ATC tells me to descend or climb to altitude when level

[dornier 1]

Hi,

When level at an altitude, sometimes ATC will tell me to descend or climb to that altitude.  What setting needs to be changed in order for Pilot2ATC to see the actual altitude I'm level at?  Also, I notice that on the program always displays 29.92 and doesn't change.  Is that an issue?  I've changed the altimeter setting from time to time, but not sure if it has any effect. Also, it's getting the correct altimeter setting since it will always tell me the altimeter for sectors and eventually the airport which agrees with ASN.  Thoughts?

Thanks,

George

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

The altimeter displayed in P2A is  the altimeter setting that is set in the aircraft altimeter.  It is not the "current altimeter" at the location you may be at.  It will not change without action on your part.

Flying at a flight level, your altimeter should be set at 29.92 so the altimeter displays flight level instead of altitude MSL (Mean Sea Level).  Having the altimeter set incorrectly could cause ATC to see you at the wrong altitude and tell you to climb or descend back to your assigned altitude.

Also, there is a setting in Config that you can make the allowed altitude variance larger so you won't get called off altitude as often.

Dave

[dornier 1]

On 7/6/2021 at 2:31 PM, Dave-Pilot2ATC said:

The altimeter displayed in P2A is  the altimeter setting that is set in the aircraft altimeter.  It is not the "current altimeter" at the location you may be at.  It will not change without action on your part.

Flying at a flight level, your altimeter should be set at 29.92 so the altimeter displays flight level instead of altitude MSL (Mean Sea Level).  Having the altimeter set incorrectly could cause ATC to see you at the wrong altitude and tell you to climb or descend back to your assigned altitude.

Also, there is a setting in Config that you can make the allowed altitude variance larger so you won't get called off altitude as often.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I wasn't clear with the question.  When flying with the correct altimeter settings set in the cockpit, ATC will occasionally tell me to expedite to the altitude I'm already at with the correct baro setting set in the sim that matches Active Sky, NOAA and other metar sources.  Also, Pilot2ATC ATC states the correct baro (altimeter) setting as stated by the controller and my cockpit baro settings match.  So if I understand your reply, if all settings are correct, I need to modify Pilot2ATC deviation tolerances to avoid the occasional "expedite your climb or descent to a specific altitude", correct?

George  

[mat_p 1]

I've had this a few times and I think it was down to there being altitude restrictions and I hadn't checked them on the flight planner.  I think it's just down to routing error so can be sorted that way.

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

If flying IFR, there could be an altitude restriction that ATC is trying to enforce.

But, yes, if you're being called for being a little off cruise altitude, then just changing the allowed Altitude Variance should fix the problem.

Dave

[dornier 1]

Seems that the latest version, 2.6.2.3 x64 R2, is worse.  I'm level at FL320 with all three cockpit altimeters set to standard, 29.92.  The controller barked for the entire flight to expedite climb to FL320.  In this case, Pilot2Atc thinks that the altimeter is 27.99.  I tried changing it to 29.92 in Pilot2Atc, but it immediately changes to 27.99.  Where is Pilot2Atc getting this altimeter setting? 

Thanks,

George

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

P2A gets the altimeter setting that the SIM says is set in the aircraft.  It's possible that a particular aircraft does not use the standard altimeter implementation and causes the difference.

P2A also uses the SIM readout of the plane's altitude to decide if you are off altitude.  Since you are getting the climb instruction, it would seem the aircraft is not reporting its altitude in the standard way either.

You can increase your altitude variance to a large number like 5000 ft and stop the altitude warnings.  You might also want to try a different aircraft.

[TwoSuitz 5]

I am not sure if this is relevant here, but there is a known altitude reporting bug in the 1.18.13.0 (SU5) and associated beta builds, that causes the sim to misreport the altitude, dependant on temperature. It is causing major issues with VATSIM users, so could be connected to the more recent issue reported above?

[dornier 1]

52 minutes ago, TwoSuitz said:

I am not sure if this is relevant here, but there is a known altitude reporting bug in the 1.18.13.0 (SU5) and associated beta builds, that causes the sim to misreport the altitude, dependant on temperature. It is causing major issues with VATSIM users, so could be connected to the more recent issue reported above?

Hi,

This was with P3Dv4.5 and Prosim 737.  
 

MSFS 2020 does have major weather issues as I tried the update yesterday and the TAT would change from -50c to -9c in a blink of and eye at cruise altitude (FL250 in my scenario) and would cause the speed and altimeter to change dramatically.  I heard the same issue in the Prosim forums.  Thanks.