Please tag your post with #pc and/or #xbox.
pc
Are you on Steam or Microsoft Store version?
Microsoft Store version
Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?
No
Brief description of the issue:
On all aircraft, the atc can find the right altitude inputed via the MCDU/FCU
Might need a bit more detail. Are you talking about the ATC giving you the incorrect cruising altitude. So are you just confused that the ATC is giving you the step-climb altitude.
In other words, if you set your cruising altitude at 30,000 ft. The ATC won’t give you 30,000 ft straightaway. Instead it will give you step climb altitude of 9,000 ft… Then when you reached it, it will assign you another altitude at 19,000 ft. Then once you reach it you get assigned to 25,000 ft. Then finally you get the 30,000 ft at the end.
But cruising altitude between the flight plan and the ATC can sometimes doesn’t match too, because ATC receives altitude from the flight plan loaded from the world map. If you change the flight plan through the MCDU, the ATC can think it’s a new flight plan which by default uses a low-airways so it gives you a much lower cruising altitude. In that case, just request an increase in cruising altitude, and the ATC will give it to you.
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I’ve had the issue when flying over mountainous terrain where ATC will tell you to go to an altitude that will crash you into the mountain. It’s happened a couple of time to me but it was a while ago so I can’t remember which part of the world. I had to go higher and just endure the AT controller’s voice until I got past he hump and could go the FL s/he wanted.
Edit: I’m on XBox if that’s being tracked for reference.
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I guess it’s also depends on the type of flight plan that you have over that mountainous area. The ATC just follows the flight plan and its altitude constraints (if there’s any). So if the default navdata is proper and correct since you’re on Xbox, a flight plan that has STAR should have altitude constraints for every waypoints. If you’re on PC, you have the option to install Navigraph, which they all have altitude constraints on all the waypoints within SIDs and STARs.
The way you create your flight plan could also affect ATC’s ability to assign your altitude. If you create an IFR flight plan without a STAR, that would make your flight plan to be in a direct route to the runway, and without any altitude constraints, the ATC will just randomly give you a gradual altitude descent and it doesn’t matter if there’s a mountain on your flight path.
That being said, I never had an issue with ATC assigning the wrong altitude when flying over mountains because:
- I’m on PC, so I use Navigraph navdata.
- All my flight plans are IFR with High-Altitude Airways, with a defined SIDs and STARs.
- Each waypoints in SIDs and STARs all have altitude and airspeed constraints.
- Once the full flight plan is loaded with all that information, ATC always tells me to descend to the exact same altitude and airspeed constraints that are in the flight plan. So over mountainous regions, the altitude constraints are always within safe distance over the terrain, so ATC never gives me the wrong one.
So for Xbox, it’s a bit tricky because I’m not sure how “complete” the default navaids is, and how you create your flight plan.
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Dumb question, but even I forget to do this sometimes: Did you adjust your barometer to the local ATC setting or forget to set it to “standard” after passing 18.000ft?
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Thanks for this info; still learning. I may not be creating the flight plan correctly and can’t remember if I was doing a GPS route or if I was doing an IFR route. I have done both but I usually use GPS in lighter aircraft.
Thanks for this tip. I definitely didn’t do that 
Unfortunately there are arrivals and approaches that need ATC vectors. (“Discontinuities” in some FMSs.) These vectors may be in mountainous areas. IRL ATC uses Minimum Vectoring Altitudes when giving vectors between airways and arrival/approach fixes. MSFS ATC or the navigation database it uses does not have MVA restrictions so it may give a vector directly into a mountain.
I discovered this while flying into the North Las Vegas Airport using an arrival shared with Las Vegas/McCarren. The ATC vector from the arrival exit to the approach entry was directly through a mountain on the west side of the valley. The only way to avoid the mountain was to exit the arrival earlier or not use an arrival.
Granted, this might be a very unusual set of terrain, airports, arrivals, and approaches. I agree that using published charts, SIDs, STARs, and approaches ATC keeps aircraft and granite separate. However ATC vectors in mountains should be flown with caution.
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Thank you for using the Bug section, using templates provided will greatly help the team reproducing the issue and ease the process of fixing it.
Brief description of the issue:
Every time I’m in the Utah/Colorado backcountry on a low altitude IFR flight, they have me descend far too early (30 mi) and tell me to descend only 500 feet above the terrain.
Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:
Fly to an airport in the Uinta/Rocky Mountains on an IFR flight plan
Build Version # when you first started experiencing this issue:
It’s done this for quite a while, just getting around to reporting it
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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
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