Expert Server ATC may now ghost pilots for not following procedures broadcasted on the ATIS frequency.
Whether arriving or departing, please always adhere to pertinent information such as straight out departures only (fly runway heading to the end of the cone), no intersection departures, flight plan requirements (prior to requesting taxi), etc. If under the control of ATC follow their instructions. Actual ATC instructions will always trump ATIS information, such as Departure issuing a turn immediately after takeoff despite âstraight out onlyâ being broadcasted.
This change holds all parties accountable and makes certain that everyone is taking the extra time to properly check airport conditions and procedures much like you would in the real world. As always, a warning will still be given if time/traffic conditions permit.
With this change we have also added âNot following ATISâ to controllerâs list of ghostable reasons allowing it to appear in your logbook if ghosted for this reason.
Youâre all encouraged to utilize the helpful resources available. @Chris_S has made a great quick guide to clear up any confusion on ATIS information and what it means to you, the pilot:
Thank god, either if that is influenced by my topic yesterday or not, Im happy about inprovements on expert. I often notice people just ignoring ATIS and taking it as some voice in the background, not actually reading it. Hope the importance of ATIS gains more awareness by this :)
I have a question. If the ATIS says âstraight departures onlyâ, and tower says âmake left/right teafficâ, which instruction do you have to follow?
Tower trumps ATIS. Things can change fast and tower may not have been able to update ATIS.
Tower will only tell you a direction if you are remaining in the pattern.
You can still have straight out departures even remaining in the pattern. The spirit of having straight out is to get planes a little further away from the airport before turning either direction. This helps to eliminate the chances of interfering and lets the pilot get to a more stable point of flight before turning.
Im glad this is now an option, however; Im concerned about when the ATIS hasnt been updated and the airport is slow. For example yesterday the ATIS at EHAM said Straight out departures only with RWY 22/24/27 departures. Those type of departures do not do straight out because of possible collisions for and potential Go around aircraft from the RWY18s. This would mean my departure to the south would not have been authorized since the departures were only âstraight outâ. If IFATC would be picky about that it would be extremely disappointing and really this means if anything that IFATC needs to be dilligent about keeping an up to date ATIS because I am seeing a lot of old ATIS messages being broadcasted at time.
But in this scenario ATC also shouldnât be departing simultaneously unless the separation will exist. Departure paths intersecting is treated the same as intersecting runways. If you encounter these issues let us know so we can correct it! We want both sides to be on their game.
I am absolutely excited for this! I cannot tell you how many times itâs clear to me pilots havenot checked ATIS thoroughly or at all (and I admit Iâm guilty of this a few times when Iâm distracted so Iâm not saying by any menâs its everyone else) but this will allow us as ATC to be more productive in our sessions. I approve this thread!
