The ATC communications panel is pretty good as it is but of course there’s no way to think of every possible scenario that may need to be communicated between ATC and a pilot. Also with ATC typically being very busy while active, if you send a message to them and expect them to see it while they are interacting with you in game, good luck…they typically arnt going to read it until they log off. But sometimes extra communication is urgent and for those situations I think there should be a button that tells ATC or the Pilot to check their messages urgently. And ofc if it’s not used correctly it could be a violation.
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Hey! How are you? Sounds like a good option to have while interacting back and forth with ATC. However, there are many ways ATC can ask a pilot to read their messages urgently. There is:
- Please Expedite
- Please expedite altitude change
- Please check assigned runway
- Resend last message
- Please follow instructions (This should prompt you to recheck the message that was sent to you by ATC).
There are other many ways but a command like that would be helpful.
There’s a reason for this - there often isn’t time to read messages either on here or on Discord. And we get kicked out of the session if we don’t respond to any active communications for 60 seconds.
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I had a situation where I needed to exit the airspace after getting approach clearance. I tried to use the available commands but to no avail as far as him understanding my intentions to exit. I have since learned I could change my destination and request a diversion but I only wanted to exit momentarily and then re join the landing pattern.
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Oh for sure it’s typically way too busy to be looking and replying to messages. Id assume tho at the IFATC level most controllers probably have 2 devices handy while flying, same as most pilots at the professional level. And a reply isn’t always needed, but being able to advise ATC as a pilot of my intentions would be very helpful. For example I was on a very long final in a line of aircraft landing in front of me. We were being held at 6,000ft until on the ILS, I needed to briefly raise to 7,000 and dump some fuel then return to 6,000. I needed to either do that or leave the airspace dump and return, but there’s no way to communicate that to ATC, if I ask for a altitude change to 7,000 on approach when everyone is at 6,000 without context he’s going to think I’m stupid, but if he was able to glance down and see a msg from me saying “over MLW need to climb to 7,000 for 60secs” then he could know what’s going on and approve it in game
Very good idea, but can you imagine everyone at EGLL feeling a “genuine” compelling need to text ATC in urgency? 
But I understand, this is to fill in a feature void since voice ATC, the holy grail of comms for aviation sims that could solve a lot of problems, is formally out of the question in IF (having a solid users’ and children’s safety regulation).
Still, a good working concept nevertheless! We just need more brainstorming.
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