ATC / Altitude

So I’m experiencing a bug right now during my IFR. I’m at my designated altitude but ATC keeps telling to expedite my climb to reach at my designated altitude. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

All the time. Its extremely annoying. What i do is to cancel IFR flight, then request to file IFR flight plan and that usually clears the error. When you check back in, you may need to request a lower altitude if you dont want to climb to the designated altitude.

I had the ATC tell me to CLIMB to 2000 when I was at 11,000.

Try setting the baro to 29.92 above 18.000ft and to the current QNH below 18.000ft.
Or if you are not familiar with the baro settings just press the “b”-key when passing 18.000ft in either direction.

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Did you set your altimeter during descent? I believe the default keybinding is ‘B’. Here’s an explanation of how it works if you’re curious https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Altimeter_Setting_Procedures

Yes in a way. In an IFR flight in Cessna 172 and ATC asks me to climb to FL200 - above ceiling for the plane. Then will not repond to request for lower cruise altitude, continues to require expedited climb, and gives no descent instructions. Tried same flight in Bonanza and got same issue.

Aren‘t you able to assign a target altitude or flight level when you file the plan on the world map? I‘ve never bothered with atc abd flightplans in the sim so I‘m not sure about that.

If you show to be on your designated altitude, then it’s the barometer that’s not set correctly.

Yes, you can with the Navlog button(I think it’s labelled as) sort of top right.

However I think the OP is OK with the set altitude in the flight plan, but ATC doesn’t agree. The ATC does seem to have a problem with altitudes, once wanting me to climb to 6000ft when I’m coming in to land.

I think everyone’s agreed the ATC needs a good revamp.

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I had the same descending into LOWI , I should have been instructed to descend to 3k. instead i was directed to climb to 18k???

Luckily i fly that route a lot, and knew this was wrong. but to someone with less experiance this could ruin their experiance, and needs sorting.

Cancelling the IFR plan and requesting to file a new one usually fixes things with drunk ATC. However, I have Little Navmap on my second screen and follow the altitude/speed restrictions there (data is pulled from Navigraph) because ATC will often give late instructions and compromise the approach. LNM also calculates TOC/TOD based on aircraft performance and shows a vertical profile, which is very helpful in these situations.

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There are a lot of things wrong with ATC. But there are some things on the pilot end that could cause this. As mentioned, having the right barometric setting. Being told to accelerate your climb to X, when you think you are flying at X, is very likely to be because of the altimeter not set with the right barometric pressure.

As for ATC instructing to climb to altitudes not possible, I used to get that a lot. But since I have gotten into the habit of checking the cruise alt in the navlog (at the flight setup screen) and making sure it is appropriate, I have never been told by ATC to climb higher than the aircraft can fly.

Otherwise though, there are a lot of quirks which trigger other quirks. For example, if you are flying IFR and using autopilot to fly a a course, and you enter and activate an approach when ATC assigns one, there is a really good chance that the transition will be behind you. The aircraft will turn around. That is problem #1.

Next, ATC sees you turning back and passes you to another controller… who will tell you to climb to cruise alt (again). That happened because of glitch #1, and now it is triggering ATC to go a bit nuts.

But you can disregard that and turn yourself back around towards the next approach waypoint, and ATC will resume giving you sensible instructions… usually.

So you do have to play around the bugs a bit, which is never what a studio should strive for the user experience to be like.

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I haven’t had many (if any) ATC issues until recently. So much so that I kinda gave up on it for now.

Only thing that bugs me about ATC and altitude is even though I put my FL in the MCDU along with the rest of the flight plan, it still assumes I want a random low cruise altitude just above grid MORA.

Same thing happened 3 flights in a row. Normally it will let me fly my flight plan and just assign me attitudes. No biggie. Now, when I’m reaching the end on my STAR, it tells me to Hold Hdg and alt expect vectors. Then hands me off To approach who watches me fly away from the approach, then eventually just dumps me back to centre when I’m far enough away who it’s going to do ■■■■ about nuttin.

Last time When I’ve now flown 100 NM away from the airport (sometimes ATC will give you HUGE finals so I gave it ample chance) I requested vector to next waypoint and it basically told me to turn around.

Couple that with the “fly to first waypoint on approach” big and it’s a wonder why I subject myself to IFR so much, but I digress.

Even setting cruise alt in Navlog and low altitude airways, I’ve still had ATC instruct me to climb to a ridiculous altitude (20000 ft in a Cirrus, etc.) on a few occasions.

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Happening frequently for me as well.

Had it instruct me to climb and maintain FL220 last night in the Mooney (20000ft ceiling).

For me, ATC never wants me to descend soon enough when on approach. They seem to wait until the last minute and then force me to descend at some crazy, descent rate.

Today I was flying into KPHX on an ILS approach to RWY 8 & ATC had me at 14,000 only a couple miles away from ILIKE, where the chart said I should have been at 5000. I would have basically had to dive straight down to reach that altitude in time.

To counter this, I will descend on my own and plan to be at the altitude the chart wants me to be. ATC will yell at you for a couple minutes and tell you to climb to the altitude they want you to be at, but I just ignore them. After a couple minutes, they’ll tell you to descend to the correct altitude, and everything will be okay from there on out.

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I don’t even know why you’re using the MSFS ATC.
It’s so broken.

You’re the one who asked about it. People are giving you advice to help you deal with the problem you asked about.

This post is 25 days old. I was using but stopped using it after this issue. By the way, I wasn’t saying it in a bad way.