124thATC vectors incorrect

Question

Hi all. I love the 124thATC Plugin for x plane but have found out that it will change your course and also tell you to decend way before your FMS is programmed to. I have filed my FMS flight plan into the 124thATC, but it will vextor me away from the planned FMS waypoint. It also will tell me to deviate from the planned flight plan. I am flying the great Zibo 737-800 and if you have VNAV and LNAV engauged snc also the Autopilot engsuged thd Plane will follow the FMS programming. If you decend too soon by following the 124thATC instructions you are committed to flying thd rest of the flight manually, because if you re-engsuge the VNAV and LNAV and Autopilot the plane will climb to the assigned altitude on the FMS.

Any ideas on this? I just read back the command and continue to fly with the FMS flight plan. The 124thATC does get back to normal as you approach your destination airport.

Thanks

John

Answer 1

ATC is there for a reason John (and it isn't just to keep you company while your aircraft follows a pre-programmed route from A to B). If you were to ignore them in real life then you would very quickly find yourself being escorted by a couple of military jets to the nearest available airfield where you would have an awful lot of explaining to do to the authorities before losing your Pilots Licence.

Thankfully you are only flying a sim and, since the current crop of ATC plugins are buggy at best (and the built-in X-Plane ATC is downright lethal), I suppose that you could be forgiven for ignoring some of the more weird instructions that 124th may have given to you. That said; flying a sim aircraft like the Zibo 737 involves a whole lot more than just selecting the autopilot after takeoff and doing an ILS autoland at the other end!

Perhaps it's time for you to study up on how to actually 'hand fly' a 737 so that the next time that ATC asks you to do something that means deviating from your programmed course and altitude then you will at least have the knowledge and satisfaction of being able to comply with their requests?

Have a look at this guys' channel. A real-life 737 pilot who is also a tester for the Zibo mod in his spare time. It might be a good place for you to start...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ_X7kk3XrHbl6ZWQ4wpfkQ/videos

Comments

Thanks, but I do fly hands on and only use the LNAV and VNAV and CMD at just about cruising altitude. But on my sim flight out of KLAX the 124thATC vectored me right onto the IRNMN 2 arrival STAR where I almost ran into traffic which wouldn’t have been there since I was following the SUMMR 1 SID.

If you know your flight plan, your SID and the airport’s arrival STARs then you know when it’s wtong when the 124thATC sends you right into an arrival route at approximately the same altitude.

Thanks for your reply. I guess nothing is perfect. And you’re right about the x plane’s default ATC being lethal.

Take Care

John

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Ah! I see what you are saying now John. I obviously misread your initial question and had assumed that you weren't comfortable with leaving the fully automated state in response to ATC requests. By all accounts Pilot2ATC would seem to be about the most realistic at the moment but I gave up on using plugin ATC a while back and now fly on Vatsim so can't really give an honest appraisal of any of them tbh.

Take Care & Seasonal Best Wishes,

David

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Thanks David. I have a current subscription to Navigraph so my AIRAC is current, which makes my charts and FMS data current. I wonder if the 124thATC plugin has this information ? I will look into Vatsim. One should fly with  ATC, but as you say the default X Plane ATC is lethal, and now I have one that obviously doesn’t follow correct SIDs and STARs, or correct flight plans, or low and high altitude jetways and directs you into oncoming traffic. I’m just looking for one that works.

Take Care and Happy Holidays,

John