2 hours ago, domkle said:

Fly an aircraft without a FMS or even a GTN. No diect to

When I mentioned it, I meant it in the sense that in the real world, ATC, or the PIC, will often request/authorize "direct to" a certain waypoint, so as to save fuel and time.  When I mentioned it, that was the context.  I was not referring to a GPS direct to function at all.

Pilot2ATC, as with real-world ATC, does allow for a direct to.  That is the context under which I mentioned that a direct to was used by me in my sim.  Nothing to do with direct to on a GPS, which as you mention, is not equipment on my airliners.

4 hours ago, mtr75 said:

VoxATC might be the winner! Just checked it out and me likey! Of course now we're going to have to see about v5, because I'm upgrading come Tuesday. So that might put all this on hold for a few days. 

Just a word of caution. There is presently no official support for VOXATC. It's the equivalent of owning a 1968 Porsche 911 and not having a competent mechanic to rely on. 

Just now, Christopher Low said:

Maybe it's because I have relatively short flights in my PMDG 737 NGX (and use the "flight following" option), but my aircraft is never vectored anywhere. It follows the flight plan in the FMC to the letter every time. If I use a STAR for arrivals, I simply connect the end of the STAR to a suitable waypoint that can then be connected to the approach phase.

Am I missing something here?

If you fly VFR  there is no vectoring. You need to define your flight as IFR to have the default ATC to direct you. 

9 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Maybe it's because I have relatively short flights in my PMDG 737 NGX (and use the "flight following" option), but my aircraft is never vectored anywhere. It follows the flight plan in the FMC to the letter every time. If I use a STAR for arrivals, I simply connect the end of the STAR to a suitable waypoint that can then be connected to the approach phase.

Am I missing something here?

You aren't under ATC control when getting flight following. They just issue you traffic advisories. You're also probably the only 737 on earth that's VFR. 

That's fair enough. All I am trying to say is that there are ways to enjoy flights with the default ATC without having to suffer 30 degree vector changes every two minutes.

No one notice this "Control Tower : modern" ATC feature ?

 

In Prepar3D v4.5 HF2 :

And in Prepar3D v5 (according to this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Ld0R38kQc) :

 

 

Edited April 13, 20206 yr by vbazillio

I hope that Editvoicepack is also updated.

3 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

That's fair enough. All I am trying to say is that there are ways to enjoy flights with the default ATC without having to suffer 30 degree vector changes every two minutes.

Of course, I explained how  but it is kind of gamey . You have solved the problem even more radically, you fly a 737 under VFR 😀!

Having a  better IFR environment wouldn’t be bad ,14 years after the last improvement in the sim ATC. Lets wait and see whether v5 brings it to the table.

3 hours ago, vbazillio said:

No one notice this "Control Tower : modern" ATC feature ?

If you look at the P3Dv5 new features list, this is related to updated interiors in the default Control Towers.

The only other ATC change listed is the ability to tune frequencies with '8.33 kHz spacing support'.

Finally they have added Sid and Star visualisation support for gauges - whatever that means.

Apart from that there is nothing else ATC related - so don't get your hopes up too much 🙂

Just now, Caveney737 said:

If you look at the P3Dv5 new features list, this is related to updated interiors in the default Control Towers.

It seems you're right. It's disappointing that we're expecting something to enhance our flight sim experience and end with a interior of control tower improvement...

22 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Disappointing that v5 won't have ATC improvements and/or fixes.  Oh well, hopefully MSFS 2020 will do a good job with ATC.

I just ignore the vectoring instructions and fly the approach myself.  One thing I *really* hate about the default ATC is that they give altitude instructions when you're only 300ft from the previously commanded altitude, so if you're climbing at 3000ft/min and you overshoot by 300ft because 10 seconds before you had to change frequencies from departure to center, then ATC will forever command you to descend requiring you to cancel the IFR flight plan and reload a modified plan if you've passed any waypoints.

Lockheed Martin should have fixed this as it's been a known issue for a long time.

Dave

If you blow through an altitude by 300 feet flying IFR in real life, you're going to hear about it, believe me. "Aviate, navigate, communicate," in that order. Radio calls have the lowest priority. First priority is making sure you don't hit anything, which you can do by blowing through altitudes. 

20 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

Just a word of caution. There is presently no official support for VOXATC. It's the equivalent of owning a 1968 Porsche 911 and not having a competent mechanic to rely on. 

Ah, that's probably a dealbreaker then. 

7 hours ago, domkle said:

Having a  better IFR environment wouldn’t be bad ,14 years after the last improvement in the sim ATC. Lets wait and see whether v5 brings it to the table.

I don't expect any major changes to the default ATC.  For my part I am hoping P2ATC works in v5, or if not, then gets updated for v5.

I guess P3d v5.1hf1 default  ATC is garbage still 

as I was on approach using IFR and I was cleared to land with a 747 also cleared to land on my word not allowed. offensive initials not allowed lol

cheers

mike

1. VOXATC- best ATC and controls and communicates with AI aircraft. In the past, the tech support was spotty, but now it's as good as any.  MSFS also desperately needs a version of this add-on but Asobo hasn't completed its SDK, so don't count on it being released soon. 

2. Pilot2ATC- ATC is almost as good as VOXATC and the user interface is more intuitive. Works  with XP11, P3d5 and MSFS. Doesn't control or communicate with AI aircraft. Outstanding tech support.

3. Everything else is well below these two and is either very dated or no longer under development.