I think I'm going to switch to X-Plane for PE

[Goblin]

Hi everybody,

I was doing some VFR flights last night and had a couple of mistakes and some confusing information.

I was flying P3D 3.4. I've been using my A2A C182 for flying in PE. I have the Flight1 GTN750 installed but try not to rely on it too much. Usually, I use it to tune COM and NAV freqs and for traffic and as a backup for positioning.
1) I don't think the Transponder is working properly -- as I flew in for my CAT-2 last night, the controller asked me to turn it on, but it was already on with 1200; thankfully, he did allow me to continue without it.

2) I flew out of KSBP to get my first experience leaving a towered airport. As I sat in parking letting the aircraft warm up and doing some planning, dialing frequencies, and think about what I needed to say, I listened to ATIS to get the weather. So, I did that and got information Quebec, and was informed that runway 11 was in use for landing and departing.
So, I switch to ground (and called them tower), after being corrected that I was talking to ground, I was cleared to taxi to runway 29 and HS. Now, I had generated an expectation of being cleared to taxi to 11 via alpha due to the ATIS information. So, I stumbled over that during my readback, "...cleared taxi via alpha to...uh..did you say 11?"...[now I'm feeling pretty dumb]
After getting that straightened out, I started to taxi from transient parking to a left on alpha, where I come to a red sign with white letters and a hold short line. So, I didn't recall hearing anything bout this in the clearance, but I called ground (and called them tower again -- oh, god, help me) and asked for clearance to cross 25..... But, the controller was kind and gave me clearance to cross a runway that didn't exist for him, but did for me.

After that I think I managed to hold short and call the tower (this time calling tower was correct ), get clearance, and read back correctly for a left downwind departure.

I took some screenshots this morning to compare P3D w/ORBX world wide airports HD with X-Plane stock:

Holding short at RWY 25 crossing.

3_P3D_HS_25.png (642.51 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

About the same area in X-Plane

4_XPLANE_NO_HS.png (667.26 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

Holding short at RWY 25 crossing.

3_P3D_HS_25.png (642.51 KiB) Viewed 3805 times

[Goblin]

more pics:

X-Plane Tower

6_XPLANE_TOWER.png (676.81 KiB) Viewed 3802 times

X-Plane

2_XPLANE_KSBP.png (738.53 KiB) Viewed 3803 times

P3D

1_P3D_KSBP.png (691.18 KiB) Viewed 3803 times

[jtek]

There is a runway 25 at KSBP, but it never crosses taxiway A. Very strange. It's possible (likely, even!) that runway 25 used to extend all the way to alpha, but if that's true, it's been decades since it was changed. P3D is using some very outdated information!

[Keith Smith]

Regarding the runway in use on PE, you can check for more accurate information at http://myflightroute.com/atisplay.php

The problem with sim generated ATIS is that it doesn't understand the runway selection plan that's used in real life. Also, if you were using your own weather then that might have an effect on the sim-generated ATIS, too.

Regarding the transponder, the Mode C function of P3D isn't always correctly manipulated by 3rd party transponders. As a result, you might need to switch on the native mode C ("squawk altitude") from the PilotEdge application.

[Goblin]

Thanks Keith. I think the ATIS information will be very helpful. I took my experience as a lesson in expectations vs. reality.


I checked on the transponder and can confirm that the Flight1 GTN750 has some issues for some A2A users. Someone on these boards went to the trouble of re-installing the sim to get it working. With other options available, I'm going to pass on that.

Jtek, with regards to the Scenery, the airport diagram clearly shows that RWY 25 doesn't even touch 11-29, when I came upon it in the sim, I had trouble reconciling the crossing -- I wasn't expecting it, my face started feeling hot and I heard a buzzing sound in my headphones as I was expecting the controller to ask where I was going. I was suddenly wondering if I had turned the wrong way.

I went to bed that night feeling like I had really messed up that whole departure, but when I consider the situation, I don't think I did that bad.

Anyway, per the title of this topic, I'm just going to go ahead and switch over to xplane for flying on PE. Shoot, the 172 that comes with XP, seems pretty darn good. As far as I'm concerned that alone makes the purchase worth it.