Note from Jim Ross (70235,143): I originally compiled most of these notes from messages on the GAMEPUB FORUM, section 9 (a few from GAMERS). A great many were originally from Stamatis Vellis. I then submitted my file to Stamatis, he edited it, and the following is the result. ******************************************************* ATP Career assignments bug reports and general comments ======================================================= Career Assignment reports ------------------------- a) Career Assignment 10 (SEA-DEN): Descending towards DENVER I was instructed to descend to 15,000 feet. As I was cruising at that altitude, when at 35.4 nm from DEN VOR, on radial 109 (can't remember my heading at that time, I think it was between 80 and 100 degrees), I simply went through... a mountain! Shouldn't ATC have kept me at a much higher altitude? And how come I didn't crash? b) Career Assignment #13 (PIT-ATL): the clearance reads "Radar vectors to EWC J91 ATL" EWC is NOT on J91 and in fact is at the exact opposite direction of ATL. I flew to EWC and then back-tracked to AIR in order to join J91 trying to outguess the route, and I was correct, but the clearance definitely needs fixing. c) Career Assignment #20 (PHL-MCI): Cannot be completed. a) Your clearance is Radar Vectors to IHD J110 AIR J91 HNN J134 STL J24 MKC direct MCI. Problem: You are told to proceed direct to IHD and resume own navigation at a time IHD cannot be received by your receiver! b) The serious problem: As you approach IHD, about 18 nm from it, you are suddenly and unexpectedly given vectors all around the place, and in the end you end up being directed to the exact opposite direction! To add insult to injury you are cautioned for being off the Airway. If you attempt to continue as per your clearance, the messages keep flashing up instructing you to turn...East! I tried the Assignment all over again from the beginning, and I got the same bugs, although this time the vectors were slightly different than the first time. d) CA #21- After takeoff, and contacting departure, I was told to head 390? Then got message to "Please maintain 390". So I restarted flight (with switch to free flight, then ctrl-alt-0, then reselect assignment). That time (after taking off from runway 9) I was told to head 190. This has happened a few times, but if ignored, ATC "Catches" itself and gives sensible vectors. (Ron Hegel) e) CA #25 (SFO-SEA): The departure weather briefing reported destination weather as 600 OVR with Surface Winds 180 at 5 and winds aloft at 6,000 ft as 210 at 15. When I reached SEA and contacted the ATIS I got a zero zero visibility report. I started the approach and upon reaching the OM I executed a missed approach which I immediately reported to the tower. I was instructed to climb to a certain FL and turn to a different heading, and a couple of minutes later the assignment ended while I was in the air, and my performance card appeared. I was VERY surpised to see a cross next to the "Landed in unforcast zero zero" remark. a) I did NOT land, I executed a missed approach WELL above the MDA b) What was I supposed to do instead? The Ctrl-E command does not work, so I could not ask for a deviation to my alternate destination airport. Was I supposed to circle over SEA for ever? Note: SubLogic has not replied re this problem todate. f) CA #33 (JFK-CLE): the clearance reads as follows: Radar vectors to BWZ J146 IPT J584 DJB J82 I think that this clearance is either wrong or some parts of it are missing. a) J146 does not go through either BWZ nor IPT. Why is it mentioned? b) Assuming a) above has been "solved" and you manage to reach IPT, J584 does *not* go through DJB. You have to take J29-82 to reach DJB. Clearance should say: ...IPT J584 J82 DJB. c) What is the point of taking J82 *after* reaching DJB? Your destination is CLE isn't it? Later: I flew the trip as I thought the routing should be, just like I wrote in my other memo, and I was right. The correct routing is the one provided in my previous memo. (All ATP users take note!) However, I was instructed to "Descend and maintain 10000 feet" when 28nm *before* SLT, i.e. 200nm from my destination!! I decided to ignore the command, acknowledged all the numerous "please expedite descent" commands, and started my descent at the exact location I had calculated, approx. 100nm from the airport. Guess what: I was not marked down at all! This way I got 100 for efficiency, but you can imagine what the score would have been had I cruised for another 100nm at 10, 000 feet, instead of 24,000 feet. Conclusions: a) Follow the routing of my previous message for Assignment #33 b) Ignore the "Descend..." commands and start your desents whenever you think appropriate!! g) CA #35: I had reported to you in the past that when ATIS informs you of 000 visibility and you abort your landing by reporting and executing a missed approach, you get marked down for "Landing in unforcast 00 weather". This incident occured once more in Career Assignment #35. This time I reported the missed approach the instant I was told to contact the tower, miles before joining the localizer/glideslope. I was instructed to climb to a new altitude and turn to a new heading, which I did. Then my "card" came on the screen, and there it was: a cross next to "Landed in unforcast 00 weather"!! Can you please tell us exactly *what* and *when* are we supposed to do in such cases, in order to avoid being marked down for something we didn't do? Note: No reply yet. h) CA #36: The Clearance for this Assignment reads: Radar vectors to LDN J134 HNN J91 ATL J37 MSY. However, if you examine the SubLOGIC map or for this purpose a NOAA Hi-Altitude map, you will notice that ATL is *not* on J37. After many experiments I found out that the clearance should read: ...ATL direct MGM J37 MSY. At least that's the only scenario in which you don't get yelled at by ATC, and believe me I've tried many. (The most reasonable one seemed to be to first fly from ATL along J43, meet J37 and then continue as per Flight Plan: No dice!) In fact I got yelled at whenever I tried to join J37 before MGM. To fly the intended route you must fly along Radial 229 FROM ATL and Radial 045 TO MGM (track of 225). i) CA #38: The Clearance for this assignment reads: Radar Vectors to ARD J51 FAK J109 ILM J174 GNV J55 MIA A) Re the route portion from JFK to FAK If you take a look at the SubLOGIC map you'll see that there is no J51 depicted at all, and there is no Airway going through ARD. For the benefit of the others, the Clearance up to FAK should read: ARD DQO OTT FAK The courses to be flown are: VOR Freq TO/FROM NM JFK ARD 108.2 vectors/233 57 DQO 114.0 233/233 47 OTT 113.7 232/226 79 FAK 113.3 222/187 87 I flew the trip so you can take the above for granted. B) The portion of the route from FAK to GNV a) FAK to ILM to CHS to STARY is fine. AS you can see in the SubLOGIC map, the route does not go straight to GNV from STARY. There is a "kink" near where Jacksonville is in real life. I had a look in a real High Altitude map, and I noticed CRAIG (CRG) 114.5 VOR is there. I was later surprised to find that the CRG VOR does in fact exist in ATP, although it is not depicted on the map either! b) When I reached STARY I tuned CRG and followed a 203 course TO the VOR, and a 227 course FROM CRG becoming a 224 course TO GNV. Here is where the problems started: From leaving STARY onwards, and until I reached GNV (!) I was getting numerous "please remain within the airway" messages. What is the correct route to follow? Answer: Disregard the "kink" in the depicted route anf fly straight from STARY to GNV. j) CA#41 (BOS-PHL in a B767): you are cleared to land to Rwy 27R. I tuned the ILS to 109.3 and followed the localizer/glideslope needles as usual. However, I immediately noticed that I was guided to Rwy 27L instead! I looked up it's frequency and it was 109.3 also. As this is a Career Assignment, and must have been tested by SubLOGIC, how do we deal with such dual ILS frequencies in parallel runways? Fm: Charlie Dusenberry 71241,2517 To: Stamatis Vellis 71020,2502 (X) Stamatis: In the "Introduction to Flight Assignment:A.T.P." page 6 has some "Tips and Hints". One of these is as follows: "You must use frequency 109.35 to track the ILS approach to runway 27R at Philadelphia Intl (PHL) airport. This frequency is incorrectly listed in Appendix III (page 187) and on the Philadelphia Intl ILS RWY 27R approach chart in the manual." Apparently there are different versions of the Introduction and yours may not have this information. k) CA #45: the clearance reads: Radar vectors to TNP J128 PGS J64 FMN J44 ALS J13 DEN As depicted on the SubLogic maps, Jet Airway J128 does not connect TNP and PGS, so the clearance should read: ...TNP direct PGS... , unless SubLogic forgot to print on the map the "J128" indicator along the unidentified Airway segment connecting TNP with PGS. l) CA #47 (BOS-STL): while approaching STL for a 12R ILS landing, I noticed that the ILS needle at a certain point veers fully to the right, with no apparent reason. Because this assignment specifies a cross-wind on approach I first thought it was my mistake, but after landing I flew a second approach just to check this: There is definitely a bug. At location 15864. 8882 / 15693.0728 or 38 48'56.44''/ 90 30'14.12'' the needle does infact shift completely to the right of the instrument for no apparent reason. I then loaded IPS scenery and tested it again: exactly the same bug! Is this a coincidence? I played with the ILS preferences in menu F7 to no avail: same shift of the needle. m) The Clearance for CA #53 reads: Radar vectors to LIN-J84-MVA-J56-SLC-J173-EKR-J84-EST-J56-DEN. Everything goes OK until you reach EKR. If you now take a look at your Sublogic maps, you are simply...lost. There is no J84 through EKR in our maps, there is no EST in our maps, and there is no J56 into DEN !! a) Don't try to fly direct EKR->DEN, it won't work. b) After a lot of experimentation, the correct route is to fly Radial 058 FROM EKR until intercepting Radial 313 TO DEN. (I followed this route and wasn't yelled at by Roger.) The explanation? After taking a look in my NOAA Hi-Altitude map, I noticed there is in fact a J84 leaving EKR along radial 058, "meeting" J56 slightly north of an Intersection called ESTUS (can it be our EST?). J84 does *not* actually go through ESTUS, it misses the Intersection by nearly 4nm but maybe Sublogic decided to simplify(?) matters. J56 goes to DEN along DEN radial 313. But as I said, the Sublogic map does not have any J84, ESTUS, or J56 depicted near DENVER! Watch out. ROSS: This probably also applies to the SLC-DEN route in CA 8. Also, for the IPS users, as you are *very* near the threshold of DENVER Runway 17L, the ground suddenly seems to "come up" at you (the radio altimeter needle drops very suddenly while you maintain a constant rate of descent) and the glideslope needle suddenly goes "UP" at the same time. You have to be careful not to touch down earlier. The ground "drops back" to normal almost immediately. I am sure it is a bug, cause if it was normal high terrain the glideslope would have accounted for it, and would be steeper all the way. The needle wouldn't jump "UP" like that. I haven't tried it with Default scenery yet. General comments ---------------- 1) When flying at accelerated simulation speeds, you may be asked to contact the destination airport's approach when several hundreds nm (!) from the destination airport. You will then be told to expect vectors for Runway X, and then told you should have contacted the uncontactable ATIS first. The "you must first contact ATIS" messages will keep appearing until you are near the destination. Solution: Don't fly at higly accelerated speeds (i.e. more than x4) or cancel the flight when this happens, otherwise you will be marked down. This has occured only twice in my ATP Career, so it is not very common. 2) If you arrive at your destination airport and find out through ATIS that visibility is 00, ...cancel the flight plan, otherwise you will definitely be marked down for landing in unreported 00 visibility, no matter whether you land or execute a go-around. 3) List of wrong frequencies follows. It is by no means complete cause from a certain point onwards I started getting the frequencies through the use of the 122.20 generic flight service at every airport, and thus stopped checking the maps. a) The Approach/Departure frequency for SAN in ATP is 124.35 and not 127.3 as it should be, per the supplied maps. b) The JFK Departure and Approach frequency is 120.8 and not 127.4 as it should be, again per the supplied maps. c) In the maps of the manual SFO has a Tower frequency of 120.50 and an Approach frequency of 134.50 In ATP it is the other way around. d) The SBN 115.40 VOR (NorthEast United States, east of Chicago) is not operative, although it exists on the SubLOGIC map, and ATC includes it in the instructions. e) The Denver Tower frequency is 118.4 which is *not* mentioned anywhere in any chart. f) The SEA Departure frequency is 119.9 (same as the SEA Tower frequency) and not 123.9 as it is written under "Approach" in the SEA approach charts. g) The DTW (Detroit) Tower frequency is 135.0 and not 118.4 4) Point of Descent rule of thumb: Start your descent when approximately 4 times your altitude divided by 1,000. For example, if cruising at 32,000 ft, start your descent when 4x32=128nm from the destination airport. Descent at M.76 until IAS becomes 300 kts, and then at 300kts IAS until reaching 10,000 ft, then at 250kts IAS. Throughout the descent adjust power so as to maintain a rate of descent of approx. 2,000 - 2,500 fpm. This means you don't set power to idle as advised in the QRH. If ATC instructs you to start descent earlier than this point, ...ignore it! You won't get marked down, and your Efficiency score will be better than otherwise. (This "early descent" profile is the most unrealistic aspect of ATP: in true life it is usually the other way around. Maybe that's why we don't get marked down for not obeying ) 5) To improve Efficiency: a) Choose the highest cruising altitude with the best tailwinds b) Try to cruise at a TAS (not Ground Speed !) of approx. 440-450 kts. To compute TAS you need Mach speed and Indicated (or True) Temperature, which are provided. c) Climb as per the QRH instructions: set climb power ( key) after flap retraction, use 250kts IAS up to 10,000 ft, then 300 kts IAS until reaching M.70, then M.70 up to cruising altitude. Use Climb Power throughout the climb. (press key ) d) Descent as per 4) above 6) Scoring: According to a message by Chris Manrique, you composite score is the average of your last 10 flights. This has the advantage of allowing you to overcome bad flights long ago in your career, however, good flights early on will also drop off the measure of your skill. 7) Altitude hold engagement of the A/P: Problematic at high Mach numbers and High Altitudes. Suggestion: a) Hit the Shift-C when the altimeter needle is right at the correct altitude, but try to be in a shallow descent at that time (approx. 500 fpm) b) Be prepared to immediately exercise down pressure on your stick to counteract the initial nose-up pitching moment. This pressure will be eased very gradually. Cannot be properly done with the keyboard controls. All the above reports and comments were compiled at a time the author had completed up to CA #56. Reports on the remaining Assignments must be compiled by someone else, cause I will not pursue my Career any further for the time being .