MultiScope Air Traffic Control

Description

MultiScope Air Traffic Control is a realistic approach radar simulator. Arrivals come in over the STARs, and departures climb out underneath them. Your goal is to turn, climb, descend or slow every aircraft into a safe stream onto the ILS, or hand it over to Area Control, without ever losing separation.

Hold push-to-talk and give your clearance the way you would on a real frequency: "KLM62P, turn left heading 210, descend to 2000 feet, QNH 1010, speed 180 knots, cleared ILS approach runway 18R." The pilot reads it back and flies it.

Voice recognition runs on our own speech model, trained on ATC phraseology. It copes with long transmissions, accents, hesitations and different wording, in ICAO or FAA phrasing, and with corrections when you misspeak. If a pilot misses part of your call, they ask you to say it again. The model runs offline on your graphics card or processor, and nothing you say leaves your PC.

Every instruction also works through the input panels and the keyboard, so voice is optional.

The radar picture updates with every sweep. Each aircraft has a data tag you can move, a trail showing where it has been and an optional speed vector projecting where it is heading. Zoom out to 80 NM to see traffic coming in from far away, or zoom in to fine-tune the spacing on final.

Aircraft fly published routes, holding patterns and ILS approaches, and you can take them off their route with a heading or send them direct to a fix. The scope warns you when two aircraft are getting too close, when one is too close behind heavier traffic, or when one is about to enter airspace that isn't yours. A departure list shows what is about to take off, so you can plan the outbound flow before it reaches your frequency.

Each session starts with its own QNH, wind and ATIS. Pick calm, normal or gusty conditions, or let the game roll them for you; it keeps the wind within the limits of the runways you've chosen. The wind changes with altitude, so aircraft cover ground faster or slower depending on how high they are.

Wind also decides which runways you can use. The runway picker turns orange when a runway is close to its crosswind or tailwind limit and red when it's over. Departures will hold on the ground if there is too much tailwind, and an arrival on final might go around.

Traffic comes from real schedules, with real callsigns, aircraft types and registrations. Real World mode plays a real day at the airport from the time you choose. You can also set the runway combination and the arrivals and departures per hour yourself, anywhere from a quiet afternoon to a full peak. At the end of each session you get a grade from S to F, which adds to your career statistics.

Airspaces are split into sectors, each with its own frequency. Work one approach sector or several at once, and AI controllers handle the rest. You can take over or hand back a sector at any time.

COSYS, our coordination system, lets you work with your neighbours the way real controllers do. Ask for an aircraft on your frequency early, agree transfer levels, handle a go-around from the tower, or borrow a piece of a neighbour's airspace for a long final.

Choose Realistic for proper procedures and handoffs, or Arcade to smooth the rough edges while you learn. Four difficulty presets, from Beginner to Expert, set the details, and you can change any of them yourself.

If you've never spoken on a frequency, start with the phraseology trainer. It gives you radio calls to practise by voice and grades them with the same recogniser the game uses. A searchable reference card and an in-game cheat sheet keep the phrases at hand while you play. Your career runs from Trainee to Area Director, with medals, session reports and lifetime stats.

Features at a glance

• Voice control with our own speech model, trained on ATC phraseology, plus full control through the input panels and keyboard

• Approach control Amsterdam Schiphol at launch, with real schedules and a Real World mode. More airports are planned.

• Multi-sector play with AI controllers and COSYS coordination

• ILS, holds, SIDs, STARs and direct-to, with conflict, wake and airspace alerts

• QNH, wind, ATIS and runway limits that change how you work

• Phraseology trainer, four difficulty presets and a controller career