Tried ATC in P3D for the first time this morning. 

Was instructed to hold short (I'd be crossing two runways) so I held short at the first runway. And sat there... and sat there...

Decided maybe it was only going to recognize me holding short at the 2nd runway, so I looked both ways and taxied across, and then held short at the 2nd runway, and was abandoned again...

(Making this funny was that I was in GA and there was an Airbus behind me - ATC kept telling him to hold position, then go again... CONSTANTLY... would have been hilarious to see the passengers getting rocked back and forth as he kept stopping...)

 

ATC also seemed really, really anxious for me to get to my heading (which was about 130 degrees off my runway heading) and changed the heading they wanted me to go to three times in the time it took to eventually get there...

 

I like ATC, but anyway, can anyone shed some light here? 

Well, default ATC kinda sucks. What else can you say about it. It's okay for GA flight following but that's about it.

ATC is still the same as it was in FSX, so... Not very useful.

Yeah, figured...

Get Pro ATC X, you will never use default ATC again. 

Get Pro ATC X, you will never use default ATC again. 

Thanks Bob - 

 

I watched a bit of a video... well, I guess you get used to the voices? (I fly RW so it might take some getting used to....)

 

Also, I fly just about exclusively GA - still ok for that?

 

(Promise I'll do my homework here but figured I'd ask...)

ProATC is for airliners only. If you only fly GA it won't be of much use. Unless you like to fly SIDS and STARs with a Cessna. I love ProATC but mainly use it when I fly the Aerosoft Airbus. Whenever I fly GA I use default ATC, mainly for flight following (which ProATC doesn't do). I sometimes use it with the RealAir Legacy and the Flight GTN 750 but it all feels a bit out of place. Again, it is meant for airliners.

ProATC is for airliners only. If you only fly GA it won't be of much use. Unless you like to fly SIDS and STARs with a Cessna. I love ProATC but mainly use it when I fly the Aerosoft Airbus. Whenever I fly GA I use default ATC, mainly for flight following (which ProATC doesn't do). I sometimes use it with the RealAir Legacy and the Flight GTN 750 but it all feels a bit out of place. Again, it is meant for airliners.

Ok, well, that settles that!

Thank you.

Will LM ever address the default ATC? If they did, P3D would become a lot more interesting for me in an instant. :smile:

Will LM ever address the default ATC? If they did, P3D would become a lot more interesting for me in an instant. :smile:

Agreed. Those robotic voiced programs that are available just don't cut it for me.

Heya Turner, 

 

I think the most direct answer to your question is that once you hold short, you announce you are ready to go, possibly for the second time. This "wakes" up the guys (and sometimes gals) in the tower.

 

I too fly exclusively GA, but have tried IFR flights a couple of times. My suggestion is don't - very non-intuitive and frustrating.

 

Requesting flight following seems to work - just make sure you respond that you can see the bogey even if you can't!   :wink:  

Agreed. Those robotic voiced programs that are available just don't cut it for me.

I used to agree with that but what ProATC does for me (with airliners) is so great that the voices don't bother me at ALL. It is so easy to set up and plan a flight, the way it assigns SID and STAR on the go, taking weather into account, the way you interact with it (no need for a huge interface onscreen), it's just great. Even though some (not all!) voices are quite bad. And even though support sucks.

 

At the OP: there are ATC addons which might work better with GA, like Pilot2ATC. I don't have any experience with the other addons at all but I do know some work better with GA than ProATC. You might want to check them out.

FWIW just tried the flight - very short flight from Northeast Philadelphia (KPNE) to Lehigh Valley International (Allentown, KABE) in the Alabeo DA40 running FSXFlight and FlyQ on my ipad; 

 

Actually... I was pretty blown away. I wasn't over-vectored this time - a few reasonable turns got me right onto the approach (ILS 13) at the correct height and intercept.

 

Bonus: Running Active Sky. This was about the best "weather flight" I've ever had - snowing here, up through a cloud layer to between layers, snow on and off, OVERCAST AS FAR AS I COULD SEE. That was the first time that's ever happened. THIS IS NOW MY SIM OF CHOICE. (I don't have a great system, either.)

 

Top layer became fully overcast. Still snowing. Lost my airspeed and realized that maybe P3D models pitot icing; apparently, it does!?!  Turned pitot heat on, got my speed back.

 

Descent through overcast with snow (with a few mountains visible here and there peeking up above the overcast) then underneath to minimums. Amazing. 

 

Did not even plan this.

So... at least ATC didn't get in my way (thought they did ask me to report a 737 or something behind me). Btw I'm still on v 2.4 I think.

It's a pity Pro ATC doesn't handle PFPX flight plans properly.

 

I always just use the default ATC for takeoff and landing. Just so I don't land or takeoff into AI planes.

It's a pity Pro ATC doesn't handle PFPX flight plans properly.

I always just use the default ATC for takeoff and landing. Just so I don't land or takeoff into AI planes.

ProATC handles PFPX planes just fine...? What problems do you have with it? I have to add I stopped using the PFPX planner and simply use the ProATC one but that wasn't because of problems but because the ProATC planner is extremely fast. A plan is setup in seconds (and includes everything you need, like expected SID and STAR). By the time I am done setting up a plan in ProATC PFPX is still initializing.

 

I always start ProATC, select departure and destination and then save the flight without looking at anything: simple as that. ATC will tell me all I need to know at the appropriate time and I really, really like that.