flights outside of the coverage area

Keith Smith
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by Keith Smith »

voice modulation has been discussed before, I'd rather not rehash it. The solution is for us to not have one guy there all day, not for us to pretend that we have more people. Regarding VHF simulation, that is something that would be possible once we swap to the new version of the voice library. One of the users has already prototyped some dynamic VHF simulation and it worked pretty well. The problem is we have some users using real intercoms/radios (such as the 737 guys, the PFC sims and the Redbird sims) where we don't want to modify the signal, so that needs to be taken into account, because they already sound the way they should.

As for sideband comms, the corrections I sent to the guy who busted the bravo were appropriate for the frequency. That's what would've been said on frequency in real life (or something close to it, probably a bit more harsh). Sideband for tech support would be helpful, though. I agree with that. In such cases, we try to ask people to come up on a discrete freq (like 123.45) and talk to them there about it. It's not always easy for a controller to set that up, though, and it's something we could improve on our end.
ceranes
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Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:54 pm

Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by ceranes »

Instead of starting a new thread, I'll ask here instead.

Since PE now covers San Francisco, do you also cover San Jose, just south/southwest from SFO?
Chris Ranes
ceranes
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by ceranes »

I saw the map, I just thought with it being so close to SFO, and within the Class Bravo airspace, it would be covered.

No worries...thanks for responding.
Chris Ranes
Keith Smith
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by Keith Smith »

I understand the assumption. We've investigated adding OAK/SJC coverage, but for the moment, we think it causes undue burden for the controllers who are also working ZLA. In short, it was a minor miracle that we were able to squeeze SFO into the mix. That was done so people could fly longer haul missions. That doesn't mean, unfortunately, that we can continue adding airports without any operational implications. I can see why the initial assumption would be otherwise, though, simply by their proximity to SFO.
dvaught
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by dvaught »

I just recently completed a multi-month sim trip in a Cessna 172 that took me from Seattle to Chicago, then through Ohio and Lexington onwards to Dallas, then west to San Diego and back up to Seattle. An hour here, an hour there, spending time at airports I had a connection to (Batavia, Ohio, where I got my license and where Sporty's calls home, at Grand Prairie in Texas where I kept my 150, etc.) so it was slow as you might imagine. It was on the SOCAL portion after leaving Yuma that I joined PilotEdge, and I spent a few days in Camarillo and Santa Paula (my old stomping ground circa mid 90's) before heading up to San Luis and then off on the final legs to Fall City, WA, the last 1000 miles or so of which was out of the coverage area. Anyway, for the most part I stayed on Pilot Edge for the remainder through to WA, partly because I was hopeful that I would hear someone on Unicom, but more honestly because I liked seeing my little plane on the map. I checked it often.

Then I read today that this was a no-no. So, though I realize the rules say that's really ok to fly outside of the service area while connected to PE, I'm also wanting to be very respectful of the system. What I'm confused on is why this would matter. I realize if I'm blabbering on the mic it might be disruptive (oh, I did that too, when trying to connect to PE the first time. That's another story...) But I'm not sure I understand why flying outside of the area or even using Unicom would be impactful. Can you clarify?

Btw, with that flight complete, I'm now "back home" in Camarillo, where I'll leverage PE as much as possible. In hindsight, that long flight was pretty boring, except for the portion in the PE coverage area. I didn't have that epiphany until I joined PE (and got the courage to get online) but in reality engaging PE's controllers makes all the difference. Once I left the service area I couldn't wait to complete my flight so that I could get back to SOCAL, where I could really enjoy flying. Thanks for making this incredible service possible.

-Dave
Peter Grey
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by Peter Grey »

Hello Dave,

There are 2 reasons why we encourage people to do flights within the ATC coverage area while connected to the network.

Before I get to those 2 a little history. When the first post in this thread was created the pilot map would center in such a way that it would show all active aircraft. This means if an aircraft were flying in Florida the map would zoom out to show that airplane in FL by default (and end up centered somewhere in the midwest). This behavior no longer exists so that isn't a concern anymore.

Now the first reason is simply to prevent confusion when someone sees a plane in a random area and may think that we provide ATC coverage in that location.

The other reason is that it's unlikely that you'll gain any benefit from being connected to the network outside the coverage area. You're unlikely to run into any traffic and we don't have any drone aircraft operating in those areas.

Honestly it's not a big deal. We don't police it in any way and in the end you are a paying customer and are free to use the network as you please (within limits established in our terms of service of course). So don't worry about it.
Peter Grey
PilotEdge Director of Quality Assurance and Operations
peter@pilotedge.net
Thomas_Horn
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by Thomas_Horn »

I am really happy with the coverage area in Socal...however from time to time I would like to "escape" and do flights to Phoenix or Sedona with a plane which is a big faster than my beloved Cessna 182 :)

So, how do you - the controllers at pilotedge - want me/us to file those IFR flights: Should we file the full flight plan until the destination, even if it is outside coverage? I guess you will than say "good bye" at the ARTCC border, which is fine. And how about flying back into LA again? I would propose to only file plans which are frequently used on flight aware,com, so you controllers can just say "as filed" after the first fixes/waypoints. Of course I will stick to the "rules" and either depart from or fly into an airport within the coverage area. Just let me know what are your preferences so we have a good time together :D

Cheers, Thomas
X-Plane 11.32, Windows 10, 4.8 GHz 7700K, 16 GB RAM. 4K 55'' Screen resolution with Nvidia GTX 1070. ELITE and PFC flight controls
Nelson L.
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by Nelson L. »

I doubt the controllers care once you're outside of the PE Service Area, but I would always file the full flight plan for continuity's sake and to have the correct waypoints show up on the PEAware log (for future reference). But then again, I'm a PEAware nut, so I doubt most other people actually care if the blue lines aren't exactly accurate :)
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tshuff
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Re: flights outside of the coverage area

Post by tshuff »

I've done a number of flights into/out of the network. I always file a full flight plan as I expect to fly it and will generally just stay on the network for the full duration. There are flights that Excel runs out to both Flagstaff and Phoenix; they will be on the network for the full duration of the departure and the arrival flights.

http://peaware.pilotedge.net/flight.cfm?id=83889
http://peaware.pilotedge.net/airport.cfm?airport=kphx
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