Review - Radar Contact 99

Radar Contact 99
By Iair Arcavi (13 September 1999)

Introduction

Radar Contact 99 is an adventure creation utility for Microsoft Flight Simulator sold by JDT LLC which is made up of Doug Thompson, an Air Traffic Controller, and John Dekker, a systems analyst. It works with flight planner utilities to create adventures to adhere to actual FAA regulations.

Creating The Adventures

Creating the adventures is really easy and can be done using any flight planner that supports Radar Contact 99 (RC99). One such freeware flight planner is NAV 3.0. All one has to do is create the flight plan and then click on "Export to Radar Contact 99". After that, the file is opened from RC99 and all of the required information that is not in the flight plan is entered, such as the callsign and all of the radio frequencies. Once this is complete, all that is left is to press the "Compile" button and this creates the adventure for use with FS.

Sounds simple? Well, it is. When it works, that is. This version of Radar Contact had some problems generating some of my adventures. John Dekker, programer of RC99, informed me that this was due to the fact that the NAV flight planner uses long descriptions for airport names. Even though other flight planners have the option to shorten these descriptions, this problem should be taken care of in the next version, since NAV users are unable to use some of the airports.

"...The controller might say "KingAir 323, three o'clock traffic, left to right, Cessna at 7000"..."
Flying The Adventures

Once the adventures are compiled, they are ready to be flown on the flight simulator. As the adventure loads, a list of all of the shortcut keys scrolls by, and a welcome message to Radar Contact is heard. First off is the ATIS, followed by delivery, ground, tower, departure and center. Just as in the real world. A nice idea was that while busy with taking off or flying the aircraft, one doesn’t have to begin to check for the frequency, and change it on the Com radio. By pressing Shift Control Y, the next radio frequency is automatically entered (by the copilot, I guess) and contact is made with the following radio station. This is quite handy at times when controlling the plane requires both hands and it’s hard to get to the mouse to change the frequency.

During flight, the number of the next waypoint, as well as its frequency, distance and heading relative to the aircraft, is shown on the top left of the screen. This is also quite handy, and functions as an additional navigation tool.

Another interesting feature one can encounter during flight, is traffic warnings. For example the controller might say "KingAir 323, three o'clock traffic, left to right, Cessna at 7000". I didn’t manage to actually spot the plane, but this is an adventure utility, and doesn’t generate dynamic scenery. I found that the traffic warnings add to the realism of the flight, and help increase the awarness in the "cockpit".

"...I unfortunately had my controller direct me straight into a mountain."
Coming to a landing at my destination airport, I unfortunately had my controller direct me straight into a mountain. I had no choice but to change my altitude in order to avoid colliding with it. As I climbed I received several messages from the controller advising me of my violation of altitude. Eventually, I was to meet an inspector after landing, due to significant violations. Interesting feature, that of the violations, but there really wasn’t much else I could do, if I didn’t want to crash into the mountain.

John Dekker advised me that he has "added two new checkboxes in version 2.0 called Terrain NOTAMS, one for departure and one for arrival. If you check those, the controller will preface all instructions with "if feasible", or "when possible", and then the descent or fly heading command. When these boxes are checked you won't be yelled at for not following his instructions to the letter, and thus avoiding controlled flight into terrain." That does seem like a good solution to the problem, and it's good to hear that it is implemented in version 2.

STARs and SIDs aren't yet available, but they should be included in future versions depending on the availability of these options in the flight planner used. John tells me that if and when STARS and SIDs will be available in flight planners, he will enable the SID and STAR checkboxes, "and you will be expected to fly those checkpoints, as you would any other checkpoint in your flight plan. But you won't hear Doug (the controller) telling you to turn left or right for each SID/STAR checkpoint - that is highly unrealistic."

"...if and when STARS and SIDs will be available in flight planners, they will be available in RC99 too and you will be expected to fly those checkpoints, as you would any other checkpoint in your flight plan..."

Generally the adventures are a lot of fun to fly. Their contribution to the realism of the flight is quite significant. Even though some problems are still left to straighten out, it definitely beats flying lonely skies, and especially silent ones.

Iair Arcavi
Download Radar Contact 99 sample adventures.
Visit Radar Contact 99 Web site.

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