ATC really is a joke..

Took me awhile to find out. I've been getting my feet wet with the FBW A320 on short hops here and there, cruise alt of around 32,000 ft, and the ATC did its job on IFR approaches..

 

However, lately, I upped my game so to speak, and did a much longer flight from Vegas to Atlanta, with a cruise alt of 37,000 ft.

 

Here's where I noticed issues: ATC had me descend much later than my TOD (Top of Descent). Then ATC talked me down slowly, to the point where I was still at 15,000 ft and THERE WAS THE RUNWAY!!!!!!

 

Much too high to capture the glideslope, AND the Approach!!

 

Had to declare missed and try again, and from there, the MFDU flightplan was all messed up. I couldn't reprogram the FMC. I aborted the long flight and had to go to "travel to Final" and cheat that way.

 

This is a known issue as I've read from other forums. So my alternatives are, request the various descent altitudes myself, ignore the sim's ATC, or fly with online ATC.

 

Ok, rant over, now my question: Any word on a fix for this?

 

By the way, I always choose "low altitude airways" in the sim's plan, as was suggested to me by a good friend who's a diehard simmer himself...

By the way, I always choose "low altitude airways" in the sim's plan, as was suggested to me by a good friend who's a diehard simmer himself...

 

There's your trouble - for a cruise altitude of 37,000ft I would choose "High Altitude Airways" to get the correct TOD from ATC.

There's your trouble - for a cruise altitude of 37,000ft I would choose "High Altitude Airways" to get the correct TOD from ATC.

 

 

I'm seeing the same issue though at times using "High Altitude Airways". It's random and doesn't always happen. But it did happen today on a flight from KJAC to KDEN. I always use the Developer version of the FBW A320. Yesterday it happened from KDEN to KJAC.

I'm seeing the same issue though at times using "High Altitude Airways". It's random and doesn't always happen. But it did happen today on a flight from KJAC to KDEN. I always use the Developer version of the FBW A320. Yesterday it happened from KDEN to KJAC.

 

Same version I have.

What descent rate are you using once atc have told you to start the descent? I have found 1800ft per min to work well for the Longitude.

 

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I would love to have this ATC version of Radar Contact available for FS2020. I used it with glee for all my flights back in FS9 days. I think it was pay ware back then.

 

What descent rate are you using once atc have told you to start the descent? I have found 1800ft per min to work well for the Longitude.

 

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The Airbus is all automatic (computer controlled) so I don't know for sure..

The default ATC is terrible in every Sim I've ever tried. And I have tried almost all of them. We need a good 3rd party payware ATC program for sure. I also used Radar Contact in FS2004 and loved it. And yes it was payware.

Found this video to be useful in my case, seeing how I've never calculated TOD before. Using this method and ignoring ATC, I had a successful ILS landing. I only responded to ATC after my final was started.

 

https://youtu.be/TIty_bGEE3c

The Airbus is all automatic (computer controlled) so I don't know for sure..

 

Well... just my opinion, but every pilot ought to know their vertical speed, be it climb rate or descent rate. At every phase of flight.

 

Climb too fast on takeoff, you run the risk of stalling very close to ground and when heaviest. Climb too aggressively at altitude, could drop your airspeed enough to cause issues and possibly stall.

 

Descend too fast, you could cause your passengers to experience pain from pressure buildup in the innner ear, also cause ATC to struggle and get annoyed at you for wrecking their plan to get you down. Descend too slow, you could greatly increase time in the air compared to what it could have been. Those hours are costly for the owner, as they didn't "do" anything... just extended a flight that should have been shorter.

 

Before or after you select a lower or higher altitude, you can adjust your vertical speed. It starts with a default verrtical speed, but you can select your own desired vertical speed. Look at your altitude selection on the autopilot. Look at the next space to the right, it should have "V/S" at the top. That is the autopilot's vertical speed selection, whether you command it to climb or descend. Use the knob below it to change the vertical speed.

 

Your vertical speed in a tiny GA aircraft, 1000ft per minute would be about your most for comfort. In an airliner, you can comfortably descend at 2000 ft per minute. When on glideslope, you should typically see roughly 700 fpm but this can vary from 500 to 900 depending on the plane and approach airspeed.

 

In a real airbus, there's more to this, and the FMC can be programmed for all of this... I'm just giving you very basics.

It looks like in managed mode, when I start descending, the V/S is around 22-2400 fpm.

 

I know I can adjust it, but that always seemed ok to me.

 

The main problem like I said, is ATC starts my descent from say 36,000 to 28,000 feet, but I should be at say 12,000 feet as the next waypoint is approaching. It’s just too slow and by the time I should be on final around 2-3,000 feet, I’m still descending and am way too high to capture the glide slope, or even manually land, for that matter.

I pick a point and request a decrease in cruise altitude of 8,000 feet prior to the official approach instructions.

There's your trouble - for a cruise altitude of 37,000ft I would choose "High Altitude Airways" to get the correct TOD from ATC.

 

Ok, I flew yesterday at 37,000 ft, and I used high altitude airways.

 

My calculations showed my TOD to be around 85 nm from my fix, and lo and behold, ATC started my descent right when it should. I was right at 11,000 ft when I crossed my final waypoint before approach and all was perfect..got me down to the suggested 3,000 feet on final!

 

Maybe there is something to the high altitude flight plan after all. Thank you!

You're very welcome. As far as I can tell, Low Altitude IFR goes up to FL250 and anything above that is High Altitude IFR - this is based on being asked to climb as high as FL250 over an international airport's airspace in the Bonanza or BN-2 Islander even though neither of them can reach that altitude - now that really is a joke!

Reminds me of FSX: “traffic is glider at 28,000 ft. Report them in sight”.

 

Lol whaaa?? Hope he had an oxygen mask!!