Atc needs a complete rework without this yet
Sky Vector uses the information that comes from the Airport Facilities Directory that is issued I think annually. Thatâs where you find if an airport has pilot-controlled lighting, assuming we had it in the sim (we dont).
The AFD is updated every 56 days to stay current 
And add another one to this list! It has always bugged me that we donât have pilot controlled lighting. Seems like it would be pretty easy to do. Tune the frequency, click the mic the proper amount of times.
I do see how that could be abused and/or screwed up though, computers being what they are. But even the menu option would be better than just always on. Could even have it in the general settings, realistic airport lighting and if set to no, the lights would come on and stay on at dusk until dawn, and if set to yes then pilots control the lighting at airports where that is the case.
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At night, runway & other airport lighting at many airports goes dark, but can be turned on by tuning comm to CTAF & tapping the transmit key usually 7 times.
Is there a transmit key in MSFS & where is it?
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No there isnât, unfortunately.
I have been to a few airports where that frequency is listed, but as suggested above it doesnât actually do anything? Could a scenery developer script that, maybe?
PCL is used by pilots to turn on runway lights at airports that provide this service. The pilot tunes his comm to the appropriate frequency (usually CTAF for that airport) and quickly taps the transmit key, usually 7 times. At some airports the number of taps also controls lighting intensity.
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Personally, I am glad they did not include this option in MSFS.
Can you imagine the programming effort trying to keep up with availability and/or frequency changes at airports that use this method of night lighting control across the entire globe.
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Rather they spend programming resources with clouds, autopilots, weather, multimonitor, flight models, new aircraft, bug fixes and scenery enhancements.
FSX used to have this functionality⊠because there is a comm key in FSX because FSX used to have built in communication for multi-player. The code is already there.
I think just an 'Activate lighting" selection in the comms panel would be fine. Real life PAL is a pain in the â â â â to be honest. The good ones will have a discrete frequency and a voice response âAIRPORT LIGHTING ONâ or similar, so you know you got it right. Otherâs are on the CTAF frequency and donât say anything.
I was making a late night approach at Broome, Australia once and I thought Iâd keyâd the lights correctly, but on short final they switched off, dâoh. Theyâd been on from the previous aircraft to land and timed out on me.
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How? Details please.
I support this. Itâs simply not realistic to be flying at night and have every airport with lighting always lit up. I think that adding some sort of PCL to the sim would be awesome.
I have no idea how the NavData works in the sim, but I work for a NavData company IRL, and I know that in our databases, every frequency used for PCL is coded into the database as such via a Service Indicator field. If I look at our data for airports in the USA, I see a whole ton with the appropriate flag for PCL. It seems like it wouldnât be too hard to enable PCL functionality, and then build in an AI ATC command for users to either key their PTT or use the on-screen menu to call up the PCL based on which of an airportâs comm frequencies has the correct flag.
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Yep, has happened to me several times.
MSFS is not âAs real as it getsâ.
Hoping for implementation of this in MSFS 2024. It seems like it would be such easy, low-hanging fruit.
I think that airport models would be worth enhancing by turning off the lights, as/when at the real airports, plus adding PCL where available. Adding it at once to all the worldâs PCL airports is unnecessary â gradually would be OK, resources permitting.
Other airport model improvements are needed too, but hey â every little bit helps!
In the US, airport pages in the FAA Chart Supplements (including AFD) provide all necessary info. All supplements are available free at:
https://aeronav.faa.gov/Upload_313-d/supplements/
The supplements also list the meanings of many abbreviations used in aviation, necessary for understanding the CS and communicating with ATC (if Asobo ever implements that).
PCL is usually activated by tuning a radio to the appropriate frequency (typically CTAF) and tapping the transmit key. Until MSFS has transmit capability, this could be done by tuning a radio & tapping a keyboard key.
I thought it might be interesting for simmers to see a typical airport page from a CS, & how PCL info is shown there. As an example, Iâve attached the page for Redmond / Roberts field (KRDM), from the FAA Chart Supplement / Northwest US. Roberts is a well equipped regional airport with control tower and fully lit runways & taxiways. Tower is closed & lights are off 8pm â 4am PST, but PCL is available then.
Also attached is a part of the page, with the relevant texts highlighted.
It should be really easy to implement. Even the basic ATC interactions we currently have should come with the option: activate pilot controlled lighting. Then a sub menu for intensity.
Approach charts have the info also. That the lighting is so incorrect, anyway, should be the cause of many a go-around.
A double/triple tap on your yokes transmit key maybe?
Was flying last night, pitch black. The airport chart mentions pilot controlled lighting with the frequency. I didnât bother trying to figure out how to input that frequency, but tried getting to the airport anyway. Could barely see the runway in external view as I was flying right over it. Circled a few times and all of a sudden I noticed another plane flying by and all the runway lights came on. Not sure what that was about, but I was able to land. Thanks to whatever caused it. So Iâm wondering if being almost lined up makes the lights at these rural runways come on in the game or if the other plane had the light control frequency dialed in.
Thereâs no PCL in the sim, so it wasnât that. They are more difficult to see off-angle and thatâs not far from reality.