Hi everyone, new to the forum and P2ATC.

 

Is there a specific message to give ATC when you are descending after TOD (top of descent)?  For example, after reaching TOD and descending from 28,000 feet, ATC says it wants me to climb and maintain FL280 (per my flight plan).  Obviously, when only say, 20nm out from the airport,  you can't just drop from that flight level.  So, I have just been ignoring the ATC, and proceeding with the descent anyway.  But is there correct terminology to tell ATC that you are performing a normal descent into the approach region of the destination airport?

 

- Bill

 

 

Hi Bill,

The Flight Plan has a place to calculate or enter TOD and if you do this, ATC will give you incremental clearances down to the approach altitude.

To set/calculate TOD, you need to enter a Cruise altitude, Plan Groundspeed and desired Descent rate and your TOD Distance will be calculated for you.  If you enter a TOD Distance, the Descent rate will be calculated.

Then, when you are that distance from the Destination Airport, you will get clearance from ATC to descend in several increments, depending on your Cruise Altitude.

 

Hope this helps,

Dave

Okay, thanks Dave I will give that a shot.  I don't recall seeing a place to enter the TOD distance, but the next time I fly I will see what I can find. 

 

Thank you for your help.

 

- Bill

Hi Bill,

 

Open the Flt Plan window, on the top of the window you have (left to right) Cruise Alt, Plan GS, Distance, ETE, Descent Rate and TOD options

 

Hope this help,

 

Regards,

 

Richard Portier

Hi Dave,

 

I tried the TOD calculation as described several times but ATC gave me no descent clearance. I kept flying 30-50 miles to see if something happens.

 

Also if I stay on the center frequency I get no approach clearance. I have to swith to the approach frequency and ask for the ILS vectors. Is that correct? I disabled the "fly full route" option and increased the approach radius in the options menu but this had no effect.

 

Regards,

Anton

Hi Anton.

It's possible that your flight plan did not file correctly or that it was not an IFR flight plan.

If you have a Filed IFR flight plan, the TOD and handoff to approach control should happen. 

 

You should be transferred to Approach control from Center at the Approach Radius from the destination airport.  If this is before TOD, then it will be Approach control that starts your descent.  Otherwise, Center will start the descent and then pass you to Approach control when you get within the Approach radius.

 

If you have filed the IFR flight plan and it still doesn't behave as described, please send me your flight plan ([email protected]) with cruise altitude and TOD and I'll try and see what's going on.

 

Thanks,

Dave

Hi Dave,

 

Thanks for your reply and Happy New Year!

 

I will send you a screenshot of the situation when the controller should have started the descent. The destination distance is below the calculated TOD distance but nothing happens. The flight plan was created with EFASS and imported to Pilot2ATC.

 

Regards,

Anton

Anton,

Thanks for the flight plan and screenshot.  I was able to find a bug that was causing the problem.

I will have a fix out later today in update 1.4.0.9.

 

Thanks for your help.

Dave

Version 1.4.0.9 is now available on the download page!

 

Dave

Should we see the altitudes change at the various waypoints in the flight plan window when we change TOD or descent rate? Mine stay at FL250 all the way to (but not including) the destination.

Dave,

No, the flight plan won't change.  However, the Center or Approach controller will provide a stepped descent if your cruise altitude is high enough to warrant it.

 

Dave