My First Forays Into IFR

[Howellerman 104]

Greetings, 

 

This is not meant to be instructive, by any measure. Instead, I hope to convey some of the ... ahem... pleasure I encountered from a guy that normally flies GA VFR attempting to fly GA IFR.

 

A succinct summary would be:

 

Please expedite your climb..

Please expedite your descent...

Hand off to Norcal/Oakland/Auckland/Tralfamador

Hand off to Tralfamador/Auckland/Oakland/Norcal

Please expedite...

And my favorite, after I ignored a go-around (I was tired), "Did you hear my last transmission..." I could have sworn the guy got testy with me...

 

What a nag!!! This is all with the bog-standard ATC in P3Dv3. 

 

I may have made an unfortunate choice in aircraft/scenario, in that

1. My first attempt was from Christchurch to Auckland in a Phenom 300. I thought the AI traffic program (free from Orbx) would add to the immersion - it added, alright, but may have been too much of a good thing. I was listening to ATC talk with other aircraft, but I was 14 minutes out at FL310 and nobody was telling me to descend. Is this normal? I manually descended by asking for lower flight levels, and actually successfully landed in Auckland without killing anybody despite a 3,000 fpm descent. Whew!
2. My second attempt was with the Flysimware Lear 35 (a great fun airplane, by the way - a total hot-rod) from San Jose to Portland. Jeezus. I was conservative, I was cautious, but still failed. After the fourth hand-off and climb instruction (is this normal?) I pulled the chute somewhere over the Bay.

Maybe I should have tried IFR with the Turbine Duke or a slower aircraft? Certainly, the Learjet can get away from you quickly, and the added AI traffic from the Orbx OZ package can complicate things. The T-Duke is slower, but still can ... expedite ... climbs and descents.

 

IFR flying feels like somebody is beating me with a ball peen hammer compared to VFR. The enjoyment of a leisurely turn to starboard at 1,500 fpm is gone. Instead, I have a Task Master who wants me to expedite. I do love the lady's voices, though. 

 

Is this normal? 

[michal 44]

Is this normal? 

I can tell you what's definitely not normal - comparing an ATC simulation to the real thing.

If you are doing a reasonable thing based on aircraft performance and still hear nagging 'expedite' - reply like you should in real world with unable ... 

But having said so .. ignoring a go-around from a controller would be a violation (IFR/VFR) and could put you in hot water, you would be called to tower to explain yourself...