ATC Scenarios

[msmithjr]

License Options page states that scenarios can be created for training in air traffic control... can someone please provide example of evidence of this because in several years of using P3D I've never seen this capability exist. How does it exist in the Pro Plus environment??

[msmithjr]

Is this something SimOperator can be used for?

[Brittany Henthorn]

Hi msmithjr,

In multiplayer, you have the option of joining in with the Role Type "Air Traffic Controller", instead of the default "Pilot". This allows you to act as an air traffic controller, choosing from thousands of real-world control towers. You can direct traffic for pilots in the scenario through voice communication.

There's lots of great information about ATC features in the learning center, under ATC:
http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/LearningCenter.php

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[msmithjr]

Thanks very much for your reply Brittany!

I have reviewed the information in the v4 SDK (as well as previous versions) but everything I've seen to date is not quite what I'm looking for, although the features mentioned for SimOperator do sound promising.

I agree that I could act as a controller in a multiplayer scenario, however, I've always understood that each pilot role player can only control/operate ONE aircraft or vehicle. I am in search of the capability of having 1 or 2 players in the ATC role (to simulate ground & tower positions) while having 2 or 3 pilot role players. Each of the pilot role players should have the capability to control multiple aircraft/vehicles with either typed commands or point/click interaction. One pilot role player could control all vehicles on ground frequency, while another has all vehicles on tower frequency. Or one pilot role player has all departing aircraft while the other has all arrivals.

I looked into this years ago and found a couple of solutions but they involved third party developers and I'm looking for something I can learn to develop in-house.

[Brittany Henthorn]

As you said, each pilot role player can only control one vehicle. SimOperator allows an operator to control all entities and edit the scenario on the fly -- providing that ability to move multiple aircraft with mouse interaction. However, you can only have one operator per scenario, and you can't really "fly" the aircraft with mouse interaction; you can re-position them in the game, and freeze/follow role players, so I'm not sure it fits the bill either.

The ATC capabilities were developed more so to train pilots to listen and take directions from ATC, and to train pilots and ATC simultaneously, which could be why it's not a perfect fit for your use case. You can certainly have 1 or 2 role players in the ATC role, but for the pilots, it would have to be one role player per aircraft.

[msmithjr]

Thanks for the clarification, Brittany. It is disappointing, but perhaps one day LM will finally address this potential area of improvement and become a truly well-rounded aviation training product. As of now, it isn't there yet. It also becomes very difficult for me when my boss browses www.prepar3d.com and sees the following text on the Product Overview page...

"Prepar3D can be used for a wide range of learning scenarios including vehicle procedures training, cockpit familiarization, flight planning, air traffic controller training and emergency response preparation."

Then I have to explain how the software is actually not able to provide ATC training scenarios.