Author Topic: Quick question for the atc/pilots  (Read 13149 times)

Offline bayoubrut

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Quick question for the atc/pilots
« on: March 26, 2015, 10:04:05 PM »
I want to start off by saying that I am not a pilot which would be easy to figure out after reading my question.  I have been playing a flying simulator called "infinite flight" for the last two years.  The game has a multiplayer option that enables a player to fly with other players live in different regions.  For multiplayer there is ATC that is used to keep traffic flowing.  I understand most of the commands but there are a few that confuse me.

The left traffic, right traffic for instance, when you announce inbound does that that mean you are currently left of the runway?  Or does that simply indicate which way you will taxi  after landing?  Also when do you need to announce inbound and when do you announce final?  One more question, there are rules in multiplayer that will get you violations.  Such as max taxi speed is 35kts.  Also the max air speed is 260kts below 10k ft.  Are these rules broken in real life very often?  Thanks again for your time.



Offline blakepilot

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Re: Quick question for the atc/pilots
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2015, 08:25:22 PM »
Left/right traffic indicates the direction you're turning in the traffic pattern relative to the runway.  There is no golden rule concerning taxi speed, but 35kts would indeed be a fairly fast taxi.  Max legal airspeed below 10k is 250kts except in class B airspace - big cities and the like - where it's 200kts.

Offline FLLflyboy

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Re: Quick question for the atc/pilots
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2015, 02:17:59 PM »
I'm not a pilot, but I am a controller. It is usually good practice to announce final when you are no more than 5 miles from the airport.

Yes, some of the rules regarding speed are broken in the real world. However, we as controllers only see the ground speed on our radar so we cannot tell how fast or slow you are really going and therefore, are unable to really enforce these rules.

Offline dentaylor

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Re: Quick question for the atc/pilots
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2015, 12:01:12 AM »
Pilot here. The answer to every aviation question is .... "It depends". I'll give you some basic answers that I think you need for your game but there is not one answer that covers every situation. Considering that you're flying to an uncontrolled field (no tower):

Inbound simply means that you are inbound to the airport. Best practice is to self-announce when 10 miles from the airport.

"Left traffic" means that all of your turns in the traffic pattern will be left turns. You should announce before turning to each leg. Examples (runway 14):
"Podunk traffic, Cessna N1234 10 miles East, inbound 14, Podunk traffic."
"Podunk traffic, Cessna N1234 turning Final, 14, full stop, Podunk traffic."
 
You announce Final when you are on the Final leg  :wink:
You enter the Final leg at a distance where you can perform a stabilized approach.
Bonus: At uncontrolled fields you generally don't fly straight in approaches unless under IFR.

Offline hayek

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Re: Quick question for the atc/pilots
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2015, 06:36:36 PM »
If you're really interested in making your simulated flying realistic, you should read the FAA's Airplane Flying Handbook (AFH).  It has a pretty good explanation of most of the info you're asking about.

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/


Re. taxi speed, the AFH has this to say:
Quote
Normally, the speed should be at the rate where movement of the airplane is dependent on the throttle. That is, slow enough so when the throttle is closed, the airplane can be stopped promptly.

35kts is probably well beyond the point where your rate of movement depends on the throttle position.

Offline frusa

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Re: Quick question for the atc/pilots
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2015, 01:01:01 AM »
Read the AIM.