The Pressure of ATC?

[nathan2k1 0]

Cheers wims.

 

Yeah I have seen that video before Julian it is quite a good video, probably one of the vids that tempted me to be ready to buy fs2crew.

[Guest]

Bought FS2Crew a few weeks ago. Absolutely love it. The weird thing is that I had the idea it wouldn't be as much fun as doing everything yourself. I mean, you have all those knobs you can turn and switch and then you buy an addon that does it all for you... what a waste... Boy, was I wrong: it feels so much more REAL! And I also don't feel alone anymore in the cockpit! I absolutely love it: instead of spoiling the experience it made it more real and I am totally addicted to flying the 737NGX right now... I do use the Button version btw. It took me some time to get used to it and to understand how it all works (in the beginning you tend to do things in the wrong order, which is possible even with the Button version) but after a few days I knew how the flow worked and it's amazing. I really wonder how I managed to do everything on my own: it's simply not realistic to do so.

 

To get even more on topic: I also bought ProATC/X last week. Also took some time to get into (also because it's a work in progress...) and this made things even more real. At first I kept on switching the radio's myself but last weekend I decided to also let the co-pilot do this (FS2Crew Button version doesn't have an option for that). Doing it myself did work alright, mainly because I usually switched freqs right after I was told who to contact next, but somehow this led to me getting stuck with a certain controller and (a big reason) I hated setting the right freq for ground after landing because I always ended up in the grass when doing so...

 

All in all it's perfect now. I can focus on the actual flying, I don't feel alone anymore and I still feel I have control over everything because I have to tell the co-pilot when to do specific things or start specific flows. Taking off is awesome now: I focus on the runway and rotate when I hear 'rotate'. When the co-pilot says VNAV and LNAV are on (which I armed) I tell him to turn on Command A (I use buttons on my joystick to command the co-pilot), go the climb thrust, flaps 1, flaps up, etc. while all the time I focus on the PFD. In between I contact departure with a push of a button. It's great hearing the co-pilot react and do it's job. It's totally addicting and more real as ever! ^_^ Can't wait to get home and do another flight. B)

 

BTW This more real experience made me use the plane more like you should: I have begun entering temps and ISA DEV on the Forecast page, I have stopped only using VNAV and now also use LVL CHG and other modes and possibilities and it all started with FS2Crew: again, I was so wrong in thinking it was a waste to let some fake co-pilot do 'everything': it's realistic and awesome.

 

EDIT

Because FS2Crew was a bit confusing at first I made some sort of checklist for my own use: I have attached it to this post. It shows you everything I do to go from cold and dark to cold and dark again. Mind you, a few things I do in a different order now, some things (like 'clear with the pin') I don't always hear or sometimes skip, things like when I enter ISA DEV and temps aren't on it and not everything is on it either, but it may help someone who is new to FS2Crew to see when you should be doing specific things. As I said, I use the Button version.

 

The main problem is that you have two windows with commands in FS2Crew and the left one shows you things you shouldn't actually command before a certain point in time: this is not clear at all when you first start out you tend to do those things at once which is wrong. The fact that the right window only shows things you HAVE to do right away makes it more confusing...

 

Legenda of the pdf:

Red = FS2Crew related

Green = 737 NGC FMC related

Blue = ProATC/X related

 

(L) = FS2Crew left window

® = FS2Crew right window

 

+19 and similar numbers = in the right window of FS2Crew you see a time counting down (in minutes): this number in the pdf tells you the time at which something specific happens. You can rightclick on that number to advance a minute in time (if you don't want to wait 12 minutes after the preliminary setup you can quickly go to 8 for the load sheet and the to 1 for ready departure). Sometims you don't see a time but Wait which means the co-pilot is busy doing a flow and you simply have to wait.

 

Well, anyway, maybe looking at this list helps newbies a little to see how FS2Crew works...

 

^_^

[nathan2k1 0]

Nice input Jeroen

[JC75 22]

For info, flying a full SID in real life at many Airports is very unlikely. And certainly will find at many units your capped level on the SID you will unlikely ever reach, and will have been given climb and a heading or Direct routing to somewhere else or end point of SID. With time and transition to RNAV SIDS and restructuring of airspace(uk having major change over next few years), you may find SIDS will become better deigned and more likely to follow them, but there a whole set of politics on SID routings that often delay a change to path a SID takes due to consultations that have to take place. Most existing SIDS were designed based on aircraft, procedures and airspace back in the 80s.

 

In principle ATC need to get you up and away not just to comply with (continuous climb profiles) but for separation against inbounds and other traffic Enroute. A good example of a SID you'll never fly is WHI4E off runway 15 at EGBB, the only bit of that SID you'll fly is the initial noise routing which is built into the SID, pretty much straight away(EGBB has an auto change from tower to radar) radar will put you on a heading in general somewhere around 345 to 360 depending on wind and a "climb NOW" instruction to FL080, which means ignore any step climb points or restrictions and climb direct to FL080. Youll be handed of to SCOTTISH control on that heading before reaching FL080 and they'll give you further climb, you'll maybe get a direct WHI but not until at least above FL100 depending on inbounds routing into CHASE but more likely will be on further headings or direct to some other point. So you can see there how pretty much the track, level, and even point you end up going to doesn't reflect the SID at all. This a fairly extreme case, some SIDS you'll fly more of, but there be nowhere in uk airspace that you'd fly full SID and level cap.

 

On topic of frequency changing, quick way is fs2crew, it's amazing software to use on NGX and great aid to flying online especially if you want to hand fly more whilst using online ATC. But some hardware like saitek, go flight. Or open cockpits especially for comms is really useful and adds to enjoyment.

[joolsd 10]

I'm certainly going to have a look at FS2Crew this week. And Pahapes have a break from vatsim. As FS2Crew looks like it takes time to get used to.

[Jarkko 59]

Aivlasoft's efb doesn't correctly display altitude crossing restrictions

 

Sorry for going of topic, but I haven't had such problems unless there are bugs in the Navdata. Navdata isn't provided by Aivlasoft.

 

I personally use EFB to see what my standby frequency should be (and place it in well in advance). Saves a lot of valuable time.