questions from prospective user(s)

[stevekirks]

This is great, Talk about some very talented controllers! 1 more question, and i'm sorry about all the question lol. What are the rules for aircraft call-signs in the Server?? I would like to fly My P51 Mustang on the server and simulate Flying to events, and giving rides, kinda like Stallion 51 does in real world. http://www.stallion51.com/ When they talk to ATC their call sign is "Mustang04" and not the November number of the aircraft. Can i do something like that?? Will it be okay for something like "WARBIRD2" Thank you for everyone's help!

The easy thing about PilotEdge is it follows the real world rules as much as practical. So the real question is:

"Would it be OK for me to go to my local airport, hop in a rental plane and call myself Warbird 2?"

I think the answer in the real world would likely be "no" but the Oracle of PE must answer this one...

[Peter Grey]

With regards to the callsign question:

A callsign like "WARBIRD2" is what is called a tactical callsign. Tactical callsigns in aviation are generally reserved for the military or under special agreement with the ATC facility.

You'll find a couple of them on PE, but generally we don't allow tactical callsigns on the network (unless you are operating military aircraft in accordance with proper procedures). If you have a specific operational reason for needing one (as opposed to just wanting one) please E-mail [email protected] and we can discuss it.

[JavierEsparza573]

Thank you for the reply

[jkennebeck]

This looks really interesting and I'm almost certain to try it but I wanted to know:

How is weather handled?


Our controllers read the latest weather (real world) unless you specify that you have received the weather (either by use of an ATIS code, or by the use of "have numbers."). The PE client does not attempt to set weather in the sim. You can set the weather any way you see fit, either hardcoding it to specific conditions, or by setting it to 'real weather'.

About the only noticeable side effects of this are:
1) you might set your own IMC weather, but there will still be VFR traffic flying around, not talking to anyone and squawking VFR.
2) you might be assigned an approach (a visual, perhaps) that you wouldn't expect given the weather that you've set in your sim.

These aren't insurmountable issues, but they're good to keep in mind.

I assume that we should be setting our altimeters based on what the ATIS shows in our sim rather than what controllers are giving us? Especially using ILS approaches/IMC. They aren't wildly different but I've been tending to use what xplane's atis gives me.

[collin6854]

This looks really interesting and I'm almost certain to try it but I wanted to know:

How is weather handled?


Our controllers read the latest weather (real world) unless you specify that you have received the weather (either by use of an ATIS code, or by the use of "have numbers."). The PE client does not attempt to set weather in the sim. You can set the weather any way you see fit, either hardcoding it to specific conditions, or by setting it to 'real weather'.

About the only noticeable side effects of this are:
1) you might set your own IMC weather, but there will still be VFR traffic flying around, not talking to anyone and squawking VFR.
2) you might be assigned an approach (a visual, perhaps) that you wouldn't expect given the weather that you've set in your sim.

These aren't insurmountable issues, but they're good to keep in mind.

I assume that we should be setting our altimeters based on what the ATIS shows in our sim rather than what controllers are giving us? Especially using ILS approaches/IMC. They aren't wildly different but I've been tending to use what xplane's atis gives me.

You can download the noaa weather plug in and it will set the temperatures and winds aloft based off of the Metars the controllers are using and other sites such as skyvector.

[jkennebeck]

I assume that we should be setting our altimeters based on what the ATIS shows in our sim rather than what controllers are giving us? Especially using ILS approaches/IMC. They aren't wildly different but I've been tending to use what xplane's atis gives me.

You can download the noaa weather plug in and it will set the temperatures and winds aloft based off of the Metars the controllers are using and other sites such as skyvector.

I can no longer use the NOAA Wx Plugin. It is incompatible with xEnviro.

[BluesmanEP]

I use xEnviro also, and generally use the altimeter setting from ATC. 99% of the time xEnviro weather and baro match what I see on skyvector or ForeFlight, so I figure it's safe to use the weather from ATC.

As far as I know, xEnviro doesn't set the XP ATIS at all, so I never use the default XP ATIS weather info. Not sure if that is the correct procedure, but it's worked for me so far.

[jkennebeck]

For some reason my xenviro data doesn't normally match what ATC is reporting. I'll check to see if there's a setting or something with my setup. Thanks!

[BluesmanEP]

It's hard to tell because xEnviro doesn't set the XP ATIS, so checking if the weather matches can be tricky. Listening to the ATIS doesn't work and neither does clicking the airport details on the map screen.
However, when I set the baro to PE ATC values, or from foreflight, generally my altimeter reads closer to the actual elevation (when on the ground) than it does when setting to the XP weather info. That's what makes me thing xEnviro more closely matches real-world than the XP weather.
Like I said, maybe I'm misunderstanding how xEnviro works, but it's worked for me so far

[rtataryn]

For some reason my xenviro data doesn't normally match what ATC is reporting. I'll check to see if there's a setting or something with my setup. Thanks!

I found the same issue. I never listen to X-plane ATIS, but I have the winds/baro window up in the left corner of my screen. It is usually a few points off of what the controller is telling me. For real world practice and sim immersion, I enter what the controller says. On IFR approaches, however, I enter the exact pressure that X-plane is reporting in the baro window. I think one of the issues, particularly in flight, is that the controller is giving an altimeter setting of a nearby airport that may be 20 or 30 or more miles away. A few points difference in flight is no big deal. But on approach, if the airport ATIS is different than the sim, it's worth changing IMO.