Would be great if someone with good knowledge of ATC in VFR or IFR, could highlight the qualities of Xp12's built-in ATC.

This is an area where offers are lacking in all available platforms.

Some old products, no longer developed, like Radar Contact, appear to offer a more consistent / complete environment, and I have been using BATC with MSFS, after using FSHUD with P3D and MSFS too, and default Xp12 ATC, and actually have reverted to default ATC in MSFS too.

I've noticed various improvements on Xp12's ATC but there are probably many details I'm not even aware of. There might be potential beyond what is seldom observed in some youtubes, so, maybe some RW rated ( VFR / IFR) pilots and Xp12 users could show the true potential and quality of the built in ATC system? 

Edited July 18, 2025Jul 18 by jcomm

I'm no ATC expert and I like a lot the new XP12 default ATC implementation. Works very well. I just would like to override the departure runway based on current weather to other of my likings according to my desired flight plan.

IMHO, ATC should required a separate PC and should communicate with the flight sim PC.  The processing requirements to formulate rapid and accurate ATC information would be and should be very CPU intensive and you don’t want that consuming the primary flight sims resources.

ATC

1.  ATC Runway direction changes frequently based on weather

2.  Services, traffic density, road works change taxi operations frequently

3. Delays in flight schedules due to weather local and even from 1000’s of miles away holding onto stalls

4.  VFR routing (slower speed aircraft) adds a complex dynamic

5.  Aircraft waiting for stalls to vacate (happens all the time)

6.  Directing aircraft to correct stall or parking spots

7.  Managing all the traffic that could impact an aircraft’s flight plan (that’s a lot of route tracking)

8.  Go arounds and it’s impact on traffic

9.  Holding patterns and how this can influence all other traffic

10.  Runways shutdown due to weather and it’s impact to traffic patterns

Considerable processing needed to attempt to make this real-time and reasonably accurate and something that should NOT be done on the primary flight sim PC.  

I agree, ATC implementations in flight simulation has been less than ideal process.  Keeping an eye on BATC and see if they move to a client/server type of configuration.

Depends on what you want.

If your are chasing the "As Real As It Gets" fantasy then I'd agree with the last poster adding that it would also need to be area specific as VFR ATC in the UK is a different thing to VFR ATC in the USA.

If on the other hand your aim is to use the Flight Sim for fun and as an adjunct to flight training then the present state of X-plane ATC fulfils my requirements; those are simulating the additional stress, over and above flying, of simultaneously processing another stream of information. Another good example is BMS Falcon 4.

If I want to practice ATC for real I'll go to the nearest field and listen on the airband (or do the equivalent  through the magic of the internet.) 

Cheers Tim . 

Yes that's my point, but I would really like to see any good youtubes showing the default ATC being used to it's full capabilities...

One thing I really enjoy about the X-Plane ATC isn't what you'd expect, but it's the way you can interact with it by binding buttons to it.

On my Thrustmaster TCA sidestick, there's a button on the top at the front which I click to bring the ATC window up, and then I can hold the button while I use the hat switch to navigate the ATC menus - once I've found the option I need I just let go of the button and it sends the command. It's really intuitive and I think they did a fantastic job with the "hidden until needed" interface to be quite honest.

The ATC itself is not perfect, but I was able to do an airliner flight between EGGW (Luton) and LOWI (Innsbuck) via a flight plan and it worked really well - better than BATC actually which tried to vector me into mountains despite me having an RNAV arrival planned. I have also done a bit of pootling around in VFR and the only real issue I noticed is that it tries to give you vectors for an approach when you request a landing - I'd love it if it allowed you to "join left downwind" or the like and fly in via the pattern... or maybe this is a thing at larger airports (I'm not a pilot!) and it works like that at smaller airfields. I shall give that a try actually now I'm thinking about it.

One thing I do wish for is Simbrief integration (basically so I can be lazy and simply import the flight plan rather than having to copy, paste then edit it) but it's not a dealbreaker.

In short:
- voices are a bit robotic, but I don't really find it too jarring
- it's free, no additional apps required
- it doesn't take into account traffic from Traffic Global
- it will provide taxi routing (with a visual trail if you have it turned on)
- very good integration with the sim (buttons etc)
- Simbrief integration to make starting a flight a little easier would be a great feature

2 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

- it doesn't take into account traffic from Traffic Global

Yes, it does, in a way. XP's TCAS system is monitored by ATC for traffic alerts, so traffic from any plugin that writes to the required datarefs will cause traffic alerts and hold shorts.

If you install LiveTraffic and try to get off the ground at a major hub in the US at rush hour, you might be stuck at the hold short for a LONG time.

The best promotion for default ATC is its manual, although it's a bit out of date: https://x-plane.com/manuals/X-Plane_ATC_System_Manual.pdf

Just now, Bjoern said:

Yes, it does, in a way. XP's TCAS system is monitored by ATC for traffic alerts, so traffic from any plugin that writes to the required datarefs will cause traffic alerts and hold shorts.

If you install LiveTraffic and try to get off the ground at a major hub in the US at rush hour, you might be stuck at the hold short for a LONG time.

You're correct - what I meant to say is that it doesn't control the AI aircraft, but it is aware of them.