When BATC works well it is wonderful and populates your Simbrief airport based on a weekly timetable of traffic (not realtime).

However, my issue is less with the traffic being only a weekly historic timetable, but rather that it is only at your departing and arriving airports you see this traffic based on Simbrief.

My wishlist is that I would love BATC to populate any airport you start from with AI traffic (wihtout a Simbrief flightplan). In other-words, increase the usefulness of the software.

While Simbrief is still free , you have to subscribe to Navigraph at least for a month to get the latest AIRAC

Not a big deal, but I do fly VFR around cities a fair bit, and don't always feel it necessary to create a simbrief flight plan  - the local international airport is therefore, empty of any traffic if I use BATC and FSLTL . 

The FR24 decision has forced FSLTL out of the freeware range.

Yes I could use MSFS AI traffic with FSLTL , but in my local international airport - European and American models and aircraft types not flown in this country, show up more often than not  (highly unrealistic)

As a footnote, Now that I am retired I find that I either do without some add-ons altogether, or I will review the option for a one time purchase if I consider it reasonably priced. I try to steer clear of subscription if at all possible.

 

 

That is pretty much my issue too. BATC can look good when I fly a normal IFR sector with a proper SimBrief plan, but once I just want to load in somewhere and have believable airport traffic around me, it starts to feel too tied to the filed flight. That is where the value drops for me as well. I do not really mind historic rather than live traffic if the airport still feels active, but I do mind having to build the whole flight around SimBrief just to make the traffic layer come alive. For VFR or short hops that gets old quickly.

With all these FSLTL and FlightRadar issues, I'm thinking of going back to AIG. As regards Simbrief+BATC, I don't have a Navigraph subscription either (I'm also retired) ... BUT .. I thought I read somewhere that BATC is working on importing LNM or MSFS flight plans. Did I hear correctly, or am I just dreaming? 😉

or just get Say Intensions ATC. Traffic at every airport and no requirement to file any flightplan. Its surprising the S.I guys can do traffic at all airports but not the BATC team. Downside of course is SI is subscription based which might not be suitable for everyone.

58 minutes ago, mikced said:

Downside of course is SI is subscription based which might not be suitable for everyone.

$15.83/month - that's $190/yr ... *way* too expensive for me, I'm afraid :((

1 hour ago, mikced said:

Its surprising the S.I guys can do traffic at all airports but not the BATC team.

There’s nothing particularly surprising here and it explains the price difference. Adding traffic at multiple airports isn’t just a simple toggle, it can significantly impact performance if it’s not handled efficiently. Each aircraft requires its own route calculations, access to airport layouts, and computing airports SOP for active runways. All of that adds up computationally.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be implemented, but it’s not something that can be done quickly. For IFR flying, there’s limited benefit in fully populating nearby airports beyond handling arrivals and departures. VFR, on the other hand, is still relatively new in this context, and broader traffic simulation for it is likely something that will be developed later.

I think that is really the split here. For a planned IFR flight, BATC can still be perfectly usable for me because I care more about the ATC flow, spacing and vectors than whether every nearby airport is populated. But for ad hoc VFR flights or short hops, I agree it starts to feel too dependent on SimBrief just to make the world look alive.

That is also why I tend to separate traffic and ATC in my head. If I want better airport life and model coverage everywhere, I would rather solve that with the traffic layer first, then judge the ATC side on its own merits.

Edited April 30Apr 30 by Andreas79

2 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

With all these FSLTL and FlightRadar issues, I'm thinking of going back to AIG. As regards Simbrief+BATC, I don't have a Navigraph subscription either (I'm also retired) ... BUT .. I thought I read somewhere that BATC is working on importing LNM or MSFS flight plans. Did I hear correctly, or am I just dreaming? 😉

Just to give an answer to this: yes, you can import from the MSFS world map, with a .PLN or .LNMPLN file when flying VFR. It will eventually be possible with IFR later, but that require some other changes with how we handle all information.

I really appreciate this thread as buying BATC to replace the loss of FSTL was my plan.  I mostly fly airliners in the sim so it sounds like it might still be a viable option for me but it does sound like it might not really fully replace the FSTL traffic injector which put flights all over.  
 

It’s really a terrible shame FSTL won’t be able to continue to do what it has done for years.  It’s a real loss to the hobby and it really seems like there is no real replacement for it.  AIG is the closest but I’ve been looking into that and the workload around downloading flight plans and managing that product has me wanting to avoid it all together.  I don’t have the time to keep up with everything needed to make that functional so I still do think BATC is my only real option here.  

1 hour ago, Dialex said:

Just to give an answer to this: yes, you can import from the MSFS world map, with a .PLN or .LNMPLN file when flying VFR. It will eventually be possible with IFR later, but that require some other changes with how we handle all information.

I only have the Base package at the moment. I suspect these new features are available in the "Supporter" package. Is there an upgrade option?

6 minutes ago, Adamski_NZ said:

I only have the Base package at the moment. I suspect these new features are available in the "Supporter" package. Is there an upgrade option?

It is available in the VFR version of BATC, which is in the Experimental Version (supporter).

If you mostly fly airliners, I think BATC can still make sense, but I would not look at it as a straight FSLTL replacement.

For me they solve two different problems. BATC can still be enjoyable on a normal filed IFR flight where I mainly care about the ATC flow, spacing and vectors. But if what you really want is that broader sense of airport life and traffic around the world, I would still treat that as a separate traffic-layer decision.

So if your expectation is replace FSLTL completely, I think you'll probably come away a bit disappointed. If your expectation is usable ATC for planned airline IFR flights, then I think it can still be worth it.

2 hours ago, jspilot said:

I really appreciate this thread as buying BATC to replace the loss of FSTL was my plan.  I mostly fly airliners in the sim so it sounds like it might still be a viable option for me but it does sound like it might not really fully replace the FSTL traffic injector which put flights all over.  
 

It’s really a terrible shame FSTL won’t be able to continue to do what it has done for years.  It’s a real loss to the hobby and it really seems like there is no real replacement for it.  AIG is the closest but I’ve been looking into that and the workload around downloading flight plans and managing that product has me wanting to avoid it all together.  I don’t have the time to keep up with everything needed to make that functional so I still do think BATC is my only real option here.  

Not quite sure what you mean. I use AIG with BATC and it runs fine. As far as time I think it took me maybe 20 -30 mins to download North America and Europe planes with flight plans. That was week ago and I havn't touched the Manager since.

8 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

$15.83/month - that's $190/yr ... *way* too expensive for me, I'm afraid :((

It depends what you compare it to. Its about one TV subscription HBO, Netflix or what have you per month. Its my nr 1 hobby and I make at least one VFR flight every day and with a great ATC that does not feel scripted and with plenty of commercial and AI traffic on all surrounding airport its worth every penny to me. I can absolutely see the point about the price though and especially if you dont fly all that much. I will keep my eye on BATC as well and follow the progress as I own it as well.

8 hours ago, Dialex said:

There’s nothing particularly surprising here and it explains the price difference.

No. Say Intentions was this expensive even before it had AI Traffic. If memory serves me correct, BATC actually had traffic before SI.

8 minutes ago, mikced said:

It depends what you compare it to.

The only comparism that does make sense: Other ATC programs.

Edited April 30Apr 30 by Farlis