Radar Contact has a great future

[iainsmith 9]

Just been reading a report by a guy called (I think) Jim Campisi who visited the Microsoft Aces studio in Redmond where FSX is being developed. Quite a few interesting new things but one important point he noted was that the team have done very little with the default ATC! So, no competition for RC!One thing I would like to see in v5 is, if at all possible, a little more ground control to cover a situation I have met a couple of times recently at busy single runway airports, such as London Stansted (EGSS). This is where the active changes a few minutes after firing up the sim and while taxiing out to the "new" active end I am confronted, face-to-face by the last arrival on the "old" active. Having to turn on to the grass to avoid a collision is not very realistic!I know I can, through FSUIPC, set a key to turn traffic on and off but to have an aircraft disappear in front of you is also not realistic. Could some sort of limited control of ground movement be incorporated to cater for this? This is probably a big ask but I just thought I'd try! ;-) Iain Smith

[jd 57]

ground control is on the radar. it's pretty complicated. probably more complicated than enroute separationjd

[Guest CowlFlapsOpen]

I too read the same review and noted MS's decision to ignore ATC as an area for improvement. RC is and will be the program of choice for discerning flyers! I've honed my "see and avoid" practice concerning ground traffic: It is frustrating to taxi onto the grass to avoid others, as happens sometimes amd mentioned. But I keep a small volume on the default FSATC and monitor and compare it to what RC is telling me. When I spot/hear an ac clearing the runway onto my taxiway or pushing back I make sure i'm not on a long stretch of taxiway without a turnoff. I will sit tight as necessary until his intentions are clear to me. It will be nice to have this fixed but in my view a bigger priority is further enhancing the interaction with AI in the air. It is much more troublesome to have aircraft take the runway, taxi across runway, or take off at the opposite end when I am on approach. This happens about every 3 flights. And i still have near misses with airborn AI. This is a little less of problem (I usually see them coming). If time is tight, fixing the ground taxiing issues are less of a priority as fixing these other issues in my view. Relatedly, i would like to see much better interaction with AI aircraft in the vicinity of untowered airports (Class E). I use these regularly and the default ATC is much better at exploiting position calls etc. At the very least I'd like to see sometihg closer to default ATC's options of making position calls, calls from downwind, base and final. These are not just matters of pilot preference but, I beileve, are FAR requirements. They are certainly sound flight practice (see the FAA Airplane Flying Handnook for example). Thus , their absence in RC surprised me. Also, it would be great if RC5 made use of COMM 2.Cheers.

[Guest Segwin]

>I too read the same review and noted MS's decision to ignore>ATC as an area for improvement. RC is and will be the program>of choice for discerning flyers! >>I've honed my "see and avoid" practice concerning ground>traffic: It is frustrating to taxi onto the grass to avoid>others, as happens sometimes amd mentioned. But I keep a>small volume on the default FSATC and monitor and compare it>to what RC is telling me. When I spot/hear an ac clearing the>runway onto my taxiway or pushing back I make sure i'm not on>a long stretch of taxiway without a turnoff. I will sit tight>as necessary until his intentions are clear to me. It will be>nice to have this fixed but in my view a bigger priority is>further enhancing the interaction with AI in the air. It is>much more troublesome to have aircraft take the runway, taxi>across runway, or take off at the opposite end when I am on>approach. This happens about every 3 flights. And i still>have near misses with airborn AI. This is a little less of>problem (I usually see them coming). If time is tight, fixing>the ground taxiing issues are less of a priority as fixing>these other issues in my view. >>Relatedly, i would like to see much better interaction with AI>aircraft in the vicinity of untowered airports (Class E). I>use these regularly and the default ATC is much better at>exploiting position calls etc. At the very least I'd like to>see sometihg closer to default ATC's options of making>position calls, calls from downwind, base and final. These are>not just matters of pilot preference but, I beileve, are FAR>requirements. They are certainly sound flight practice (see>the FAA Airplane Flying Handnook for example). Thus , their>absence in RC surprised me. Also, it would be great if RC5>made use of COMM 2.>>Cheers.>>AISmooth may help.

[ronzie 21]

I found that RC responds more immediately to weather writes than FS does. If you are an Active Sky 6 user, start on paused. After FS9 is fired up with your flight parked (insure clear weather theme!) activate Refresh. After the weather writes are complete use its AI refresh function. This forces the FS AI and AITS broadcast to update almost immediately and gets AI to conform to the current weather. Otherwise it can take a few minutes. When all is in synch then fire up RC and after loading your plan and other settings start it up. You should not have to refresh AI again causing at this point when you are noe "serious" to have it disappear and reappear.This is all caused by FS cranking up AI before external weather is accepted so they are not "patterning" correctly.If you are flying an FMC type aircraft your performance data will be wrong for the same reason (OAT) so wait until the FS weather is in sync before you set up your FMC performance pages.

[iainsmith 9]

>I found that RC responds more immediately to weather writes>than FS does. If you are an Active Sky 6 user, start on>paused. After FS9 is fired up with your flight parked (insure>clear weather theme!) activate Refresh. After the weather>writes are complete use its AI refresh function. This forces>the FS AI and AITS broadcast to update almost immediately and>gets AI to conform to the current weather. Otherwise it can>take a few minutes. When all is in synch then fire up RC and>after loading your plan and other settings start it up. You>should not have to refresh AI again causing at this point when>you are noe "serious" to have it disappear and reappear.>>This is all caused by FS cranking up AI before external>weather is accepted so they are not "patterning" correctly.>>If you are flying an FMC type aircraft your performance data>will be wrong for the same reason (OAT) so wait until the FS>weather is in sync before you set up your FMC performance>pages.Thanks for the tip, Ron. :-) Iain Smith