Hello, I have been using RC4.3 for all of my FS simming, and I am loving it. However I have a quick question. What are the factors that decide which runways are in use and which are not for RC ? is it weather ? I am also using ActiveSky as weather simulation addon and MyTraffic as a traffic addon (if that has anything to do with it) My slight problem is, I was taking off of KJFK and seeing how the airport traffic is so huge, it was hard to believe that only single runway (04L) was used for Departing and Arriving flights. The weather was nice and winds pretty calm, with only 40% traffic saturation, I am stuck taxiing in mega line for good 45 minutes before I get to take off. Is this normal ?I am sorry if I'm wrong here, I dont' know if this happens in real life as well or not, that is why I am asking on here. Thanks! Luke

Hello, I have been using RC4.3 for all of my FS simming, and I am loving it. However I have a quick question. What are the factors that decide which runways are in use and which are not for RC ? is it weather ? I am also using ActiveSky as weather simulation addon and MyTraffic as a traffic addon (if that has anything to do with it) My slight problem is, I was taking off of KJFK and seeing how the airport traffic is so huge, it was hard to believe that only single runway (04L) was used for Departing and Arriving flights. The weather was nice and winds pretty calm, with only 40% traffic saturation, I am stuck taxiing in mega line for good 45 minutes before I get to take off. Is this normal ?I am sorry if I'm wrong here, I dont' know if this happens in real life as well or not, that is why I am asking on here. Thanks! Luke

Hi Luke, Very good question, and the answer involves a lot of things. So lets go through the process. First RC uses the runway that the AI use in FS based on the prevailing winds. At the departure airport this is usually pretty predictable except when the winds are calm or close to it, then the runway selection is a crap shoot. Like you I also use ASE and MyTrafficX v5.3. The issue with ASE and wind is that, if you use DWC (Direct Weather Control) in ASE, the weather is set from the global setting. That is not a problem at the departure airport since your plane is sitting still and the weather reported is what is current. The problem however comes at the destination airport where the weather that is reported to RC is at your plane current location which can be 100 miles away and at altitude which makes the destination reported weather almost always incorrect. This issue has been reported to ASE folks numerous times.Here is what I do as a workaround, when I first start RC, I go to the general menu and select which runway I am going to use at both departure and arrival. I choose that runway based on weather reports from the NWS, which I get at this site: http://aviationweather.gov/ In the case of my arrival airport I use the forecast winds for my expected time of arrival, 90% of the time that wind is correct as I am landing. Some folks use the standard depiction mode in ASE, but that does not work for me due to performance issues on weather updates.KJFK also provides a unique challenge to runway selection base on the fact that there are multiple parallel runways there and the direction of the winds. For example if the winds are from the due north or south, both sets of parallel runways can be used, which provides 4 runways to be selected. To reduce the AI runway load, I have installed in my add-on scenery folder an AFCAD that allows cross wind runway use at KJFK. My own rule of thumb for this airport is that I pick the shortest of runways for landing and the longer ones for take-offs If you have not done so already go to the files section here on AVSIM and select an AFCAD for KJFK that suits your purpose, that should reduce the AI load on any single runway. One additional item for KJFK, there are in most cases, multiple taxiways to get to any given runway. If you are flying from JFK in the evening when the Atlantic crossing planes are departing, picking a taxiway that is not the primary taxiway to the runway can get you off the ground also faster.Hope this helps and if you need further advice, don't hesitate to ask here on the forum.Bob

Thanks for your response Bob, I will look into the things you have mentioned. My main worry was that there might have been an error with RC, but seeing how that is normal operation for it, I can be at peace. Thanks againLuke

Here is an add-on I use to space out the incoming traffic so AI can squeeze in for take-off. It is in the utilities section of FSX in the library here but works in FS9 as well.aismooth_v120.zip is the last version. You can specify in time how far to separate arriving AI. It puts AI in holding patterns until the runway is available.Do not enable the voice options in this when using RC. The regular AI Chatter and Interact with AI options in RC will provide AI/ATC communications.I also recommend first trying it with the Respond To User Aircraft option disabled as in a few cases your aircraft being near a runway can not allow AI arrivals.Now there is a characteristic in FS that when you load a flight, AI start taxiing to runways in clusters because FS allows a catch-up window for AI schedules. The same is true for arrivals a few minutes later. When your your aircraft is near ready but before getting clearance FSX users can advance the FS time by one minute to restart the AI. This should be done after your weather application has completely finished writing to the FS weather engine. Restarting AI this way will help them arrive correctly for the winds in force avoiding conflicts. It also updates the ATIS that you can get via RC.FS9 users with a registered FSUIPC can set a hot key to toggle AI between 0 and a set percent that will refresh the AI. For those that can't do this adjust the time forward one minute to accomplish this as well.If you are an FS9 user with Active Sky be sure not to use Global mode to avoid weather at your arrival to be constasntly changing as you arrive. There should be an option when using FS9 with ASE to let it do weather smoothing via FSUIPC or you can set it in FSUIPC itself without using ASE's DWC enabled. This will allow RC at approach time to more accurately assign your runway by providing stable weather and stable AI airport arrival patterns.In line with this if you happen to be an Ultimate Traffic 2 (for FSX only) user, set the option to generate traffic at least 40 nm out from your aircraft so RC can see them as the approach phase starts just under 40 nm out from your destination.I hope this helps along with bobbyjoh's suggestions to achieve your goals.

Morn'n,Helps me out too... Thanks... I use AS6.5 - for departures - I usually sit at the gate for a few minutes while programming the FMC - once the weather seems stable - I hit the "Refresh AI" button on AS to get the AI traffic heading to the correct runway... I'll try some of the tips mentioned above and see how they work out...Regards,Scott

Hi, Scott:I don't know what FMC (aircraft model you use) but for aircraft departure performance OAT is monitored by some. I would therefore recommend using the Refresh AI before you get into the FMC performance setup pages. I have the PMDG 737NG series.

Morn'n,Helps me out too... Thanks... I use AS6.5 - for departures - I usually sit at the gate for a few minutes while programming the FMC - once the weather seems stable - I hit the "Refresh AI" button on AS to get the AI traffic heading to the correct runway... I'll try some of the tips mentioned above and see how they work out...Regards,Scott

I flew from KLAS to KABQ about a week ago, and all was fine, get lined up to land east at ABQ, as I am rolling out, BAM!!! nailed T-Bone style by a Southwest (figures) 737 taking off the cross runway. To say I was upset is an understatement.

Interact with AI is enabled in RC, correct?RC only freezes ground AI in a certain zone for your landing runway and in a taxiing state. An AI rolling for TO may not be controlled and if a cross runway may be out of range anyway. Further more the RC protection starts when you are on close final on the tower frequency. I'm not sure if it continues through roll-out. Things to improve in RC5.The only work around I can think of is to see if tower issued the AI TO clearance while you are on tower frequency. However, in RC some AI transmissions are not reproduced to increase RC audio processing for your aircraft.AI aircraft transponder comes alive as soon as it enters the runway so if you have a TCAS zoom in to see what's moving on the other runways.

Interact with AI is enabled in RC, correct?RC only freezes ground AI in a certain zone for your landing runway and in a taxiing state. An AI rolling for TO may not be controlled and if a cross runway may be out of range anyway. Further more the RC protection starts when you are on close final on the tower frequency. I'm not sure if it continues through roll-out. Things to improve in RC5.The only work around I can think of is to see if tower issued the AI TO clearance while you are on tower frequency. However, in RC some AI transmissions are not reproduced to increase RC audio processing for your aircraft.AI aircraft transponder comes alive as soon as it enters the runway so if you have a TCAS zoom in to see what's moving on the other runways.

Scott, what Ron said is absolutely correct, situational awareness is my own hot bottom for RCv5. That is not an easy thing to get accomplish and I think JD gets upset with my nagging about this point but it is a hot issue for me and BTW one for the FAA also. We are working on this one.Bob

Scott, what Ron said is absolutely correct, situational awareness is my own hot bottom for RCv5. That is not an easy thing to get accomplish and I think JD gets upset with my nagging about this point but it is a hot issue for me and BTW one for the FAA also. We are working on this one.Bob

It doesnt happen to me often, I fly a lot and only once in a long while will I see an airplane taxi across the runway I am landing on. The T-Bone thing was a first however. I have interact with AI on and AI smooth run and that does do the trick for a vast majority of the time. But I would appreciate some extra action by RC5 in helping keep planes out of my way, especially so if I am flying what I am cleared to fly. I can only imagine how tricky it is to do this.Another thing I wouldnt mind seeing in RC5 would be a more accurate sim of the actual way ATC is interacted with. When I fly with RC4 I always get the feeling that everyone out there is a brand new pilot, or on a checkride. For example, everytime you contact tower, RC goes "NN Center, American 340 is with at FL340" Or "Approach, American 340 is with you at 12000 with information Tango." Realworld ATC interaction is far far more shorthand. Realworld pilots almost never say flight level, and they just get their piece said over the air as fast as they can, especially when you fly into busy airports, like KORD or KLAX. It would be more like, "American 340 contact approach when passing WATSN" , when I pass WATSN I just say "American 340 at 12 thousand, Tango."

In your example of transferring from center to approach you should give the name of the facility you are calling since it is a first contact. This is a way of verifying to ATC you are calling the correct facility for the comm frequency you have selected in case of error. Think of a dense area like the northeast US corridor where TRACONs may handle more than one airport and are divided into communication sectors. You do that on all facility/frequency changes by procedure as I recall. An ack need not identify the ATC facility.

In your example of transferring from center to approach you should give the name of the facility you are calling since it is a first contact. This is a way of verifying to ATC you are calling the correct facility for the comm frequency you have selected in case of error. Think of a dense area like the northeast US corridor where TRACONs may handle more than one airport and are divided into communication sectors. You do that on all facility/frequency changes by procedure as I recall. An ack need not identify the ATC facility.

I agree, but what should be done and what is done are very different things. I was shocked after reading and learning how "proper" ATC communications should be done, and RC simulates them very very well, to first listening in on Chicago Approach, Center, and other ATC areas, just how much short hand is used, clearly to just get the important info out and keep the air clean for the controller to give out commands, which is so important in congested airspace like over Chicago. Sort of why I laught when people say VATSIM is the most realistic ATC you can find for FSX. Yes it is real people, but they get on the frequency and just ramble on, both the controllers and the pilots.