PilotEdge Forums

Just after takeoff, in the middle of making a turn from crosswind to downwind, I was instructed to change frequencies by ATC. Not having a physical “stack” of radios (not sure if that would make a difference), I tried to change the frequency, and ended up dropping the nose a couple hundred feet and losing my heading 20 or so degrees in the pattern. Is there a proper way to tell ATC that I can’t do it at the moment, ignore the request, or should I just keep working on my less than novice piloting skills to comply? You ATC guys do a great job, btw, and this is in no way a complaint about the help you give me. Just wondering if there’s something I can do when something like this occurs?

Aviate, navigate, communicate......... in that order! Read back the frequency change, and fly the airplane. Tune your radio to the new frequency when you have the plane under control. ATC does not expect you to instantly check-in on the new frequency.

In addition to Shawn's response, a few things spring to mind:
1) you should try to ensure the aircraft is trimmed to maintain the current profile (level flight, climbing, descending, etc). Letting go of the stick briefly shouldn't result in a significant change in pitch angle if you are trimmed correctly.

2) changing freqs in a sim is often harder than real life unless you have a dedicated radio stack. A good alternative is to bind keyboard shortcuts to change your radio frequencies so that you're not having to target a click spot with a mouse.

3) preparation is key. If this was an IFR flight, or a flight where you had requested flight following on the ground, then you know the departure frequency prior to takeoff. In that case, you should have that frequency ready to go in the com1 stdby prior to takeoff (ie, after you swap from ground to tower, you then enter the dep freq into the stdby slot).

4) if the instruction was simply "frequency change approved," then were was no pressure to change frequency at all because there is no specific frequency you need to change over to at that immediate point in time.

Great advice. Thanks, as always. Prepared? No, I was in the deep end on that flight. The issues kept multiplying. One more question, tho: I realize that I have comm 1 and 2, thus giving me 4 frequencies at ready, but I thought I saw in another thread that we have issues with using PE with comm 2? I’ve always tried to use comm 1 for that reason, that being where my issues came about, having to dial in another frequency on the fly.

That's a good question - I seem to recall seeing that myself and, as a result, just assumed it was the case.

That being said, you can still use the COMM 2 radios for ATIS even if it is the case. That's what I primarily use COMM 2 for, I can dial in my departure and destination airport ATIS freqs in there and then just switch as needed, hitting the COMM 2 enable button when you need to hear the ATIS and then turning it off. Doing this leaves you without having to juggle ATC and ATIS on COMM 1, which can be a real hassle if you have a lot of freq changes along your route.

I use both COM1 and COM2 all the time on PE. I’ve had a couple of problems, but Keith reset something on their end and all was well again. I find it useful to load up my radios with frequencies ahead of time, as you say, to reduce the load at busy times.

2 COM radios are not required to solve the issues that were brought up in this thread (changing from tower to departure).

The recurring issue with multiple comms is that most aircraft in xplane don't implement the selector whether you're transmitting on COM1 or COM2 properly.

In my experience, in the sim... just using comm1 with the next frequency in standby, is the easiest. I guess I've never had an issue switching too slowly doing it that way. If you don't have a standby then I guess use comm 1 and 2.

For instance while taxing I'd have tower in comm1 standby, and then when I near the end I'd switch to active. Then (still while taxiing) I'd put departure in comm1 standby. The biggest issue is tiny tiny clickspots in the cockpits of our virtual planes. Anyway, as long as you're prompt about a freq change don't worry about doing it instantly.

if i have a detachable com window, i pull it up prior to takeoff. that way I don't have to go "head down" in the sim during a critical phase of flight. I use the mouse wheel on the little knob to change the frequency if I need, but usually it is pre-set as others have pointed out.

I have since figured out just to keep the dep frequency on standby before I roll. Clicking the lil button is a whole lot easier than trying to spin those silly virtual knobs with a mouse