I had never flown IFR in MSFS (did it lots in FSX) so I thought I'd try a short flight, from LaGuardia to Kennedy, about 10 miles.

ATC had me bouncing around like crazy, including having me climb all the way up to 18,000 feet!  At times the instructions to change altitudes were coming so fast (up, down, up down, up, up, down down down down, whatever) that I couldn't begin to react to one before the next came in!

 

Very different than trying to fly IFR in FSX where they gave you instructions what to do, I was largely left hanging.

9 minutes ago, andyjohnston.net said:

ATC had me bouncing around like crazy, including having me climb all the way up to 18,000 feet! 

Did you check NAV LOG in the flight planning screen and check what altitude was set there?

Also try a bit longer flight see if you get a better experience.

I fly the Tampa (KTPA) to Sarasota (KSRQ) route IFR and get great results.

But you are no longer given vectors to get you to your route, it’s expected that you will negotiate to fly what you planned, then you’ll get climb and later descend instructions.

Hope this helps!

Edited October 18, 20205 yr by Cmcollazo71

You simply cannot rely on the ATC to get you there.  There are just too many issues.  Best thing is to learn to fly approaches yourself, and just switch to VFR for the ATC and ignore them.  Fly the instrument approach yourself properly.  

Agree with you @kerosene31, unfortunately if you want to fly into class B airports, most approaches require radar vectors so you have to learn to self-vector to work around the current ATC limitations. 

Fortunately Pointsoft announced  a new version of pro-atc for msfs 2020...

Edited October 18, 20205 yr by igorbischi

I often fly IFR with the C172 (60-80 miles trips) and I have no issues. Just make sure to select low altitude airways if the plane is incapable of reaching high altitude or the trip is short.

I fly IFR all the time in the A320. I turn off ATC voice and only use ATC for sqwark before takeoff as sometimes it is not set (seems random when it is preset) and I sue ATC on final for wind and QNH. I use the flight plan and constraints for altitude. I normally use ILS approaches that I choose in the MSFS world flight planner and use low altitude airways. Works brilliantly except for DSan Francisco which is currently borked.

 

CJ

12 minutes ago, MrFuzzy said:

I often fly IFR with the C172 (60-80 miles trips) and I have no issues. Just make sure to select low altitude airways if the plane is incapable of reaching high altitude or the trip is short.

MSFS has not seized to amaze me ever since I decided to go all in.

Using the co-pilot to handle ATC it's simply so cool that when you're on final to an uncontrolled airport, it broadcast the position. The key is to create the flight plan first, then just go fly and let the co-pilot handle the radio.

For your IFR flights, take me through your procedure. Create FP with MAP.....

Thanks.

Jose

 

6 hours ago, DJJose said:

For your IFR flights, take me through your procedure. Create FP with MAP.....

I create a FP in the world map, then I select "IFR - low altitude airways" and leave the default option "Approach: Auto" at the destination airport.

Once I'm in the aircraft I ask ATC for pushback - taxi (the departure runway is dictated by the ATC), then I ask clearance for takeoff once I'm at the runway.

Airborne: basically you just have to acknowledge and follow instructions... altitude, heading (you can also use the NAV function), report runway in sight, landing clearance.  

23 hours ago, andyjohnston.net said:

I had never flown IFR in MSFS (did it lots in FSX) so I thought I'd try a short flight, from LaGuardia to Kennedy, about 10 miles.

ATC had me bouncing around like crazy, including having me climb all the way up to 18,000 feet!  At times the instructions to change altitudes were coming so fast (up, down, up down, up, up, down down down down, whatever) that I couldn't begin to react to one before the next came in!

 

Very different than trying to fly IFR in FSX where they gave you instructions what to do, I was largely left hanging.

Pilot2ATC works with MSFS right now, and it won't bounce altitudes around like that.   One thing it will do that isn't good is, depending on your flight path, it will bounce you between center controllers.  So it's not perfect.  But far better than MSFS default ATC for an IFR flight.

53 minutes ago, MrFuzzy said:

I create a FP in the world map, then I select "IFR - low altitude airways" and leave the default option "Approach: Auto" at the destination airport.

Once I'm in the aircraft I ask ATC for pushback - taxi (the departure runway is dictated by the ATC), then I ask clearance for takeoff once I'm at the runway.

Airborne: basically you just have to acknowledge and follow instructions... altitude, heading (you can also use the NAV function), report runway in sight, landing clearance.  

It's much the same for me. I use Navigraph to ensure I've got a detailed flight plan, then like Mr. Fuzzy select IFR - Low Altitude.  I plug in any missing away points from Navigraph - and away you go.  Overall can't say I've had a bad experience yet.

2 hours ago, MrFuzzy said:

I create a FP in the world map, then I select "IFR - low altitude airways" and leave the default option "Approach: Auto" at the destination airport.

Once I'm in the aircraft I ask ATC for pushback - taxi (the departure runway is dictated by the ATC), then I ask clearance for takeoff once I'm at the runway.

Airborne: basically you just have to acknowledge and follow instructions... altitude, heading (you can also use the NAV function), report runway in sight, landing clearance.  

Thanks! Good to know that it's similar to p3d.

Edited October 19, 20205 yr by DJJose

I’ve been using IFR on low altitude airways in the Caravan and ATC is generally ok. 

Occasionally I get dumb requests to expedite a climb or descend. One time, I was descending through the BC Coastal range from FL100 to Abbotsford and the ATC was asking me to descend to 5000’ amongst 7000’ peaks. However, the other day, I ignored multiple requests to expedite my climb to 9600’ until I saw some rather tall mountains on the live terrain display. So it saved me in that instance. 

ATC won’t provide vectors, even when you request it, I’m usually scratching my head wondering where they are getting that. And I just let the plane fly NAV mode. 

It seems pretty good at assigning a runway and approach which is actually great (and realistic from what I understand)... not knowing exactly what approach you’ll be using and pulling up the plates on my iPad while in flight. 

Edited October 19, 20205 yr by Virtual-Chris

The one that always gets to me is when flying VFR to an airport and request landing clearance and I get the opposite pattern entry that I'm supposed to receive. 😀

I've resorted to let the 1st officer worry about the ATC.

3 words. Little Nav Map. Possibly the best freeware ever. Millions of features. Even have mods for having the real V airways of J airways charts displayed instead of the defaults.