My MCE Experience

[RodgerC 58]

Just wanted to chime in here and say what a great time I'm having with MCE.  I don't have any addon ATC software so just using the FSX ATC and for the most part it is great.  I made the mistake of going with the MCE Lite edition and quickly found out that wasn't going to work for me as I fly pretty much exclusively Carenado and RealAir airplanes, so I went with the full version and absolutely no regrets.  Still learning, and the only problems I have had is trying to get ATC to answer at times but for the most part I'm good with it.  I've read many posts to try and figure some things out but will probably learn on the go.  One question I do have is can someone explain the advantage of having RC4 or PFE.  I've read some about them but different people seem to have their preferences.  Are they that much better the the standard FSX ATC?  Thanks

Rodger

 

[Helix1250 3]

Hi Rodger,

I will do my best to give you a little info in alternative ATC software.

Now I can only talk about PF3 as thats the one I use, but I believe that RC is a very similar beast. Your find as you use the default ATC that there are certain things it doesn't do very well, one of which is things like SID's and STAR's, to be honest it cant use them. 

PF3 is one of the latest releases of ATC software, where as RC has been around a fair while but sadly I believe is no longer being developed. What as PF3 is not only a more up to date program but way more flexibility and function. With PF3 you create your flight plan as normal and you will load it into PF3, you can also load it to FSX if your going to use the GPS. But now you have options to select if you want to be vectored or fly a SID out of your destination, like wise you can select if you want a vector or STAR arrival. Not only that when you fly in different countries or even airspace your most likely hear different voices which are suited to that region. 

And at an airport you can stipulate the stand you want to be directed to when you land,the trouble is that there is so much more you can do and control its hard to list it all. but what I can say is that PF3 has a trial which I believe is a full product but only works for 15 intervals, you can restart it as many times as you like even on the same flight. 

If your interested give the demo a go, its free and you can then have a play and see exactly what I mean in terms of flexibility and control, and not only that the developer is working all the time to add new features and iron out any bugs that crop up. 

I have been using it since release and hard ever fly without it, and it works so well with MCE. 

I hope that has helped,

Rob

[Chock 17,769]

2 hours ago, Helix1250 said:

You find as you use the default ATC that there are certain things it doesn't do very well, one of which is things like SID's and STAR's, to be honest it cant use them.

Rob

Actually, you sort of can use SIDS and STARS with the default FS ATC, with a tiny bit of effort...

If you create a route with the default flight planner, then click on 'Find Route', it will display your plan on the map. Now, if you zoom in on the red route line, you can drag that line to any new location to add another waypoint, so if you drag it to the waypoints of the SID or STAR procedure, you will be able to manually create the SID or STAR waypoints as part of your default FS flight plan (this is exactly what an FMC does when you assign a SID, it just already has those waypoints in its database). Save that route and it will then include your custom made SID or STAR. You can fine tune the position of these custom waypoints with exact Lat/Long coordinates by clicking on Edit Waypoint, and you can put additional info on them too if you like, as you can see I have done with two of mine. They will then be part of your IFR flight plan with the default ATC, so it will expect you to fly that route, thus ATC will be wanting you to fly the procedure.

Here is a manually created Honiley One Yankee SID from Runway 23L at EGCC, made in the default flight planner. It is a departure from 23L, then a right turn at MCT DME 3.2 onto a heading of 285 degrees, followed by a left turn onto 156 degrees at MCT 5 DME to intercept the TABLY VOR, which is exactly the correct routing for a HON1Y departure from EGCC:

Here it is being assigned by the default ATC with it showing on the Just Flight Socata TB-20's GPS. Note that ATC is clearing me to 5,000 feet, which is the altitude at which you fly the HON1Y SID:

 

 

[Helix1250 3]

Well setting up a manual SID and STAR is possible, but only if FSX has NAV fixes in its database which is now 11 years old. And bare in mind arrival and approach routes change quite often.

when I create a flight plan it includes all approach and departure information, I load the flight plan and bam PF3 has all the information it needs.

All done without all the faffing around of creating things manually, so for me that means more time flying and less time trying to get FSX to put a navaid/waypoint on the right spot to accurately mimic standard procedure.

Each to there own however :)

Rob

[Chock 17,769]

This method wouldn't require any specific nav fixes to be in the FSX database at all, the waypoints were placed by typing in the exact coordinates. You can see in the text below that they are not FS database navaid points, they are custom lat/long coordinates.

Admittedly it isn't going to be as quick as clicking on an FMC's procedure (initially at least), but if anyone desperately wants to use the default ATC and wants arrival and departure procedures in their flight plan, it's simply not true to say you can't have such procedures interact with the default FS ATC, as it certainly can be done.

It is then possible to save such plans with your manually created SIDS or STARS and use them in other plans; you simply copy and paste your SID/STAR waypoints from one of your existing plans with a text editor such as Notepad, and that is really quick to do. It wouldn't be too long before you'd have your own custom database of SIDs or STARs which you could reuse.

Here are those custom SID waypoints from the example I posted. It'd take about ten seconds to copy that text and paste it at the front of your new FS flight plan in Notepad:

<ATCWaypoint id="EGCC">
            <ATCWaypointType>Airport</ATCWaypointType>
            <WorldPosition>N53° 19' 56.02",W2° 18' 36.50",+000257.00</WorldPosition>
            <ICAO>
                <ICAOIdent>EGCC</ICAOIdent>
            </ICAO>
        </ATCWaypoint>
        <ATCWaypoint id="WP2">
            <ATCWaypointType>User</ATCWaypointType>
            <WorldPosition>N53° 17' 49.80",W2° 22' 56.40",+005000.00</WorldPosition>
            <Descr>Chock&apos;s Hon 1 Yankee MCT DME 3.2</Descr>
        </ATCWaypoint>
        <ATCWaypoint id="WP3">
            <ATCWaypointType>User</ATCWaypointType>
            <WorldPosition>N53° 18' 42.00",W2° 27' 15.60",+005000.00</WorldPosition>
            <Descr>Chock&apos;s Hon 1 Yankee 285 Deg MCT 5 DME</Descr>
        </ATCWaypoint>
        <ATCWaypoint id="TABLY">

[Helix1250 3]

Well if makes you happy to do it that way then great! But looking at your example it doesn't show any speed or altitude constraints. So I couldn't call it a standard procedure.

Anyway, my original post was just a little insight into alternative ATC software which Rodger has enqired about, and to highlight a few differences. 

cheers Rob

[Chock 17,769]

True, it doesn't show any constraints, and I'm not suggesting it is as easy as having them done for you by something like Pro ATC (which is what I use). But if you've put them into the sim's flight planner from referencing a chart, you would know what those restrictions were, so it would be a simple enough matter to fly those manually.

Given that the OP is flying Carenado and Real Air stuff, that is pretty much going to be a necessity anyway, since most GA aeroplanes don't have an autothrottle, but they do mostly have an autopilot capable of V/S and ALT hold, and even if they did not, pretty much every procedure is going to use specific rate turns (normally specified in the aerodrome booklet), so you can easily fly any procedure you like by hand (and I do normally fly SIDs by hand in airliners), providing that is, your aircraft meets the speed and climb requirements of the procedure, which come to think of it, quite a few GA aeroplanes wouldn't be able to manage, given that such procedures are normally aimed at turboprop and jet airliners lol.

[Helix1250 3]

Just have to love a GTN 750 :)

[RodgerC 58]

Thanks for the info guys.  At this time I'm not interested much in SID's and STAR's just looking at a better option for ATC.  Think I will give PF3 a trial run.  I do have one question about PF3 and MCE.  I have been reading some of the threads concerning PF3 and it sounds like a significant amount of using the keyboard in order to use PF3.  I thought the idea was to get away from that?  Or am I wrong about the use of the keyboard.  Also seems like a lot of going into the programs and changing things around in order to get them to work together.  I have downloaded the Trial version of PF3 but now not so sure I want to use it if I have to go into programs and start changing things as I am not good at doing stuff like that and don't want to mess things up so they don't work at all.  Seems difficult getting MCE and PF3 to talk to each other and do it correctly.