ConstVoid

I thought I'd got away with it too last night, but sure enough when I requested the critique Bill S demanded I hand over my licence!Actually, In my defence, the plane encroaching on the runway actually disappeared before my very eyes as I was preparing to go around - honest Guv!I guess I won't be flying for a (virtual) while. ;-)Ian

Yes - I was mighty displeased with this too, so I went to Game and bought it there & cancelled the order with Amazon. Had to pay full price, but that only worked out

I don't think so. I checked the schedules on www.discoverywings.co.uk, but didn't notice anything unusual - just the same repeats we're used to seeing.Ian

Luigi,I don't have Gary Summons' Manchester, I have Barry Perfect's English Airports (Although I may be getting Gary's version because Barry won't be upgrading English Airports for FS2004).Anyway, in answer to your question, 6L, 6R and 24R all have GS. Only 24L has BC. I think this is because in real life 24L is hardly ever (or maybe never) used for landing. For a start, any aircraft much larger than GA landing on 24L would have to taxi to the end of the runway, where there is a turning loop and then back-taxi along the runway until it could clear at one of the exits.24R and 6L use the same frequency, but in real life ony one of these would be switched on any any time.Ian

I had a 'right 10 degrees for traffic' in my first flight with the beta. I'm pretty sure it didn't say 'turn right....' though - is this a missing wave?It did surprise me though - I'd only ever had the 'fly heading....' type of traffic call before.Ian

What about checking if the VOR is closer to the aircraft than the airport is, and if so allow holding if the VOR is up to 10 miles from the airport? That way the hold would still be outside of approach's airspace. Just a suggestion.Ian

OK jd - It might be a few days, as I'll be away from the PC for a while.Ian

Hi,I've never altered altitude deviation so I'm using the default 300. This means 300 feet, doesn't it, not 3000?The first problem with the repeated calls was at much less than 100 mile intervals - I was flying the Baron at the time and getting repeats every 2-4 minutes (maybe 5-10 miles?).The other problem, where altitude was busted twice before the new altimeter setting was given to me, was in an A320. It's possible that RC was waiting for 100 miles to be flown before giving the new setting, but in this case wouldn't it be better if RC checks to see if there is a 'pending' new altimeter setting before giving the 'you busted your altitude' message?Ian

I can confirm that I'm also getting repeated altimeter calls, at intervals of a few minutes (2 or 3?).Also, when FSMeteo updates, RC doesn't give the new altimeter straight away, it seems to wait for the 2 or 3 minutes to elapse, then gives the new setting, and then repeats it again within a few seconds.On the flight last night I had a slightly different problem - having reached my crossing altitude, FSMeteo updated with a large change in pressure. RC then told me I'd busted my altitude twice before it gave me the new altimeter setting. I know I could have hit 'b' to set the altimeter, but in the real world I wouldn't have known the pressure had changed until the controller told me.Ian

OK Thanks jd, I'll give it a try.Ian

Hi,Last night when an AI aircraft came too close I received the usual traffic call, then the controller contacted the AI aircraft to alert him to my presence. The controller addressed the AI aircraft as "Sierra 1793". It was only because I had Peter Dowson's Trafficlook open at the time that I realised the aircraft was actually "Speed Bird 1793" (British Airways).I assume that for some reason "Speed Bird" is not recognised by the traffic call code, and "Sierra" is used as a compromise. Other airlines' callsigns are OK (e.g. United) during traffic calls.RC does use "Speed Bird" correctly both as the callsign of the user's aircraft, and also in generated chatter.This was with RC 3.01, by the way.Ian

jdYes, I can confirm that both the PSS 777 and the PSS Airbus lose the first waypoint when you import a FS2002 flight plan into the FMC/MCDU. I don't have the 747, but I believe that's the same too. It's claimed that PSS have fixed the import function on the Dash 8.Ian

How are you loading the plan into the A320 MCDU? If you are using the facility to import a FS2002 flight plan then you will need to manually add the first waypoint into the MCDU, because the PSS Airbus' import code always loses the first waypoint. What then happens is that RC is expecting you to fly to the real first waypoint, while the MCDU is taking you to the second.Other than that the MCDU should always be close enough to the heading expected by RC, and the controller shouldn't chew you out.Ian

Believe me, so do I, but PSS have said that there's very little chance of any further patches for the Airbus series now that they've moved their development effort to other aircraft, such as the Dash 8.The line has to be drawn somewhere, I guess, but it does leave the Airbus with one or two irritating 'features'.Ian

Greg,Sorry to be repetitive, but if you use the PSS Airbus facility to import a FS2002 flightplan you need to be aware that there's a bug in it which will lose the first waypoint.If you use the same flightplan for RC3, when you are told to resume own navigation RC will expect you to fly direct to the first waypoint (assuming you are not flying a DP). If instead you fly direct to the Airbus' first waypoint then you will probably miss the real first waypoint and RC will expect you to do a 180 to hit it.The solution is to manually re-insert the first waypoint into the Airbus' MCDU after you've imported the FS2002 flight plan.Ian

>1. I use Game Commander to pull up all the windows, ...Sorry, I don't use game commander so I can't help with this one.>2. Spurious vectors continues to be a problem. Recent flight >I was given my final assigned altitude after some traffic >vectors and told to resume own navigation. My FMC says I am >right on the flight plan.A couple of minutes later, RC3 >says you are dfifting off course and sends me almost the >opposite direction to the course I should have been on. Had >to terminate that flight due to one call right after the >other. I don't think "listen up now," sounds very >professional, especially over and over again so fast I could >not respond to it. Are you certain you are importing the same FS2002 flight plan into the MCDU as you are using for RC3? In my Airbus flights so far the MCDU has always put me in the right place and the right direction. I generate the flight plan in FSNavigator, export it in FS2002 format and use that plan for both the MCDU and RC3. Of course I have to re-insert the first waypoint into the MCDU due to a bug in the Airbus flight plan import function, but after that all is OK.To answer jd's question about a direct-to function - yes the PSS does have direct to. Press the DIR button followed by the left LSK next to the waypoint you wish to fly to. This will usually be LSK 2 after a vector for traffic, to fly direct to the waypoint you were heading for originally.>On another flight, I was told to fly 360 then literally >seconds later 060 to intercept the ILS. The lattter was >correct, but when I asked for repeat I was told 360 >again.That course was way off. One flight gave me a 1 mile >final on itnercept to ILS. I can complete very few flights >without some issue coming up. Sorry, can't help here.>3. RC3 takes a big hit on my computer a Pentium 2 with >Geoforce 3 64. With RC on board, the plane in external view >and on the ground moves in quantum leaps, and stutters with >turns. When I have the same scene and terminate radar >contact, everything moves fluidly. If I lower priority of RC >to below normal, the fluidity returns, but speech is one >word a minnute or so. This is with 512 K memory and clean >boot in Win XP. I have a P3 800 MHz with Geforce2. I haven't noticed RC impacting FS performance, although I did have the slow sound before increasing RC3's priority. I think a P2 may be struggling here.>4. I fly the Airbus with the VFR panel and there is nowhere >to dock the box that does not interfere with the panel, or >cover up some functional part of the panel. I finally just >left it undocked up floating in the cockpit window. Short of using a second monitor as I do, I think you have the best solution here.Ian

Just beware that if Otto handles the radios she will autoreply, regardless of the pilot autoreply setting, so you won't be able to ask the controller to repeat the transmission.Personally, I prefer it that way, with Otto handling the comms., while I handle the plane, but you do have to listen to every word that's said. I also have autoreply set off. This allows me to switch back to the pilot if I'd prefer not to autoreply in a particular situation. For example, Otto will always acknowledge crossing restrictions, but if I switch back to the pilot I can reply 'unable' if necessary.Ian

Sorry Dennis, but"RCv3 does not control the AI but it does see it, recognize it, and vectors you around it in the air and in the ground"is misleading. RC3 "sees" AI aircraft in the air, and will issue traffic advisories, but it doesn't vector you around them, as it has no way of telling what the AI aircraft is about to do. When RC3 vectors you for traffic, it is for imaginary traffic, which is not related in any way to AI aircraft. Also, RC3 does not see AI aircraft on the ground at all - it's up to you to avoid those yourself.Other than tat your list of features is spot-on, and I highly recommend RC3.Hope that clarifies things.Ian

Torben,I don't know about the DF737, but on the PSS A3XX you can define a checkpoint as an 'overfly' checkpoint. I'm not in front of my FS computer at the moment but I think you click on the 'delta' (triangle) symbol then press the left LSK of the checkpoint you want to overfly. This means the aircraft won't cut the corner, but will fly directly over the checkpoint. Note that overfly checkpoints can make things worse, because the aircraft might have to make a tighter turn to reach the next checkpoint. It's just a case of try it and see.Having said all that, I've not had a problem with the airbus missing a checkpoint so far, and I don't use overfly mode.Ian

Go on - you know you really want to! Ian

Could it be anything to do with the statement "I did keep the speed up on downwind at 245 knots indicated."? On downwind RC usually instructs you to "reduce speed not to exceed 230 knots". Perhaps the controller was patiently waiting for you to reduce speed, although I've never known the RC controllers to be that patient... :-lol Ian

John,I noticed the problem too, and I was using the default pilot (jd?). The co-pilot and any controllers I've heared said "speedbird" correctly. The winwood1british.wav is definitely wrong.Ian

Hi Satchmo!,No - the customs declaration label states that the value of the software is $4.00, and I guess the UK Customs aren't interested in import duty on such a small amount. Lucky for us!Ian

I ordered it as soon as jd let the registered users know the URL (well the next day in fact as I was one of those who didn't get the first message). According to the postmark it was sent on 29th November.Ian

Just to let you know I just got mine.Must go now - I've got some software to install :-) Ian