Hi, I am using the standard ATC and have also downloaded some of the airports from Marketplace. However, the experience is very very sketchy and inconsistent. For example
ATC > tries to get me to climb to 10k on approach and then descend to 2k ft seconds afterwards. Sometimes it works, sometimes t doesn’t.
AIRPORTS > sometimes these are completely empty with no plans at all - which cannot be true of some of the London airports. Plus, the aircraft all look a bit weird.
I’m hoping to improve on both - a more reliable more authentic ATC with better voices, plus real life aircraft and well populated airports that will work with those I’ve downloaded from Marketplace.
What is everybody else using? Are there a couple of gold standard options? I’m using Fenix A320 and PMDG 738, 773.
First of all get FSLTL, is is free and will greatly improve your experience. You can get this via the Flybywire installer. Keep in mind it has an impact on performance.
For ATC I can suggest Beyond ATC. It is a one-time purchase and still early access but I am having a great time with it.
Depends on what really you are after. If you want to experience realistic ATC where you can interact with controllers just like you would in real life then I’d suggest joining “Vatsim or IVAO” networks. These are online networks where you can sign up for free, install the necessary software which allows you to connect to network as well as model matching other airplanes so they are visible when you connect (other pilots just like you) and you are good to go. I would strongly recommend that you do read up the appropriate documents/training materials which will be available once you sign up before connecting for first time. There is even flight training (optional) available on both networks again free of charge should you wish to improve/expand your knowledge/skills. The only downside is ATC coverage can be sometimes limited depending on time of day.
Pilot edge is another option - this is a payware option, there is free trial for you try. I don’t use pilotedge however from their website - most of their controllers are real world FAA certified controllers or retired FAA controllers. However this only covers some parts of US.
All the options mentioned above are good approaches to come close to what you seem to be trying to achieve. There are strengths and weaknesses with each.
Vatsim, Ivao and PilotEdge use real people as controllers, but traffic is not real world as I think you’re indicating you’d like. It is the air traffic generated by those using the service at the time.
You can add FSLTL (or similar) to Vatsim or IVAO for slightly delayed real world traffic, but there may be some “collisions” as the Vatsim or IVAO traffic may encounter FSLTL traffic in the same space.
BATC ( and SayIntentions) provide AI-generated controllers interacting with you, the pilot (or AI responses if you’d like to turn the communication over to your “copilot”). “Snapshots” of real world air traffic will be added to BATC soon as I understand it.
It appears from videos made by the Devs of BATC that aircraft will move in an orderly manner without colliding. Some have indicated on this forum that the “snapshots” will not provide enough real world traffic, since the timing will be delayed. So, again, this will not be suitable for some.
BATC is currently developed only for IFR. VFR is planned for the future.
Some say that BATC is currently best for airliners and SayIntentions is best for GA traffic. It is my understanding both will eventually handle all types of traffic.
There is no perfect match with what you want. You must decide what suits you best.
I use BATC for GA IFR and find it a lot of fun and a learning experience. It has bugs but I am confident they will eventually be worked out. I have completed several flights without issues in the 2-3 weeks I’ve had it.
Sayintentions is my top choice. I’ve grown to like it ever better than VATSIM, no matter how ridiculous this may sound (after all with VATSIM I’m 99% of my flying time in UNICOM freq as I rarely fly on busy weekends).
I’l agree but it also depends on usage. VATSIM obviously offers by far the best experience when it’s manned. But more often than not it is not manned. I’ve been using it for years and since I mostly fly on weekdays, most of VATSIM is empty at those times. There is nearly zero coverage outside western/central Europe and eastern US and when it’s covered it’s only for specific hubs and centers.
I’ve been using VATSIM for years and I’ll admit all my best flying experiences are tightly linked to it. But 80% of the time or more I’m on 122.800 with zero chatter, unless I’m flying on a Friday/Saturday night in specific areas of the planet. Weekends tend to be different but again coverage varies.
So I was looking for an alternative and SayIntentions is what worked for me. Definitely worth giving a shot to the free 24h trial, then it’s up to the user. There are other excellent solutions out there (sadly not many), but IMHO none of them offers the variety that SI does.
ps: also VATSIM is awesome if you’re relatively experienced with ATC procedures. If you’re learning, then it’s a very steep curve especially if you’re operating in busy areas and you stick to voice comms and not text. In such cases, SI (and other apps) can help immensely to prepare you for the awesomeness of VATSIM.
I would urge you to look at Say Intentions. I am a pilot IRL and I won’t fly with something that is not realistic or as realistic as it can be. I don’t want to pick up bad habits. I started using their product when it came out and also bought BATC because I want to support new innovation in the hobby. I have also used Pilot Edge and Vatsim in the past, but SI is my #1. Say Intentions adds a whole new level to flying sims. It works well for both IFR and VFR and is improving all the time. The development team is unlike any support team I have ever experienced. Problems are fixed in minutes instead of days or months. One thing I really like about SI is that they released a free product called Taxi Tuner to correct the poor taxiway information within Asobo. Asobo didn’t really try to name the taxiways correctly. They just started with the first taxiway and called it “A” and the next one is “B”, etc. so if a product relies on the Asobo data, you will never get correct taxi instructions. All of the controlled airports in the U.S. have been updated to real word information and a ton of ones outside the U.S. have been, so when you get taxi instructions, they will be correct. Say Intentions also is very flexible and doesn’t follow a script like some ATC systems do. You can talk to it just like a real controller. I declared an emergency one night, and it handled it perfectly. Traffic injection, management, etc. is coming soon and that will just add a whole new element to the realism. They are a subscription service, but they have already dropped their prices once and said they will do so in the future as AI becomes cheaper. For me it is about the cost of one McDonalds meal a month and I get a whole lot more enjoyment out of flying with real ATC than the McDonalds meal! Give it a try. They have a free trial. It will add so much to your sim flying.
This! That was my first impression after I joined the 24h trial and their Discord. I had never seen anything like that. Their approach is unlike anything I have ever experienced in decades of software/gaming development. Talking with the devs directly, reporting your bug and having it fixed for all users within minutes? And this happening consistently? Seriously?!
(this doesn’t imply that the app is full of bugs, quite the contrary)
If the main arguments against SI are monthly sub and no AI traffic, then the fee has already dropped by almost 40% (and they’ve promised to keep decreasing it while AI tech becomes cheaper). While on the other hand, AI traffic is coming. Perhaps in small chunks but the foundations are built on daily/weekly basis, they’re there for all to see, devs’ comms on the subject are frequent with specific implemented milestones and very transparent and eventually the traffic will be there sooner rather than later.
They were saying that 90% of those who take the 24h try, go and sign up for a sub. It took me 10 minutes to convert, it was an ATC unlike anything I had ever seen.
Already my BATC AI-traffic, with FSLTL base package, is by far the best and most realistic AI-traffic injection i’ve ever had in flight-simming.
And i prefer the ATC from BATC more than SI ATC. But that’s a very personal thing. I don’t like an open conversation in ATC. BATC works well for me.
I’m using VATSIM for online and for offline FShud. They bring version 2 with voices and also now it’s only one ATC that can control all traffic in your sim, even native one - Live MSFS traffic , FSLTL, AIG + I can run all of them together.
It’s my personal opinion, just share what I’m using.