Done a handful of IFR flights now with the trial and unfortunately am being put off very quickly, and was hoping someone could maybe reassure me or explain to me why on each flight I'm having issues.

On one flight I asked for vectors to the ILS at LIRF to cut out the drawn out arrival, which initially seemed fine. I seemed to be on an intercept heading, and then ATC put me on a 90º angle to intercept about 2 miles away from it, and told me to contact tower. Obviously on turning to this heading (didn't want to ignore them) I shot straight through the localizer, so then I'm trying to get back on it, whilst tuning tower and checking in.

Also had some odd crossing restrictions which don't match my VNAV path - where I'll be asked to cross a waypoint at an arbitrarily high altitude, then follow the arrival, which has much lower altitude restrictions immediately after, to the point where I have to reign in the speed and really anticipate this huge increase in negative VS.

More annoyingly is the RT. For example, on approach, I am asked constantly to read back the entire arrival over and over again. For example, "cross INTXN at FL230 then descend on the XXXXX arrival with the YYYYY transition to 6000', for the ILS 18R with the ZZZZZ transition at AAAA airport" (thereabouts). Then later on, when I'm cleared for the ILS, repeating the entire thing but this time with the word 'cleared' in it. On top of that, saying the entire airport name... I've never known pilots to read back the name of the airport in any arrival readbacks, let alone a landing clearance. "Cleared to land runway 18R at Madrid Barajas Adolfo Suarez airport, callsign". It's just "cleared to land runway 18R, callsign".

Same with "request push and start". "Request pushback and engine start" - I mean it's obvious you're starting the engines. That's a minor one.

The taxi clearances are the worst. They are always incredibly convoluted, and whilst I'm willing to accept this given the complexity of some airports and the software may not understand how to join certain taxiways together, at EGLL it will spell out 'LINK 21' as Lima India November Kilo Two One. 

Moreover, just now at LEMD I didn't bother reading back the clearance verbally, I just pressed 'Say It' to get it over and done with. Yet apparently that was insufficient, as I got the entire clearance again. I pressed 'Say It' again... same again. I just ignored her that time. Looks like the copilot was omitting the callsign for some reason, but why does this warrant the entire clearance again?

IBERIA Three Four Six Four Taxi to Runway One Eight Right Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left
~ Taxi to Runway One Eight Right Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left IBERIA Three Four Six Four
 Taxi to Runway One Eight Right via Taxiways Echo Bravo Six Echo Bravo Seven November One Zero November Niner Bravo November Three Bravo Eight Bravo Seven Zulu Seven Zulu Eight Zulu Whiskey Three Zulu Whiskey Four Zulu Whiskey Five Zulu One Four November Oscar November Echo Hold Short Runway Three Six Left IBERIA Three Four Six Four; 
IBERIA Three Four Six Four Taxi to  Runway One Eight Right  Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left
~ Taxi to  Runway One Eight Right  Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left IBERIA Three Four Six Four
 Taxi to Runway One Eight Right via Taxiways Echo Bravo Six Echo Bravo Seven November One Zero November Niner Bravo November Three Bravo Eight Bravo Seven Zulu Seven Zulu Eight Zulu Whiskey Three Zulu Whiskey Four Zulu Whiskey Five Zulu One Four November Oscar November Echo Hold Short Runway Three Six Left IBERIA Three Four Six Four; 
IBERIA Three Four Six Four Taxi to  Runway One Eight Right  Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left
~ Taxi to  Runway One Eight Right  Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left IBERIA Three Four Six Four
 Taxi to Runway One Eight Right via Taxiways Echo Bravo Six Echo Bravo Seven November One Zero November Niner Bravo November Three Bravo Eight Bravo Seven Zulu Seven Zulu Eight Zulu Whiskey Three Zulu Whiskey Four Zulu Whiskey Five Zulu One Four November Oscar November Echo Hold Short Runways Three Six Left;  IBERIA Three Four Six Four; 
IBERIA Three Four Six Four Taxi to  Runway One Eight Right  Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left
~ Taxi to  Runway One Eight Right  Via taxiways Echo Bravo Six, Echo Bravo Seven, November One Zero, November Niner, Bravo November Three, Bravo Eight, Bravo Seven, Zulu Seven, Zulu Eight, Zulu Whiskey Three, Zulu Whiskey Four, Zulu Whiskey Five, Zulu One Four, November Oscar November Echo,  Hold Short Runway Three Six Left IBERIA Three Four Six Four

At the moment this feels like a lot of effort, constantly battling to be understood - even by the copilot. Tell me I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks

Edited February 6, 20215 yr by JKawai

56 minutes ago, JKawai said:

On one flight I asked for vectors to the ILS at LIRF to cut out the drawn out arrival, which initially seemed fine. I seemed to be on an intercept heading, and then ATC put me on a 90º angle to intercept about 2 miles away from it, and told me to contact tower. Obviously on turning to this heading (didn't want to ignore them) I shot straight through the localizer, so then I'm trying to get back on it, whilst tuning tower and checking in.

This may be an error.  It normally does what it's supposed to and vectors you to a 30 degree intercept (or less) to final, assuming it's giving vectors.  If it happens again, please email me the log file for the flight and I'll try and figure out what's going wrong.    P2A Log files are located in: C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\P2A_200\Logs where <UserName> is your PC user name. 
Portions of the path may be hidden by default, so be sure Windows Explorer has Show Hidden Items checked in the View tab.

59 minutes ago, JKawai said:

Also had some odd crossing restrictions which don't match my VNAV path - where I'll be asked to cross a waypoint at an arbitrarily high altitude, then follow the arrival, which has much lower altitude restrictions immediately after, to the point where I have to reign in the speed and really anticipate this huge increase in negative VS.

If there's no published restrictions for a waypoint, P2A will use it's calculated TOD and descent plan to assign a crossing altitude for a STAR.  If it is too high, then you should adjust your descent rate so the TOD will be further out.  1800 FPM is typical for an airline, but changing that to 1500 or so will start you down earlier.  

The clearance readbacks do not need to be a verbatim readback.  So, for example, you can leave out the Airport Name in any readback and just give the cleared approach, transition and runway.  On the expected arrival readback, something like "Expect the xxxx arrival with the yyyy transition for the ILS to runway zz, <CallSign>" will be sufficient in most cases.

The Taxi readbacks are the most difficult.  There is an option in config for  "Destination Only Taxi Readbacks" on the ATC Settings tab.  With this, as long as you get the destination runway or gate correct, it will ignore the rest of the readback....in fact, you don't have to say the rest. 

The "Link xx" type names are an issue. The program is expecting taxiway names like A2.  Some scenery authors label everything, including Ramps.  LEMD seems to have each taxiway segment labeled/named with a different name, which would cause such long instructions.  That seems to be a practice unique to Spain, and possibly some other countries.  You can look in TaxiMnt to see how the taxiways are named and edit them if you fly out of the airport often enough to make it worthwhile.  Otherwise, just check the option for Destination Only Taxi Readbacks or let the copilot read it back.  Normally the copilot readback will be accepted, so I can't explain your LEMD experience.

Dave

Hi Dave

Thanks for this. I've email you a log for the last flight I did where ATC asked me to cross an intersection at FL320 which resulted in the descent after that being 5000fpm, and ATC demanding I reduce to 250kts (I was at 300, with spoilers). My descent rate set in P2A is 2200, but I'll drop it to 1800. 

Is this behaviour normal though? 

Thanks

 

 

Thanks for the log.  I don't see anything unusual in it.

2200 FPM is a bit high.  1800 FPM will move the TOD point out and make for a better descent.  If you want additional margin, you might  try 1500 FPM in the plan and then if you descend a bit faster or your GS is higher than expected, you'll have some leeway.

The descent calculation assumes you maintain at or below your planned GS as well as the planned descent rate.  It also assumes you maintain the required speed of 250 kts or less below 10,000 ft.  If you let the airspeed increase during the descent, then you won't make it down in time.

Dave