Instructed to contact tower at KCON

[Arwen 289]

The first part of the flight went well,  For the first time, KLEB Tower instructed me to fly runway heading until 1800 feet (1000 feet above airport elevation), and then turn left for my heading (which was (CON VOR),  After I was about 10 miles away from KLEB, I was instructed to contact Departure,

 

This is where the problems began.  I manually dialed in my assigned frequency and reported my current altitude.  But I was instructed to contact center, on the frequency I was currently using.  Apparently the same frequency is assigned to multiple ACT controllers, and there is no way to manually dial in the assigned frequency and end up at the correct one. (I was finally able to contact the correct controller, by selecting it off P2ATC's frequentcy list; which is not ideal when I am trying to fly my aircraft).

 

Once I got close to KCOM, I asked for radar vectors for a visual approach of RW33, That seemed to be working correctly until I found myself 10 miles south of the airport and still being direct to head south.  

 

Eventually I requested permission to land with a visual approach, which was approved,  But then I kept being instructed to head south, away from the airport.  This even continued after I had canceled IFR.

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 870]

Arwen,

Not sure what went wrong, especially with the vectoring.  I'll PM you with the info I need to troubleshoot.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 870]

Arwen,

After reviewing the data you sent, I can't really figure out what went wrong with the vectoring.

 

In the future, after requesting and getting the first vector for an approach, press the Appr button to the right of the main map and it will display the route ATC is going to use to vector you.  You can then possibly see it's totally wrong and ask for something else, or see that it makes sense and put up with the instructions.  In this case, it may have been trying to vector you to a different airport or something crazy like  that.

 

Also, when asking for vectors, you normally don't have to include the airport ICAO identifier, but if it looks like you're being taken for a ride in the wrong direction, try asking for  the vectors again, and this second time, include "...Runway at Kilo Charlie Oscar November"

 

Thanks for all the info gathering and let me know what happens with 200.7.

Dave

[Arwen 289]

Hey Dave,

 

I'm the one who should be thanking you.  I love how far v.2.0 beta has progressed.  

 

I'll give it another go as soon as I can, and use your suggestions if I run into into vectoring issues.

[Arwen 289]

I finally had some time this evening to try this route again, I updated P2ATC to 2.0.0.12.

 

My IFR flight plan was KLEB --> CON (the VOR close to KCON) --> KCON.  My cruising altitude was 3000 feet.

 

Everything was going very smoothly until I passed CON, and then Boston Center directed me to descend and maintain 1900 feet.  The problem was that it just kept repeating this over and over again, even after I turned my radio off.

 

Everything else was great.  I'll refly the route as soon as I can.

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 870]

Thanks Arwen.

Sometimes this repeated altitude command is driven by descending slower than the Min Vertical Velocity setting.  Try checking that setting and make it smaller if you want a shallow descent.

 

Turning the radio off should shut the controller up, but I'm not sure I have that in the program.  I'll have to see about adding it.  Right now, I believe you would have to shut off your Battery or Avionics switch to shut them up,  and that's seems a little drastic!  :smile:

Let me know what happens on your next flight,

Dave