I think it would be cool if there were some program or addon that takes the ATIS of an airport in FS and lets you listen to it from any location no matter how far away. Would be really helpful on aircraft with FMCs.

>I think it would be cool if there were some program or addon>that takes the ATIS of an airport in FS and lets you listen>to it from any location no matter how far away. Would be>really helpful on aircraft with FMCs. And therein would destroy the realism...you can't listen to any airport in the real world from any distance...you're doing good to get the ATIS 60 NM out in some cases..

What would be really cool would be if, when using real weather, there was also a way to get the current real world runway assignments :)

With all due respect, I have to desagree. I fly a Citation and most airports we go to we listen to ATIS during the pre-descent check, usually 15 minutes before descent, 150 miles away from destination. Of course that couldn't be done in a 172 at low level, but trust me at high level there is no problem.In FS I get frustrated because even at FL370 I can't get ATIS until I get within a Cessna 172 range. IMHO, many features of FS only consider light general aviation. Even the 747 is as simple to operate as a 172.Not that there is anything wrong with the 172, I personnaly rent one once in a while, but it gives simmers the wrong impression. It also works the other way, many simmers have the impression that all jets have auto-throttles, VNAV, etc.Regards,Dan

Sounds like you need an external real weather program.I know for sure that FSMeteo does it (cos I have it), I would have thought that all the others do too.And you're right, it's nice to be able to have a MET report for your destination miles out so you can plan the approach. FSMeteo also has this little feature where you can tune one of your COM radios to a certain frequency and it will give you the current METAR it's using and the one for your destination scrolled across the top of the screen.Hope this helps,Ian

Big airlines have ACARS too, which COULD give you the destination ATIS. From what I (now) understand:1)Its airline specific- there is no standard- so whatever the airline wants you to do with it is what it will do.2)It's not techincally long-range, rather you must be near a station, which then forwards your request on the ground (or other means).3)It's very expensive, so expect to see it on your new cessna.Some examples I have seen are using it for departure and arrival ATIS,weather reports, emergency stuff, etc.

I am thinking of long range ATIS as the post above says, sort of an ACARs type of thing. I have ActiveSky for weather planning, but I mainly want ATIS for the most up-to-date info, and most importantly, to know what arrival runway will be before I begin my descent.

Activesky 2004 will tell you the weather of the nearest station and your destination in an ATIS style when you tune the comm 2 radio to 122.00. It's handy for preparing for the approach.

The nature of weather itself. This is unpridictable atleast when it comes to at the moment kinda of thing. If you get the weather say 1 hour in advance the weather at the station you are trying to land at may change and therefore your ATIS data also changes. This makes you check your ATIS as you get near your station for the most UP TO DATE weather. In the sim if you want to you can set the weather to be the same at every airport. This isn't prototypical but it would take the guestwork out of trying to predict your approach. You are also forgetting about stations that have no ATIS this makes the controller respocable for weather data. The ATIS is updated every 60 minutes so if you are more then 60 minutes from your destination the info will be out of date and therefore useless.If you are using real world data. Perhaps a check on the internet for some real world data on your route might be in order. This would not be ATIS information but could give you a general idea of what is happening or could happen while on route. You could even get this info through the browser which is your FS9 kneeboard.No doubt about it...Ronson2k

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but in real life, on an instrument flight- doesn't the approach controller tell you what runway and arrival to expect so you can plan your descent and arrival accordingly? FS always has you descend before they give you this info (Plus they don't use STARS). I find the ATIS to be unreliable sometimes, as there can be multiple runways in use- I'd rather have the controller tell me.

I am using the PMDG 737NG and I do not file IFR because it doesnt let you use STARS, and it is dumb. :) I mainly want to be able to get the arrival info duringg my cruise, so I can modify my course accordingly. If I have to change the runway during the descent, it is very difficult to create an efficent route again. This is all using the FMC by the way.

What is this big deal with STARs a lot of people here seem to be hung up on?

Realism.

FSAcars did that, at least detecting the rwy in use. However it was based in AI rwy use and it wasn't very reliable with any airport with low AI percentage.Jos

What we need is a radio service like Volmet, which lists the weather at key European airports. However, I use ActiveSky 2004 and usually guess the arrival r/w. 8/10 times I guess right, which is lucky. I know that after flying on United back from the States a couple of years ago (with their fantastic feed of ATC on the IFE) I heard the Scottish controller give the landing runway at LHR as early as entering UK airspace...Rob