OnCourse Software

Hi.. hope all is well..

Have had this issue several times now. If it is caused by something I am doing (all of a sudden), I'd love to know what it is... Not sure if it starts with my being at an uncontrolled airport at departure, though I think the procedure is working OK??

Typical is my most recent flight. My cruise altitude was supposed to be 29000', but after 25000' I was not asked to climb further. When I 'logged in' to ATC, just to check what my 'status' might be, I heard myself - that is, the pilot - say " out of 25000' for 5000' ", which was very confusing. Why was I supposed to be descending to 5000'? I expected to be climbing up to cruise altitude. I can sometimes correct this kind of thing by asking for a change in altitude ("due to turbulence").. but when I tried that I was told to climb to 33000' (I normally get increments of 2000'). So I tried to request a descent.. which worked out better. After that things were OK.

Thing is, this is a fairly regular issue now, and none of the odd altitude calls I am getting appears in the ATC log window.

Thanks,

Martin

Martin,

You're still using an old 'interim' version of PF3. I'm sure I did mention at the time, but if not my apologies, that running an interim version will not detect when a newer version is available. You have to keep a check on the support forum announcements and then use the cumulative downloads package to ensure you stay up to date.

Please use the latest maintenance release and I think you'll find your problems have been resolved

Hi. Had enough flights now to report that this is still an issue, even though I have the latest PF3...

It's only a problem when you start at a non-controlled airport ("... radio.."). All seems OK at first. In the example I attach, I was cleared to 3000' and then later, after tuning to departure (manually - even in Mode 2, the VCP does not auto-tune from 'radio' to 'departure', though it does tune to the 'arrival' frequency later on in the flight), to 13,000'. But later still, climbing, I hear the pilot telling ATC that I am 'out of xxxx (current altitude) for 3000', as if the instruction to climb to 13,000 had not been given ('climb to 13,000' is there too on the onscreen com log), or as if there had been an instruction to descend (for some strange reason at that stage of the flight). ATC from then on seems to be confused as to whether I should be at 3,000' or 13,000', with contradictory instructions and notices: and I am never asked to climb to my cruise altitude (FL160 here). Only when I am asked to tune to the arrival frequency do things start to come out OK again.

There is clearly something amiss, no? I get this issue every time I fly starting with contacting 'radio'. When there's a ground or tower frequency, there's
never any problem.

Thanks,

Martin

I guess my last reply has not been seen yet, as the log file hasn't been downloaded?

Here is another log file then, showing just the same thing.. there is definitely a bug in the programme whenever I start at a non-controlled airport. Happens to me every time in that situation, as I said. This is my most recent flight:

At EKVG.. I'm tuned to 'Radio' frequency.. am cleared to FL70. Given Departure frequency by ATC, and I manually tune the radio accordingly (shouldn't the VCP do that in Mode 1?).
In the air, I contact departure. Told to climb to FL100, which I do. Then I hear no more from ATC. When I 'check in', to see what is going on, the pilot says 'out of flight level 100 for FL70', as if no climb instruction from there to FL100 had been given (and earlier acknowledged), to which ATC replies 'Roger', and again, nothing more from them.
Only way to climb further seems to be to ask for a higher altitude manually ('due to turbulence' for example). In this case ATC said they were unable and that I should 'maintain FL280'. No idea where FL280 came from.. I had been given no instruction to climb past FL100, and the pilot seems to think the a/c should be at FL70. Confusion reigns...
So I climb to FL280.. I'm nagged to 'maintain' FL280 as I do so. Nearing FL280 things then revert to normal and I am told to climb to FL340, then FL360, which is my cruise altitude..

The issue appears to be that ATC never gave an instruction to climb past FL100 to FL280. (No idea why the pilot is still wanting to be at FL70 though).

The numbers are different of course, but the same scenario occurs every time I fly from a non-controlled airport (when initially tuned to Ground or Tower, there's never an issue). As far as I know my procedure is not at fault (??).

Thanks. Most recent log is attached (XP11 crashed for some reason as I was descending, but that shouldn't affect what you can see in the log re. the above, I hope?).

Martin

Sorry Martin, I certainly did miss your post... been poorly recently, bed bound, and only just now trying to catch up

Glad you are on the mend now Dave. Look forward to hearing what you find, when you feel up to it!

Best wishes, as ever..

Still nothing response?

Hello, hello? Would really like to fix this issue with altitudes when flying from a non-controlled airport, but I haven't been able to get a reply to this thread

Hi Martin,

Sorry for the long delay.... finally found the culprit... the 'out of' altitude was defaulting back to whatever altitude you were given during initial clearance when departing an uncontrolled field.

OK, I guess that will be fixed whenever there's another update. Thanks Dave.