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Clarification on FAF please

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pointy56
Post subject: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 5:43 pm
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Hi,

I have been making some short flights to familiarise myself further with various options in PF3 and have found that ATC doesn't seem to always correctly give the FAF Altitude.
The first time that it happened I assumed that it was something that I set incorrectly, but today I have undertaken the same flight twice, with no changes to PF3 settings in between, and had the same issue.
The first time the FAF altitude (3000) was correctly given, the second time I was above the ILS glideslope at the FAF (at 4000) and had to descend to pick it up - I'm attaching the log for this last run.
It is entirely possible that I have set something incorrectly, but I had the same thing happen a while ago and couldn't reproduce it at the time.

Also, I have noticed a couple of other things:

1) ATC said 'BestAir 110315 expect vectors for the ILS ...' - my flight designation was BestAir 110 - this happened on both flights today.
I had a similar thing yesterday on a different flight, for which I've attached a screenshot from the ATC Window - Rafair 411 became Rafair 411290
[ attachment ]
Capture 20210507.PNG (8.56 KiB) Viewed 2557 times
2) When I tune to ATIS before checking in with ATC the details that scroll across the screen don't match what is spoken - typically the designation (Golf, Lima, etc.) and the timestamp will be different, sometimes the runway as well.
Is this a configuration problem, or just 'one of those things'? It just means that I need to listen to ATC rather than reading the scrolling ATIS; I may have a log showing this if it would help.

3) I have found that on the Options 1 page the scroll bars do not seem to work, the up/down arrows and the slider have no effect on the dropdown for Pilot Voice, Airline, Voice Prompt and Gate.

These are all minor things, overall I'm loving what PF3 adds to my FS experience - it's making my recent retirement all the more enjoyable.

Thanks,
Martin

Attachments
PF3-20210508b.zip
(961.69 KiB) Downloaded 99 times

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Dave March
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 6:20 pm
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Hi Martin and welcome...

ATC doesn't actually 'give you' the FAF altitude. You will be stepped down during your approach but it's all a matter of timing etc. Once you get to the point where you're about to hit the localiser you will be handed off and yer, you may be a little high which may have been because you were a little faster than the previous flight or perhaps you were a little late in following some of the instructions from ATC.

1) I would like to see a log file if you have one or if it happens again please

2) ditto

3) very strange... they all work here. Which PF3 Skin are you using?

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Dave March

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pointy56
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 10:11 pm
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Quote:
I clearly need to be aware when ATC hasn't stepped me right down to the FAF altitude
That's the minimum ATC would descend you to... not a requirement

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pointy56
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 11:47 am
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OK, here's another log that demonstrates the ATIS issue. The spoken version said 'Information Golf at 0600 Zulu, ILS Runway 03 in use', but the display showed this:
[ attachment ]
Capture EGKB ATIS 210509.PNG (5.29 KiB) Viewed 2527 times
I was directed to use runway 03 for take-off rather than 21. I hope this log helps.

Also, I've changed the skin to 'Grayzzy' and the scroll bars still aren't working - any thoughts? It's not a major issue as mouse scroll within the box does work.

Thanks,
Martin

Attachments
debug_monitor EGKB 210509.zip
(714.17 KiB) Downloaded 110 times

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Dave March
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 2:48 pm
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pointy56 wrote: *  Sun May 09, 2021 11:47 am
OK, here's another log that demonstrates the ATIS issue. The spoken version said 'Information Golf at 0600 Zulu, ILS Runway 03 in use', but the display showed this:
Capture EGKB ATIS 210509.PNG
I was directed to use runway 03 for take-off rather than 21. I hope this log helps.

Also, I've changed the skin to 'Grayzzy' and the scroll bars still aren't working - any thoughts? It's not a major issue as mouse scroll within the box does work.

Thanks,
Martin
My guess is you need to turn the FSX ATC/ATIS off. PF3 ATIS display and audio match... they have to as they come from the same source. So you're probably looking at FSX ATIS and listening to ATIS from PF3.

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Dave March

Email: dmarch@oncourse-software.co.uk

I don't know if my memory is getting worse as I get older...
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Dave March
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 2:52 pm
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Quote:
1) ATC said 'BestAir 110315 expect vectors for the ILS ...' - my flight designation was BestAir 110 - this happened on both flights today.
I had a similar thing yesterday on a different flight, for which I've attached a screenshot from the ATC Window - Rafair 411 became Rafair 411290
Yes this is a bug unfortunately... took me a while to find it too. What's happened is part of the ATC instruction has been dropped and the sentence 'should' have been 'Rafair 411, maintain heading 290, expect vectors', etc.

This has now been fixed and will be in the next (very imminent) update

Thanks for reporting it

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Dave March

Email: dmarch@oncourse-software.co.uk

I don't know if my memory is getting worse as I get older...
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cmg344
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 12:19 am
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pointy56 wrote: *  Sun May 09, 2021 11:47 am
OK, here's another log that demonstrates the ATIS issue. The spoken version said 'Information Golf at 0600 Zulu, ILS Runway 03 in use', but the display showed this:
Capture EGKB ATIS 210509.PNG
I was directed to use runway 03 for take-off rather than 21. I hope this log helps.

Also, I've changed the skin to 'Grayzzy' and the scroll bars still aren't working - any thoughts? It's not a major issue as mouse scroll within the box does work.

Thanks,
Martin
Hi Martin,

Regarding your issue with skins and scroll bars, the solution is very simple:

Go to Options - Advanced Options and INI File Tweaks

In the Misc section, select "Don't use skins".

On my rig the skins do not work well either and everything was solved leaving PF3 "unadorned".

Attachments
[ attachment ]
Captura.PNG (55.79 KiB) Viewed 2496 times

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pointy56
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 9:03 am
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Thanks Carlos, that has indeed fixed the scroll bar issue - no skins it is!
Interestingly the main PF3 window now shows 'Updates checked <date> <time>' - previously only the date was seen.

Regards,
Martin

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pointy56
Post subject: Re: Clarification on FAF please
Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 9:16 am
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Posts: 299
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dmarch wrote: *  Sun May 09, 2021 2:48 pm
My guess is you need to turn the FSX ATC/ATIS off. PF3 ATIS display and audio match... they have to as they come from the same source. So you're probably looking at FSX ATIS and listening to ATIS from PF3.
Yes, that was it, it wasn't set up correctly - I think it's a hang-over from when I was playing around trying to get the departure ATIS information to display a few weeks ago.
However, when I disabled the FSX ATC again I still wasn't seeing the ATIS text - but I think I've now got to the bottom of that.

I use PF3 Remote Text display for ATC messages; I have discovered that I need to have 'Show ATC messages to / from AI aircraft' selected to see the ATIS text - with 'Hide ATC messages to / from AI aircraft' I don't see the ATIS text.
I'm guessing this isn't the expected behaviour?

Thanks,
Martin

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