Is there a way to mute the (ai) co pilot voice? I use MCE which is mainly excellent at “handling” ATC, but when it responds, the co-pilot voice also replies. Have search menus and cant figure this one out…
Would love to answer via voice to ingame ATC instead of clicking at ATC-menue. C’mon guys vote this thing up!!! We need that! 
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Maybe you would like to include Speech-to-text or Speech synthesis in the title, so it’s more clear.
Voice response would be very cool indeed but…
Would windows voice activation have to be enabled for this to work?
I’ve tried to set up Voice Attack in fact to voice activate my responses but…
It simply will not work because some deep flaw in Windows stops windows voice activation from working if you have certain regional settings. (In my case this would appear to be Nordic keyboard despite everything else in my windows install being UK English.)
It would be nice if we could interact with the MSFS2020 controller with voice, we are in the 21st century and the technology exists … Speech recognition. This would allow the radio to be managed with voice, leaving the hands to pilot.
Fonchy (A. Rubio)
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Adding to the discussion. This seems like a good idea. But it needs to be handled with care. I would be okay if it’s using a Speech-to-Text recognition that’s built-in to windows that converts my voice to text offline, then send the text message to the MSFS ATC to be read.
But I’m not too comfortable if there’s a direct online connection between my voice to Azure/Cortana to do the speech recognition online. It’s a massive privacy issue that needs to be handled appropriately.
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In one of the past video chats, Jörg Neumann hinted that they were working on something revolutionary new regarding ATC interaction. I am pretty sure he was talking about something along these lines. Let’s wait and hope!
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There is already an excellent software that has been available to the market for the past ten years (FSX, P3D and now MSFS) that allows you to speak to ATC (default or add-ons), Ground crew, Co-Pilot and Cabin crew, called Multi Crew Experience, it is extremely easy to set-up and use.
The developers have made the effort to always release additional set of voices and check-lists adapted to specific aircraft, your co-pilot will interact with the plane upon your request, etc, etc. There is a free trial version that you can download from their site.
The only present limitation with MSFS (not the fault of MCE though) is that anytime you speak to ATC, your MSFS co-pilot will repeat the same message to ATC!!! I had posted a request some months ago for MSFS/Asobo for them to allow the co-pilot voice to become optional (like in P3D), but no one apparently know what I was talking about.
Time to try MCE and lobby for them to be able to get rid of the part co-pilot.
What would be real cool would be for MSFS to buy over or bring one of the well established ATC product onboard as a developer.
There are a few, P2ATC being one of them. It’s a good application other than the outdated UI and voice packs that are nowhere near Windows offerings,
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I will say I have been flying in MSFS for a about 100 hours now and have been learning a lot. I was in vr and thinking to myself about how much easier things would be if I could just respond to ATC with my voice and then decided to look it up. Seems lots of other feel the same way, also it would be great practice for me because yes, I could use vatsim but feel I would not be up for the standard they are looking for just yet and would love to practice.
You can do what you say if you use MCE (see my post above…)!
Agreed re. privacy.
I would only want to have voice comms in msfs20, if it was for offline use.
VoxATC program runs completely offline in FSX, so here’s hoping the dev brings it over.
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I like Pilot2ATC for this, but it doesn’t interact at all with AI traffic and that kills the realism for me. It knows they are around and will alert the player or tell them to “go around” if there is an incursion on the runway, but that’s it. The AI chatter is nice but still not quite there for me personally. I’d like to see MS do something even if it is basic so they can have a baseline and maybe the modding community can improve upon it somehow or we will know they are listening. It’s 2021; if my car can connect to 4G internet, then there’s no reason we can’t have a basic voice recognition for MSFS built in
I use the excellent P2ATC all the time when Vatsim is not available, which unfortunately is quite often.
Microsobo will never invest resources into your excellent suggestion however as the sim seems more and more to be directed to the casual simmer/player who would probably never be interested in learning the proper essential protocols by which ATC operate.
Nice idea though.
This would be “da shiznit”, as they used to say.
The voice support being used in MSFS currently barely scratches the surface of what Azure can do. It barely even scratches the surface of what was presented in the Azure Feature Discovery video 2 years back.
Being able to talk to ATC vs having to navigate a menu would be incredible. I realize Pilot2ATC does this and I do use it. But to have this capability natively built into the core of the simulator would be a huge improvement over anything an external tool can do.
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Tested speech2text using Skype and MS translator.
The service (Azure/AI driven) seems very mature.
Like when communicating IRL with ATC, you need to use clear speech. so enabling this servece should not be a big technical problem for MS/Asobo. just a matter of the “Will to deliver”
Type:
Feature Request
Priority:
High
Description:
I would like Microsoft Flight Simulator to support real-time voice capture so that pilots can speak naturally to Air Traffic Control (ATC) using a microphone. The simulator should be able to recognize spoken commands, interpret them using proper aviation phraseology standards, and (eventually) respond appropriately.
Acceptance Criteria:
- User can communicate with ATC using a microphone (e.g., “Los Angeles Tower, Cessna N123AB ready for departure, runway two-five right”).
- The simulator recognizes the command accurately and processes it correctly based on standard FAA/ICAO phraseology.
- ATC responds with correct and realistic replies matching the intent of the user’s transmission.
- The system provides feedback or guidance if incorrect or non-standard phraseology is used.
Use Case / Scenario:
- Pilot says, “Denver Ground, Delta 235 ready to taxi with information Alpha.”
- System interprets the command and provides a standard ATC response, such as, “Delta 235, taxi to runway 16R via taxiways Alpha, Bravo, hold short of runway 16L.”
- Pilot continues the dialogue using voice, and the simulator maintains context and awareness of flight status and location.
Benefits:
- Significantly enhances immersion and realism for flight sim users.
- Provides a training environment that encourages and reinforces correct ATC phraseology.
- Brings the simulation closer to real-world pilot-controller communication.
Additional Notes:
- This feature could optionally be paired with speech-to-text feedback, allowing pilots to verify that their spoken input was understood correctly.
- AI/ML models trained on aviation-specific language could enhance recognition accuracy.
- Receiving prompts to call atc should be optional. Career mode should evaluate the player based upon making the correct calls at the correct time.
- MSFS should also evaluate players use of radio comms at untowered airports.
- In career, the player should be evaluated based upon contacting atc at the right times, and communicating appropriately.
- Initially it is acceptable to handle just the base case, stretch goals should be things like, deviations, busting airspace (“I have a phone number for you to call.”), emergency handling etc.
- Step 1) No change to ATC responses, but MSFS accepts & interpret player input via voice. (inappropriate voice inputs handled with “say again” or similar) Step 2) MSFS handles base cases via voice (same cases as currently exists, takeoff clearance, taxi clearance) Step 3) ATC handles edge cases (emergencies, PIREPS, requests for info about icing, etc. etc. )
Labels:
#FeatureRequest atc #VoiceControl #Realism #SpeechRecognition #PilotTraining #StudentPilot
1 Like
Agreed, Even if it’s not perfect, just having to know something about how & when to communicate bring a lot to the table.
No different than any other game with player communication though?
I would love a feature like this. It could be simple to begin with using the existing ATC window to prompt acceptable replies. Eventually, it could rival some of the addon products.
Actually, the thing that has stopped me from purchasing some of the addon products is the lack of total integration with MSFS. Since I fly in VR only and am not near a keyboard or mouse, it would be hard to use the existing products in VR. One of the areas that people especially have complained about with ATC addons in VR is that you have to import an outside window into VR to use it. Additionally, IRL when receiving IFR clearances, there is a lot of information given quickly, too much for most people to remember and when in VR, there is nowhere to write it down.
If the MSFS2024 EFB had a tab for ATC that also served as an automatic notepad that had an option to record clearance info in abbreviated form (or fully for early practice), that would be awesome.