This is a feature I was looking forward to seeing implemented since a long time already and today is the Day! But what is the value added vs the native ATIS of your favorite flight simulator? Well let’s have a quick explanation.
First of all, this new PilotEdge feature has been successfully implemented because the PE staff asked to Laminar Research to implement a possibility to turn OFF the native X-Plane 11 ATIS using a specific command. This was implemented in the recently released 11.30 update.
From now, the PE ATIS will replace the native ATIS of your flight simulator. And the beauty of it, you don’t need to update your plugin! Just connect and enjoy.
The major concern with the default ATIS is that your flight simulator does not take into account the standard operating configuration of the airports: For instance if you load your plane in X-Plane 11 at John Wayne KSNA with no wind, the ATIS tells you that the runway in use are Runway 02L and 02R while in PilotEdge and in real world, the Runway 20L and 20R are used as standard operating configuration (i.e. West configuration). Therefore, planning the departure procedure and or your taxi route is difficult if you are not 100% sure of the runway currently in use prior to reaching the Air Traffic Controller. Thanks to the PE ATIS feature, what you will hear when tuning on the ATIS frequency, reflects exactly which runway is in use!
PE ATIS now includes as in real world the current approach procedure in use whether it is visual or ILS approach…etc Again that will make our life easier to schedule the correct approach procedure prior to reaching the approach controller. Very convenient isn’t it?!
As for the rest of the PE voice, the PE ATIS benefits of the VHF modulation plugin and therefore the quality of reception depends on your distance from the airport and your altitude you’re flying at while listening to the ATIS just as in real life.
The PE voice and the native X-Plane ATIS volume level is controlled using the same slider in the X-Plane sound setting page. Most of the time, my PE voice is louder than the ATIS and therefore I struggle in being able to listen to the ATIS. If I increase the volume level so that the ATIS can be heard louder, my PE voice becomes way too loud and becomes hardly distorted. That will not happen anymore since the PE voice and ATIS will run at the same volume level.
You will not be able to cheat anymore by pretending you have already received the ATIS because the ATIS code will be the same for everyone (i.e. pilots and controller) at a given airport. So be prepared to hear from the controller "could you confirm you have information Alpha" or be proactive and mention it while checking in with ground or approach.
What about using custom weather?
The PE staff did a really great job and anticipated the need for some virtual pilots to use custom weather for specific scenarios (e.g. shooting a particular approach which is not in use due to the actual weather conditions). To let the controller know that you are using a custom weather, you can:
Mention on ground and with the approach controller that you have information “Zulu”. Indeed, "Zulu" will never be used as ATIS code for real world weather conditions.
When filing a flight plan, you can tick the “custom weather” box.
Another step towards the ultimate realism! What are you waiting for?
Join us now if you have not subscribed to PilotEdge yet! :)
Have a look at demo video here to get a taste of how it looks like.
Hats off to PilotEdge
TIPAH