and add to the sense of "being there" that RC really excels at...

how would i know what flight rules an ai is operating under. maybe enroute, i could tell by the altitude (assuming that they fly at the proper vfr altitudes). i'm pretty sure that "vfr" ai aren't squaking 1200. i'd be interested in your thoughts.jd

If I remember correctly, it should be possible, at least in FSX, to tell the flight type by use of the SDK. If that's too complex, the altitude would indeed be a nice cheat. "Somethingthousand fivehundred". Also, if I remember correctly, VFR AI planes should squawk 1200 when not in controlled airspace, so if you can poll their squawk on the ground (once they're taxiing, to make sure they haven't picked up IFR on the ground) that would be a surefire way for you to detect if they're VFR or IFR. By the way, the SDK allows you to do things like control gear, flaps etc. In general, FSX allows a way better interface with AI than does FS9. It's all explained, if memory serves me right, in the Mission SDK, including example code.

You'll only hear VFR when in controlled airspace and they are on your frequency while you are in controlled airspace. During cruise of VFR AI you, at least in the U.S., VFR fly at an odd or even altitude plus 500 feet. That might be a consideration.Another consideration is that when a typical VFR altitude aircraft and type approaches within 30 miles of a Class B airport above 2500 AGL it would require flight following to penetrate.In high density times outside of controlled airspace flight following may not be offered by a busy ATC except when required.As far as the user aircraft you'll be able to request flight following.I'm sure you can suggest more ideas :)

The altitude rules are international, originally established by ICAO, with only some small national exceptions, so you should be able to use it as a basis for discerning VFR traffic. Once you have a reasonably feature-complete version I'd love to give it a thorough test and comment on the features, especially on European VFR phraseology.

Forgot to add: I take it that, unlike FS by default, RC5 will actually USE the airspace data within FS..so no radar service in a class G domain? Also, I understand that adding position reports for VFR AI at uncontrolled fields might be a wee bit hard, but would it be possible to make inbound IFR traffic say something like "Somewhere traffic, Cessna 005RC, 7 miles out on the ILS runway 18, Somewhere" and then report clear of the runway later. Of course if position reports for VFR are doable, I've got nothing against that :D Sorry for the nitpicking, it's just nice that you interact so closely with the community and we real-world aviation people are, well, real-world aviation people, notorious for picking the nit when sim accuracy is concerned :)IlariPS. You should see all the snow here, although I hear Obamaland's gotten a share of it too...

-------------snip--------------Where's here?IlariPS. You should see all the snow here, although I hear Obamaland's gotten a share of it too...

Finland.

I have TrafficViewBoard installed as a gauge to monitor AI, it either lists an IATA code and flight number or simply "VFR". According to the documentation it gets this info from the flightplan bgl files. And all this without affecting performance noticeably in my experience.So yeah, it should be possible to determine this, either through the flightplan files (see TTools documentation, a flightplan will either say IFR or VFR) or through some other way, SDK, FSUIPC.

I ran the Traffic Explorer from the FS Traffic Toolbox SDK (in FS9) and it does show whether AI aircraft are proceeding IFR or VFR. I don't know if FSUIPC currently offers that feedback so jd will have to look into that and if not ask Pete Dowson to add that since RC uses FSUIPC for its AI information.That simplifies things with more direct reporting.

Thank you Ron...JD, what are the chances regarding position reports for VFR traffic if you get the traffic type reporting to work with Pete's help..can you detect whether they're on downwind/base/final etc. -- since you can query FSUIPC for the runway they're using, can't you?

One caution to consider is too many AI position reports in a pattern can slow RC performance down combining the wav file phrases, etc. While some might be buffered in advance and it is true that only the destination tower, CTAF, or Unicom would be monitored thinning down AI traffic chatter, we don't want RC missing its internal user and AI aircraft position monitoring cycles.

True of course. Besides, position calls aren't *mandatory* in the pattern anyways...this will only increase realism..despite the calls, you'll have to be on the lookout for NORDO (no radio) aircraft..gosh, this will only be second to a woman... regarding UNICOM, you will want to implement its European counterpart as well, the facility name is AFIS for Aerodrome Flight Information Service and the facility callsign is Information... for example, here in Finland we have an AFIS airport called Kajaani, so the callsign is Kajaani Information.. the FS database doesn't differentiate between fully uncontrolled and AFIS airports for non-U.S. fields, but you could allow the user to specify on the controllers page whether AFIS is present or not, the phraseology is the same basically as in USA with a few extremely minute differences, you can ask me for the details if interested...

RC5 has in its database comm frequencies pulled from the installed scenery by makerwys.exe. Available to it are:* CommsType is: 0 = Special entry with airport name, zero frequency 1 = ATIS 2 = MULTICOM 3 = UNICOM 4 = CTAF 5 = GROUND 6 = TOWER 7 = CLEARANCE 8 = APPROACH 9 = DEPARTURE 10 = CENTRE 11 = FSS 12 = AWOS 13 = ASOS 14 = CLEARANCE PRE-TAXI 15 = REMOTE CLEARANCE DELIVERYLook in your FS folder and you will see a file called a5.csv. The above list is pulled from the MakerwysReadMe.txt file in your FS folder. The correct frequencies are the responsibility of the airport designer. I'm not sure how much of this list will be implemented at this point.Here is the list for KANE Anoka County Blaine, a feeder local airport in the KMSP Minneapolis region with a part-time tower (I added the fifth comment column):ICAO TYPE FREQ LABEL COMMENTKANE 0 0 Anoka Co-Blaine ID line for sectionKANE 1 120.62 KANE ATISKANE 3 123.05 ANOKA CO-BLAINE UNICOMKANE 4 126.05 ANOKA CO-BLAINE CTAFKANE 5 121.85 ANOKA CO-BLAINE GROUNDKANE 6 126.05 ANOKA CO-BLAINE TOWERKANE 7 121.3 ANOKA CO-BLAINE CLEARANCEKANE 7 121.85 MINNEAPOLIS CLEARANCE - Perhaps should be type 15 Remote ClearanceKANE 8 126.5 MINNEAPOLIS APPROACHKANE 9 126.5 MINNEAPOLIS DEPARTURE - Designer used same freq for departure and approachKANE 12 120.62 AWOS Designer did not add labelI'm attaching the list as seen by AFCAD.How much of this will be implemented in the first version of RC5 is not known at this time. It may be VFR light :) but some of the VFR procedures are already in it.

Of course, that was just a minor remark. I'm sure whatever you will achieve by v5.0 is already way better than MS ATC.