Recommendations for an ATC add on

[Dreamsofwings]

Been thinking of getting an addon that would improve on the standard P3Dv4 offering and there seem to be a few out there. Does anyone have experience of this sort of thing and have any recommendations?
I am thinking it would add to the challenge to fly IFR in the Comanche and work with an ATC service.
Also looking at Vatsim etc but thinking there might not always be controllers where I want to fly.

[Medtner]

PilotEdge. Perfection if you’re after the real deal. I started as a complete newbie in December and have now over 150 hours on the network. I can’t begin to describe how wonderfully immersive and teaching it is. And so much fun! One of the best things I’ve discovered in Flightsim.

[n421nj]

Vatsim if you want a free option.

[crippy]

Really, In my opinion there is *no* good option for ATC right now.

Vatsim - Typically there will not be a center, approach, tower, and ground on at the same time Ever unless there is an event. Also the audio codec is horrible.
From my experience as a controller and pilot on Vatsim, for G.A. it's just not worth it. Towers are only staffed at the largest of fields such as KDFW, KDAL, KMEM, KATL etc. Any Class D airports are a ghost town usually. Also I've had experiences with approach giving me some random vector and then logging off. That leaves the pilot past normal approaches, and in IMC a dangerous situation for G.A. Pilots especially if you are VOR Nav only.

Pilot edge - Good, expensive monthly fee, real as it gets except you are very limited to the western states. The learning curve is also discouraging. One slip up and you are likely going to get a stern tone from the controllers especially if they are busy.

Other ATC programs - Often sound too robotic, and are sometimes worse than the built in ATC.

In my opinion again, the best solution is Edit voice pack with the default ATC. The Default ATC staffs every single airport, center sector, approach, the whole ATC network over the continent AND it doesn't sound robotic like a bunch of voices stitched together. Edit voice pack gives you some powerful tools to tweak the default ATC such as adding new call signs, airport names, and making the speed of the controllers faster / slower.

The default ATC for VFR is more than adequate normally, for IFR it has some quirks that many don't know how to work around.

For example ATC will by default assign you a IFR approach, and assume you want vectors. Then every 5 seconds they will give you a new vector to fly, which can be absolutely infuriating.
However, if you select "select a different approach" you can then select an approach, STAR, and ILS with transitions instead of assumed vectors, and ATC will quiet down a little bit.

If you really want the most realistic default ATC experience, you can uncheck 'use a pilots voice' and 'show ATC log in ATC window'. What this will do is remove the pilot from talking, and also the ATC chat logs. I found when doing this it taught me to listen actively, and write down instructions VS cheating and looking at the text log. This way I will often call out the radio calls IRL, and then the default ATC will answer me back.

That's just what I use and some tips I've found over the years.

[DrumsArt]

Been thinking of getting an addon that would improve on the standard P3Dv4 offering and there seem to be a few out there. Does anyone have experience of this sort of thing and have any recommendations?
I am thinking it would add to the challenge to fly IFR in the Comanche and work with an ATC service.
Also looking at Vatsim etc but thinking there might not always be controllers where I want to fly.

Hi,

I have VoxAtc, PF3 and Pilot2Atc...

I use one of these programs depending on the mood and type of flight. All 3 have strengths and weaknesses...
All three have a free trial period. Try and choose.

If you need more information about these programs, please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,

[Dreamsofwings]

Big thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to my post. All very good food for thought! I was looking at some videos on youtube for Pro ATC X which looks quite interesting. Only thing is I am sure in one the AI controller cleared an aircraft to take off and while it was lining up it then cleared and aircraft to land. Yikes.

[Dreamsofwings]

Been thinking of getting an addon that would improve on the standard P3Dv4 offering and there seem to be a few out there. Does anyone have experience of this sort of thing and have any recommendations?
I am thinking it would add to the challenge to fly IFR in the Comanche and work with an ATC service.
Also looking at Vatsim etc but thinking there might not always be controllers where I want to fly.

Hi,

I have VoxAtc, PF3 and Pilot2Atc...

I use one of these programs depending on the mood and type of flight. All 3 have strengths and weaknesses...
All three have a free trial period. Try and choose.

If you need more information about these programs, please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,

Thanks DrumsArt, which of those do you prefer? Have you ever checked out Pro ATC x?

[guenseli]

Default ATC is good … I use it for VFR flights. But IFR it drives me crazy

PF3: there's a demo. And I haven't fiddled out how it works till today, Have made several attempts. I'm too silly for it, sorry.

VOX ATC: controls AI Traffic also what is very good, but I don't like the robotic voices

Pro ATC X: that is what I use now. It is of course not perfect, but I really like the voices (additional voice sets can be downloaded) and the ATC chatter. Gives me a good immersion. There are many bugs of course, but if you do not take it too serious, it works. Biggest disappointment is, that the developer updates the program just once a year (normaly around March) and then vanishes for the rest of the year - bug left or not.


The perfect ATC tool does not exist till now.

[OGfishm0nger]

Default ATC is good … I use it for VFR flights. But IFR it drives me crazy

Same here. Been thinking about going with Pro ATC for IFR flights and default ATC for VFR flights. Is this doable, or will default ATC be disabled/gone once I install ProATC?

Also, for anyone considering PilotEdge, there is a small program you can download from their site which allows you to listen in on their comms channels for free. Very entertaining and I feel like I've learned some things just by listening in for awhile.

[Dreamsofwings]

Default ATC is good … I use it for VFR flights. But IFR it drives me crazy

PF3: there's a demo. And I haven't fiddled out how it works till today, Have made several attempts. I'm too silly for it, sorry.

VOX ATC: controls AI Traffic also what is very good, but I don't like the robotic voices

Pro ATC X: that is what I use now. It is of course not perfect, but I really like the voices (additional voice sets can be downloaded) and the ATC chatter. Gives me a good immersion. There are many bugs of course, but if you do not take it too serious, it works. Biggest disappointment is, that the developer updates the program just once a year (normaly around March) and then vanishes for the rest of the year - bug left or not.


The perfect ATC tool does not exist till now.

Cheers Guenseli, good to know.
Is the ATC region appropriate or is it just random? For example if I am flying in the north of Scotland would the program play chatter recorded from that area?

[DrumsArt]

Been thinking of getting an addon that would improve on the standard P3Dv4 offering and there seem to be a few out there. Does anyone have experience of this sort of thing and have any recommendations?
I am thinking it would add to the challenge to fly IFR in the Comanche and work with an ATC service.
Also looking at Vatsim etc but thinking there might not always be controllers where I want to fly.

Hi,

I have VoxAtc, PF3 and Pilot2Atc...

I use one of these programs depending on the mood and type of flight. All 3 have strengths and weaknesses...
All three have a free trial period. Try and choose.

If you need more information about these programs, please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,

Thanks DrumsArt, which of those do you prefer? Have you ever checked out Pro ATC x?

Okay let's go...

For the quality of the guidance and ease of use, I would say VoxAtc.
1-You load a simple fp into P3Dv4.2 or Fsx. In less time than it takes to say it, Vox will assign if need be a Sid or a Star and of course so present in the airport of departure and arrival...
Vox uses Navigraph and scans all your aircraft with their features.
If there is no Star at the finish, Vox has a very powerful vectoring algorithm

2-Vox manages AI flights (this is the only Atc program that does it so well).

3-Vox manages Vfr and Ifr flights

4-"The icing on the cake", with the last version, Vox during the final guidance takes into account the relief (mountains or other). Again, he is the only one doing it.

Defaults: some glitches sometimes (as in all programs ).
If you want to have correct voices you will have to buy them in supplement (Cerevoices, Ivona and so on...).
Some find them "robotic", progress has been made on that side. It doesn't bother me any more with regard to the excellent guidance and the sensations that I have during the piloting...

5-Some people don't like it, that's what I was looking for, you talk directly to the Atc with a microphone.

--------------

PF3: excellent program that now seems to have reached some stability/maturity.

PF3 takes a little longer to learn and understand to fly without problems (it seems more scripted and less versatile than VoxAtc).
For example you have to tell him before launching the program if you use a Sid or a Star, what is the type of aircraft, its rate of climb/descent and so on....

What I like about PF3 are all the pre-recorded voices with accents corresponding to the countries you fly over (it's clearly more varied than in VoxAtc which I remind you depends on the number of voices you have and therefore the price it costs).

PF3 handles Vfr and Ifr flights and has a pretty good guidance algorithm but, provided you are not in a mountainous area, it knows absolutely nothing about the terrain you fly over.

The PF3 developer is very present on the dedicated forum, that's good.

PF3 is initially designed to work with a keyboard interface. If you want to talk to the Atc you will need to add the excellent Multi Crew Experience (MCE) program which has a voice interface among other things dedicated to PF3.

-------------------------------

Pilot2Atc.
I am a little doubtful/shared about this program. This annoys me because the very friendly developer is very present and reactive to the slightest bug. It is capable of providing a patch within 48 hours, sometimes even within 24 hours. The problem is that after each update, new glitches appear...Some don't matter much while others ruin your flight. These comments are my own.

Pilot2Atc use microphone (there also you will have to buy voices) or keyboard to speak to the Atc, it manages the flights Ifr and Vfr.

One thing that annoys me with this program is that it is a Windows program that is not integrated in the simulator, if you have 2 screens it is a lesser problem, but when you click on the program it is necessary to click again on the simu.

An advantage with P2Atc is that it can handle Atc for Xp and Fsx/P3Dv(x). I don't have Xp but users seem very satisfied with P2Atc with this simu.

Important : these three programs are perfect for both long haul and Ga's (ideal for A2A's aircrafts for example) . Also if you wish it, they have a copilot at disposal to manage the dials with the Atc.
---------------

ProAtc : Actually not much to say about this program (that I don't have) except that it doesn't manage Vfr flights and that it doesn't look Ga's oriented which for me is a no go. But I leave the floor to the owners of this program.

Clearly at the moment I mainly use PF3 or VoxAtc

Regards,

[avduarri]

As someone has said, Default ATC for VFR and ProAtc X for IFR.
In my days in FSX (I'm using P3d now) I used to use Voxatc due to the ability to manage "properly" VFR flights, but I ended tire of the voice recognition errors.

[Dreamsofwings]

Hi,

I have VoxAtc, PF3 and Pilot2Atc...

I use one of these programs depending on the mood and type of flight. All 3 have strengths and weaknesses...
All three have a free trial period. Try and choose.

If you need more information about these programs, please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,

Thanks DrumsArt, which of those do you prefer? Have you ever checked out Pro ATC x?

Okay let's go...

For the quality of the guidance and ease of use, I would say VoxAtc.
1-You load a simple fp into P3Dv4.2 or Fsx. In less time than it takes to say it, Vox will assign if need be a Sid or a Star and of course so present in the airport of departure and arrival...
Vox uses Navigraph and scans all your aircraft with their features.
If there is no Star at the finish, Vox has a very powerful vectoring algorithm

2-Vox manages AI flights (this is the only Atc program that does it so well).

3-Vox manages Vfr and Ifr flights

4-"The icing on the cake", with the last version, Vox during the final guidance takes into account the relief (mountains or other). Again, he is the only one doing it.

Defaults: some glitches sometimes (as in all programs ).
If you want to have correct voices you will have to buy them in supplement (Cerevoices, Ivona and so on...).
Some find them "robotic", progress has been made on that side. It doesn't bother me any more with regard to the excellent guidance and the sensations that I have during the piloting...

5-Some people don't like it, that's what I was looking for, you talk directly to the Atc with a microphone.

--------------

PF3: excellent program that now seems to have reached some stability/maturity.

PF3 takes a little longer to learn and understand to fly without problems (it seems more scripted and less versatile than VoxAtc).
For example you have to tell him before launching the program if you use a Sid or a Star, what is the type of aircraft, its rate of climb/descent and so on....

What I like about PF3 are all the pre-recorded voices with accents corresponding to the countries you fly over (it's clearly more varied than in VoxAtc which I remind you depends on the number of voices you have and therefore the price it costs).

PF3 handles Vfr and Ifr flights and has a pretty good guidance algorithm but, provided you are not in a mountainous area, it knows absolutely nothing about the terrain you fly over.

The PF3 developer is very present on the dedicated forum, that's good.

PF3 is initially designed to work with a keyboard interface. If you want to talk to the Atc you will need to add the excellent Multi Crew Experience (MCE) program which has a voice interface among other things dedicated to PF3.

-------------------------------

Pilot2Atc.
I am a little doubtful/shared about this program. This annoys me because the very friendly developer is very present and reactive to the slightest bug. It is capable of providing a patch within 48 hours, sometimes even within 24 hours. The problem is that after each update, new glitches appear...Some don't matter much while others ruin your flight. These comments are my own.

Pilot2Atc use microphone (there also you will have to buy voices) or keyboard to speak to the Atc, it manages the flights Ifr and Vfr.

One thing that annoys me with this program is that it is a Windows program that is not integrated in the simulator, if you have 2 screens it is a lesser problem, but when you click on the program it is necessary to click again on the simu.

An advantage with P2Atc is that it can handle Atc for Xp and Fsx/P3Dv(x). I don't have Xp but users seem very satisfied with P2Atc with this simu.

Important : these three programs are perfect for both long haul and Ga's (ideal for A2A's aircrafts for example) . Also if you wish it, they have a copilot at disposal to manage the dials with the Atc.
---------------

ProAtc : Actually not much to say about this program (that I don't have) except that it doesn't manage Vfr flights and that it doesn't look Ga's oriented which for me is a no go. But I leave the floor to the owners of this program.

Clearly at the moment I mainly use PF3 or VoxAtc

Regards,

Thanks Drums! Really useful insights there!