Observations with 7.42.

[Mad_Mac 21]

Tried out a relatively simple VFR flight from an uncontrolled airport to a Class C airport. I did not notice anything different.

VoxATC still seems to have trouble with fsAerodata. For example: the Unicom frequency and CATF frequency for the airport are both 122.8. The Unicom frequency worked correctly, as did the FSS frequency for opening my flight plan. The CATF, However was 135.475. This is apparently a default frequency in VoxATC similar to 122.2 for Utopia Radio. 

I was handed off to Madison Approach on the correct frequency well outside of the 20 mile limit (earlier than a pilot would do it in real life). Listening to ATIS is still not required prior to the handoff nor is reporting your position, only your altitude (It is in real life). I was simply told to report the airfield in sight. When I did this I was handed off to the tower, again, on the correct frequency. I was given a sensible Right Base for landing on Runway 36 pattern entry instruction. I did have to make a slight adjustment to leave room for a Beechcraft landing in front of me, received clearance to land as I was making my turn on final. Was given a sensible exit right command, and was handed off to ground on the correct frequency. Taxi instructions were also sensible (and prevented 2 conflicts with other aircraft). frequency change to FSS to close the flight plan was also on the correct frequency. There may be some slight improvement in AI handling. It would be nice if the discrepancies from real life procedures I described were fixed, but overall, I considered this a very smooth flight. Tonight I’ll try reversing the route and see what it’s like to land at an uncontrolled airport. 

I would be curious to hear about the experiences of others. 

[Mad_Mac 21]

I did the reverse trip tonight. Flew from Madison, WI to West Bend, WI VFR, but in IFR conditions, just to keep it interesting. Clearance, Ground, FSS, Tower, Departure all worked well. The same issue with VFR flights into uncontrolled airports still exists. Milwaukee Approach told me to report airfield in sight. After I did this (It wasn't because of the cloud coverage) I received no more prompts. I was able to raise West Bend Unicom on 122.8. CTAF was still 135.475. Thanks to fsAerodata, ILS functioned properly, I broke through the clouds at 400ft AGL, landed, and was able to contact Green Bay Radio on 122.1 (Correct frequency) and close my flight plan. I saw no difference compared with how it was functioning before the update.

[503Kento 11]

My experience is the same as yours. None of the bugs I experience seem to have been fixed. Performance seems to be improved but I have no objective measurement to stand on.

 

[kevinfirth 1,392]

4 hours ago, 503Kento said:

My experience is the same as yours. None of the bugs I experience seem to have been fixed. Performance seems to be improved but I have no objective measurement to stand on.

 

perhapd it would be useful for us to have a new thread just to list 7.42 bugs?

[503Kento 11]

Probably a reasonable idea, I don’t have any that have not already been reported. 

[jaybird1nyc 24]

Very disappointed that the issue regarding VFR into uncontrolled fields hasn't been fixed.  It was reported over one year ago,  I just reported it to Tegwyn - AGAIN

I haven't noticed any other differences compared to 7,41

Jay

Edited October 7, 2018 by jaybird1nyc

[Jellybaby 0]

What about the Ultimate Traffic Live Bridge they have not announced about it?!

[kevinfirth 1,392]

53 minutes ago, Jellybaby said:

What about the Ultimate Traffic Live Bridge they have not announced about it?!

My understanding is that any obstacle here is with UT not vox...will people stop moaning about this please, if its not going to get fixed anytime soon why not just use another AI package? - theyre not expensive....

[mikced76 57]

Hi

to be fair, as much as I want to see updates to various bugs Tegwyn actually never stated anything else than improved AI schedules in the latest 7.42 release so no wonder Mad_Mac does not see any improvements with FSAerodata support, improved VFR and so on.

Mike

Website: flygsidan.wordpress.com

[jaybird1nyc 24]

It's not about "improved VFR".  VFR flight in to uncontrolled fields worked fine up until v7, so something got broken and was never fixed.  I reported it to Tegwyn nearly 2 years ago, when beta7 was released and he never addressed it.  Not asking for any improvement, just that it works the way it used to.

Jay

[kevinfirth 1,392]

43 minutes ago, jaybird1nyc said:

It's not about "improved VFR".  VFR flight in to uncontrolled fields worked fine up until v7, so something got broken and was never fixed.  I reported it to Tegwyn nearly 2 years ago, when beta7 was released and he never addressed it.  Not asking for any improvement, just that it works the way it used to.

Jay

Can you give me a generic description of how it used to work and what you see now so I can try to replicate any problem please? Cheers k

Edited October 7, 2018 by kevinfirth

[jaybird1nyc 24]

Hi Kevin,

I can absolutely tell you how it used to work.  Now, we are only referring to VFR flights into uncontrolled fields. VFR flights into towered fields works fine.

Ok, so, you takeoff from your departure field, controlled or uncontrolled, doesn't matter. Soon after you are prompted to switch to a departure or some other interim frequency. There you report your position and altitude and request traffic advisories. You are then given a squawk code and given traffic advisories as needed enroute.  As you near your destination you are prompted to switch to the appropriate approach controller. Soon after you are prompted to "Report airfield in sight". When you do so, there is no further contact from Vox, only traffic advisories. Now, what should happen, and what USED to happen prior to v7 is that when you report airfield in sight is that you were prompted to switch to advisory (CTAF) frequency. You then asked unicom for field advisory and then were given prompts to 1.Report downwind, 2.Report Base, 3.Report Final, 4.Report clear of runway. (Possibly report going around, but not sure)

That's how it used to work. Without that final handoff to the CTAF there's no way to properly complete a VFR flight into a non-towered field. I reported this behavior to Tegwyn nearly 2 years ago.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Jay

[tjrush 54]

6 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

My understanding is that any obstacle here is with UT not vox...will people stop moaning about this please, if its not going to get fixed anytime soon why not just use another AI package? - theyre not expensive.... 

Why not use another ATC package??

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Even AIFP just got around to adding the  importing and exporting of UTL flightplans. UTL was in some kind of extended beta for a long time and its market penetration is still somewhat limited. It probably doesn't pay for freeware and small developers to try to reverse engineer the proprietary UTL database structure as a top priority.

[kevinfirth 1,392]

31 minutes ago, tjrush said:

Why not use another ATC package??

Feel free if that's your choice, find a way of getting what you need, just dont moan about it.  :)