I had a go with this this afternoon for the $1 24 hour trial. ( I don’t think the waiting list is there anymore)

it was quite impressive, I flew up the coast from half moon bay and requested a VFR clearance to fly over the golden gate bride and back from Oakland centre. They gave me a squawk got radar contact and cleared VFR at or below 1500ft up to the Golden Gate Bridge then back to HAF.

I then flipped to 123.45 to try the “ tour guide “ feature which again was good with my inflight tour guide welcoming me by name and pointing out interesting features we were flying over and a little history of the features, such as the windmill in golden gate park, which I spotted but hadn’t noticed before.

As I mainly fly in my homeland of the UK this doesn’t as yet quite fit for me just yet. It apparently now includes ICAO phraseology, however when I tried it in the U.K. I got cleared closed traffic and to call midfield, neither of which are used in the U.K. 

I’m still undecided if I’m going to subscribe, I quite like this and it’s still only at beta stage, however I’m just not sure I actually like having ATC in my sim, I like having freedom to just enjoy the flying without restrictions.

I guess the price is what it is, if it costs to access the AI and the developers say they aren’t making a very large profit on top then that’s the price required to join up. For $1 a day it’s not bad if you sim everyday.I tend to fly every day in winter then ride motorcycles during the summer months so subscribing for 6 months through winter would suit me, if I decide to go ahead.

it definitely makes flying more realistic experience that’s for sure.

9 hours ago, tup61 said:

So... from what I've understood it's GA and VFR only (and in the US only for now too), it doesn't see or interact with AI traffic at all (so why is it called an ATC-addon then...?) and it costs... 30 bucks a month...?!? They can't be serious. This must be a joke. LOL Seriously! They gotta be kidding! I wouldn't even pay 30 bucks a month for BATC, let alone this piece of er... software. My goodness. The things they come up with these days...

It will interact with FSLTL traffic but it won't control that traffic

3 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

Shows how difficult ATC is. 

Exploiting AI for something like ATC is pretty new so no wonder here it's taking a while to deliver.  We've had decent ATC for a long time now with Radar Contact and others for going on a couple of decades now and I think the basic logic involved isn't all that difficult any more it's been done several times already.  The $30 price tag for this is only because it's new and speech is more plausible and attractive for obvious reasons.  Sooner than we think it will be standard, AI driven speech for ATC, crew management, and captain/crew announcing.  I do feel for developers competing with each other for the same basic product as it's clearly a lot a work, only to be blown away by a better mousetrap.  ATC is so basic I'd much rather see it in-sim, and MS/A certainly could do this if they decided to.

I don't get it... If it's VFR only but doesn't do anything with AI traffic then there's no flight following... So what does it do other than act as a tower controller and tell you how to enter the pattern, and maybe give you taxi instructions on the ground?

I mean, this is barely a fraction of what ATC actually does... For a hefty subscription?  

6 minutes ago, Stearmandriver said:

I don't get it... If it's VFR only but doesn't do anything with AI traffic then there's no flight following... So what does it do other than act as a tower controller and tell you how to enter the pattern, and maybe give you taxi instructions on the ground?

I mean, this is barely a fraction of what ATC actually does... For a hefty subscription?  

When I flew in real life, that is the only thing I used ATC for, flight following, and  to and from the airport. 

I can’t remember exactly what flight following provides, it’s been decades since I did VFR in the states, but I’m guessing it’s the same as a traffic information service in the uk. Heck I think even that is called something different nowadays, basic radar service I think.

Anyway the ATC will give you traffic information on the in sim or 3rd party AI traffic I believe.

 

Rather talk to myself and pretend I'm hearing voices in my headset than pay 30 quid a month....

Stil use VATSIM or IVAO for online ATC when they are available

waiting 4 BATC

Wow this looks awesome... 

30 bucks a month..?  Ha Ha not a chance.

Beyond ATC will be a game changer.  I'm exicted about it especially when they showed the demo of the AI traffic being ran outside of MSFS.

That was amazing epecially if it has almost no farme rate impact as they claim.

 

6 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

When I flew in real life, that is the only thing I used ATC for, flight following, and  to and from the airport. 

Yes, if you fly VFR outside of class D or lower airspace, you basically aren't using ATC at all.  Flight following is just a courtesy they provide, workload permitting.  So that's the point... This software wants $30 a MONTH, and doesn't actually even provide any real (IFR) ATC service?  This seems crazy to me.  To each their own, but... What would the point of flight following even be in a simulator?

All the naysayers here atleast give the free24 hour demo a try, they charge 1 dollar but you get it back? You all judge it without even have tried it. Im sure these things will get cheaper with time.

mmm 30 bucks  a month  well  that less  than  going  out  to a Restaurant   these days  🙂

Edited February 14, 20242 yr by pete_auau

I look at this product a little different I guess.

If we think that AI / Chat GPT is the future for ATC I might support it and make some sort of donation to keep them motivated and help them with covering initial costs.

There is absolutly no guanrantee that this product will develop in some sort of usable product and I'm not going to funds their further development.

Have been ripped of to often with kickstarter project to trust any developers promises.

16 minutes ago, hansb57 said:

I look at this product a little different I guess.

If we think that AI / Chat GPT is the future for ATC I might support it and make some sort of donation to keep them motivated and help them with covering initial costs.

There is absolutly no guanrantee that this product will develop in some sort of usable product and I'm not going to funds their further development.

Have been ripped of to often with kickstarter project to trust any developers promises.

I agree, there is abselutly no guarantee that this developer will succed, but I’ll just support and see, if it go south I just unsubscribe and count my losses and move on.
 

Im just having a lot of fun with it for now, and it feels like a game of its own within the game. Excellent for roleplaying wannabe pilot in this wonderful simulator:). My next flight im gonna try and «simulate» one of my passengers having a stroke and declare emergency and see how the AI responds to that:D

Edited February 14, 20242 yr by Kaboki