Help with ATC

[GKibby]

I have played most of the versions of Tower and Tracon for many years. I have always managed to work my way through them and played them for hours and hours. But, that is my problem. I am self taught. I have managed to keep the planes from crunching one another but I have done it by trial and error. I have not issued commands to planes in the air other than to hand them off or clear them to land or change runways. I normally let planes pick their own taxi routes unless I need to change them to avoid conflicts.

 

I see discussions on this forum that reference taxiways I have never used and procedures for after takeoff. Is there someplace I can find the proper procedures so I can try them in  Tower 3D Pro? They would really make the game more interesting and challenging.. 

 

 

[crbascott]

I'm a self taught ATCer myself and definitely no expert. For departure procedures, there are several sites you can use but my go to site is FlightAware. Taxiing is a bigger challenge. I'll listen to Tower/Ground via Live ATC if a feed is available or scour virtual ARTCCs for documentation, but I've found official taxi routes/charts tough to find (especially for US airports).

To specifically learn LAX (primarily the south complex): I've spent a lot of time watching the webcams, following air traffic using FlightRadar24, listening to ATC, and using FlightAware for additional information. For ground traffic, I did run across this document for LAX and it explains a few of the ground routes I've heard controllers use. 

Hope this helps ... looking forward to hearing what sources our more knowledgeable members use.   

[xendra]

TOWER!2011 LAX airport spoken commands:

Departures runway 06R --> From North: "XXX TAXI TO RUNWAY 6R VIA ECHO (E) ECHO ONE SIX (E16)".

                                            From South: "XXX TAXI TO RUNWAY 6R".

Arrivals runway 07L --> "XXX TAXI TO TERMINAL VIA CHARLIE FIVE (C5)".

                                   Slow flight arrivals (185knots) -->"XXX CHANGE RUNWAY 7R CLEARED TO LAND"

                                   Slow flights on ground to terminal --> "XXX TAXI TO TERMINAL VIA HOTEL (H) CHARLIE FOUR (C4) CHARLIE (C)"

Last in first out (LIFO) rule, must be applied on arrival/departure terminals --> "XXX HOLD POSITION"

XXX=Aircraft identifier

TOWER3DPRO not tested. Please report

 

                                    

[Avwriter]

Don't feel bad.  Most of us are self taught.  Honestly this forum needs more strategy discussion.  Also, keep on mind that while real world procedures are often helpful, the sim is not perfectly realistic and at time requires a bit of improvisation.  That is not a bad thing at all.  Indeed, you can change things up by creating special challenges.  Ultimately, this is a puzzle game, and like the very best puzzle games there is usually more than one way to solve each problem.

[xendra]

I can drive 80% minimum traffic at LAX, on TOWER!2011 with spoken commands, with no collisions if "HOLD POSITION" (LIFO rule) is respected on arrival/departure terminals.

[crbascott]

1 hour ago, xendra said:

TOWER!2011 LAX airport spoken commands:

Departures runway 06R --> From North: "XXX TAXI TO RUNWAY 6R VIA ECHO (E) ECHO ONE SIX (E16)".

                                            From South: "XXX TAXI TO RUNWAY 6R".

Arrivals runway 07L --> "XXX TAXI TO TERMINAL VIA CHARLIE FIVE (C5)".

                                   Slow flight arrivals (185knots) -->"XXX CHANGE RUNWAY 7R CLEARED TO LAND"

                                   Slow flights on ground to terminal --> "XXX TAXI TO TERMINAL VIA HOTEL (H) CHARLIE FOUR (C4) CHARLIE (C)"

Last in first out (LIFO) rule, must be applied on arrival/departure terminals --> "XXX HOLD POSITION"

XXX=Aircraft identifier

TOWER3DPRO not tested. Please report

 

                                    

You'll only see 6R used for departures about 2% of the time when the airport is in easterly operations. 6R is more often used for arrivals during noise sensitive hours when the airport is running over-ocean operations. 25R is used for departures at this time.  FYI - over-ocean operations are fun to simulate in Pro.

The FAA terminology has changed somewhat for Pro, but obviously the new "taxi to runway" works in the sim but a specific route would be more realistic from a controller's perspective 

I'm not sure when 7L would be used for arrivals. I would assume during easterly operations 6R/7L would be used for departures and 6L/7R for arrivals.    

Here's a link to a report on LAX's preferential runway use.

 

[crbascott]

1 hour ago, xendra said:

I can drive 80% minimum traffic at LAX, on TOWER!2011 with spoken commands, with no collisions if "HOLD POSITION" (LIFO rule) is respected on arrival/departure terminals.

I'm curious what you mean by "drive 80% minimum traffic" and would you mind sharing an example of the LIFO rule? I understand it from an accounting perspective (although I hated accounting and changed my major) but not sure how it would be used for traffic management. Thanks! 

[GKibby]

One way I vary the game is to check FlightRadar24 before I start a new airport and use the runways  that are currently in service.