Flying with ATC

ATC will give you a heading as you near the LOC. By doing what you're doing, you're creating your own RNAV approach. Sure it will work but would be illegal in the real world(RW). Some approaches are designed with fixes that will lead you to the LOC. This is often the case when radar coverage or ATC service time is intermittent. Aircraft would be cleared for the approach many miles out and would be expected to fly the transition route to the LOC. Some are not. In the RW you could request what you're doing and it would be fine but FS ATC may not be so cooperating. FS ATC does not sense what nav source you're using.🙂

From my expirience in FS, ATC will give you the vectors to final which won't match your planned route unless you know what they will say and plan it thus. they will only do this for IFR flights, and in FS are not to good at it. In VFR flights you contact the tower when you are in range and they just tell you the pattern entry and runway to use. Example: Fly left downwind for runway 25R.

I guessed the way I rely on the INS so close to the airport was wrong. Do ATC recognise the aircrafts position relative to the airport and advise as such and if aircraft traffic is off can I assume I will never be required to fly a holding pattern?

My timed turns need some attention. Any golden rules?

I guessed the way I rely on the INS so close to the airport was wrong. Do ATC recognise the aircrafts position relative to the airport and advise as such and if aircraft traffic is off can I assume I will never be required to fly a holding pattern?

My timed turns need some attention. Any golden rules?

FS ATC will never give you a hold, VATSIM controllers may if traffic gets backed up. Normally the controller will advise you of your position in relation to the final approach fix(FAF) when they clear you for the approach. 🙂

In the past I've got VOR LOC centered and the glide slope is coming down to center at which point I activate GLIDE but ATC instruct a heading that is plainly taking me away from the airport. I don't know why as I'm all set up for landing.

That's a problem with FS ATC and why i don't use it. It's only a approximation of ATC. No other flight sim even has that so it's a big step ahead but it needs refining. I hope they fixed it in FSX but we will see. I saw this website that you may want to look at, I don't know anything about it. http://www.jdtllc.com/ It's a ATC add-on program. 🙂

How is the ATC a big improvement in FS04 than 02?

Jamie4590 wrote:

How is the ATC a big improvement in FS04 than 02?

I don't use it but I found this on FS2004 website.

"Enhanced interactive air traffic control (ATC), including traffic at all airports around the world (including non-towered airports), altitude changes en route, pop-up IFR clearances, and precision and non-precision approaches to multiple runways."