Jarkko

I think that all ATC add-ons do this, don't they?

You are talking about the STAR entry point and I'm talking about the STAR exit point, so my argument is very valid. Let's take EFHK as an example. There are multiple STARs beginning from waypoint LAKUT (the following applies for many, if not most airports in Europe). - STARS LAKUT5B and LAKUT5R are only for landing on runways pointing to the heading 040. - STAR LAKUT5M is only for runway 15. - STARS LAKUT3A and LAKUT3V are only for runways pointing to heading 220. - STAR LAKUT5W is only for runway 33. So as you can see, even though all these STARs start from the same waypoint (LAKUT), they have almost nothing in common between them. They all have different waypoints, different altitude and speed restrictions. Also the the STAR exit points are complete different. If the ATC program doesn't know how to read the AIRAC data, it will not know any of this. --- EDIT: EGLL's STARs or not typical at all as they are not named based on STAR entry, but the STAR exit point. Also most of them are "ATC clearance only".

There are couple of ATC add-one that do not know how to read AIRAC data. In these programs, you as the pilot have to tell the program what STARs are available (and how they should be flown). So before you begin the flight, you check destination METAR and TAF. Then you notice that winds in both are from the east (again for example). So for this flight you only tell the ATC program the arrivals that are available to runway pointing to the east. What if the TAF was wrong and by the time you get to your destination and the winds are now turned 180 degrees. In this case ATC will not be able to give you a STAR because you didn't tell the program that such things exist. This is the very reason why I now only use ATC programs that have support for AIRAC data. Same rule applies for aircraft add-ons.

It will tell you to descend (on average) about 10-15nm before the aircraft's TOD (you can however initialize the descent manually if you wish). Just remember that if you haven't entered the expected STAR and approach into the aircraft, the aircraft's TOD might be 20-40nm "too soon". Please check here: https://youtu.be/2GtYTNoHkt0?t=1h6m45s When I enter the arrival and approach, on this flight, the aircraft's TOD moves forward about 24nm. (you can see the change at 1h8min mark on the primary navigation display). At 1h14min45s (https://youtu.be/2GtYTNoHkt0?t=1h14m45s) you will hear ATC descend me automatically. At that point, I have yet to pass the aircraft's newly calculated TOD (I'm 13nm away from the TOD to be exact).

Thank you Jeroen for posting this! Support teams do not get to hear compliments all that often so this was very nice to hear More importantly, It's very good to hear that we could help you and and that you enjoy flying with ProATC. Cheers!

For what it's worth, this is exactly how ProATC now works and it has caused a bit of confusion. In the past versions, you were told which runway, approach and STAR to expect even more than 120nm away from your destination airport. The old way was easier for the pilots, but not realistic. New version is more realistic and pilots will have to know how to operate and program the aircraft differently compared to how things were done in the past. EDIT: This is also the reason why there is more questions about how these things are done in the real world (which I find to be a positive thing).

This was a decision that was made late in the development cycle. The release was late by two weeks already. Decision was to be made, are the current voices good enough to be used with the text off. As the answer was yes, the release went out to the users (voice instructions are correct). Mind you, this wasn't a mere bug fix update, but a free upgrade. Full list (over 50 items) here: https://fselite.net/news/pro-atc-x-v1-8-5-0-released/ And that is not how it has ever worked. Upgrade release in the fall, then bug fixes until January. Just like now. Upgrade has been release and I have already tested 4 different release candidates that fix user reported problems. If all goes well, the next bug fix release will happen in the next two weeks or so. I've been on the forums for 5 years and I do not know of a case where CTDs haven't been fixed by following either these instructions: https://goo.gl/jZ3hKv or these https://goo.gl/rGIFqO . If you feel that you will be the first, please let me know.

CRDWF is a vectoring waypoint. It's used to display the point where you are being vectored on the moving map. If you see this, just fly the headings that ATC gives you. As for the over 90 degree turn. A log would be required but I'm willing to bet it's the same issue we discovered today. Has got to do with linking STAR and approach. More info on this issue can be found on the support forum.

Sounds very promising!

Very good to hear I have to agree. Once the dust has settled from the release (first service pack out), I will try pitch the "cleaner menu" modification again. It was talked about for latest release, but didn't make the cut in full force (some parts were implemented). No promises that it will be modified though. Things like these are not in my hands.

This is what was told to me (by the developer) during the testing of the latest version. Based on this, some level of interaction should be available without opening the inflight menu. Like mentioned, I don't use this on my flights so I don't know the correct shortcut for check-in for example.

When you follow the forum rules, you will receive support again. It's the same rule as on the PMDG forum, a full name is a must. This option is a bit hidden in the Airbus. I gave the OP Jeroen my Airbus workflow in another thread (adapted workflow learned by asking questions from pilots and by watching too many cockpit videos from justplanes.com). Hopefully these tips will prove to be useful. Prior to the latest update, ProATC was quite European. Now more universal (and more realistic even for European flights).

I will have to ask around on the ProATC support forum for help on this. It should be more logical for a human, but will it be logical enough for automation, it will remain to be seen.

The original voice sets are still in use, and ProATC is outgrowing the voice sets. The developer stated, that after this release version has gone through service pack runs, the next step is to start work on next generation voice sets. As for the voice vs text timing, I must say that I haven't caught that before (which as a tester, I should have noticed). I will check this on my next flight. Thanks for pointing this out! Don't quote me on this, but the "menu system" should be more logical now. I'm not talking about the inflight menu system that you click with your mouse or use by numbers. I mean the shortcuts that you use without opening the inflight menu. One of the shortcuts should now always be "Confirm instructions/check-in/request clearance" and one should be "say again" and so on. I don't remember exactly how it's done now (as I don't use the shortcut system without opening the inflight menu). All I know that the shortcut system was overhauled during development.

I think you can, you just need to just the "sideways menu buttons". In Europe this is even easier as STARs are runway heading specific. From the SID name, you can already know which runway you will land on (or one of the parallel runways). Short answer: yes. Long answer: This change was one of the most requested features. In the old version, you were transfered over to approach sometimes over 120nm away from the airport. This wasn't realistic as center should be the one giving you arrival info, not approach. Now the center and approach also give you "expect arrival..." and "expect approach..." info verbally before clearing you to fly the said arrival/approach. Just so that you have more time to enter this into your system. FWIW Here's what I do with the Airbus: 1) You enter the route into the aircraft's system without SIDs/STARs 2) You the go to the SEC-PLN (secondary flight plan) and then choose copy active. In the aircraft you now have a backup of the "clean route" if you ever need to come back to it. 3) I then go back to the FPL page and get my departure clearance. After the clearance I enter the SID data into the FPL (that is still missing STAR and approach info). 4) When I'm getting close to the destination airport (around 40nm from aircraft's TOD) I check the destination weather. If the weather still favors same runway as in my OFP (generated by PFPX) I enter the STAR in my plan into the aircraft. I also enter the approach that I would like to fly from the STAR. (Some pilots prefer to set this info before takeoff). 5) If ATC gives my something different, then I can activate my secondary flight plan that didn't have any STAR/approach info. This way I can enter new data quickly (without having Aerosoft's A320 crash when you change the STAR and/or approach in the active flight plan) Like you mentioned, in step 4, you can "cheat" by looking at the ProATC flight plan info window that has the STAR & Approach that you can expect. I personally do not consider this as cheating as your company/dispatch would have good info on what runways have been favoured and you could also ask real world ATC what arrival/approach I can expect (they might not happy if they are busy, but you can alway ask). The update might have messed up your settings somehow. Please check under options that this feature is still enabled. You can see the "correct" setting here in my video (link goes to point where I show my settings): https://youtu.be/2GtYTNoHkt0?t=1m57s If you click the shortcuts in the video description, you can jump to different phase of the flight and you can see that the text is still present with the new version. The descents, in my case, are between 10-20 before the Airbus's TOD. Just remember that not setting the arrival and approach data has a huge effect on your TOD. This is why having a PFPX flight plan (for example) helps as it has calculated a good TOD point that you can use for planning. If you open the follwoing link (the same video as before, different postiion), you can see how the TOD moves forward when I program in the arrival and approach (for this flight, it was only 10-20nm, but some cases it can be much more): https://youtu.be/2GtYTNoHkt0?t=1h6m58s

I doubt it as ProATC is IFR only

The AI will basically try to land based on the winds that are injected into the sim. They have also rules which runways to use when winds are calm. Especially in calm situations you want to use the same runway as AI. When I didn't have this option selected, I ended up taking off with landing traffic coming head on with me. Not a fun experience. Having "use AI runway" enabled has two drawbacks: 1. If you have disabled some runways inside ProATC's airport config, this closure isn't bypassed if AI is using the runway that you have manually closed for takeoff/landing. 2. You will have to wait in line for takeoff, because everyone will use the same runway. The new version allows you to ask for another runway for takeoff so this isn't as big of a problem as it used to be.

Still in early access, but very good, especially for GA flying. (I have FSCaptain, FSPassenger, Airhauler1 and Airhauler2).

Just tried and they work as per the picture:

Please also post a log on the support forum. Thanks.

The first one I ever played, was some fighter simulator on the C64. The first one I fell in love with, was Birds of Prey on Amiga (because it was so advanced):

One thing I forgot to mention is that you can always check which altitude the aircraft is trying to achieve next by looking at the Primary Flight Display. If the aircraft is in climb phase, you will see an altitude target number above the altitude tape. If the aircraft is in descent phase the altitude target number is shown below the altitude tape. If the target altitude is shown in blue letters, there are no altitude restrictions between your current altitude and the altitude you have selected with the altitude knob. If the altitude target is shown in magenta, then there is an altitude restriction between your current altitude and the one you have selected with the altitude knob. The aircraft won't go above/bellow the altitude depicted in magenta until you have passed the waypoint with the altitude restriction or you manually remove the altitude restriction.

If you pull the altitude selector, you are choosing open climb/descent. What open climb or descent means, is that the aircraft will try to get to that altitude as fast as possible. In open climb the engines go to full thrust. In open descent, the engines will go to idle thrust. In these situations the aircraft will use pitch to control speed. This can cause excessive descents or climbs that can be uncomfortable for the passengers. The reason I'm using managed mode is, that it's more comfortable to the passengers. The aircraft calculates a thrust setting that will result in a nice constant climb/descent. All altitude restrictions are respected when flying in managed mode. I personally only pull the altitude selector when ATC tells me to expedite climb/descent. For everything else, I use the managed mode. (There is also expedite mode in the A320, but I use very rarely. Here's what real pilots say about the EXP mode http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/464946-expedite-mode.html)

Family always comes first, there is no doubt about that. I don't think anyone would have done things the other way around.

Let's just say that spectacular crashes are a quick way to learn My first failures happened after I bought Orbx KJAC airport. High altitude and a short runway will easily catch you by surprise. I normally fly flights generated by AirHauler. Near maximum weights and short runways equal higher revenue. This is why I fly good amount of the time on the limit.