Sidney Schwartz

After much reading of the Book Of Words I made my first flight using P2ATC and FSX, the Aerosoft Airbus 320 from Lisbon to Munich using Active Sky weather. Very impressive! Everything seems to be working as it should. A couple of things I would like to put on the wish list... 1. The option to have the text of atc communications also displayed in the FSX scrolling text window. 2. The option to have the program randomly choose which voices to use, rather than assigning a particular voice to a particular controller. Looking forward to the next flight. And the next.... 😃

As far as I know, rate of climb and descent have no effect on the waypoints of a flight plan but are instead used by ATC to calculate TOD and other climb/descend instructions. ProATC-X lets you create aircraft profiles that specify climb rate, descent rate for three different altitude ranges, runway take off and landing lengths, and maximum cross and tail wind components. If you enter accurate data, you should not have problems with runway selection or descent instructions. You also have the option of deciding when to initiate your descent instead of letting ATC decide for you. You can also specify if certain runways at any airport should not be used for take off and or landing. And the way ProATC-X handles approach vectors (when needed) has improved greatly since I first got the program.

That option sets the flight plan path. So apparently "compatible" means ProATC-X will export a flight plan in a compatible format to the proper folder.

Hi Jim. Have you asked them about this? Can you load a standard FSX flight plan into the CS 757? If so, you should be able to tell ProATC-X to save an FSX flight plan when you click "Fly Now", and then load that into the 757. Or if CS uses a proprietary format for flight plans, maybe there's a way to convert them to FSX format. That's what I have to do with the Majestic Q-400. Works like a charm, though.

I'm aother past user of Radar Contact and PF3 and like Pro-ATC/X best. I'm not sure what they mean by "compatible". In a broad sense, Pro-ATC/X is compatible with ALL aircraft, as far as communicating with the various ATC controllers. What they may mean is that the aircraft their list are compative with Navigraph AIRAC data, as is Pro-ATC/X itself. This means that you can download the same AIRAC cycle for Pro-ATC/X as well as your aircraft's FMC, and Pro-ATC/X and your aircraft will then be in synch as far as SID's, STAR's, etc. Compatibility may also have something to do with allowing the Pro-ATC/X co-pilot to control flaps, gear, etc., but I have no experience with this as I handle those things myself. The internal Pro-ATC/X flight planner is good, but it will ocassionally fail to include proper SID/STAR transition points. On the recommendation of Pro-ATC/X support I tried routfinder.com, which is free to use and works better. Getting flight plans generated by routfinder.com into Pro-ATC/X is just a cut-and-paste, takes a few seconds. I've also used flightware.com, which will give you real world flight plans if there are any for your dep and des airports. As far as user support, I've found both PF3 and Pro-ATC/X to be outstanding. Radar Contact is now freeware and I'm not sure what that means for user support.

Thanks for all the feedback. I've never even heard of this program until today...didn't even think it was possible to fly with real time, real life AI aircraft. Very interesting. I'm pretty happy with UT2, but trying new stuff helps keep the hobby fun.

Has anyone tried this? http://www.inside.net/ss/realtraffic-for-psx/

This is like selling an auto that only goes straight and can't turn left or right. I'm glad I read these posts. I was considering buying this plane because it seemed to have a functional FMC, but now I won't waste my money.

ProATC-X is intended primarily for IFR at controlled airports. IMO if you're flying VFR you may as well stick with the default ATC.

The only thing I tested was the ability to request a different STAR or runway. It worked. The only other significant problem I'm aware of is that the program sometimes does not recognize when you reach a way point in the flight plan. This happens randomly so I can't test for it...just have to wait and see if it still happens. All in all I like ProATC-X better than PF3 or Radar Contact, both of which I used for years.

The update was released today. The problem with requesting a different star/approach/runway is supposed to be fixed, but I haven't had a chance to test it out yet.

This is a known bug in the current release. It used to work but is now broken.

Is there any way to get the altimeter to show pressure in QNH?

Makes sense. Thanks much.

I hope I can bother you with one more question. I always leave the crossfeed switch off and the tanks loaded equally left/right. Usually this works fine. Sometimes only one set of tanks will feed, even though the fuel flow gauges for both engines indicate the same. When those tanks are empty, both engines stop and there doesn't seem to be anyway to restart in flight. Am I doing something wrong, or is this another bug?

Thanks, Ken!

I'm new to this plane. I have it pretty much figured out except for the cabin pressurization. For FL200 I set the cabin controller knob to 20, which should result in a cabin pressure of about 2,700. After engine start I switch the bleed air valves to open. At some point the differential pressure warning light on the upper annunciator will go on. Raising or lowering the target pressure doesn't help. What am I missing?

Thanks so much for all your wonderful scenery!

You'll get much better assistance if you post your questions on the Pro-ATC support forums.

Pro-ATC works just fine with planes equipped only with the stock GPS. You have the option of Pro-ATC automatically loading your FSX flight plan into the GPS, or you can do that yourself. You also have the option of letting Pro-ATC insert any SID/STAR way points into the flight plan, or doing that yourself also. (I recommend you let Pro-ATC do it.)

I've just uploaded to Avsim and Flightsim a freeware KPDX scenery for FSX. It should be made available for downloading shortly.

Just bought ASN for Steam and love it.

Another thumbs up for FSX:SE. Like Moe said, very stable. I'm happy with it. Been flying the Quality Wings 757 and BAe 146/Avro collection, and the FeelThere Embraer 170/190. All work flawlessly.

There's no point in having the engine packs on if the engines aren't running, since the engines can only provide bleed air for the packs once they're running. Typically you start the APU and/or connect ground power to provide air and power for starting the engines. In the ERJ you can use the APU pack to provide air conditioning to the cabin prior to engine start. Even with the engines running, engine bleed air/packs are sometimes turned off for take off, so the engines are producing maximum thrust. Not sure about the hydraulics.

Thanks for the comments. I'll probably go for it. The Quality Wings 757 is just brilliant, and it works flawlessly in FSX:SE.