ATC? Communications
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I've been flying simulators since the late 70's. I've been with X-Plane since version 5. I've been flying IFR for some time. I was excited to see a new traffic plugin. Having tried both X-Life Deluxe and World Traffic v3, I was hopeful that new product, a full $20 more than those others, would be an improvement.
I was disappointed to find that I was to turn off ATC in the Sim. How on Earth am I to file a flight plan where I then interact (fly around) other aircraft. If I've missed this feature, I'm all ears. I spent a good hour just looking at all the options of this new plugin and just didn't find anything at all for ATC. Just seeing other aircraft is not enough.
I'm afraid I have buyers remorse. I'm looking for realism, not just additional traffic. Filing and then executing a flight plan is why I fly. I'm years past VFR flights. I'll be on the lookout for future versions of this. Programmers: Are you listening? We need a good ATC feature!
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I just got this add on myself. And I am the same way about realism. For my ATC involvement I fly strictly online. Primarily PilotEdge who provides realistic ATC. So I use Traffic Global in tandem with PilotEdge. Eg. I start a flight at LAX and have a ton of Aircraft moving around. I then file an IFR flight plan with the PE controllers. I get my clearance and take to the skies with gate to gate ATC with real people who know what their doing. So if you want good ATC, use real ATC and fly online. That's where the realism is at. Give it a try.
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@CMillerKOJC
Totally agree with you I also have been flying simulators since the late 70's.
X-PLANE since version 10. Was flying FSX before hand and the plug in programs for more Traffic worked well with ATC.
I myself rely on ATC as i load flight plans everytime i fly like your self.
Being in my mid 60,s now i still enjoy flying but am disappointed that Global Traffic dose not work with ATC in X-Plane.COL
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I Echo the sentiments of everybody in this post. The reason why offline ATC exists are for a host of reasons and too numerous to mention in this post. Don't get me wrong, Pilot Edge is good but it has a monthly costs associated with that. And more times than not the monthly cost is why most people do not use it. As with everything else, money is everything. And for those of us who are on a fixed income, having monthly costs become overwhelming.
I acquired TG in the hopes that it would be better than WT3x and X-Life Deluxe. Sadly the only benefit in purchasing the product (that I have found) is the ease of installation which as advertised is easier than World Traffic 3x.
Now for the north of $50 USD the users who paid for this product, I feel it should've had a robust ATC component with it. I was going to do a video on this topic for my YouTube channel Dionm01, but I elected not too. I know development is hard at times and I did not want to shed bad light on the developers. But from what is offered it lacks a justification of the cost.
The big elephant in the room is having any traffic product which is able to create on its own ATC traffic routes on any given Airport (small or large, popular or unpopular) to allow the traffic flow. I was hoping this product would auto generate traffic routes when an Airport does not have them. This is the biggest Achilles heel for all traffic programs that has not yet been overcome.
I do not know why the developer cannot create some kind of algorithms that would read the taxiways, runway center line or Airport boundaries to produce taxi routes which in turn would allow traffic flow of aircraft. Maybe this idea is too hard for developers to do, I really don't know. But until this taxi routes issue has been resolved, frankly I just would not recommend any traffic generating program unless of course you want strictly traffic just in the air, then any traffic program will work, including this one. Or if you want to go real cheap than just use Live Traffic, it's free and at least it puts traffic in the air. One man's opinion Dion Markgraf
