ATC sometimes forgets me and my flightplan.

[JGSJW 0]

Lately I am experiencing an increase in flight plans dropped by ATC in my FS200 4 default system. 
Tower clears me for takeoff..........shortly after stowing my gear and flap retraction and complying with directive to contact Departure control I hear nothing further from ATC. Finally after droning on throughout a cruise climb in the wrong direction I call and refilel
Last night while inbound to KSFO I realized that ATC had lost interest in me. I landed on my own. There are no cancellaltions just
a lack of interest in my flight.
JGSJW

[Jeff H 63]

If you're flying on an IFR flight plan, which I assume you are if you're being told to contact departure, then it's up to you to fly the flight plan.  ATC won't generally give you step by step instructions.  I think...I think that if you want an initial vector in the right direction, your FP needs to have an initial waypoint within about 30nm of your departure airport.  I could be remembering an ATC add-on so someone correct me if I'm wrong here.  Other than that, departure, at some point should tell you to "resume own navigation."   From that point, you would get the occasional traffic point out, if you have AI running, as well as hand-offs as you approach subsequent ARTCC sectors.  Other than that, they won't talk to you much unless you're seriously off course or you are approaching your destination.  I have seen where they will sometimes forget you on the approach, but I don't have a solution for that, short of canceling IFR and flying a visual on your own.  As I'm sure you've found on your own, the built-in ATC isn't always the best.

 

Cheers.  :smile:

[JGSJW 0]

I appreciate the moderator's thoughts and will keep them in mind as I watch this pattern.

. I try to listen closely for the "Resume own Navigation" but these events which I am experiencing  do not have that tag. Years ago when I flew professionally I could ask Center  a clarifying question but that is not possible with fs9. my only option for verbal contact with the sim ATC at this point is to do a pop-up refile as if I had chosen to fly to a different destination.

    The increased frequency of this happening to me ( I fly almost every night) has me wondering if anybody else has noticed this same problem.

thanks again for the good input

JGSJW

[John Hinson 22]

Lately I am experiencing an increase in flight plans dropped by ATC in my FS200 4 default system. 

Tower clears me for takeoff..........shortly after stowing my gear and flap retraction and complying with directive to contact Departure control I hear nothing further from ATC. Finally after droning on throughout a cruise climb in the wrong direction I call and refilel

Last night while inbound to KSFO I realized that ATC had lost interest in me. I landed on my own. There are no cancellaltions just

a lack of interest in my flight.

JGSJW

An interesting one this. Can you answer a few questions?

1. You say you are directed to contact Departure. Do you successfully tune to them and communicate?
2. Do you hear other traffic during the flight if you tune to a correct channel?
3. What options come up when you press the ATC key?
4. Have you installed any enhanced ATC files? There are some add-ons available that stop the "nagging" to turn/climb which could cause a lack of messages.
5. Do you use EditVoicePack?

I'll be honest and say I have no brainwaves right now, but with a better picture maybe . . .

 

Best wishes,

 

John

[robb13 22]

I have noticed this too ...  I have been getting fly straight in and landing clearances even when its obvious I shouldnt be...  I recently had 3 planes (one was me) converge into the final approach and we could have passed coffee to each other. ATC seemed to have been on its own coffee break.  I also get approach instructions and set a heading and then feel left out of the action as ATC forgets about me  when I'm 50 km and still heading away from the airport. I alter course or do something to wake them up again. . I'm running fsx on an Intel i3/4gb and have lots of saitek equip't it has to run as well and I know it works overtime to process everything.. When landing at an Orbx airport I'm sometimes down to 7-8 fps. I'm wondering if ATC data processing gets pushed into the background whilst the rest of the flight continually "overtakes" it.

[JGSJW 0]

to John:  Questions 1-5

1     Yes

2     Yes

3     Change Destination, Altitude Increase, Altitude Decrease,Cancel IFR

4     No

5     No

 

to ROBB 13

      I hear you Amigo......fun, isn't it?

BTW      download AI Smooth  it's a big help and for the ones that get past AI Smooth...Change sim speed to 8X for 1-2 seconds  then back to NORMAL and POOF!! their gone and you are now alone on final.   It's a beautiful thing.

 

Update:   just tonight ATC forgot me again. I had filed IFR from Paul Whitman to San Diego, cleared for takeoff, handoff to Departure,  lots of radio chatter   but nothing for me ....15 miles later I give up and do a pop-up refile to Lindberg at San Diego (which was my original destination anyway)  ...San Diego Approach clears me to Runway 9 and then lets a Cessna 182 in front of my Chancellor Twin....I smoke him with my 8X gun ( I used to be a nice guy) and make a peaceful, unobstructed  landing.

       this type of thing is increasing for some reason

JGSJW

[John Hinson 22]

to John:  Questions 1-5

1     Yes

2     Yes

3     Change Destination, Altitude Increase, Altitude Decrease,Cancel IFR

4     No

5     No

Darn it, you have ruled out the little sparks of ideas I might have had. This is a real puzzle - I have never had that happen to me in a flight (except when I've fallen asleep!).

 

I'll keep thinking . . .

 

John

[gwillmot 31]

 I'm running fsx

 

You're fired!

[clipper759 4]

As Jeff mentioned, overheading your first filed fix is a big deal to default ATC.  In my experience missing that first fix causes it to ignore you until you re-file, adjusting the flightplan accordingly.

 

Oddly enough, it seems to be able to get over it if you blow a fix off later in the flight plan. It's just that first one that should be considered a Flyover waypoint.

[John Hinson 22]

JGSJW, are you flying by GPS?

 

John

[JGSJW 0]

Most of the time I begin an IFR flight plan in GPS mode. Later when ATC gives me the first Approach heading change I switch to Nav mode providing that ATC has assigned me an ILS/LOC or VOR approach. If they assigned a GPS or Visual approach I leave it in GPS Mode. So most of my trip has been in GPS mode so that I don't have to worry about VOR signal loss between stations. I might also leave it in GPS during a lengthy ILS final until I get a reliable glide slope signal like when Boeing Field Approach dumps me down to 1800 ft way early on the way in to Rwy 31.

[John Hinson 22]

Most of the time I begin an IFR flight plan in GPS mode. Later when ATC gives me the first Approach heading change I switch to Nav mode providing that ATC has assigned me an ILS/LOC or VOR approach. If they assigned a GPS or Visual approach I leave it in GPS Mode. So most of my trip has been in GPS mode so that I don't have to worry about VOR signal loss between stations. I might also leave it in GPS during a lengthy ILS final until I get a reliable glide slope signal like when Boeing Field Approach dumps me down to 1800 ft way early on the way in to Rwy 31.

Thanks. I think then the issue is as described above, it is peculiar to GPS navigation that you must pass every waypoint and as has been mentioned if you have one early in your flight plan (that FS may generate for you) you may miss it unless you make a major diversion. So the answer should be to delete that first waypoint from your flight plan.

 

This issue does not seem to affect VOR to VOR flight plans, nor those via airways. I'm a bit of a luddite and refuse to use such modern gadgets (!) which is why I didn't think of it until my memory was jogged by clipper above.

 

Best wishes,

 

John

[JGSJW 0]

Thanks fellas for the tips. I'll have to be more vigilant about deleting the first waypoint.....I know that sometimes I forget to do that. Also I didn't know that the VOR and Airway routes don't care. Forty years ago when I was flying routes we didn't have GPS so I guess I have some gaps.........also our autopilots couldn't work a glide slope so I did them all by hand and still do most of the time.

[N60JBravo 27]

We need to keep a distinction here about using the term "GPS".

 

This "waypoint too close " problem does not happen if your flightplan is "GPS Direct". That type of plan will only have 2 waypoints, departure and destination airports.

 

And it will manifest itself whether you are using the GPS or the VOR to navigate if your flight plan is anything other than "GPS Direct".

 

Just to be clear, the type of plan you file and how you fly it are 2 different things.

 

regards,

Joe

[John Hinson 22]

And it will manifest itself whether you are using the GPS or the VOR to navigate if your flight plan is anything other than "GPS Direct".

I don't think I agree, Joe, unless I have misunderstood you.

 

I almost always use a FS IFR VOR to VOR flight plan and never look at the GPS. I frequently leave the first waypoint in as I use it to navigate in an outward direction if the next beacon isn't within range, but I rarely actually fly via that beacon. The ATC system instructs you to resume own navigation and I make a sensible bee-line for the line of route, taking up the VOR bearing when I intersect it.  The problems with the presence of the first waypoint definitely do not manifest themselves in these circumstances.

 

John