What ATC are you guys using?

Unfortunately, I can’t add anything else. If I do, everyone’s votes get deleted.

My bad, I thought PF3 was in the vote it was P3…my vote pilot2atc VATSIM and PF3

I used pilotedge but and it works very well. When it is crowded it takes a long time to get in the air. It is restricted to the western usa and I am ok with it. They also tell you when a mistake is done and it is a great way to learn how to work with ATC using VFR and IFR. I do wish it supported the east coast but it was really setup for the real ATC experience.

That all said I have been using Pilot2ATC more because it works very well. It is very important to use the voice training because before that I had trouble talking to it. The mic recording needs to be very clean and clear. It does things that real world doesn’t do such as center clearing me for the ILS approach when there is a approach freq. The main reason I started using P2ATC because I get off the ground quicker instead of waiting with PE

I don’t like ATC I cannot talk to so never tried the MSFS ATC

Especially when you hear the dog crying and the kid barking in the background, not to mention the single pilot 747 captain that asks to ‘step away for 15’ because dinner is ready :grin: :wink:

Love Vatsim, but we are a little too generous with the word ‘realism’ sometimes.

Here are two videos on VATSIM…

I gave up with Vatsim after never finding a controller within a thousand miles of where and when I wanted to fly.

Well exactly, its why we need a competent in-game ATC system, it doesnt have to allow for every possible scenario but could be better than what we have now.

Maybe so :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: I still do prefer it to in game ATC right now though.

I would use Vatsim, but there’s typically no one on in the regions I want to fly at the times I’m on.

So the next best thing is Pilot2ATC. It’s not perfect either, but a lot better than default ATC. And since I get to talk to it, it’s good practice for when I get on Vatsim.

Ehrmmm.. the standard offline ATC. Not the most realistic, I know.

Within a 1000 miles of where you wanted to fly ? Where might that have been ?

I agree, I do most of my flying offline, though I tend not to use the AI (live or otherwise) or ATC in game because it is soooo porked that it kills any sense of immersion. Not worth it to me but everyone’s mileage varies.

Sad part is I think most of the issues could have been solved by now if they had or would open it up to 3rd party interests. Asobo has it’s reasons for not doing this and I respect that, but only to a certain extent. They released the AI and ATC in a knowingly broken state and have, for whatever reasons, refused or not been able/willing to even comment on it, let alone begin fixing it.

I agree that the FS2020 ATC has many flaws and is not very realistic,
but, because I know absolutely nothing English, I am forced to use the ATC of the game, since it translates what the controller of the tower says to Spanish and I can follow his instructions.
What I do try, is to configure very well the route of departure and arrival in the game, and so far most of the time I have no incidents and I enjoy the flights.

No lie, this is sometimes a problem. And lordy, to most of you out there I want to say if you’re interested, get in touch with VATSIM about being a controller. I did it for a while, but I never loved it as much as I loved flying. So over time I faded away. But for a lot of people its a lot of fun… And if more people were stepping up, coverage would improve. Anyone can do it. Get in there! You might discover something you really enjoy, that you never thought about before.

Unlike simming, most of the controller tools are free!

However, if you’re not interested at all in that solution - The best alternate I can offer is …

  1. Friday nights are often event nights in Vatsim. So even if you don’t use it all the time, there is likely something going on on Fridays near you. Hop in on that.

  2. the rest of the time, There are two ways to do it…
    A) If you fly big iron, it doesn’t matter where you fly, you’re concerned more with fitting it into the time you have available. So just make a flight that works with whoever is online (you can use VATspy to get a quick view of what regions are active).

    B) If you’re VFR or light IFR like me, don’t worry about it… Just fly the flight you were going to do anyhow. You’d be surprised how often a controller pops up on your route (your mileage may vary if you’re in a very remote area). And even if they don’t you profit from the traffic injection and honing your self-announce unicom skills.

Anyhow, all that said, yeah… Vatsim would be better with more controllers… SO BECOME A CONTROLLER. It’s not hard to join, you’ll learn a ton about how real ATC works and probably a lot about your flying in general. Jump in.

I’m all for the BIG MERGE. Please stop the segregation into multiple services and join forces. We, the simmers, don’t need multiple services, each with their own pro’s and con’s. Just one world wide service.
The argument that competition is good for improvement doesn’t hold in this context, is my opinion. This is a niche market, and developers are scarcely available. Only by joining forces can the development process be speeded up.

What are other’s opinions about this?

Do you use any online network yourself?

That as an almost 13 year user of VATSIM and a bit over 20 year user of flight sims (currently active with MSFS, XP and P3D) it wouldn’t work.

Thanks for your reaction. Could you please expand on your statement that it wouldn’t work? I can see this from a technical perspective, like code bases, but from a user’s perspective nothing would be more desirable. Don’t you agree? So to say it more bluntly: the users are provided multiple products that are too scarcely populated because multiple companies want to take their share of the market.
In this case that doesn’t seem to be desirable, seen from a user’s perspective.

The process to become a controller on VATSIM is much more rigorous thus a more professional experience is found. VATSIM and IVAO are just not compatible with each other. Some prefer VATSIM some prefer IVAO.

I remember when POSCON offered to buy VATSIM a few years ago and they said no.

As for PilotEdge that is a paid network.

If the only problem is bumping up some standards it seems like a plausible solution?

They’re just too different, these aren’t the SATCO days anymore.