With ATC communications set to ON, my copilot contacts the tower once I’m directly above the runway. Tower then tells me to “fly left downwind…”. However, the landing path appears on my right.
ATC is very much work in progress - gives you extremely late descents as well.
Although I haven’t used it I would recommend Vatsim if looking for proper ATC.
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Is it correct to contact the tower just before reaching the airport and request to land? When I do it this way, landing path appears in a way that allows me to follow the pattern entry properly.
VFR? IFR? Sounds like you’re flying VFR.
FAA AIM Airport Operations s.4-3-2 indicates you should contact a controlled (towered) airport when about 15 miles away.
This entire section is useful for novice pilots, including detailed diagrams on pattern types and entry maneuvers.
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap4_section_3.html
I would recommend reading this and then trying it on your own in lieu of letting Charlie the Co-Pilot fly.
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I will usually Request I.F.R clearance for departure and up to the Initial departure Altitude. Then I will cancel my Clearance and usually just request a flight following from small airports along the way for Baro settings if Im below Transition ALT. Then once Im Within range of the Airport I want to land at I simply ask for Landing clearance. It will Give you a pattern entry and clearance to land on Final. This for me Has been the only way to get the in game A.T.C to work at all. Is it correct…Kind of not really at all.. but. We work with what he have. Oh and turn off Co-pilot communication with A.T.C
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If you have access to and understand your charts, You just need to do what It says until you are close Enough to land. Usually your destination airport will appear in the nearest airport list around 40NM out from the Airport.
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VFR departures work fine at controlled and uncontrolled fields. It’s simply a matter of having ATIS/ASOS/AWOS at the field for initial baro calibration of the altimeter. Otherwise you need to know field elevation in advance and use that to get close to the baro setting. For gameplay, just hit B even if there’s no ATC option for ATIS and the like. That invokes proper baro sync for the location and weather.
As far as arrivals, I made it easy for myself to make calls with my left hand. I mapped the ATC window to the Tilde (~) key just like in FSX, and that opens up the menu - now I can just simply move my hand by feel across and to the right since the largest menu typically only goes 1-9 but really most of your choices by scenario fall into 1-5. Right hand remains free for stick and throttle. This is particularly useful if you want to practice making the right pattern entry and movement calls in the circuit without looking down at the keyboard.
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Another good Queue that its time to make contact is if you get the real world ATIS frequency and pop that into your COMM1 if it picks up the ATIS your’re probably close enough to contact tower to let them know your intentions.
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When I decide to contact the tower on my own, landing path appears and if I decide to enter the red brackets, then I end up not flying over the runway at all. I thought the correct way to land is to first fly over the runway. At least that is how the flight training section of MSFS had me do. I just want to know how the developers want the players to do this and not necessarily in real life.
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Which aircraft are you flying? What was your flight plan? I can map the route to help you discern some basic tricks.
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Can I ask for your help in about 30 minutes because I am currently away from my XBOX?
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Sure. All I need is the Aircraft type, and route flown!
Vision Jet from KSWF to KJFK. I create the flight plan from the World map in VFR.
ILS Landing is a lot easier for me.
First I create my flight plan from the world map with low altitude airways and select my ILS runway. When I fly this way and follow ATC’s directions, I end up capturing the glide slope and have a fantastic buttery landing. I’m just struggling with VFR. Thank you for helping me sort this all out. Thank you all. 
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I am at home now. My Xbox is on, I can now follow your instructions .
So in that case its really just knowing how to make an approach. A good rule of thumb. Your FL for instance FL210 making an approach into an airport Where the platform altitude is 3000FT before your final descent and approach to the RNWY. If you are flying the Vision Jet I assume you can simply use this rule. FL 210 - 3000 = 18000 / 3. drop the zero’s 54. Now. 54 miles from your platform altitude you begin your descent. Usually if you are flying at a MACH number, you will want anywhere from 1800-2400 ft per minute descent, which will keep you on a 3.degree slope to the the platform altitude. Now the fun part begins because as you get closer youll have to slow down meet certain altitude restrictions and speeds. And thats when the Piloting begins, and you just have to start learning how that aircraft flies. You can also multiply your current ground speed by 6. 320knts over the ground * 6 1920 FPM
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Yes I begin to struggle on approach. I want to be able to land without the landing path / red brackets. I am new to MSFS.
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I would HIGLY recommend you Check out Skyvector.Its completely free, you can access the charts that correlate with your flight plan.
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I keep my altitude not above 3,000 ft on approach with a speed of 140 kts in the Vision Jet but somehow I end up forgetting which run way I had selected from the world map. Sometimes , there are multiple runways and that kind of ends up confusing me.
Which server do you fly on. I also fly on Xbox.
Another great suggestion that most people often overlook because they are so eager to just go fly, is to do some base training. Pick an airport, be it a home town strip or some weird place youve never been too. Get in your air craft of choice. and just learn the left hand circuit and do some touch and goes. Practice coming into different Rnwys. And if you are familiar enough with that Aircraft basic function. Learn to program the fmc or gps on the fly.
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