I have two questions about the standard FSX ATC:1. How can I contact the airport destination well in advance for advice on the assigned runway approach? In my flights, I am advise of the assigned runway when I near the airport, hence, difficult to plan out the route.2. How do I request for a different runway from the one assigned by the ATC for landing. In my flights, I can select a different approach, but ATC always gets me to circle to land the assigned runway.Cheers, Harry

What a lot of people don't realise about FS, is that the ATC and flight planner is a lot more sophisticated than it is generally given credit for. This is because they generally don't read the instructions and just use the flight planner to load up a default flight plan and then fly it without actually bothering to use the GPS properly. The FS GPS will allow you to select specific approaches and vectoring for most major airports, and it has a lot of STARs built into it. It is when people don't use this feature that they will claim FS ATC vectoring is rubbish, which indeed it will be if they don't use the GPS properly. So, here's what you do: Fire up the FS flight planner and pick departure and destination airport, pick (for example) high altitude airways (or whatever it is your want), choose 'IFR' and then click 'find route', so that FS generates an IFR flight plan. Load up the flight plan and fire up FS. When FS fires up, start your engines and avionics, and then before you taxi for the runway, open the GPS and click on this button here 'PROC' (procedures) to choose what you want for your arrival:Activate the GPS cursor and choose the approach you want for your destination airport by clicking the GPS arrow cursors and using the 'ENT' (enter) button to select your choices. Simply pick what runway you want and what kind of approach you want (there will be a lot of choices, such as 'radar vectors', 'NDB' etc, etc). Okay everything when you have chosen the approach you want and then that will become part what FS has in store for you as you fly your route, and you will get the approach and vectoring you have specified from ATC as opposed to the crappy default stuff.You can also force FS to assign specific approaches by choosing wind directions which make a particular runway likely to be the active runway FS picks for you, but doing it via the GPS will guarantee that is where you will be directed, and you can do that before you have even taken off.Al

Thanks Al,I loaded the ILS approach midway to Chiang Mai Intl airport, and ATC assigned the runway for me on approach :( However, I just loaded the approach without activating it because my aircraft started to turn for it despite cruising at FL370.Cheers, Harry

From the flying I've done on FSX, the default ATC will assign assign the largest runway roughly most aligned with the wind. You can request any approach you like but they will always expect you to circle or sidestep to the one most aligned with the wind. I haven't found a way to change that.

I have two questions about the standard FSX ATC:1. How can I contact the airport destination well in advance for advice on the assigned runway approach? In my flights, I am advise of the assigned runway when I near the airport, hence, difficult to plan out the route.2. How do I request for a different runway from the one assigned by the ATC for landing. In my flights, I can select a different approach, but ATC always gets me to circle to land the assigned runway.Cheers, Harry

When you want to get serious about flying do yourself a favor and get Radar Contact for your ATC.

Quoted from jwenham above 'When you want to get serious about flying do yourself a favor and get Radar Contact for your ATC. " Amen brother!!