• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

FS2004 Flight Plan Cancelled!

W

Wingding

Messages
12
Country
unitedstates
I just came across an issue that I thought I'd throw out to you guys... I'm flying from KMCO to KATL (both have been modified with ADE9, and both have addon sceneries packages). I'm approaching the MCN VOR - about 90 miles out - and told to turn right heading 055*, descend to FLXXX, and expect ILS 27L. Down at my new altitude and heading dead on the assigned heading (altimeter set correctly), I just keep cruising along.... ATC never turns me towards KATL, although I get cleared down to 19,000 feet. I'm just cruisin' along on heading 055* at 19,000 feet, well north of the airport/approach path and over 100 miles out (and increasing) when ATC all of a sudden says my flight plan is cancelled. Grr!

Since this has happened on the last two flight I did (same plan: KMCO-KATL), I can't honestly say it's the famous "ATC lost me" bug. I've double-checked the approach data for all the KATL runways, and all looks good. However, when I was initially assigned my approach (the first "You are XX miles out, turn right...." contact from ATC) I quickly checked my "choose another runway/approach" options and nothing shows up at all.

I can only assume there is a hiccup between what ADE9 is showing me for approach data, and FS (If there are no defined approaches, you won't get cleared to approach?). Any ideas/suggestions on where to look or what to change?
 
Well, I *thought* I may have found the error...

Taking a MUCH closer look at the approach data in ADE9, I saw duplicate "terminal waypoints" for each of the approaches. Apparently, when having ADE9 automatically add an ILS approach, it simply adds waypoints without really checking to see if any already exist in the same spot - which don't get deleted when you simply delete the ILS out of ADE9..... (note to self!)

So, I cleared out the "extra" waypoints and flew the same route again. Unfortunately, I was still vectored north beyond the airport and ATC again abruptly cancelled my flightplan.

Next step: Back in ADE9 again, looking at the approach info (again, my suspicion is that there is a "disconnect" between vectoring me in to the airspace and finding a suitable/available approach. Something isn't seeing the approaches!). I had intentionally left all of the "optional" information blank (as-is) when I created them, but that may be the cause of my heartburn. So now I'm in the process of completing all the optional stuff (Theta/Rho, Rec Type, etc.) to see if that'll do it.

More testing tomorrow... (yawn)
 
Well, after many hours and a few more changes to what I *thought* would be a fix... no luck. :mad:

I went through each new approach and filled in all the detailed (optional) data, re-flew the route and same thing.

I went into the ...scenery/NAMC/scenery file and renamed the "atlanta.bgl" file so FS wouldn't find it (thinking that maybe there's a "ghost" KATL still active and FS is getting confused as to which one I'm trying to actually fly to), re-flew the route and same thing.

So much for the addon scenery! My next step will be to save the ADE9 BGL file and dump everything else. Hopefully I will at least have all the parking, active runways, approaches, etc. instead of doing it all over again from scratch (although I fear that is exactly what I'll have to do anyway).

Here's the routine, in case anyone is actually interested:

(for me, it didn't matter what aircraft or what altitude, although all were flown above FL300. Flights were from either KMCO or KJAX, so I was flying NW towards KATL near the Macon (MCN) VOR when I got these fatal instructions):

between 80-85 nm out of the KATL VOR, descending to FL2xx: "...turn right, heading (030, 045, and 055 where the different options) and expect vectors for ILS runway 27L."
**after this turn, I started checking the options for "select a different approach", and would always see a blank list - aside from "(1) - back"

I was handed off a few times to different controllers, but was still flying 030 (or whatever) and level at FL220 (or FL260, or whatever). "...descend and maintain 1,300.".... now around 94 nm away from KATL VOR (and increasing).

another hand-off or two, still flying heading 030 and descending to my new altitude and around 97 nm away from KATL, I get the dreaded "...IFR flight plan has been cancelled, squawk 1200....". :mad:


are there ANY ideas what might be causing this, and any form of work-around? :confused:
 
I have been following your plight sence your first post. Please, keep us informed.

Some questions.

Does this happen only between KMCO and KATL? Very important, try a different departure airport.

"Apparently, when having ADE9 automatically add an ILS approach, it simply adds waypoints without really checking to see if any already exist in the same spot - which don't get deleted when you simply delete the ILS out of ADE9..... (note to self!)"
This sounds like you added ILS to a runway that already had it. If that is not the case, why would you delete ILS only to add it back in.

What kind of changes did you make to KATL? Kind of hard to help when we don't know what you did.

Does the falt finder come up with anything?

Keep at it.

Bob
 
Hey Bob!

I think I found the prob! Hooray!

About the ILS / duplicate waypoint issue - with all of the "tweaking" I was doing, I figured maybe if I just completely delete what was there and re-build it, I would be getting rid of any hiccups that may have been present. That's when I later learned about the duplicate waypoints after taking more a more in-depth look at everything.

I was actually modifying an addon - had to reduce the number of assigned parking below 255, adjusted some of the taxi nodes for a bit smoother AI flow, that sort of thing. Nothing major - it had already been done (the new runway, terrain, buildings/objects, etc.), so I was just doing some fine tuning.

After all of my frustration, I found something so simple I kicked myself for not catching it earlier.... a previous install of a different scenery design for the same airport! I found a stray .bgl file left over that had some approach/ILS stuff in it. I got rid of it and so far it's worked flawlessly!

So, my "hunch" was on the right path - there was a "disconnect" between the route I was flying and an appropriate approach. So, although this particular issue is resolved as far as I'm concerned (a bit more testing to be sure, tho!), if I ever see or experience a similar issue, the first thing I'll look for is a left-over file or a duplicate file that contains old approach data. At least it didn't really have anything to do with the syntax in the coding I made. ;)

So, here's the lesson: if ATC vectors you way off course from an ILS approach and suddenly cancels your flightplan, take a look if there is a stray file - perhaps from a previous install - that may be conflicting with the new file - assuming any new files have the correct approach/ILS coding. (There's also the issue of just a random ATC glitch where you get lost in the system, but that's a different issue where there's no real workaround aside from that .exe file you can download to reset ATC in-flight).

Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top