Purse replaced, and I have three weeks grace before the lady of the house, notices that she has become the proud owner of Pro-ATC! As she does not own FSX or any other concrete or abstract peripheral ephemera, I am sure that a Full Official Enquiry will duly follow.
As she already thinks that I am involved in 'the Dark Arts' I may have some explaining to do. I am pretty good at setting up a smoke screen, and think that I have the measure of her - she of course may have other ideas.
But I digress...
At Pointsoft (sounds like a pretty squidgy name for a developer), have seemingly done the almost impossible - provided voices that sound like...voices!
The voice set is presently quite small, BUT they all sound like people. The pilots, the co-pilots, the regional ATC people, etcetera...plus the developers insist that the data bank will grow, and you WILL hear accents from around the world. You can record and create your own if you wish.
I have already set my flight deck up with an American captain (I love him - he chews gum, calls everybody dude, and does a very passable imitation of Lee Marvin, singing 'A Wanderin' Star.' Well, perhaps I exaggerate a little or maybe even a lot, but he is pretty cute nonetheless.
Read the bumph yourself...it is unusual, in that it does do what it says on the tin, and they are happy to concede that there are presently some things that it won't do. In effect, they are making a good effort, and sharing their experiences as they go along.
Their YouTube tutorials are very personable, and 'Clive' one of the developers, is happy to say that this continues to be a 'work in progress' and that they are making it as informal a process as possible.
The Pro-ATC engine covers such a good deal of 'ambience' related immersion - you get a co-pilot, checklists, correct ATC instructions, background ATC chatter (mostly region specific - not perfect though), from start to finish. You can set up a flight plan, import to the NGX and to Aerosoft's Airbus X Extended for FSX (limited by the Airbus's capability to manage SID and STAR inputs). You can input a SID and a STAR (the STAR is presently limited - once the flight plan has been created, you cannot change the SID and STAR element). Although, whilst on the ground, you have got the one off option to change the SID, after obtaining Clearance Delivery. The developer is working on making it possible to change the flight plan STAR on route, 'on the fly' which will assist with weather program wind direction changes on approaches.
However, the flight is seamlessly managed from start to finish, ATC wise. From delivery to ground at the other end, they are with you all of the way. You are passed over to each new area controller, the on-route transitions are managed, and approach descents are completed with reasonably accurate information from Pro-ATC. The only draw-back so far is if the winds change at the arrival airport, and you wish to change the STAR. As previously commented, at present you cannot do it.
All in all, take a look yourself, and see what you think. There are of course YouTube references to the product. It does have limitations, and there are things that it will and it won't do - compared to all that has gone before, I am still convinced that this will substitute for those who like some realism to add to the ATC experience. It, IMHO, is far, far better than all which has gone before.
There are demos on YouTube. Type in Pro-ATC and choose for yourself. The tutorials also give an idea of what to expect.
If you are an Einstein, and have the mind of an astro-physicist, then you will find this an easy stride from opening the can, to being quickly attuned to how this program works.
If you are very bright, but often don't notice that others around you are even brighter, it might take a small amount of adjustment time before you have that eureka moment, and become one of the chosen ones as you buy the new Pro-ATC uniform, so that you fit in with all of the other zombies.
If you are like me, then don't worry, even we within the less well developed group of homo-sapiens shouldn't have too much trouble getting to grips with this one!
Stuart Outram
[email protected]
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