Test Flight Tutorials

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Hi Everyone.

I just uploaded the first installment on what I plan to be a series of tutorials that should provide a quick and easy way to get up to speed with Pilot2ATC.  We'll be adding to these over time, with lots of screenshots and some tips and tricks of P2A along the way!

 

Many of you have struggled with getting in the air the first time, so  this first installment will get you from Clearance Delivery through first contact with Oakland Center in a short IFR flight from San Jose, California to Oakland, California.  Probably not a good one for airliners, but grab a good GA plane and take the plunge!

 

You can find it on the Downloads page www.pilot2atc.com/download  Just press  the View Test Flights button to download the PDF.

 

 

Enjoy

Dave

[DrumsArt 270]

Hi Dave,

 

Thank you for that. I just fly the FP once (no time now to make a second one).

 

I noticed :

During taxi at San Jose, ground never contacted me to cross the runway at the "hold short" (however at Oakland no problem at all). Anyway I contacted ground and asked permission of crossing (of course accorded).

 

Ground never contacted me to frequency change for tower before TO.

 

Departure Control never contacted me to contact Oakland Center. Departure contacted me only for Norcal approach (good vector for the ils 29).

 

About the AIs, it seems the map is not always refreshed.

 

Thanks and Regards,

 

Richard Portier

[DrumsArt 270]

"

During taxi at San Jose, ground never contacted me to cross the runway at the "hold short" (however at Oakland no problem at all). Anyway I contacted ground and asked permission of crossing (of course accorded).

 

Ground never contacted me to frequency change for tower before TO."

 

 

I made a second flight. This time the ground contacted me at the "hold short" ;-) and he transferred me to the control tower ;-)

 

 

However no change for the following :

Departure Control never contacted me to contact Oakland Center. Departure contacted me only for Norcal approach (good vector for the ils 29).

 

About the AIs, it seems the map is not always refreshed."

 

One thing to add, if I'm of course the departure gives me a new heading repeating his order 2 times everytime.

 

FSX Acce, Orbx NC, Rex E, A2A Cessna

 

Regards,

 

Richard Portier

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Richard,

If your departure radius and approach radius overlap, you will not get transferred to an ATC Center.  On a short flight like this one, that is what normally happens.  I set my Departure Radius to 10 and Approach Radius to 15 and got transferred to Oakland Center.

Refresh of the AIs is lower priority than other functions.  Also, if the SIM or other activity are using most of the CPU or Memory resources, that might also delay updates. 

I'll need to check into the off course duplicate instructions.

 

Thanks for the PIREP.

Dave

[DrumsArt 270]

Yes you're right of course, I forgot that I could interact with lots of parameters ;-) ! Just great !

 

On this subject I just realized that it is possible to change the minimum altitude AGL during Enroute and during the approach.

 

If I understand correctly it must afford to make approaches in mountain areas ? If this is correct, then P2Atc will be the only Atc program  among all other commercial programs to manage these situations (except of course the native Fsx Atc) ! It's a great improvement !

 

Thanks and Regards,

 

Richard Portier

[w9nwrwi 26]

Starting out with the IFR San Jose to Oakland tutorial. Flight plan loaded, filed, Validated.
All comm good, flying along and I get around San Bruno or so.  ATC tells me to right turn heading of 083, hmmmmm that is curious its taking me off track. Well I let it do its thing and before its over with I have had enough vectors around Fremont to run me in a circle with ATC telling me to get ready for an ILS approach RWY 29 at KOAK.

The question. If I had loaded, filed, and validated the flight plan and followed the tutorial to the letter why am I being taken off track about halfway through the flight?
Flight plan route in flight plan window shows KSJC, OSI, SAU, KOAK.

Gotta be the pilot not the program........... :rolleyes:

Tried it twice, same thing both times.

Chuck

[Mike62 29]

Same thing happened to me.   I forgot to disable Ultimate Traffic and there was a lot of traffic at Oakland so I thought this might be the issue.   But you are right, the controller started vectoring me before the final waypoint which seemed odd then I had to complete what seemed like endless long circles closer to the airport south of Oakland before ATC finally gave me clearance to land and I was nowhere near in the right area to turn for final.   I was still several miles southeast and Oakland Tower was not available yet.   I finally just followed my GPS at this point and landed.    Oakland Ground worked great though.

 

Mike

[alpha117 73]

Mike

 

There are currently some changes being made to how you will be handled by the approach controller and also how SIDs and STARs are handled by P2ATC.

 

Was there much AI traffic on your approach?

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Chuck and Mike,

Sorry for the confusion.  I need to update the tutorial to reduce the Approach radius to 9 NM so you don't get vectors to ILS as you approach San Francisco.

 

If you ever feel you're being vectored around the countryside, just click on the Approach button on the map panel.  It will show an IFR vector pattern in Green on the first click and a VFR pattern in Red.  The IFR pattern is used for all approaches to final, while the VFR pattern is used for vectors to a VFR pattern.

 

Based on your experience, I'm adding a feature to delay any vectors until the last segment in the planned route or until requested by the pilot.  That would have fixed the issue, I believe.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Dave

[w9nwrwi 26]

Thanks to all for the comments and upcoming fixes.

 

Good idea Dave for the delay, I expected instruction right after SAU for KOAK, but obviously never

got that far.
Will standby for the update.

 

Thanks for the quick response, you guys must not sleep!

 

EDIT:  I see what you mean about the Apprch button Dave, yep that was they way I was directed in IFR, except for the circling.  No AI here on X-plane.

Learning this program is going to take me a while.

 

Chuck

[Mike62 29]

Thanks for the changes that will help and make it more realistic.

 

 

Clive, yes I there was a lot of traffic on approach.   I finally remembered the "Clear Approach" command from UT2 so that cleared the airspace and on my next circuit around this southerly holding pattern, I was cleared for final.

 

Mike

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Just posted the 1.3.0.2 update with the Fly Full Route Feature.  The Test Flight guide has also been updated to reflect this along with completion of the flight to Oakland.

 

Enjoy!

Dave