I tried an IFR flight this morning, EGOY UK to EGAD Ireland, nice short trip, poor weather so wanted IFR low route, only approaches for EGAD were visuals so chose “Visual 03” from the list.
I announced the IFR plan on departure, picked up the GPS part of the route, ATC told me to go 5000’ and maintain current heading so that seemed ok.
Shortly after reaching 5000’ ATC told me to descend to 3000’ followed by 2000’ and to expedite my descent, ok, did that…
I could see the FAF on the GPS, it’s a bit tight with a turn just before finals, i thought best to start descending only to be told by ATC i was 500’ below my assigned altitude and to climb immediately.
So, i’m climbing to 2000, i can see the runway ahead, then below, I fly straight over it at 2000’, no instruction to descend etc.
I chose ‘vectors to next waypoint’ and ATC gave me left 220deg so followed that, right past again, i tried asking for vectors again and was just given the same left 220deg again, in the end I gave up, cancelled IFR and landed manually, just.
So was this user error or did ATC just bite me again with its stupidity???
It sounds like your altimeter reading was off, the clue being that the ATC said you were 500 feet below your assigned altitude. The ATC is strange, especially when you are getting ready to land. I find their instructions make no sense once I’m in the arrival portion of the flight, usually with requests to climb to some insane altitude. It’s also not uncommon for the altitude you give on approach will be too high. In some cases, this is a problem when making an ILS approach.
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The ALT was off because I decided I needed to descend in order to land, the map showed me I was very close to threshold even though I could not see it yet.
I was at 2000’ chose to descend and put flaps down, ATC said no, too low.
Maybe ATC can land at 2000’ on a runway at MSL 
In my limited experience this is not uncommon and, yes, it’s caused by the, to me, abysmal performance of the sim AI ATC. Various things that might affect it but if you don’t flight plan through the World screen ATC “doesn’t know” what you want to do. I’ve been caught numerous times, in short and long IFR flights (VFR seems to be okay) and usually end up either ignoring ATC or cancelling IFR. I often request a change of flight level if I suspect ATC has “forgotten” me but strangely it seems to work okay after that! Go figure!
The altitude warning is often due to incorrect pressure settings - make sure you’re in STD setting for flight levels or the correct (as advised by ATC) pressure setting for altitudes in feet.
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I have used the ATC quite a bit, mainly with the A320nx and for the most part it gets me down ok. There are the odd times it messes up. A big no-no though when using ATC is doing things out of sequence. If you, as you did, started descending before instructed then you pretty much need to take over everything from then until you land. All it understands is that you haven’t followed it’s instruction and it will badger you climb back up even if that means flying over the runway
Only the other day I was flying into Gatwick. I was given ILS 06 using WILLO; before the transition I was given 2000ft.
I forget the constraint at WILLO but it’s well above 2000, but I dialled it in anyway; I was in managed mode so the plane correctly kept me high till I’d passed it, then started to descend and I missed the GS by miles and was told to go around (the plane in front of me had vacated).
So I’m not sure which part of it went wrong.
I think ATC orders trump the charts as I understand it (even in real life). They don’t have to tally.
Yes, that’s correct. But I’m wondering which part is screwed up - the constraint or the approach?
Maybe I’m overthinking it…
Visual 03 is the clue. In true IFR this would never be supportable. IFR conditions would preclude a Visual approach. It must be an Instrument Approach.
Setting aside that gameplay variance, ATC should not have let you depart with that plan. So yes, the state of current in-game ATC needs to be more aligned with current navigation and safety procedures.
But it’s also worth pointing out current ATC is not good enough to provide vectors, so requesting a Visual Approach with Vectors, you’ll not get the right prompts. For gameplay satisfaction and completion, always choose Straight to get a proper course projection turn (and if needed course reversal loop) to get proper three mile alignment and altitude to final.
IFR never supports a Visual unless your destination field is under VFR. You would then cancel the plan once WX cleared to VFR before your destination, then use VFR procedures to land.
In the real world you would have had to pick an alternate field with instrument approaches.
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Thats a very good point, I had not realised the oddity of selecting a visual approach with IFR !
Yes, the settings were correct as announced by ATC, all the way through.
I might try it again and this time not pre-empt ATC and just go with the flow, see what happens.
Okay, just a follow up from my post and the responses. Just completed an IFR from La Guardia to Bridgetown, Barbados in the Headwind A330-900 and after inputting a simBrief flight plan followed ATC instructions to the letter. Had a totally perfect trouble free flight and, given a VOR/DME approach to 09, managed to pull off an absolute greaser of a landing - I didn’t feel it touch down at all, unlike my usual landings/controlled crashes!
So, perhaps I should just “trust” ATC a bit more!
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Nice, trouble is its a bit 50/50 at best - some times it works totally, like your flight, other times its a bit flaky and to be trusted at your peril.
Maybe the big giveaway for me was the fact that it listed and allowed a visual approach when I was requesting IFR.
I’m going again today, see what happens.