Can anyone tell me why when making an IFR flight with the TBM 930, ATC always seems to clear me for an RNav Z and the TBM only has RNav Y or vice versa? It’s really annoying to make a long flight and can’t choose the correct approach. This doesn’t seem to happen with other aircraft.
Some RNAV approaches are Authorization Required (AR on the approach plates) which might be why the G3000 doesn’t show them. The TBM is not certified for AR approaches, and Working Title has simulated this in the game.
As to ATC itself being out of sync, that could just be one of the uncountable ATC bugs that exist with the built in system. Hard to tell without the exact approaches you are trying to fly (Which airport and runway specifically.)
Missing approaches are also symptomatic of some miscoded / obsolete custom airports.
It’s happened at several different airports, KSTL and KIAH for two. ATC will clear for RNav Z and Y is all that is available in the plane and at the other it is the opposite. I don’t remember which was which. The same airports with other planes like the King Air and DA62 are no problem when cleared for the same approaches.
How can I know without flying if the plane will have an issue like this?
This has occurred with stock airports and plane but only with the TBM.
OK, I did a little poking around using ChartFox, which is a free tool that shows a lot of publicly available charts (mostly USA I think?).
KSTL RNAV Z RWY 30R is shown as “Authorization Required” on the approach plate.
KSTL RNAV Y RWY 30R does not have the AR restriction.
So, in the TBM930, you should NOT be able to see RNAV Z when selecting procedures. That is correct to the real world plane. If that is what you are seeing, then things are correct with the plane and procedures you are seeing. This would be an ATC “bug” if the controller is giving you an approach that is not authorized.
There has been issues with filtering AR approaches in some versions of the sim’s avionics. I think the G1000 was famous for NOT filtering out AR approaches, so planes in the sim could fly them even though that was incorrect. I don’t recall if those bugs were ever fixed or not. You could probably ask around on the Working Title Discord server and they’d know.
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That would explain what is happening so it is a bug in the sim. At least it’s an answer but why only this plane? Are all the others authorized for those approaches?
Well interestingly, IRL, all six RNAV Z approaches into KIAH are not AR approaches, while all six RNAV Y approaches are in fact AR approaches. That’s a bit unusual that they ended up that way but legal.
While at KSTL, it’s the opposite IRL. Six RNAV Z are all AR, and all six RNAV Y are not. The way they “letter” RNAV approaches (X, Y, or Z normally) isn’t based specifically on whether they’re AR or not.
As far as not being able to choose the “correct” approach, the in sim ATC ‘should’ offer you the option to select another approach rather than accept the approach ATC initially tells you to fly (ok, not sure if that’s true in 2020 but normally is in 2024). So you can select an approach for which your equipment is qualified to fly.
In anything with the GNS530/430, G1000/NXi, or G3000 you should not be able to fly anything that’s listed as AR (when setting it up, look for “RNAV Z rnp” rather than “RNAV Z gps”. Unfortunately, unlike MSFS2024, you don’t have direct access to most of the approach charts, so unless you check outside sources, you’re not going to know whether the approach you select in planning your flight, or are given by ATC, are within the capabilities of your plane/equipment until you try to set it up in-flight, and the approach is not listed on your system. The WM will also lead you astray because it let you select an approach that your selected plane can’t legally fly (e.g. RNAV Z 30L at KSTL in a plane with a G3000). It’s just a weakness in the sim! It didn’t used to matter, because before WT did their magic by significantly upgrade the avionics simulation, you could fly those approaches even though you shouldn’t have been able. The sim has grown, but still misses the mark in some situations.
Regards
That appears to be the problem but from what someone else said it seems that the plane has that set up backwards. It will let you fly the Authorized but not the other.
Presumably you mean it will let you fly the “Authorization Required” ones.
That’s what it appears to be. Maybe an incorrect setting? What file might that be stored in? I’ve checked all of the.cfg files I could find but I haven’t found that yet.
I think you are on to something but it seems the switch for “authorized” may be reversed. Any idea where that setting is stored? I’ve looked in all of the .cfg files I can find but no luck.
To my knowledge, there is no setting for this exposed to a user or modder.
To be clear, are you saying the avionics loading the approach is inverted, or the ATC assignment is inverted? If the avionics are “backwards” that would be the first I’ve heard of that bug. The bug that existed for a long time was allowing planes to load all procedures even when they shouldn’t be.
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One more screen capture. This is in MSFS2024, TBM930, with KSTL set as the destination.
When selecting approach procedures, only the RW30 Yankee approaches show up in the G3000 avionics, which is what I would expect based on the approach plates I showed above.
So, the avionics in the MSFS2024 TBM930 are working as expected.
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That’s the best guess I have. The TBM is the only plane I’ve seen this with. The same approaches with the King Air for example has the correct approach available.
But for some reason ATC gives RNav Z and as you can see, that’s not an option. With the King Air , RNav Z is an option. There is some mismatch between the ATC and the plane.
Well the in-sim ATC has many weaknesses, to include giving approaches the plane can’t really fly.
But for further information, keep in mind the King Air was never even updated to the current WT G1000. It’s still running the G3X, which is even worse than the G1000 and shouldn’t be given those approaches. So I’d just write it off to bad coding between ATC, aircraft, and approaches they assign. And if the pilot is selecting the plan, they need to be aware of what their platform is capable of doing when they select the approach. Or again, request another approach from ATC when they give you the wrong approach. That option “sometimes” is offered in the comm window.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/king-air-350-avionics/562975/3
A decent source of IFR approach charts is FlightAware. You can select “flight tracking” and select “browse by airport” and pick the airport you are interested in, and there is an “IFR plates” tab you can open and see the various STARS, SIDs, approaches, etc. Sometimes the chart is out of date, but in general it gives you something to work with since 2020 doesn’t include the charts like 2024 does.
Regards
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Good advice from @Habu2u2 , don’t use the King Air for any real world ops 
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Yeah, I guess I’ll just not fly that plane for IFR. It’s definitely a problem with the SIM. I really don’t want to get that deep into looking for charts.