Hi there, I’m wondering what your opinions are on the ATC programs. What you guys like and dislike and why? Any info is greatly appreciated. TIA
If you enjoy engaging with AI, Microsoft’s Copilot or BATC is a good companion. They not managind traffic, same for Pilot2ATC.
For flight simulation with a realistic environment, I would recommend FShud Air Traffic Control. I have personally tested both and find them to be preferable. Currently, there isn’t a product available that can control all aircraft according to real procedures, separate traffic by vectors, and assign speed. The only software that allows me to perform real operations is FShud or Vatsim.
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I would also add SayIntentions to this subject. I might give SI a try, as a comparison to BeyondATC.
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Here is a good comparison. Video between SI and BATC.
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Hi there,
Sayintentions.ai sounds good, But I’m not going to pay $30.00 a month…
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I have Pilot2ATC, FShud, and I just bought BeyondATC. Pilot2ATC has the most features and has been around the longest. It also has the worst voices. FShud has decent voices and works fairly well, however I can’t stand the way it has you taxi trying to guess if you are in the right spot. BeyondATC has potential but I have yet been able to complete a flight with it. It’s early access so everybody is essentially a beta tester. I’m not paying 30 bucks a month for sayintentions.
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BeyondATC without a doubt. PF3 is literally an extension of a program released in the year 2000, and while Pilot2ATC is a fine product - I used it for years - there’s simply no comparison to BATC. I haven’t tried SayIntentions solely due to the cost - I’ve heard good things about it but $30 / month is too much even for me. 
In my opinion, SayIntentions it’s out of market for 95% of Simmers.
I have FSHUD and lately it has made great progress and used with Fsltl it handles AI traffic acceptably.
I also bought BATC and I think it has great potential but it still needs a lot of development.
BATC is an Early Release, something they take great pains to emphasise to potential purchasers. Basically it means it is not bug-free and doesn’t yet include many of the proposed features. As a result users are also testers and their Discord is overflowing with reports etc - but no complaints because everybody realises what Early Rlease means.
But having used it since it came out last week I’m really impressed, firstly with the vast improvement over MSFS ATC, but of the continuous efforts of the dev teams to quickly sort out as many glitches as possible - the programme is updated daily and often 2/3 updates per day! See anybody else doing that!
I’ve little experience with other ATC programmes, and Say Intentions does impress, but IMO BATC is going to be THE ATC programme for the vast majority of MSFS users. Hopefully the missing features will be added in the not too distant future and I’m confident that will be the case.
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PF3 has been my default ATC for many years. Yes, it shows its age in the UI and how you set it up for a flight. However, it controls the AI traffic, can put you into holds, has oceanic procedures, you can declare an emergency. I have tried other ATC programs, but I always return to this one.
Haven’t tried BATC yet, I’m holding off till it matures a bit more. I do think if BATC works as they intend later on down the road, it will become the king of ATC.
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PF3 all day. It’s updated regularly. has lovely vectoring and the voices improve all the time.
Used Pilot2ATC for x plane and still have it but don’t use much on MSFS.
My opinion is that BeyondATC shot themselves in the foot right out of the gate by not offering a proper variety of payment mehtods.
I’ve used Pilot2ATC (P2A) for years and just got Beyond ATC (BATC).
BATC voice input is better. It can handle more mispronunciations and can understand your intention even when you’re not using strict phraseology. You can definitely talk to BATC in a more natural way vs P2A.
BATC voices (Basic, I haven’t tried Premium) are much better. P2A only uses Windows SAPI voices and there are only a few built into Windows. These voices are also very robotic vs even the Basic BATC voices. BATC has exponentially more accents than P2A as well as more realistic radio degradation.
BATC is much easier to set up.
BATC is half the price at $30 instead of $60 for P2A.
BATC requires Simbrief flights plans where as P2A can import flight plans from a variety of formats (including Simbrief) as well as allow you to manually create flights plans. Neither can get the flight plan directly from the MSFS world menu. I never use the world menu to put in a flight plan if I’m using third party ATC. I think BATC should have an option to manually enter a plan vs requiring Simbrief.
P2A handles, descents, SIDS, and STARS better.
P2A has its own Taxiway DB that is close to IRL but nowhere near 100%, it can be manually edited by the end user, and there is a nice build in tool for this. BATC uses sim scenery data that at smaller, procedural generated airports, is often blatantly wrong vs IRL charts but correct for taxi markings you see out of the aircraft. Hopefully the MSFS World Hub will allow the community to fix this once its fully functional.
P2A handles VFR (with limited class B handling). BATC is IFR only, although VFR is a planned future feature.
P2A has some intelligence as far as MSFS injected traffic. Its usually better than nothing, but its also wrong sometimes. Currently BATC is not traffic aware. It will eventually inject and control its own traffic and this model based on previews will be the best option once its implemented.
P2A copilot can set the transponder for you. I got used to this and keep forgetting to set it myself in BATC.
Right now I would say that P2A is more accurate in simulating IFR flight plans. But BATC has a more immersive and natural feel.
My personal opinion is that BATC will catch up and potentially exceed P2A as far as IFR/VFR control. I don’t see P2A coming anywhere close to BATC with speech both input and output as long as its using Windows speech recgnotion and I dont see that changing soon.
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Does anyone know if either BeyondATC or SayIntentions will inform you if you are violating charted speed or altitude restrictions? I know Pilot2ATC does this as I’ve used it for years and it is my favorite feature.
Never used SI but I’m pretty sure BATC doesn’t tell you about violations - now. However I’ll bet good money it’s on the list of things to introduce as and when.
Check out their Discord and look at the section on requests, there’sa link in there somewhere.
I have yet to get corrected on anything, ground or air, in BATC. This includes intentionally landing on the wrong runway because I was lazy and I didn’t want to taxi to the GA parking from the runway furthest from it. But I’m sure that ATC “nags” are on the roadmap.
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I asked for departure while on the ramp and got told I was not near a runway.
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Me too! However if you read something back incorrectly it will (should, anyway) correct you.
Correct…to clarify, I’ve not been corrected on any deviations from expected position, air or ground. I get dinged for incorrect readbacks all the time.
I started to use BATC and liked it. But then I tried SayIntentions, which was much better and less scripted. Yes, for now, it’s more expensive than BATC, but, from my perspective, that is the only advantage the BATC has. Plus, the price for SI will come down soon.
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