Abandoned by ATC after approach clearance

[cgrey000 1]

Hi Dave,

I've waited before posting about this until I am almost certain it's not just now and then. 

On every flight I've done recently (all IFR plans, GA aircraft, ~200 mile flights) the last comm I get from ATC is the IFR approach clearance. I never get handed off to an approach controller, never get redirected if I intentionally go off-course, and am never given a "descend and maintain"... Everything will be perfectly normal until "cleared for ILS approach to runway ... ". P2A is still "alive" - moving map continues to work, ETE time and distance updates, etc. Just no more ATC interaction. I haven't spoken to ground or tower in a destination airport in many weeks :) 

Tonight, I set out to document exactly what would happen to report it. Once I received ILS approach clearance from center, I completely ignored it. Flew 40nm past the transition waypoint, never being contacted to correct or descend. By then I gave up, assuming there'd be nothing if not yet.

I can't conclusively correlate this to the 2.2.1.8 update, other than I believe that's around the time it started.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

When you are cleared for the ILS Approach, that is clearance to fly both the vertical and lateral approach, so you should not expect any further altitude assignments or headings.  You would only get those if you are being vectored to Final.

Once you get to the IF of the ILS, you would be transferred to Tower, who would give you clearance to land.

If you want vectors, you can request Vectors to the ILS and then you will get headings and altitudes until on final.

[cgrey000 1]

9 hours ago, Dave-Pilot2ATC said:

When you are cleared for the ILS Approach, that is clearance to fly both the vertical and lateral approach, so you should not expect any further altitude assignments or headings.  You would only get those if you are being vectored to Final.

Once you get to the IF of the ILS, you would be transferred to Tower, who would give you clearance to land.

If you want vectors, you can request Vectors to the ILS and then you will get headings and altitudes until on final.

I understand... But, I'm not being transferred to anyone after getting the IFR clearance. I've made sure, for one test, that I'm definitely flying in to a controlled airport. I never get the transfer to tower. And, in my other test noted, after "disregarding" the clearance (which I'd of course never do normally, this was just for a test) after flying 40nm past the IFR transition waypoint, I was never contacted or redirected back to the proper course... Granted, I've never done this prior to this behavior, so I don't know if it is normal -- I would have assumed ATC would tell me, in some way, that I'm not following the assigned approach... ? 

 

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

Can you send me the log file for this flight?  They are located in the Logs folder at:

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\P2A_200\Logs

where <UserName> is your PC user name

A new log file is created each time you start Pilot2ATC, so it may or may not be the most recent log file.

Thanks,

Dave

[cgrey000 1]

PM sent - sorry for the delay...

 

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

No problem.  Thanks for sending it.

Looks like ATC got lost in the procedure turn.  I'll be testing this scenario with the new update to be sure it works now.

Dave

[cgrey000 1]

Thanks for checking it out. I don't know what is unique about my setup, but this is an "every time I fly" thing, as opposed to a "once in a while" thing... Happy to help in any way I can if you need anything else on this.

 

 

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

I found several bugs in this RNAV scenario related to the procedure turn.  Should be fixed in the next update.

Thanks,

Dave

[cgrey000 1]

Excellent, thanks Dave... Will be watching for the update! Meanwhile, I'll stick to ILS approaches :)

 

[cgrey000 1]

Downloaded and installed 2.2.1.9R3. First flight with RNAV approach worked perfectly - looks like you squashed the specific issue I was seeing.

Thanks again, Dave!

 

[cmck 1]

I'm hoping that there will be some more ATC interactions in the next update in regards to giving headings to the next waypoints. Such as "Jet Blue 1 fly heading 314 to SGD" I'd like to see that in the Sayit feature. Or "Jet Blue request heading to next waypoint ex SGD" Can you that now? Maybe I just don't know that you can, I'm still learning a lot about the program, but agree with above post that at times, ATC just stops communicating at key points in a flight. For landings ATC should always give a final vector to the runway and also should give speed call outs for traffic separation during transitions along Sids and Stars. As stated I still have much to learn about the program and I have been using the trial version. Knowing that updates are coming will definitely sell me on this product. Is one coming soon?? It's really well done and impressive adding much realism and really teaches you a lot about flying strict routes and traffic patterns. Very cool.