TEXT FILE- THE ATC COLLECTION
(This is a file which was previously uploaded to the FSFORUM to provide advance information on this package- hence the errors is tense- however it is essential to read this before proceeding)

	The following is a text file, included in the package to be released shortly (see message forum for FS5 Adventures) , and uploaded separately to provide advanced information for prospective down loaders and users. These ATC files include the voice of the pilot-in-command, ATC, other aircraft in the area (some of which have emergencies occurring!), and have been assembled with the assistance of various ATC controllers and my own experiences with ATC.  There are 7 flights, 5 for the DC-9, with varying levels of duration and difficulty, and 2 for the Cessna 182. All represent voice communication by the use of scrolling texts across the screen.  Communications are present every 30 minutes of latitude or longitude- about every 8 minutes, depending on your speed.  I hope that this further information outlined below will give all a greater appreciation of what is included in the ATC Collection, and may save some the cost of downloading the complete file and unzipping time if this is not what you are looking for.  Conversely, for those who are looking for more realism in FS5 controlled flights, given the constraints of the system as it is applied to the basic FS5/5.1 program, our PC hardware and the fact that we are not actually "flying", this collection should be an added series of adventures to an already excellent flight simulation program.

The file to be uploaded will include the scenery generator, using the compilation tool BGLGEN.ZIP; and text files outlining all communication frequencies used, all flight plans and a "readme" file.  This basic file is free, utilizing freeware obtained on the forum.  For those users who already have access to all the aviation charts SIDs/STARs required for IFR high altitude flight between the airports described later in this document, you will be able to fly these flights "as is".  What is also offered is a mailout, for which registration is required, of all the pertinent sections of charts, marked up according to the flights, plus a scenic description of the country overflown, step- by- step instructions on utilizing the charts for non- pilots, and assistance in using the charts by way of E-Mail.  This is not intended to compete with BAO FSFS or any other adventure generator- although these  are few and far between for FS5 as this is written, I imagine they will still "vector" or refer to a rather rigid series of airways for "own navigation", albeit using voice simulation with sound blaster, etc.  This series is intended to provide realistic control with the use of advanced navigation charts,  such  as SIDs and STARs, and to provide some stimulus for those aspiring computer pilots who wish a taste of real IFR operations.  You may try and re-try the flights in this series, to attempt to sharpen your instrument flying technique.  I have made the flight from San Jose to Los Angeles somewhat of a checkride- it includes both a difficult departure and approach, and an instructional text file on how to apply this information and much more to simulator flying. 

Having been exposed to the realities of IFR flights, and having often used the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, I decided to create a series of files to represent realistic operations under positive ATC control.  There may be some of you who ask why IFR techniques are related to realistic operations of the Lear or DC-9-the only two turbo-jet aircraft available for FS5/5.1 as this is written.  In the United States (where these ATC flights are based), flight above 18,000 feet (or Flight Level 180) is subject to obtaining a clearance from ATC- to obtain a clearance, a pilot and aircraft must be both IFR rated- that is, flying in clear air versus Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) has no distinction.  Charts for use above 18,000 feel make little or no reference to ground detail, since only instrument procedures are used here.  And why are we interested in flying above 18,000 feet in a turbo-jet? 
 At low altitudes, turbo jet aircraft are inefficient- it's only at high altitudes that the extreme low air density allows for a much faster true airspeed (KTAS) than is indicated on our airspeed indicators (KIAS).

This text file that follows is organized into the following categories:
1. General Discussion.
2. Description of files uploaded as "The ATC Collection".
3. Description of additional material required to operate these flights.
4. Methods of registration.
5. Service Guarantee.
6. Introduction to FAA flight environment.
7. Acknowledgments







1. General Discussion and Description of The ATC Collection.

After my previous work on ATC files was released and utilized, I received countless requests for more of the same, and with perhaps enhanced features of airport diagrams, etc.  This series is an answer to that request.

Unlike my previous work, or most other ATC files I have seen on this Forum, this series requires additional materials.  Perhaps widely unknown to "computer pilots" real ATC control is not a series of instructions and vectors to subsequent navaids, far less instructions on how to tune and ID a navaid.  Real IFR pilots file a flight plan, a document which- when approved or modified during a Clearance Release (a radio contact with ATC mandatory before commencing an IFR flight, usually before request to taxi for take-off) - becomes a reference document for the rest of the flight.  It requires a series of charts or maps, some legally required in the cockpit before the flight can commence- items such as Sectional and Terminal charts, airport diagrams, high and low altitude IFR charts (showing airways), any appropriate SIDs ( Standard Instrument Departures) and/or STARs (Standard Terminal Arrival Routes), and other material such as a Dispatch Release (required only for the DC-9 as a Part 121 aircraft). Vectoring and simple heading information is used mainly only in the departure and arrival phases, where the timing anomalies of traffic caused by weather and dispatch times can cause highly unpredictable situations.   What follows is a simple discussion on charts, and a reference to the various ATC control stratums and systems in the USA.  If you are already familiar with these details, you may want to skip to section 2.

 Sectional Charts divide the country up into areas covered by each chart, and depict visual information for the pilot- cues such as roads, railways, rivers (which are very distinguishable from the air) are highlighted.  Airports are all shown, with important ATC frequencies (tower, ATIS), as are  various ATC control zones. 
Terminal Charts provide the same information around busy airport areas, are  a larger scale, and show more detail.  Sectionals span the entire country, Terminals only surround busy traffic areas.
IFR High Altitude Charts depict the "J" airway system.  The airspace above 18,000 feet is largely related to flights along airways or traffic lanes. These invisible freeways in the sky are usually lines interconnecting VOR sites, which periodically mark the existence of the airway.  Usually, these VORs are of the long range variety, having a range of around 130 nautical miles.  The fact that FS5 VORs only have a standard range of 82 NM means that I have to put some additional navigational information into the ATC texts.  Just as you use a road map to follow roads, you need one of these charts to follow the airway system.  There is little or no ground detail shown.  IFR Low Altitude Charts are used for the same purpose and in the same way for flight below 18,000 feet, and denote "V" or "Victor" airways- once again invisible freeways in the low altitude sky.  Once again, little ground information is provided.
Airport Diagrams are just that- a map of the taxiways and runways on the ground.  A SID (Standard Instrument Departure) depicts the desired means of routing your aircraft from the runway in use to the first point of your en-route flight- usually part of your flight plan.  It requires use of navaids around the local area to navigate by, and is intended for use in IMC (IFR) conditions- ie.  It makes no reference to ground detail.  A STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) is the arrival cousin of the SID.  All large aircraft generally use both, except when ATC vectoring determines otherwise.  The SID and STAR are usually either part of your clearance, or the STAR is defined for you before you reach the arrival phase.  They have names, usually 5 characters in length, there are many for most major airports to account for different runways in use and varying departure/arrival routes.





2. Description of Uploaded Files.

There are five flights for the DC-9.  All are flights of a mythical Western Airlines, an airline operating DC-9s on routes west of Chicago/Dallas Fort Worth.  If this series proves to be a success, eastern and perhaps some international routes may be added.  The focus is in the San Francisco Bay Area- this is the area that I learnt to fly in, and my intimate knowledge of the Bay Area aviation system allows for more realism. Some of the flights use default scenery for maybe one or both airports.  Others will require further downloading of scenery files.  John Trindle's (Flight Deck Software-70303,3506) ISS series will give you any airport in the USA- his files are sorted by area.  However, there is no visual scenery outside the airport runway.   I make reference to some additional sceneries as part of the following discussion.  Those airports that can make use of the default  scenery are shown in italics.

The routes offered in this series are:
A. San Jose to Los Angeles.  SJC_LAX Although a short flight of just over an hour, beware of the departure and arrival phases- Moffet Naval Air Station is dispatching Orions to investigate an unidentified submarine off the Pacific coast, San Francisco international is usually busy, and Air Force One is on approach to San Jose with the President aboard- you are about to be routed via the "Loupe Nine' Departure- complex at the best of times. 
 As is usual at Los Angeles, for incoming flights from the Bay Area, the 24/25 arrival is in use- once again, you will have to plan this arrival carefully!  Both airports are either in the default scenery- or you may wish to install San Francisco add-ons, and download a beautiful file of Los Angeles (LAXFS5.ZIP) by Robert Mariani (74227,1244) which gives great views ,on arrival of the Greater LA area.

B.  Denver (the new airport) to Salt Lake City. DEN_SLC  Another short flight, with little or no complexity. The landing at Salt Lake City will require some skill as you are led into an Ogden Five Arrival Arrival. And intercept the 16 ILS.  Great sceneries are available for these areas, namely DENVER.ZIP by Greg Senia (71672,2207) and UTASLC.ZIP by Joel Church (71674, 2574).   Utilizing these scenery packages offers the pilot so much more to greatly expand the departure and arrival phases.

C. Salt Lake City to San Francisco.  SLC_SFO This is a continuation of the previous flight- once again the Salt Lake scenery adds spectacularly to the departure, as does the add-ons to San Francisco. A flight occupying about 2 hours block time, into a beautiful Californian sunset. You will need to perform some detailed planning here too, on arrival- you will need to be at certain places at the correct altitude!

D.  San Francisco to Dallas Fort Worth. SFO_DFW  A long 3.5 hour flight.  This was my first of this series, and proved the most complex to design around the limited ranges of the FS5 VORs.  Depart San Francisco from runway 01Right, Bay Tracon keeps you down low for a while, so low that you are handed off the Travis Approach, before accessing Oakland Center.  Another sunset flight, this time into Texas.  If you download the USABGL scenery file by Enrico Schiratti (100137,457), you will see details of this glass palace city of the south. You may also want to think about the soon- to- be released Microwings scenery.

E.  Los Angeles to Chicago.  LAX_ORD The longest flight of all - over 4 hours.  Once again, although Los Angeles is represented by default scenery, do take a look at the LAXFS5.ZIP scenery- it makes such a difference to the departures.

F.  San Carlos to Tahoe.  SQL_TVL  A C-182 flight from the Bay Area into the High Sierras. A great file you will need to land at Tahoe is TAHO.ZIP-by Robert Mariani (74227,1244)- with some magnificent mountain scenery.  Hook into flight following and be handed off to various low altitude controllers.  Leave the Bay Area on a day skiing trip with your C-182!

G.  Fresno Air Terminal to Hayward.  FAT_HWD Another C-182 flight, from the Central Valley in Northern California where you are flying Aunt Betsy to your home airport in the East Bay Area.  On the way home, you ask for a Bay Tour- you really want to impress Aunt Betsy with the scenic trip of a lifetime!

H.  Additional Material- I will be uploading a text file with all frequencies used- this allows for the user that has all the relevant flight material to proceed independently.  With some constraints of the FS5 system, and to allow for other ATC files to also reside on your system, not all frequencies are accurate- but are usually made as accurate as possible.  While I have designed this series so that flights can be made with your existing charts, etc  (should you have them), and would consequently not need to acquire the following material, and have made every effort not to compromise the reality of the flights accordingly, I can guarantee that all elements on the charts I have generated that you need to worry about have been highlighted, and properly described.

I will also be providing .STN files for each of the Boeing, MD-80 and standard Lear for each jet flight, and the C-180 for the two Cessna flights.   


3.  Additional Material Required and Available by Mail Order

A.  Extracts from the required sectionals, terminals, IFR charts, SIDs , STARs and  airport diagrams - all high lighted so you can follow your flight through the various stages.  Sectional/Terminal charts extracts are supplied for departure/arrival phases, where visual cues are often good to have.  All airways and navaid information is supplied and highlighted.  All references supplied and required by ATC are highlighted and available.

B.  A text file on each flight describes the underlying scenery (which you don't need to see as you are IFR above 18,000 feet- and that's a good thing, as the default scenery doesn't show you too much).  This scenic description comes from all the sectionals I have, plus my own knowledge and that supplied by various controllers consulted.  Included further in the text file are descriptions on how to use the navigational information included in the mail-out package, for those not familiar with the FAA documentation.

C.  FAA weather reports, including the SA (ground observation), FT (forecast for the destination airport), Winds Aloft at all relevant altitudes- all taken at the specific time and date that the situation files in FS5 place you into.  In other words, you can fly with actual conditions on the day!  Part of the uploaded file contains ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information System- a pre-recorded tape that repeats the weather and other relevant conditions for airport operations) information actually transposed from the real-time ATIS broadcasts at the time of departure and arrival.  Of course, you can  ignore these weather details and program your own weather and use the default ATIS frequencies which all reflect any weather you may generate.  I have also tried to decode the weather reports- those of you who have ever tried to decode one of these knows what fun that can be.   Of course, real pilots need to demonstrate proficiency in this. 

D.  Although I would never leave anyone "out in the cold" regarding assistance, I will guarantee help to any registered person- if they so desire in getting the files to work.  If there appears to be a number of questions on one particular topic (meaning that it is probably vague), I will E-Mail registered users in order that they may update/ become aware.



4. Methods of Registration. 

You may send me a US Currency personal check, or money order.  International clients may send International Money Orders, made out in US Currency.  You will greatly expedite  matters if you    E-Mail me at 75333,1564, to give me your intent to order- that way, I can have everything ready for dispatch upon receiving and clearing the check.  I will also accept cash in US currency, although you should be aware of the pitfalls of sending cash in the mail. I will also require a mailing address- I can promise everybody that strict confidentiality will be observed regarding your mailing address, and that no further material will be sent to you without your specific request to do so.   My mailing address is: 
P.O. Box 155, Brighton, CO 80601, USA. 

I have stayed clear so far of the GO SWREG function on CompuServe- only that it adds additional cost to the process.  However, if I get sufficient requests for that, I will consider making it available at a different price, in parallel with the above cash/check methods.  Of course, the protection provided by SWREG in allowing you to get your money back if I ever default may be attractive to some, but you should always realize that in a close-knit forum such as this, I would only ever do that once!!  I can assure you of the contrary- your canceled check is your receipt that I have received your money (which I will also acknowledge on E-Mail), if you should ever find that the material you paid for has been displaced in the mail, please contact me within 7 days of my acknowledgment of your payment and I will resend the material by Certified Mail- I shall also probably ask you to repeat your address accordingly.

The initial cost of registration will be $15.00.  For this you will receive the charts, bound into a small booklet, and includes postage in the USA. You will also receive the .TXT files, most being transferred by E-Mail.   For postage outside the USA, I will have  an addendum attached to the uploaded ATC files which will give a description of postage costs to various regions in the world.  I hope to keep the costs down to be able to retain the offer of the registration pricing on an open-ended basis.  My first 100 copies have been manufactured partially with the aid of low cost copying- I am not in a position to guarantee I can attain the same low cost at a later date.  However, I will advise separately of any cost increase in the future- certainly all order advice I have received by E-Mail at such a time would be exempt of any increase, providing money is sent in a reasonable time from that date.


5.  Service Guarantee.

All material referred to above will be sent to you on receipt of order.  Please allow 5 days for processing your order before dispatch is guaranteed.  On receipt of your order, you will be advised as such by E-Mail, some additional text files to be used in conjunction with the charts will be also E-Mailed to you, and you will receive E-Mail advice of the dispatch of your material by mail.  Should you have any enquiries as to the operation of the flights with the material, I will be only too pleased to help you.  If a common question arises regarding one or several aspects of this series, I will E-Mail all current registered users with the clarification details.  You will find I log in to CompuServe usually twice a day (at least once), so any messages for me will be dealt with promptly.  I will also guarantee the non-disclosure of any mail addresses to any other person, and that you will not receive anything further from me unless you specifically request it.

I can not ever guarantee that you will like what you receive- some may find it too difficult, some may have other expectations.  I can tell you that this series is identical to real world commercial aviation operations.  I do, however, make no apology or guarantee that all ATC instructions or material supplied is EXACTLY as it appears in the real world, nor all the frequencies used.  

Although a lot of research has gone into this series, I have had to make accommodations for the limitations of FS5, the perceived target audience and my lack of knowledge in some areas in aviation- namely ATP operations (I am not an ATP pilot) and terminal operations at Dallas Fort Worth and Chicago O'Hare.

6.  FAA Flight Environment.

 The aviation world in the United States is regulated and controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  Although they may contract the operation of some control facilities to outside people (usually towers at small airports), they are responsible for the orderly movement of air traffic through the airspace. 

All airspace above 18,000 feet is controlled- called the Positive Control Area (PCA), or Class A.  A standard altimeter setting of 29.92 inches is used, to facilitate the high speeds of jet aircraft .  All flight is IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), and requires the appropriate pilot and aircraft ratings.  All flights are under positive ATC control.  Altitude settings correspond to IFR standards- ie. Eastbound flights use odd thousands, no hundreds, of feet, westbound flights use even.  This rule is deviated when above 29,000 feet, where 2,000 feet of separation is required- therefore eastbound flights above 29,000 feet use 29,000, 33,000, 37,000, and multiples of 4.  Westbound flights use 31,000, 35,000, and multiples of 4. Note that all altitudes above 29,000 feet are odd.  Altitudes above 18,000 feet are called "Flight Levels", ie 21,000 feet is Flight Level (FL) 210. All flights in this region are highly structured, and normally follow airways called Jet (J) Routes.

Airspace above 14,500 feet is the Continental Control Area- an altitude above which radar service is guaranteed.  It is not necessarily controlled.

Busy, usually large airports have controlled airspace around and above them- called a Terminal Control Area (TCA), or Class B Airspace.  Usually the floor of this controlled airspace is at ground level for about 10 miles around the airport, then starts rising in steps like un upside-down wedding cake, reflecting the likely altitude of aircraft as they climb away, or descend towards, the airport.  The radius of this airspace is usually about 20 - 25 nm, and the ceiling may be at 8,000 feet above the airport elevation.  Unauthorized operations are forbidden (to "bust' a TCA is bad news), VFR flights have to hear the words "Cleared into the TCA" before proceeding.  IFR flights are automatically allowed access, but must be under ATC control.  Smaller airports (still large enough to have an approach control) have airspace classified as Class C- less strict regulations, but the requirement to be under ATC control nevertheless.

Small airports with towers have an Airport Traffic Area (ATA), or Class D airspace, above and around them- usually to 3,000 feet above, and 5 nm in radius.  While the tower is operating,. You must be under ATC control.

While speeds are unrestricted above 10,000 feet MSL, unless otherwise specified by ATC, speeds under 10,000 feet are usually restricted to 250 knots max.  Speeds in an airport terminal area are usually required to be 180 knots or less.



7. Acknowledgments


To Enno Borgsteede, for the use of his BGLGEN tool for this series.  This tool is available as freeware on this forum, accordingly every effort has been made to allow the user to proceed without any further charge or purchase, if the required sectionals, terminal charts, IFR high altitude charts and SIDs / STARs are available.  Thanks to Enno for his consent to use this tool, and his guidance in allowing his freeware to be used for this realistic use, yet preserving the guidelines governing freeware.

Thanks to those designers of the sceneries I allude to, most of whom I contacted, who gave their permission for me to reference these scenery add-ons.

Thanks also to Dale McCabe, supervisor at Albuquerque ARTCC Center, for his guidance in ATC operations as they apply to high altitude flight, ATC control and FAA frequency information.  Thanks also to the many people I have spoken to at most ARTCC facilities pertinent to this series of flights, for their information and advice on local traffic patterns and frequency information.

Bob Reid, my CFI, for his guidance and advice on traffic patterns in the San Francisco area.

I have trained as a private pilot with instrument, and have flown much in the Bay Area of San Francisco.  I make a disclaimer for information that may not be technically correct in this series, either intentionally to compensate for limitations of FS5 and/or scenery add-ons, or unintentionally by mistake.  These files are free for public distribution on this forum.  No unauthorized public distribution permitted without my prior consent.

Bruce Knight 75333,1564
June 16, 1995.
 
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