Is Beyond ATC Functional?

[Huascar]

My understanding is Beyond ATC was still in the testing phase as early December last year? Based on reviews online, the software looks promising.  Can anyone share their experiences with this add-on, both good and bad? 

[laserit]

Its canned, it works quite well and has too many issues to list. I use it for most my flights and I love it, it can be quite immersive. It does a decent job with ATC and traffic.

 

I think its worth every penny

 

edit: The dev is also very active updating it. My only complaint is the price of the premium voices, but the stock ones are quite adequate.

Edited January 10 by laserit

[Farlis]

21 minutes ago, laserit said:

My only complaint is the price of the premium voices, but the stock ones are quite adequate.

They are not as expensive as one might think. I use them sparingly and have bought 2 small and 1 big pack since last April. Now with traffic they will deplete much faster if you use them for everything. 

So I usually only use them while I'm talking to ATC myself and once I'm in upper airspace and get my final clearance to cruise I swicth to standard and auto respond.

I then switch back once I'm with the approach controller again.

[lehbird]

It was very good. But now it incorporates AI traffic and provides them ATC it is excellent.

[Huascar]

Thank you all for the suggestions. Sounds like very positive reviews.

[Bobsk8]

I won't fly without BATC, it ads so much,,

[MikeyOnTheFlightDeck]

I recommend it too. Only problem I have is that the traffic ATC is so frequent I can’t hear GSX and cabin announcements which sometimes clashes at the same time!

[MrFuzzy]

I am interested in this too... 

Does it work properly in providing vectors and/or assigning altitudes according to the flight plan?

[Lucky38i]

10 minutes ago, MrFuzzy said:

I am interested in this too... 

Does it work properly in providing vectors and/or assigning altitudes according to the flight plan?

Most times but at the end of the day, it’s early access, bugs do happen.

 I’ve had perfect vectors and sometimes really strange ones where I need to vector myself. I’ve had proper altitude assignments most times but every now and then it tells me to go from FL300 to 2500.

 It’s not perfect by any means but it 100% fills the gap for making the world alive when vatsim doesn’t have coverage at the current moment

[gman1986]

It’s a really great programme. I’ve had a couple of times recently where on descent, I’ve been cleared down to 5000 for example, then I’ll get handed over to approach and they’ll ask me to descend to 9000 for example.

It would be great if there could be intersection takeoffs available, and also being asked to hold on approach, I’m not sure if this is planned or not?

[AJZip]

It's an over-used phrase - I know - but to me it's a game-changer. 

I battled with the rightfully well-respected Pilot2ATC for a year and - although it brought me up a few levels in understanding some of the protocols and conventions of real-life ATC, in the end I found it just too darned difficult.  I found that the added immersion of when I got it all to work was more than matched by the frustration of when I didn't.

BeyondATC has been like a breath of fresh air.  It has increased my understanding of how ATC works and the immersion, especially in VR, has been real step-change improvement in ease of use and accuracy of results.   The recent introduction of Live Traffic has been done well - I have mine turned well down in volume of traffic to ease the burden on my already stretched system but it still adds immensely to the immersion.  To have an Easyjet A320 told to hold short at the runway threshold while I clear the runway in my Black Square Duke is an absolute thrill!

Is it 100% complete and accurate in all circumstances to real life?  No, and BATC don't claim it is.  Is it believable?  You bet! 😀   

[Farlis]

It really has come a long way in the time since the Early Access started. They are definately on the right track.

There are still snags, unrealistic procedures etc. 

But it's on the way to become the next best thing after online ATC. Especially once they reach their Traffic 2.0 Milestone and ATC works on better sequencing, and holds become a thing. But that is still quite a ways in the future I assume.

[EGLD]

for the most part it's a great addition to MSFS, it would be nice to have more traffic options, like live traffic, but for now it's great

one irritation I've found is - when in busy airspace, we really need an option to "queue up" our own ATC request - I find that, the list of options for your message for ATC disappears when generating the other aircraft comms, so you can never actually click on the option you want, it's constantly turning to "generating text" when you're trying to select a request

don't let us talk over other aircraft comms, that's fine, but to keep removing the ability to click on what we want to say while other aircraft are communicating is infuriating and I ended up closing BATC as it had the wrong cruise altitude for me, and I couldn't ever find a slot to select to send a message

[AJZip]

29 minutes ago, EGLD said:

one irritation I've found is - when in busy airspace, we really need an option to "queue up" our own ATC request - I find that, the list of options for your message for ATC disappears when generating the other aircraft comms, so you can never actually click on the option you want, it's constantly turning to "generating text" when you're trying to select a request

Yes - I know what you mean.  I've dropped my Traffic density setting to 1 - there is still enough around to make it feel realistic but you don't get the endless stream when you are approaching a busy airport...

[mistolip]

Despite some serious limitations and annoying shortcomings I wouldn't fly without it (when I am doing IFR-flights, that is). So yes, I'd recommend it anyway. I am very curious to see though when various promised features will be implemented and if BATC will ever get out of EA (meaning: if they will ever be able to solve all issues).