Hi all,

 

I am using FSX in Windows 7 64bit and have REX and GEX-UTX all installed and working great. I enjoy GA flying and Commercial short and long haul flying too, well all flying really.

 

However one thing bugs me as I get more experience, that is ATC control. I construct my flight plan and off I go, but as I approach the destination I find the default ATC, which doesn't support SID's and STAR's, which I want to learn more about, doesn't announce the runway to land on until the last minute, leaving no time to set up a proper STAR arrival and approach and then goes and sends me to the wrong runway. Usually the one with a tail wind, which I know is wrong!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have been looking on the web and have come across two possible programs which could solve this, one Radar Contact and the other Pro-ATC, but which one would offer the most realistic replacement for the default ATC. I want one that recognises the wind at the destination, using REX weather and can assign SID's and STAR's which are suitable for departure and arrival, and sounds most realistic too! I'm not bothered too much with co-pilot functions etc as I'm happy to do both jobs myself. But whichever I go for has to be reliable and stable as my FSX setup is just that, Reliable and stable!

 

I don't want to go down the flying online route as I like flying solo!

 

Does anyone out there have any suggestions please.

The developer of ProATC has ceased support since many months. The program is currently a kind of beta and nobody knows if there will be further support. It is promised ... promised since many months.

 

There will surely some fans jump in here and tell you, what a great program it is. But if you ask for reliability and stability it is not for you. I regret the purchase and could only advice you to wait till there's some development going on.

 

VOX Atc offers a trial. Worth a look with no risc. (however I can't get warm with it)

 

Radar Contact I have also tried, but is nothing I want to see 2013. There's also no further development.

 

So, I stick with default ATC and with all it's culprits I could live with it as best ...

 

But yes, a good ATC program would be a cash cow one day

Neither

 

 

PFE

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/417579-american-1191-from-tjsj-to-svmi/

What about pro flight emulator? PFE.... Great program....

 

Ian

Radar Contact.

 

Sure, it's old, but it works very well.

I have not decided which one to get yet either. My choices are narrowed down to PFE and Radar Contact. Does radar contact work with Windows 7? Or do products that work with windows xp, vista always work with Windows 7?

 

Radar contact sounds more natural when there is talking but in the videos I have seen of it there is quite a bit of background chatter which sounds nice but I

haven't figured out if it has anything to do with what is happening at the given airport or is that just fake background chatter?

I forget, does RC model Oceanic traffic Position reports?

Yes. Radar Contact works on Windows 7.

Yes. Radar Contact works on Windows 7.

 

Well then that is what I will be getting.

Ya I definitely agree with neither, I have both and quite frankly neither are as good as the default ATC. Yes the default doesn't issue STARS/SIDS but if you use a 3rd party planner such as FSC you can simply output the STAR/SID into you default flight plan and you can still fly it. When I fly in the real world the ATC more so than not issues vectors like the default ATC in FSX. So I have ceased using either programs

Radar Contact is good, and the flight plan preparation is painless. But RC ATC will not give you speed commands on approaches and no ground traffic control. PFE has both, but the flight plan preparation is tiring, but after few times you will get used to it. So my vote goes to PFE, especially with voice packs.

Radar Contact is good, and the flight plan preparation is painless. But RC ATC will not give you speed commands on approaches and no ground traffic control. PFE has both, but the flight plan preparation is tiring, but after few times you will get used to it. So my vote goes to PFE, especially with voice packs.

 

Could you please explain what you mean by no ground traffic control? On the RC site it says it controls the planes on the ground and keeps them out of your way for a variety of circumstances?

 

Now with PFE can you get the voices to sound more natural and a ton less robotic with the voice packs? My biggest gripe from just seeing videos of PFE is how robotic all the voices are. If that can be fixed I think I would probably get that instead of RC.

I have been using Pro Flight Emulator (PFE) together with FDC Live Cockpit (FDC) for a number of years now and I can highly recommend them. PFE replaces the default ATC and includes many voice sets with different English accents, taxi guidance system both verbal and visual and many other improvements. FDC acts as a copilot, performing checklists ext. also has cabin crew announcements, again with different accents. You can buy them individualy or together. They have been tweaked to work together.

The voices are not at all robotic and you have a choice on which ones you use.

Just to comment on what Guenseli has said about proatcx......... there are people in the forum including myself who provide help to those who have questions to ask. So I disagree with the statement that there is no support.

 

The developer is currently working on completing the next version of proatcx and hopefully we will see it released soon. From my understanding the next version will be well worth waiting for.

 

I have personally used proatcx myself since july 2012 and have recorded voices for the pilots, copilots and controllers heard in proatc.

 

There are issues with proatc but most of them have workarounds which are mentioned in the forum.

 

Roy

radar contact doesn't dynamically assign sids or stars although as pointed out if you include the waypoints of the star in your flight plan it will let you fly them. however the altitude clearances won't match the restrictions in the star and you will always get vectored off of it once you are within 20nm or so of the airport.

 

aside from that it is pretty solid and a decent choice, i used it for a long time, but if sid/star handling is what you are interested in you might want to examine the other options out there.

 

i switched to voxATC lately. it does pretty good ground handling and traffic management including things like crossing runways..it will choose an appropriate sid/star for you as long as your flightplan starts and ends on a transition, and once setup it's rather easy to use. 

 

i havent really tried pro-atc or pro flight emulator so i can't comment on those

cheers,

-andy crosby