ATC recommendations

[Christopher Low 5,338]

 

 

Default ATC is excellent for pure VFR flight in my opinion.

 

I agree. Since I fly all of my planes "low and slow" (and that includes complex payware airliners), I personally do not need anything more than the default ATC. However, I can understand why "proper" airliner pilots would want something better, because I understand that you can be instructed to fly all over the place before finally making contact with the airport tower!

[Simmer2050 28]

There are a lot of discussions in this forum about the good and the bad of ProATC-X.  Personally I enjoy it.  If you like to have a co-pilot who will handle most of your chores and let you check out the scenery in the area, put together a flightplan with SID/STARS, and provide ATC guidance, this is for you.  If you are looking for an ATC program that sees every bit of AI and guides you away from it, then you will want to have the default ATC program running too.  The product is still under development to add a few more features and fix any bugs found.  I have owned it since the minute it was announced it was available and you should have seen it then.  It's 100% better now.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Cant remember what film it was, but there was this debate about substance falls off the hand faster, hope or S*h*i*t.

As far as i concerned with Pro ATC the sh*t is on the floor and hope is still lingering on for Pro ATC to reach  release stage. Even some charities dont have it that good.

 

Anybody still pushing Pro ATC is damaging their credibility in plain sight

 

 

Thats all i have to say about Pro ATC after about 2 years so far.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

Anybody still pushing Pro ATC is damaging their credibility in plain sight

 

So you want updates every week just like all the other commercial products out there?  A developer takes a break, a vacation and you get upset.  Me thinks there will be more updates in the future (but not every week).

 

Best regards,

Jim

[Adam T Lutley 12]

Ditched the default ATC years ago due to its numerous shortcomings. I program real world routings into the flight plan, execute them until I get to the STAR vector legs (somewhere around 10,000ft) and switch to VS/HDG mode on the MCP to manage the rest of the approach. I'll have the ATC window up for some background chatter. This approach works everywhere with the least amount of "fuss". It would be nice to have some regionally specific ATC chatter for more realism though. Regards

[High Plains Flyer 35]

Anyone suggesting that you purchase pro-ATC is not doing you any favours. In fact, it is probably fair to say they are lying through their teeth.

 

It''s a very expensive opportunity to be a beta tester for a project which appears to have been abandonded. In short, it is a scam.

 

I bought it over a year ago, and have never used it. It does not help that there is no documentation and that the video tutorials are unhelpful.

 

Maybe it's problem is it is trying to do too much. I don't need it's flight planning; there is better flight planning software out there. While I could always use a co-pilot, there is other software which does this. What I want is a non brain dead version of FSX's ATC, which can handle SIDs and STARs, and which can be turned off when the dog wants to go for a walk, or my dad wants to eat.

 

If the developer wanted to do th right thing, he would refund everyone's money until this works right. I purchased a fully functioning program and received an early alpha.

[GodAtum 69]

tried the demo of VoxATc and like it. But how do i delete all the keyboard shortcuts?

[ailchim 206]

I have Pro-ATC X to replace the default ATC for tube-liners and I'm happy with it, way better than the default for my purposes. It works for me 99% of the time and the other 1% is mostly due to my errors which it can't recover from.

 

IF it delivers AI interaction and IF it delivers voice activation it will be great, probably better than anything else out there.

 

However, if I hadn't hadn't already laid out my cash, I probably wouldn't given the extreme inactivity on the development front. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to buy it until the developers show they are still interested by delivering what they are claiming is a major update which is supposedly going on in the background.

 

Does that make any sense? 

 

If you haven't bought the voice activated FS2Crew for the NGX, do so immediately.  You won't regret that.

[Drumcode 1,892]

I'm going to be brutal and say that from the videos that I've seen on YT, pretty much all third party ATC addons sound like absolute garbage, maybe apart from Radar Contact. I'm obviously only talking about the voice sounds, not software functionality. I am seriously considering VATSIM.

 

I'd love a developer with a large team of people like Aerosoft to come up with an industry leading piece that would put everything else to shame.

[ryanbatc 12,815]

Pilot Edge... Superb ATC provided by humans.

 

15 day trial available.

http://www.pilotedge.net/pages/sim-enthusiasts

[klamal 282]

Pilot Edge... Superb ATC provided by humans.

 

15 day trial available.

http://www.pilotedge.net/pages/sim-enthusiasts

This still is only for southern CA, isn't it?  I've heard it's good, but that severely limits you!!!

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

RC4.3 has its strong points and so does VoxATC. VoxATC has a numberl of small, non-showstopping glitches, while RC4.3 works in a very reliable way ("as advertised").

 

From a pure ATC POV I prefer RC over Vox, but Vox has very strong points in speech recognition and assigning/tracking SIDs and STARs. Can't uninstall either one!   B)

[coma 6]

Coverage area is documented here: http://www.pilotedge.net/pages/operating-hours-and-service-area

 

SFO was added a few months ago, specifically for jet pilots to be able to stretch their legs a bit more. We might have more expansion coming through a partner company in a few months, but I can't say much about that until it's finalized.

 

This still is only for southern CA, isn't it?  I've heard it's good, but that severely limits you!!!

 

 

[Simmer2050 28]

Ditched the default ATC years ago due to its numerous shortcomings. I program real world routings into the flight plan, execute them until I get to the STAR vector legs (somewhere around 10,000ft) and switch to VS/HDG mode on the MCP to manage the rest of the approach. I'll have the ATC window up for some background chatter. This approach works everywhere with the least amount of "fuss". It would be nice to have some regionally specific ATC chatter for more realism though. Regards

then get PFE , its got regional voice sets, and unlike Pro ATC, its a finished product

Anyone suggesting that you purchase pro-ATC is not doing you any favours. In fact, it is probably fair to say they are lying through their teeth.

 

It''s a very expensive opportunity to be a beta tester for a project which appears to have been abandonded. In short, it is a scam.

 

I bought it over a year ago, and have never used it. It does not help that there is no documentation and that the video tutorials are unhelpful.

 

Maybe it's problem is it is trying to do too much. I don't need it's flight planning; there is better flight planning software out there. While I could always use a co-pilot, there is other software which does this. What I want is a non brain dead version of FSX's ATC, which can handle SIDs and STARs, and which can be turned off when the dog wants to go for a walk, or my dad wants to eat.

 

If the developer wanted to do th right thing, he would refund everyone's money until this works right. I purchased a fully functioning program and received an early alpha.

 

Folks money has been stolen on this one, and too late for that, one of the things i enjoy most on avsim this days is sorting out the Hype sale threads from the real stufff we came here for. 

 

The more crap people get burnt on, the more folks will wait before buying in future, Pro ATC just damajed business for other developers advertising on AVSIM.

 

PFE is my repalcement for RC4 and its doing a great job, support it, and push the dev for updates.

[ryanbatc 12,815]

If you fly tubes... Yeah. But you can always start a flight on vatsim and land there on PE or vice versa. There are plenty of airport pairs with B737 equipment available. Also KSFO is open too.

 

Reliable and realistic ATC is what I'm looking for so it works great for me.

[klamal 282]

Unfortunately we are all still in the same boat with ATC and will be for the foreseeable future.  There isn't a single solution out there that is even really close to 100% accurate with the real world.  They all have their drawbacks.

 

The online networks come the closest but the big caveat there being when they are staffed.  That, unfortunately is the biggest drawback for any of these - PE, VATSIM, or IVAO.  PE at least "guarantees" staffing between a good block of hours every day but, as I said earlier, it's so limited in its geographical area that it covers.  Unless you love SoCal/Vegas, it's not of much use and even that isn't staffed around the clock like IRL.

 

It's really impossible I think unless controllers literally start getting paid for us to ever have something close to the real world.  Having said that, when you're lucky enough to have a fully covered flight, there's nothing better!!!  It's just too bad that's too few and far between unless you're willing to chase ATC maybe.

 

All the other software options, well, it's the same ol' same ol' with them.  I don't think there's a single one that handles all types of flying well from what I've read.  I have only used RC4 and default MS ATC myself so the rest of what I know about the others just comes from what I've read here.  Of course, RC4 is better than default, it still has major drawbacks too and is so scripted/predictable as well.

 

Anyway, this is probably the biggest area of FS that has yet to be conquered.  We have excellent 3rd party scenery that makes you feel like you're really at that airport.  Realistic planes from the likes of PMDG, Majestic, Aerosoft, etc that make you feel like you're in the real thing.  Realistic weather from Opus, ActiveSky, etc.  A realistic flight planner in PFPX.  The only missing piece in FS to be done to the level of these other areas is ATC.  I guess that's because it's probably the most difficult to model perhaps.