Do controllers refer to altitude restrictions ?

[Guest hrogenes]

Hi,I'm currently trying to get used to 'real' SIDs (or DPs) and STARs.After planning a flight with DP including altitude restrictions for the first five waypoints (4000 ft in this case), I was surprised to hear my first clearance to 7000 ft, and the next to FL 150 while I was still in the 'restricted area'.So what did I get wrong here - do controllers actually give another altitude and expect pilots to fly according to DP anyway, does RC4 not honor the restrictions in the flight plan, or what else ? I tried to find clues in the manual and in this forum, but failed to locate a specific answer ...I use FSNav 4.70 for planning, and run RC 4.01.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Hi Harald,You didn't get anything wrong. Remember that whilst altitude restrictions in a SID exist it's down to the discretion of the controller whether they're adhered to. When things are quiet aircraft will often be cleared higher and may also be given heading changes although that isn't currently implemented in RC4. Looking at a SID booklet for EGCC the instructions states "Do not climb above SID level until cleared by ATC".Remember that RC4 doesn't know about SID altitude restrictions. It's possible in a future version they will be implemented but for now carry out the instruction.Cheers,

[Guest Douglas Thompson]

Ray is (as usual) very precise and correct in his response. Don't have a clue where this forum would be without him and all other betas! I wonder though if there isn't confusion with the RC-DP options and wording.On the Controller Info tab in RC and in looking at the Dep Procedures tab options... if you don't want to hear altitude restrictions, select the No Altitude Restr option. This sounds like what you were after.If on the other hand you're using the DP deal to simply join an outbound radial, or if your DP had no altitude restrictions, you'd choose Alt Restrictions.I recall some ruffled feathers in beta design on this. The wording "No Altitude Restr" and "Alititude Restrictions" speaks to you (what you want), not "of the procedure" itself.