When flying the Bonanza G36 I’ve had issues where ATC wants me to climb to FL200.
A more common issues is when I come up to an altitude restriction, ATC holds me at altitude to the point I need a 2500 feet per minute decent rate.
Is there a way to trick the AI system? I’ve tried requesting altitude changes with some hit or miss success.
I use the TOD marker on my LNM moving map to cue my descents. If ATC doesn’t instruct it a little after the TOD, I request it manually, and cross check the Vertical Profile Plan in LNM to ensure I’m stepping down at the right moments in the lateral path, and use the Altitude Projection Arc as a reference that my V/S is adequate.
I guess that could be like in real life. I think I was denied the last time I requested the altitude change. Eventually when I was cleared I had to go into a dive. But I suppose in real life I could have spiraled down?
Anyway, trickiest part of IFR in the sim is getting ATC working within the capabilities of your airplane.
I forget how I cleared out the FL200 request. When I requested a reduction it still wanted me to climb first.
Um, spiraling is probably not the best maneuver unless you overshot and need to lose altitude and reposition laterally.
Using a TOD calculator and understanding how big a step down you should take, while remaining as much as possible in a straight line lateral movement path is safer.
If you’re sitting idle in the cockpit, chances are you probably aren’t planning your next move, whether that’s pre-entering the expected frequency change, figuring out when to step down, calculating whether your fuel burn is accurate, switching tanks, etc.
But what if ATC doesn’t clear you untill you have passed 3/4 of the way from the proper TOD? That’s my issue. I’m trying to fly according to ATC instructions.
I would just fly the plan and use the right TOD. Martial already stated in the last Dev Q&A they need to reboot the ATC component. Stock ATC will just nag you about being below the altitude until you coincide again with a pre-programmed descent point.
Thanks, most of my curiosity is what to do in a real life situation. I’m sure I’d be able to notify the tower I needed to start a decent in some fashion that isn’t available in the ATC menu.
I’ve had flights where I’ve just turned ATC off and just followed the flight plan when it’s been off.
IRL request to climb/descend and lateral deviations (e.g., for WX) are always possible under positive control.
Here, you’ll have to do a bit of “let’s pretend”…
Or VATSIM! I just don’t like talking to real people.
I wouldn’t mind so much talking to live controllers, but it’s just another external program I have to run, and I believe that my stability ot date has been mostly due to a very judicious culling and leaning of the sim and any third party content/connections.
I’ve got quite a bit of community content but have been lucky with stability since I built a new PC. Since SU8 I’ve had one CTD and that was related to restarting WMR while the sim was running.
Before the new build, crashing a few times a week was guaranteed.
I did a few IFR flights and I was able to either request an altitude change, get and early call or have VNAV timed just right. ATC even helped me when I forgot to arm VNAV.