Air Traffic Control Command Pinning

[Oliver02]

Hi all controllers,
Don’t you hate when you’re controlling and there is a specific command you want to use? You have to scroll, scroll and then find it. This is where command pinning comes in!

What's Command Pinning?

When controlling do you notice that when you frequently use a command it gets put aside on the left sidebar?

Are their commands that you would just love to have there automatically?
Command pinning allows you to pin certain ATC commands to the panel, instead of getting moved down the list. Or place a command on the side panel before you even have to use it! How it would make controlling easier.

How does this work?

1)Adding in a Command pinning section before opening an airport.

2)Once clicking Command Hotbar it leads you to another page, allowing you to pin/unpin certain atc commands.

3)Clicing the box next to the command will either pin or unpin the command to the pannel.
Once you’ve selected your setup then you can proceed to click save.
4) Then proceed to open your airport!
5) You’ve selected 3 commands to be pinned, they are “check tutorial/help”, “follow inst (simple)” and "follow inst (ghost).
Once you’ve opened the airport and you click on a pilot up comes the commands on the sidebar, with a green box around all 3 of them, meaning they’re pinned to the side.

Any command below the white line is not pinned and will move depending on how frequently you use it!

In Game Pinning

Will this be set in stone once i am controlling!
The answer is NO, holding the command for a certain amount of time (5seconds) will unpin the command. Additionally, if you forget to pin a command you can hold the command for 5 seconds.

thanks Trio!

I definitely think this would help a lot. More so with the expert server controllers, as sometimes with work loads, you just don’t have as much time to scroll to find a certain command.
However with training server controllers, there may be less commands to pin.

An older topic about this was made 4 years ago. However the topic was made with less/minimal detail Customizable Quick Menu on ATC

[TaipeiGuru]

Good idea! I assume this won’t work for all commands, though, as many frequently-sent messages depend on the airport itself (e.g. you can’t pin a command to taxi to RWY09 if there’s no 09 at the airport).

Small quirks aside, I think it’s a nice feature and hope to see it in the game soon.

[Oliver02]

This would be for general commands, broadcasts etc.
The 2nd photo in the 2nd drop down would be a great example of that.

[Captain_Zen]

There’s a similar request here: Customizable Quick Menu on ATC
Maybe that one could be closed as it doesn’t have much detail. What I like with your request is the fact that you can have it prepared in advance. That’s something that would save a load of time just like doing atis before starting the session.

[Trio]

Good idea! Instead of a separate page, why not just press and hold for say 5 seconds to pin a command.

[Oliver02]

That could be a way to pin/unpin in game. Great idea!

[Trio]

Yeah, anything that would allow for on the fly pinning would be amazing.

[WesleyHenrich]

I use command shortcuts a lot. And that is a great idea.

[nincombop]

I suggest combined commands for more direct and realistic ATC delivery.

For instance:
A ground controller may instruct an aircraft a series of actions (i.e. at KSFO ground may instruct an aircraft to “taxi to RWY28R, cross RWY19R and RWY19L, advise holding short RWY28L and contact tower” then ball’s on tower’s court.

[Thunderbolt]

You have my vote! As an aspiring IFATC controller, this would make my life wayyyyy easier.

[TaipeiGuru]

The thing is, you can’t really give runway crossings too far out in advance because you never know what will happen by the time the aircraft reaches said runway. Especially at KSFO (your example airport), since traffic volume is often so large that you don’t know what will happen, who will suddenly appear on final, etc.

[nincombop]

Under most circumstances at a controlled airport, all rwys that directly crosses the open rwys are closed unless they don’t intersect but still are not parallel to them. In case of a cross-traffic opening, real world ATC would usually hold traffic on the intersecting rwys to avoid collisions. it all depends on factors like high traffic density, current airport structure, and variable wind conditions, etc. before ATIS decides to open intersecting traffic.

[Oliver02]

I think that would cause too much confusion.
However why not create a new thread about it?

[infiniteflight_17]

As an IFATC controller on expert server we can all get our hands tied at times looking for the message you want even if you know where it is. Time is everything. I think this system would be great and very efficient. Good idea! I’d love to maybe see this come in the future.

[nincombop]

I’ll consider, thanks.

[USA_ATC]

Ok im going to have to bump this as I see a great need for it! I was controlling and almost got a ground conflict and couldn’t get to the Give Way cmd quick enough.

YOU GOT MY VOTE!