I haven’t seen many discussions regarding using voice commands and I thought I would share with the Community the capabilities that many may not know are currently available.
I am using; the Program VoiceAttack. I am in no way affiliated with them.
To start with I just want to say that I really love having the ability to control most of the aircraft functions just with voice commands. I mostly fly the Kodiak 100 and Cessna 172. The Kodiak 100 has fairly advanced avionics and having the voice commands makes the aircraft technology seem cutting edge.
I wanted to give you some examples of what is possible.
I fly IFR most of the time. I also have vision issues and finding frequencies on charts is a bit of a challenge. So for the area where I fly, I have voice commands to give me frequencies. For example, I say “John Wayne” and then it speaks the frequencies back to me. I have programmed it to read Tower frequency is XXXX, Ground control frequency XXXX, Atis frequency, SoCal Departure, ILS 20R frequency is XXXX
Of course I could make the list shorter or longer.
For VOR’s , I just say the name of the VOR and the Voiceattack program will read me the frequency. So I say “Seal Beach” and then I hear in my headphones "Seal Beach VOR frequendcy is xxxx.
So I have this set up for the most frequent airports that I fly in and out of. Usually if I fly anywhere new I will go ahead and program the information I want to retrieve.
Autopilot Functions. Almost all of the autompilot functions can be run off voice commands. Autopilot on, autopilot off, heading on, heading off, vertical speed on and off, altitude hold on and off.
For the 172, I can use voice commands for most but not all of the functions.
So a typical sequence in the 172. I usually fly at night so when I spawn into the plane it is pitch black.
So first voice command is “flashlight” and the flashlight comes on.
All of my camera views are programmed so I can name the camera views or just memorize the numbers. So I can say “view 1, view 2, view 3” etc and it will switch to that camera view. I can then say right, left, up and down to move the view.
Next, Mixture Rich. For something like this you could use multiple commands. Saying mixture rich would first run the command to turn the camera view right on the mixture knob. - so you could physically see it move to the rich position. You could then put a 5 second pause where you have seen the mixture knob go to Rich, and then it sends the camera view back to view one.
Another option is to not move the camera at all - but after saying “mixture rich” you hear a voice saying “mixture rich” . The computer voice can be several voices.
It could of course be programmed to say anything.
other voice commands
Fuel Pump ON. and off
Flaps, flaps increase, flaps decrease, dump flaps
Altitude UP 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000,. 5000, 6000, 7000, 8000, 9000
I haven’t programmed above 9000 but it could easily be done. Of course I have also programmed altitude down. So if ATC tells me to climb another 2000 feet. I just have to say “altitude up 2000”, then “Vertical speed on”, then “nose up 600”
So I have the nose up and nose down programmed up to 900 feet in 100 foot increments. Flying an ILS approach without using autopilot (or without the Approach mode armed), you can easily adjust the vertical speed by just saying saying nose up 100 or nose down 100 and it is a pretty easy way to keep the glideslope
The Throttle is also programmed for the following voice commands
cut throttle, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, fully throttle, increase throttle, decrease throttle
So on an approach when you have the airport made, you just say “cut throttle” and it comes back with “throttle cut” in the headphones.
sorry this is so long
I have been able to program the heading bug with the following voice commands "heading up, heading down, heading up 2, heading up 3, heading up 4, heading up 5, heading up 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60,70,80, 90, 180. And of course heading down is the same. Flying using the autopilot on heading mode - it is easy to make small adjustments by just saying “heading up 4” .
I just realized I could use this to program a timer. I haven’t done that yet because I just thought of it but it would be easy to program. So if you are flying a holding pattern you could say “one minute timer” and after one minute the computer would say “timer is expired”
For IFR flying, I am using pilotedge - which is an actual human being serving as controller. So using pilotedge you have to use the radio exactly as you would in the real world. So for an IFR flight there is going to be clearance delivery, ground control, tower, departure frequency and future frequencies as you get handed off to the next facility. So I have a Text document open on the computer (you could use anything, word or a wordpad app). If I get a call from ATC - as soon as I hear my number, I say “wordpad” and the computer does an Alt Tab and jumps to the notepad that I already have open. I am now ready to type using the keyboard and copy what ATC is saying. So the notepad command is very useful when IFR and allowing you to quickly write down and copy the next instruction.
There are lots of other miscellaneous items and I will probably leave off a bunch
ignition start, parking brake on and off, pitot heat on and off, landing lights on and off, drone view, drone increase hight, drone decrease height, drone left, drone right., flight director on and off.
I’m sure I’m missing a bunch but the point is if you can keybind it, you can turn it into a voice command. The things I have been unable to do are things like VNV mode on the autopilot. I can’t figure out a keybind for VNV on the keyboard so I have been unable to figure out who to do it with a voice command. But even for things that cannot be turned into a voice command, the voice command can still be useful. For example, when flying the piper arrow, the tanks must be switched and you are either on the left or the right. So every 30-45 minutes, I need to switch tanks. I decided for this one not to use a voice command to switch the tanks. Instead this is what happens. I say “switch tanks” and that starts a series of commands. The first thing that happens is the camera view switches to the floor where the fuel switch is located. It next turns on the flashlight because the floor of the plane is dark. Thats it. Thats the end. You then just take your mouse and switch it normally. But the voice command got the flashlight on and had you pointed where you need to be pointed. You can then say “view one” to take you back to the previous view.
I have been unable to program the radios to go to a specific frequency although I heard that it is possible to do so. People smarter than I am have figured that out.
OK, I have made this way to long.
I am by no means an expert in this but have flown 500 hours with this and keep refininig it.
I would be happy to answer any questions or share the commands I used with the voice attack system for anything I have programmed.
I am (was) a real world pilot. I was in the Airforce but was not a pilot. I am so grateful that this sim exist. I’m 62 and having some vision issues but I can zoom right into the PFD for the IFR stuff so I so grateful to have such an amazing program. I hope to someday try the VR. And although this might be thought of as a great solution for individuals like me with vision issues or those that have other disabilities - I have to tell you that I would be using this if I was completely healthy. To me having a Siri like interface to control the aircraft just seems like a logical next step.
For me, this added to the immersion of flying. It also is kind of a star trek feel to it. You are literally giving commands and the aircraft is responding. It feels like you have a copilot. I feel like I am more connected to the experience. The headphones become more useful. Instead of just hearing the engines - you can talk to the plane.
I have no idea why I made this so long. I think I realized that very few people talk about this but I know I’m not the only one using this. I just thought there might be some people that are just not aware that this is a possibility.
By the way the Voice attack program itself was inexpensive. I think it is less than $15. It might even have been $10 when I bought it. Again, I am not associated with them but it is a great program . I might not be able to fly any longer IRL but I have found the fuel to be a lot cheaper in the sim. 500 hours of flying some of the best aircraft in the world. I can’t imagine how much it would cost in real dollars to fly that much.
Thanks everyone for listening to me rant. I’m in the middle of a snow storm but will be flying all day tomorrow. Thanks to everyone in this community for making this such a great place!
