JD,First let me say that Radar Contact is a great add-on for FS2004. My question has to do with the TOD. I am usually asked to descend much earlier than the FMC has calculated. Is there any way to do a descent at "pilot's discretion"?One other little issue: this has only happened twice in the 100 or so flights I have done. When asking for Clearance Delivery the responce is something like "I have your request; stand by". Radar Contact then is completely unusable. Any insight as to what may cause that to happen?Other than that it's been great!Cheers,Michael

initial descent clearances from cruise have an option "to make that at pilot's discretion"if you have pilot autoreply on, that's not going to happen, obviously.if otto is on the comms, he's not going to ask for the PD, only acknowledge the descent clearance.if clearance tells you to standby, you have to acknowledge that with a reply of 7in a minute or two, clearance says i have your clearance, are you ready to copy. you have to ack that with a 7 as well.jd

>initial descent clearances from cruise have an option "to>make that at pilot's discretion">>if you have pilot autoreply on, that's not going to happen,>obviously.>>if otto is on the comms, he's not going to ask for the PD,>only acknowledge the descent clearance.>>if clearance tells you to standby, you have to acknowledge>that with a reply of 7>>in a minute or two, clearance says i have your clearance, are>you ready to copy. you have to ack that with a 7 as well.>>jdThanks for your quick response, JD. I will do as you suggest with regards to the TOD. As for the Clearance Delivery matter...after ATC gives me this unusual response I have no options to do anything. Most text in the ADV box goes away. During the time that I am flying (I carried out the flight sans Radar Contact) it simply counted down the distance I was away from my departure airfield.Cheers,Michael

do you have something else running? if radar contact isn't running, then i'm not counting down the distance.i've never heard the behavior that you're describing. is pilot auto-reply on or off? is otto getting the clearance or you?jd

JD,Radar Contact was actually running just not talking to me or providing chatter. I was hoping that during taxi or climb I might get a controller again but no joy. As I said, this has only happened to me once or twice. I should add that I was using the Level-D 767 and at the time the keyboard keys for ground control for the Level-D was mapped to the same keys as Radar Contact. I may have screwed something up trying to contact ground to remove the external power as it was the same key to get Clearance Delivery.Most likely it was my error. I have changed the keys so that they are no longer mapped alike. Just curious if you have heard of this before.Cheers for your help!Michael

Michael,In the real world at a busy airport it is not unusual for clearance delivery to ask a pilot to standby for his clearance. This can happen for a number of reasons up to and including the fact that the flight plan has not appeared in the ATC system. Often there is a need for coordination to take place because of post departure route complexities etc. Clearances are usually requested about 10-15 minutes before the crew expects to push and start, so in the RW after receiving the clearance and setting the transponder code, initial altitude and confirming with the other pilot the elements of the clearance, there is nothing to do until the grounf staff bring in the final load sheet for signature and the doors are shut.Neil

Thanks for the information Neil. I know that happens in real life but didn't know Radar Contact simulated that as well. That's good to know so the next time it happens I will simply wait for them to get back to me.Cheers!Michael