Yes indeed. All new features and patches are first released in the Experimental version, and later, when they’ve stabilized, to the Early Access.
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I set up then tried out CPDLC on the Maddog MD-88 with BATC (early access version), it seems to work quite well. I received my clearance at the gate along with squawk code, departure and initial altitude via CPDLC. I also requested a FL change enroute and received clearance for that too. This was my first time dabbling with CPDLC & BATC. Today’s laugh - I also requested FL700 instead of FL070 and got cleared to sub orbital flight! 
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Question - If I fly the Fenix Airbus on a mult-leg flight, do I have to close out and restart BATC between legs? Reason I ask is that when I landed at KRSW, the airport was very busy (I’ve got all traffic sliders at 9 or 10). Seemed appropriate for a Saturday AM. When I closed out BATC and restarted, the airport turned into a ghost town. 2 other aircraft at gates and a single arrival the entire 40 minutes I was on the ground. Now amount of messing with sliders or restarting BACT could change the amount of AI traffic.
Technically you can just hit ‘ESC’ and ‘Fly’ again, but I usually have had better experince whne I close down the BATC app entirely between flights. I don’t think you can just keep the same flight session open as a new flight requires a new simbrief import into BATC in order to work, so that involves closing the traffic down too and reinitialising it, which may take time for all the AI traffic to fill in again.
Altimeter near that traffic, at KMBS was 29.60 (320’ off of standard) at that time. Closer to you, at Wurtsmith (KOSC) it was 29.49 (430’ off of standard). There should be a difference of around 110’ (plus however many thousands) between pressure altitudes from your location to the other, which makes sense immediately following a frontal passage. But there could be QNH/QNE conversion error as well.
And the altitude shown on TCAS is in hundreds of feet. -09 would be 900 feet below, -85 is 8,500’ below, etc.
Is there any rough estimate when would this be released to EA (days / weeks / …)? Can’t wait to see the new sequencing and vectoring in action 
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Sorry, no. The answer always is: when they feel it’s ready. They never give estimates, because that only will result in more questions and disappointment when the moment is not met.
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Minor Version 1.8.2.Experimental
Sequencing
- Continued work on the sequencer based on user feedback.
- There should be less yoyo-ing of speed instructions for the player and traffic
Traffic
- Runway crossing issues fixed
- Line up and wait clearance given to player when traffic on short final should be fixed
- Traffic not always using a STAR when a suitable one exists is fixed
Improvements
- STAR speed restrictions should now work correctly for the player
- Vectors between legs has been refactored which helps with airports like EDDL and LEBL [#14024979]
A reminder this version is still work in progress. Things may still be broken, new things may have become broken! We are working hard to get this build ready for the EA branch but there is still work to do. For example the local voice accent model is going through a rebuild, which is why there have been no updates to it as yet.
If you would like a more stable build - use the EA build.
For sequencing, vector and local voice accent issues encountered please log them in this forum
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I have a question. During the instructions for speed changes, the controller will often say resume normal speed which, can be confusing if you’re at that stage of a descent where you are either about to or just have enabled approach mode in the performance tab. The desired speed is quite a bit different between approach and non approach mode and can then differ quite a bit depending on flap position and gear status. Normal therefore is subjective. I take it instead to mean stop listening to me and control your own speed. Of course you generally get an instruction 5 seconds later to set speed to XXX. There’s a point where you just tune out.
Compared to real world ATC, I think speed control is great, but a little excessive. Like I said previously, you don’t generally slow aircraft down unless you really have to (it’s a lot less efficient and in modern day ATC we are continuously striving to save fuel and the environment). Very, very rarely do you slow an aircraft down, and then speed it up again. It just doesn’t happen.
One of the biggest uses of speed control is for final vectoring and different countries do slightly different things, but there is generally an instruction of “fly 160kts until 4DME” or the like. At that point the pilot then has control over his/her speed and reduces.
I flew into LZIB today, and there was nothing ahead of me or near me, but I got about 10 instructions to gently reduce my speed from 300kts at FL260 down to 200kts at about FL200. There was no reason I could see to do this, and I ended up flying a very long STAR at 200kts all the way from about FL200. The star itself had no speed restrictions (BERVA2M).
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the speed control, but maybe fine tune it a little?
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The one “issue” I have run into is 3, 4, 5 calls to turn to a heading 10 degrees apart one right after the other.
Turn left 050, turn left 060, turn left 070, turn left 080, turn right 240 with the calls coming one right after the other.
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I might only be speaking for myself here, but I’d rather see new and improved ATC features than better or more varied voices. Voices add immersion, no doubt, but they don’t really change the overall experience. Heck, I’ve not even touched my 50k free characters… and don’t intend to.
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I think that the micromanaging of vectors was addressed in the most recent release, per the notes from Captain. But I haven’t tried Beyond ATC yet this week to verify this.
Ya, I have not flown since last night. I will get the update and try tonight.
I’m not complaining, just to be clear, just giving feedback.
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Further to the above a new toolbar update is live for the experimental build, once EXP is moved to EA the toolbar will be updated on the website, for now if you would like to download it you can grab it from the supporters lounge here Discord (if you are a supporter but don’t have the supporters role, please see <#1243307656459059301> )
Please note you must be on the experimental branch for this new toolbar version to work.
NEW: Added D-ATIS toolbar tab to view the ATIS of your arrival and departure airports
NEW: Added CPDLC logon code under frequencies tab
NEW: Added ability to queue messages in the toolbar when traffic is speaking
NEW: Added version footer in the toolbar
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I’ve not been given a single speed instruction by ATC yet, flying into KJFK, KBOS and LEBB. And yes, I’m on the experimental branch.
Just a small note: the text mentions a forum, but the link leads to Discord. Discord is a real-time chat platform a popular communicator, not a forum, so it would probably be clearer to refer to it as Discord.
I assume it’s just a small oversight, since later you wrote it correctly.
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For those of us that have written off discord (and that number is growing by the day), exactly where should we log our concerns or issues?
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The quote comes from announcements shared on our Discord server. Discord also supports forum channels with threaded discussions, which is the correct way to refer to them. We are collecting community feedback through these forums. https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/6208479917079-Forum-Channels-FAQ
I have already provided information about support for BeyondATC in the following post: BeyondATC - #4892 by DialexCH
On Discord. That had clearly been stated from the start. If you don’t Discord, don’t Experiment. I think that’s the straightest answer.
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