Let me explain, last night I was flying to KSEA from KGEG in the MJC Dash 8 -300.As I was coming into the Seattle area the controller said the following, Cntrl: "Descend to 10000 feet, start down now please I need you level in 30 miles or less"CP: "Roger, descend to 10000 feet start down now"Cntrl: "Sir you've busted your altitude, watch it now your assigned altitude is 10000 feet."What the...? This ain't a fighter jet, it takes time to get down, heck I hit VS and trimmed the nose down pretty smartish, but Cripes mate.Then a little later we repeated this with an 8000 feet clearance, only this time I was descending at 1500 fpm when the controller hit me with "Sir, you've busted your altitude again, your assigned altitude is 8000 feet."Gimme a chance, I'm not gonna crash just because you had a row with your missus last night chum.Any ideas? It only happens in this plane, I've not noticed with any other aircraft.

I forgot to mention that I also wound up getting a visit from FISDO over it. Hardly fair considering that:a/ I DID start down within seconds of when he saidb/ I am in a DH8 not an F16.

Hi jboweruk,I could be wrong, but the altitude issues may stem from the fact that you may have to adjust your QNH settings (On the Altimeter).The QNH is given out by ATC for your chosen local airport. The QNH is used in conjunction with the TA or Transition Altitude setting. I think the actual TA itself can vary from place to place, you may need to check out charts or on Avsim for example.However, the TA can be set in RC in the Controllers section. There are two points to note here: Below the TA & above the TA. When below the TA the local ATC will issue the QNH setting which you dial into the altimeter. Above the TA, the standard setting of 1013mb (Europe)or 29.92inches (USA) is used. This is to ensure that all aircraft altimeters are reading the same at this level or above. When desending back through the TA level from cruise, you must reset the QNH on the altimeter to the local setting as stated by ATC otherwise your altimeter will be incorrectly set and your altitude readings will also be incorrect.Anyways, hope the above is correct, maybe somone else will correct me, as at the moment I am a bit rusty with my FS flying, & am trying to re-learn the art of instrument flying, but I have to say that RC is a great program and combined with FSX makes flying all the more enjoyable!Cheers,Fisky1.

might have just been bad timing on the watchdog routineswere you flying at 2x or 4x speed?if you have autoreply on, set it to off, and acknowledge all the clearances manuallythat way, when you are told to do something, turn, climb, descend, you can actually start it, and then acknowledge itthis isn't a transition alitude thing, since it's inside the FAA area.you did have your altimeter set to the local pressure, didn't you?

since this was in the FAA area, transition altitude doesn't really come into play.as long as he had the local pressure dialed in, he's below FL180, so he's finejd

I have had this happen anumber of times, pretty annoying. There is a work around though..Don't acknowlegde before you have started the descent. When you have dialed the new altitude and have started descending you can acknowlegde. The controller have alot more patience waiting for your answer for some reason.

I always fly real time, even on longer flights and this was only about a 90 minute flight, should actually be 73 minutes gate to gate. :(Anyway it didn't happen last night so maybe there was some other issue I didn't notice.I do let my lovely CP handle the comms though, so naturally she acknowledges straight away, unfortunately I can't have her fly this sucker, shame really as it means I have to sit there till the flight is over, can't even go and get a drink. :)I think I'll have to read the manual, I'm sure the FMC should be able to keep me on course.

John,You can always enter a value in the Pause at Distance box. That way, your lovely CP can handle the comms and your FMC will fly the aircraft. Set the distance so you'll still be at cruise and when you return to the PC all you need to do is unpause FS and soon after should be started down by the controller. The FMC should help regarding the ToD point.I hate to think you're sat there double-cossing your legs because you can't leave the PC. ;-)Cheers,

I had a similar problem to this today. Also flying the MJC Dh8C. Due to bad weather with significant turbulence and the generally miserable performance of a Dash 8 300 at altitude my rate of climb was sometimes zero while climbing to cruising altitude. This triggered a "Why the heck aren't you at FL240?" complaint from the controller. Would be nice if you could request a block altitude when the weather is poor.BTW the Dash 8 FMS as modelled by Majestic won't work out a TOD, but 3 x height to lose works well enough.To the OP, you can have the FO do your comms and still get down pretty quick. I've generally set and armed the new altitude with VS - 1500 by the time the FO has finished acknowledging.

in bad weather, you can report that, and the altitude watchdog will not go offjd

Thanks I'll check the manual again for that.