enchantedloom

Thanks, that's really helpful! I love flying VFR with P2A but my mind always tends to go blank when it comes to calling the destination tower. I expect to say something like "GMVAL is a Cessna 152, 9 miles southeast, 2500 feet, with India, inbound to land, runway 09", but that never seems to work, so I end up fumbling desperately with 'Say It' to find the right phrasing and that kinda takes the edge off the most satisfying part of the flight. Good to know what P2A actually expects to hear! Looking forward to the airspace transition info next. Flight following is a bit dull unless there's a lot of traffic around, so making proactive calls to transition airspace at the right moments instead will add a lot. IFR is great, but you're being told what to do all the time, whereas with VFR I love that P2A lets you just call up and ask for whatever you need.

Similar thing here - several flights to different places (both IFR and VFR) in which tower won't respond at all until touchdown, and then I get acknowledgment, landing clearance and runway exit instructions all at once. Glad it's not just me! I was going to reinstall everything in case something was corrupted, but I'll wait for a bit, now.

Yes!!! KEMV (no tower) to KCLT in a B200. Picked up IFR on the ground, ATC did everything absolutely perfectly, and I managed not to screw anything up. It's SO satisfying when it all comes together! Thanks, Dave, for a really great add-on! - Steve

Great, thanks!

Yep, just took off from my home base at KFLG and as my wheels were going up, Tower gave me a traffic report 2 o'clock, 1m at 7000ft (which is airport altitude). I've had them from sea-level airports, too, e.g. KPIE or KRSW. Maybe it's an XP11 thing - I never used AI traffic on XP10 so I wouldn't have noticed. XP11 defaults to allowing sloping runways, so it's not that parked planes can seem slightly off the ground, maybe?

Yes, XP11. It's happened at several airports, so I assumed it was all of them! I'll check.

Not a biggie, but when I take off with flight following I get a bunch of traffic reports about AI a/c that are still on the ground. It's a bit distracting, but great that we get traffic reports, anyway. It adds a lot!

One little thing that seems consistent (on at least 2.0.1.4 and 5) is that I get exceptions thrown if I try entering cruise altitude or ground speed to a flight plan before adding any waypoints. Easy to work around, but I thought I'd mention it. Also, is there any way for P2A to crash X-plane? Just lately (XP 10.45 and 10.50) I've had silent CTDs for no apparent reason, half an hour to an hour into a flight. Nothing in the XP log, I don't seem to run out of memory, and P2A remains running. I'd put it down to a graphics driver or plugin problem but it only ever seems to happen when I'm running P2A. It takes so long to happen that I can't swear to this, but I haven't completed a single P2A flight lately without a crash, and I don't think I've had a crash when P2A wasn't running. It could still be coincidence, though.

Ah, could be. Cool! You're putting them out thick and fast! Wish I could say the same for my own project - I've been promising everyone a new build for three months and just decided to do a major rewrite...

Is P2A multithreaded? It felt just like thread blocking or a race condition, rather than waiting for slow resources. Not internet trouble, not a general slowdown but a total freeze - menus, PTT button, map, all frozen. Memory I didn't check - I have 16GB - but X-plane continued working smoothly throughout, and that would surely have ground to a halt too. The only unusual thing about the flight was that I was VFR with radar services but the vis was getting worse so I asked for an ILS approach (I didn't file IFR in the air). The cool thing is, the controller didn't bat an eyelid! That and the go-around were responded to perfectly. It's just that after I switched to tower, p2A froze solid for a minute after each interaction. No idea whether it's repeatable yet - it took 2 hours to get to the point where it went wrong. But I'll let you know. I just thought I'd better record it in case others find the same. I'll see what happens tonight! - Steve

Handoff from center to approach works great now! But this one's a weird one (build 20). I'd just flown a DME arc for the ILS to R23 at VGEG and everything had gone really well. But I was well down the approach and no handoff to tower had happened, so I contacted them myself and P2A froze completely. I assumed it had crashed and so just continued my approach, but then I suddenly got a landing clearance about half a mile out. I was way too high anyway, so declared missed in the hope that it was working again. More silence, so I tried a few more times with no response. Continued the go-around by myself and eventually tower piped up again with acknowledgement of the missed approach. At one point she suddenly regurgitated two or three responses, as if she'd been listening but the replies had got backed up. This continued all the way to requesting taxi to parking - everything worked exactly according to plan but with very long delays and then sudden verbal diarrhea. I'll paste the relevant part of the log below. It looks quite normal except the timings are weird. They suggest that I got a landing clearance, declared missed and was asked to report downwind, all in the same second! In reality there was a long gap between going missed and hearing back from tower. OTOH it shows that 4 minutes elapsed between hearing my parking request and replying to it, which is probably about right. RespondToFlightTriggerValidated 20:22:26 Trigger:ReachedNextFltPlanWaypoint rOnReachedNextFltPlanWaypoint 20:22:26 AssignedController: 128.42. CtlrShrtName: ATC Center Ctr CtlrType: Center20:25:24 UnInterruptAudio in StartPlayingSoundFileLoop ControllerFreqChanged: 118.7. CtlrShrtName: VGEG Twr CtlrType: Tower20:25:24 Com1FreqChanged: 118.7. CtlrShrtName: VGEG Twr CtlrType: Tower20:25:24 InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima is on Final to Runway Two Three 20:25 Stopped Listening HandleOnFinalContact 20:25:30 InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening State Changed to: ClearedToLand 20:26 InterruptAudio in Speak ATC Speak: Beech Four Alpha Lima Whinds are One Niner Zero at Five knots Cleared to Land Runway Two Three20:26:40 Sug Resp: ~Cleared to land runway Two Three 20:26:40 Recognized Speech: Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima East of for an 20:26 Recognized Speech: Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima going around 20:26 HandleGoAroundReport 20:26:40 InterruptAudio in Speak ATC Speak: Beech Four Alpha Lima Roger, report downwind runway Two Three20:26:40 Sug Resp: ~Will report downwind Two Three20:26:40 Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima 20:26 HandleGoAroundReport 20:26:40 InterruptAudio in Speak ATC Speak: Beech Four Alpha Lima Roger, report downwind runway Two Three20:26:50 Sug Resp: ~Will report downwind Two Three20:26:50 OnSynthSpeakCompleted UnInterruptAudio in OnSynthSpeakCompleted InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening OnSynthSpeakCompleted UnInterruptAudio in OnSynthSpeakCompleted OnSynthSpeakCompleted UnInterruptAudio in OnSynthSpeakCompleted InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: report Downwind for Runway Two Three Beech Four Alpha Lima 20:26 Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima Downwind 20:29 Stopped Listening HandleDownwindContact 20:29:15 InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening SpeakAltimeterSetting 20:31:29 InterruptAudio in Speak ATC Speak: Beech Four Alpha Lima Altimeter is Two Niner Six Seven Call turning final for Runway Two Three20:35:38 Sug Resp: 20:35:38 Recognized Speech: Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima 20:35 OnSynthSpeakCompleted UnInterruptAudio in OnSynthSpeakCompleted InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima is Five North Runway Two Three 20:35 Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima Final for Runway Two Three 20:36 Stopped Listening HandleOnFinalContact 20:36:01 InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima is One Five 20:36 Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima turning Final to Runway Two Three 20:36 Stopped Listening HandleOnFinalContact 20:36:19 RespondToFlightTrigger 20:38:10 Trigger:LandingTouchdown RespondToFlightTriggerValidated 20:38:10 Trigger:LandingTouchdown rOnAircraftTouchdown 20:38:10 State Changed to: LandingRoll 20:38 InterruptAudio in Speak ATC Speak: Beech Four Alpha Lima exit runway when able. 20:38:10 Sug Resp: ~Clear of Active 20:38:10 OnSynthSpeakCompleted UnInterruptAudio in OnSynthSpeakCompleted InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima is clear of Runway Two Three 20:39 Stopped Listening HandleClearOfActive 20:39:16 SpokenRandomSalutation 20:39:16 InterruptAudio in Speak ATC Speak: Beech Four Alpha LimaWelcome to CHITTAGONG SHAH AMANAT INTERNATIONAL contact ground on One Two One Point Eight, goodday 20:39:16 Sug Resp: ~Ground on One Two One Point Eight 20:39:16 OnSynthSpeakCompleted UnInterruptAudio in OnSynthSpeakCompleted InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening Recognized Speech: One Two One Point Eight 20:39 UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Beech Four Alpha Lima goodday 20:39 Stopped Listening AssignedController: 121.8. CtlrShrtName: VGEG Gnd CtlrType: Ground20:40:14 UnInterruptAudio in StartPlayingSoundFileLoop ControllerFreqChanged: 121.8. CtlrShrtName: VGEG Gnd CtlrType: Ground20:40:14 Com1FreqChanged: 121.8. CtlrShrtName: VGEG Gnd CtlrType: Ground20:40:14 InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Recognized Speech: Ground Beech Four Alpha Lima Request Taxi to Parking 20:40 Stopped Listening HandleTaxiRequest 20:40:20 InterruptAudio in OnPilotSpeaking Started Listening UnInterruptAudio in OnPilotEndSpeaking Stopped Listening AssignedRunway: RW23 - AssignedRunway: RW23 - State Changed to: TaxiIn 20:44 InterruptAudio in Speak ATC Speak: Beech Four Alpha Lima Taxi to General Aviation Parking Via Taxiways Bravo, Hold Short Runway Zero Five20:44:04

This one's been consistent over three consecutive flights using v2.0.0.18. Latest was VTBD to VTCL. All were VFR with flight following and worked perfectly up to the handoff to approach. I changed freq and then I'm pretty sure it threw this when I hit the PTT button, although I guess it may have been after I spoke, judging by the trace. System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at P2ASpeech.Controller.ae(String& A_0, SpeechInteraction A_1, String& A_2) at P2ASpeech.Controller.ah(String& A_0, SpeechInteraction A_1, String& A_2) at P2ASpeech.Controller.aq(String& A_0, SpeechInteraction A_1, String& A_2) at P2ASpeech.Controller.RespondToPilot(SpeechInteraction SI) at P2ASpeech.ATCListener.HandleRecognizedSpeech() at P2ASpeech.ATCListener.a(Object A_0, RecognizeCompletedEventArgs A_1) at System.Speech.Recognition.SpeechRecognitionEngine.RecognizeCompletedProxy(Object sender, RecognizeCompletedEventArgs e)

Today was SO CLOSE! I don't know why but things went better in general and I got some messages I've not seen before, as if the program (or I) had a better grip on things. The only thing I changed was to increase the tower radius to 10nm, although it didn't really help in the end. Here are some transcripts FYI: First I screwed up completely by forgetting to file the flight plan, but I'll include it anyway because perhaps it should still have worked. Simulator Connected Recognition Engine Installed Grammars Loaded Pilatus [two one] Four Alpha Lima Ready to Taxi; State Change to: TaxiOut Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Taxi to Runway Zero Three Via Taxiways Alpha, Hold Short Runway Zero Three Taxi to Runway Zero Three via Taxiways Alpha Hold Short Runway Zero Three Four Alpha Lima; Tower Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Ready for Depature Runways Three; Tower Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; Pilatus Four Alpha Lima This is UNICOM go ahead. Back to the ramp and started again. I aborted the second attempt too, although that time I did manage to trigger a state change and got successfully handed off from ground to tower at the runway. So here is attempt three, direct KFLG to KGCN without radar service. I was so shocked when tower answered me in the air that I fluffed my pattern entry! But it all kept on working: NextWpt: TOD Ground Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Ready to Taxi; State Change to: TaxiOut Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Taxi to Runway Zero Three Via Taxiways Alpha, Hold Short Runway Zero Three Taxi to Runway Zero Three via Taxiway Alpha Hold Short Runway Zero Three; Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; Tower Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Ready for Departure; State Change to: TakeoffVFR Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Whinds are light and variable Cleared for takeoff, Runway Zero Three Clear for Takeoff Runway Zero Three Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; State Change to: DepartureVFR Pilatus Four Alpha Lima have a nice day , frequency change approved. Frequency Change Approved have a nice day South of Four Alpha Lima; Four Alpha Lima. Frequency change approved. Report when back on Frequency Four Alpha Lima Roger; NextWpt: GRAND CANYON/NATIONAL PARK Tower Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; Pilatus Four Alpha Lima This is Tower go ahead. Pilatus Four Alpha Lima is Eight Miles Southeast Inbound to Landing; State Change to: VFRArrival [woo-hoo!!!!] Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Radar Contact. Enter pattern on a LEFT forty five to downwind for Runway Two One Altimeter is Two Niner Eight Two enter Left Downwind for Runway Two One thanks Four Alpha Lima; Left Downwind for Runway Two One Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Call turning final for Runway Two One Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Wilco Final; Tower Pilatus Four Alpha Lima is on Final for Runway Two One; State Change to: ClearedToLand Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Roger Whinds are Two Zero Zero at Eight knots Cleared to Land Runway Two One Cleared to Land Runway Two One Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; State Change to: LandingRoll Pilatus Four Alpha Lima exit runway when able. Taxi Runway One Unable Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; Pilatus Four Alpha Lima is clear of Runway Two One; Pilatus Four Alpha LimaWelcome to GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK contact ground on One Two One Point Niner, have a good afternoon Contact Ground One Two One Point Niner Pilatus Four Alpha Lima; Ground Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Request Taxi to Parking; State Change to: TaxiIn Pilatus Four Alpha Lima Taxi to General Aviation Parking Via Taxiways Charlie, Hold Short Runway Two One {At this point P2A threw an exception - possibly because I accidentally stepped on the controller mid-message} Now the return trip with flight following. It went really well until about 3 miles out. I didn't get a handoff from center so I just tried to contact tower. Unfortunately I didn't think to cancel FF or request a frequency change, but they haven't helped in the past. Either way it all went rapidly downhill at that point: Simulator Connected Recognition Engine Installed Grammars Loaded NextWpt: TOD Ground Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima This is Ground go ahead. Beech Four Alpha Lima request VFR Traffic Advisories Two Kilo Foxtrot Lima Gulf At One One Thousand Five Hundred Feet; NextWpt: TOD State Change to: FlightPlanDelivered Beech Four Alpha Lima Cleared VFR to Two Kilo Foxtrot Lima Gulf with radar advisory service at , One One Thousand , Five Hundred feet . Squawk Four Zero Three Five advise of altitude changes en-route. Cleared VFR to Kilo Foxtrot Lima Gulf; At One One Thousand Five Hundred Feet Squawk Four Zero Three Five Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima Readback Correct. Expect runway Two OneAdvise when ready to taxi. Ground Beech Four Alpha Lima is ready to Taxi; State Change to: TaxiOut Beech Four Alpha Lima Taxi to Runway Two One Via Taxiways Alpha, Hold Short Runway Two One State Change to: AtDepartureRunway Beech Four Alpha Lima Contact Tower on One One Niner point zero , have a good afternoon Tower on One One Niner Point Zero good afternoon Beech Four Alpha Lima; Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima Ready for Departure Runway Two One; State Change to: TakeoffVFR Beech Four Alpha Lima Whinds are light and variable Altimeter is Two Niner Eight Two Cleared for takeoff, Runway Two One Clear for Takeoff Runway Two One Beech Four Alpha Lima; State Change to: DepartureVFRFlightFollowing Beech Four Alpha Lima Contact Center on One Two Four Point Eight Five, have a nice day Center on One Two Four Point Eight Five Beech Four Alpha Lima goodday and; Center Beech Four Alpha Lima Is Level At One One Thousand Five Hundred is; State Change to: EnRouteVFRFlightFollow Beech Four Alpha Lima good afternoon . Radar Contact. [Eventually I couldn't maintain VFR so I advised a change in altitude] Center Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima This is Center go ahead. Descending to Niner Thousand Five Hundred Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima Request Descent to Niner Thousand Five Hundred; Beech Four Alpha Lima Roger, Thanks for the update. NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM FLAGSTAFF Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima This is UNICOM go ahead. Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima This is UNICOM go ahead. Center Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima This is Center go ahead. Beech Four Alpha Lima Cancel Flight Following; Beech Four Alpha Lima Would like to Cancel Flight Following; NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM FLAGSTAFF Tower Beech Four Alpha Lima; Beech Four Alpha Lima This is UNICOM go ahead. NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM NextWpt: FLAGSTAFF PULLIAM ...and then I landed heavy! :-)

Thanks, I'll try ten miles. All I said when calling tower was "Tower, Beech 4AL."

Hmm. Can you post what you find out, Chris? I was all set to reinstall XP!

Bizarrely, I lost all ATIS in x-plane too, on the same day you did. I was baffled but I just this minute figured out the cause - all the volume sliders in XP's Sound dialog had got set to zero. Could P2A have caused this Dave? I never touch the sliders myself and it happened after I installed 2.0.0.13. You said there was some new volume control but I haven't looked to see what it controls.

Well that's weird! Maybe the hole is in my head! Last night I started by repeating the previous loop from KFLG to KGCN. I filed a VFR flight plan, contacted ground for flight following and then again for taxi, and was successfully handed off to tower at the hold point (yay!). It always seems to work if I get explicitly handed off. I flew to GCN, switching to a center controller when asked. Center didn't give me a handoff to tower by the time I was entering class D so I canceled flight following. Then I called tower and got "this is Unicom, go ahead." My memory's failing me now, so maybe you should ignore me while I try again and keep a transcript! Nothing went right yesterday.

I hate to say it, but I still (in 2.0.0.13) can't usually contact tower without somebody claiming to be Unicom answering instead and then understandably refusing to issue clearances. Maybe I notice them more because I fly charter in FSEconomy instead of zooming from hub to hub in a 737. It isn't all airports but it's very common in small to medium towered airports in the US (picking a few codes at random it was true for KSBP, KGCN, KSPS, KTLH, but not KPSP). The crucial factor is whether the AFD lists them as having a CTAF frequency for when the tower is closed. It's usually the same as the daytime tower freq and shows up in P2A as a second Unicom, which is perfectly reasonable. But it always trumps the tower controller (unless I'm explicitly handed off). I call tower and get back "Beech 4AL, this is Unicom, go ahead", except I can't go ahead because they won't respond any further. Could you maybe put in a check to see whether there's a Unicom frequency that matches the tower and make sure tower is always trumps (Trump Tower!)?

Thanks Dave, > select VFR Flight Plan and then it should force you to plan an altitude Looks like we're both right about that one! W works, E rounds to exact thousands. Here are the results of two short and enjoyable VFR flights from KFLG to KGCN and back - I think I got some useful info out of it this time: Filed a VFR flight plan at 8,500 (for a NW track) and that worked fine. Contacted ground for taxi - perfect. Tried to contact tower but the phantom Unicom problem occurred - Tower claimed to be Unicom and wouldn't give me clearance to depart until I asked ground for it instead. Ground then referred me to tower and this time tower worked. I have a feeling this has been the root of many of my problems! Took off, flew to GCN without flight following. Checked in with tower in my usual way and speech recognition heard every word perfectly - it even got "Grand Canyon" - but unfortunately nobody answered. I'm pretty sure it was the phantom Unicom again, because both KFLG and KGCN are listed as having three Unicom frequencies, one of which is tower [is it possible to fix this myself by editing the database? Or could you just forget about Unicom entirely, since it's just us talking to ourselves, and then there'll be no ambiguity?] Since there was no reply to voice I tried asking for a standard pattern entry using SayIt but as soon as I clicked on the grammar I got a null ref exception. The stack trace for that is below. Return Journey: Filed a flight plan (track of 141 degrees) for 11,500 but it got rounded to 11,000. Tried various other odd (and even) half-thousands and it's just odd+500 that doesn't work when it should. Ground was very helpful and I requested flight following. Tower claimed to be Unicom again but asking ground for a departure clearance did the trick. They referred me to tower and this time tower answered. Tower handed me off to center nicely. Nobody said anything as I got within three miles of KFLG so I canceled flight following, which they accepted. Tried to contact tower but of course Unicom answered. Landed without tower, contacted ground and they told me to contact Center! Presumably by that point everything was out of whack because of not having been cleared to land. So basically I think there's a minor bug with rounding easterly altitudes and the phantom Unicom frequencies have been the cause of most of my problems on both departure and arrival. Plus there was the null ref error, but I've had a few of those myself today :-) Hope this helps. - Steve System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Pilot2ATC_200.frmP2AMain.e(Object A_0, EventArgs A_1) at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.WmReflectCommand(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

Just a very minor point: I found I can't file flight plans for cruise altitudes at anything other than whole thousands - it gets rounded. VFR flights in the US above 3,000AGL are always at odd or even thousands plus 500ft, of course. It may make no practical difference as far as the software is concerned but I just thought I'd mention it. I haven't actually succeeded with a VFR flight yet. Startup and take-off usually go well, but then I find I can't check in with the destination (class D) tower. The standard "Flagstaff tower, Skyhawk 214AL is 5 north-east, inbound to land" gets no answer and I can't get any SayIt strings to do the trick either (why do they specify a runway? Isn't that up to the controller?). But from 5 miles out it's all a bit frantic, so I can't really tell you what the exact problem is yet. I thought maybe it would go better with flight following, so that I might get explicitly handed-off to tower or approach, but when I tried this I made the mistake of departing from a non-towered airport and couldn't ask center for flight following because he kept telling me to contact ground! I guess I'm just straying too far outside the expected pattern of behavior somewhere. It should be possible to cold-call a tower and ask for a landing clearance though, shouldn't it?

Ok, I'll try that, thanks. They understood they were Tower when I cold called; it was later that they started to call themselves Unicom. I'll try swapping frequencies like you say. Btw, this will make you laugh: I was shouting and swearing for some time at my local tower (in P2A), trying to get them to understand me (I'll keep training the speech engine and it'll get better - I'm not surprised I was having trouble at first, because I'm a Brit living in the US and Windows doesn't really cater for ex-pats when it comes to speech recognition). Anyway, I was probably quite rude to them, but that was ok because they didn't understand my accent. But this morning I got an email from Keith Smith at PilotEdge, wondering why I'd spent ages trying to contact a controller who is completely outside their coverage area! Turns out I'd forgotten to remove my PE plug-in, had accidentally become connected, and had been swearing my head off on-air! :-)

I'm brand new at this, so it's hard to tell yet which things are bugs and which are just my stupidity confusing the poor controllers. Approach just sent me sailing off past KBFL into the sunset, but probably only to get rid of me! But I did notice at both KBFL and KFAT that Unicom was listed as the same freq as tower (in reality KBFL tower is 118.1, which P2A got right, but Unicom is 122.95). After the first contact, both towers started to refer to themselves as Unicom instead and it may be my imagination but they seemed to refuse to do anything tower-like after that point too. Or indeed Unicom-like. They were happy to say hi, but I never managed to get a landing clearance, even with SayIt. Also, in my Pilatus PC-12, the transponder is only detected as being on when in "on" mode, not in mode C. But that's probably an X-plane / Carenado thing. Easy enough to work round. Fantastic program! "Aviate, navigate, communicate" suddenly starts to have real meaning!