ATC Query

Hope this is ok to post here, if not - apologies!

Have just took a flight from IFR VOR - VOR Heathrow to Malaga and whilst over France kept getting passed back and forth between Aquitaine and Bordeaux ATC with changes back and forth every few seconds.

Surely this isn't normal or is this a bug in FSX?

After a while I went off the atc with no way to contact them and became virtually radioless. I could hear all other aircraft and see them on FSmap, but no options on ATC to announce my position.

Anyone had this?

Regards
Richard

PS: Would like to post a few shots of the new cockpit build - where do I post the pics, ty!

I had a similar thing happen while flying over France, FS kept switching me between two controllers until a point when I thought it must be a joke. And not only that, I was nowhere near where I was meant to be, even after following the instructions to the dot.

It would seem that quite a few IFR VOR to VOR flights are like this. I did Manchester to Innsbruck yesterday and on arrival (after so many swaps of different ATC's) I was brought in at 3,800 feet which made it impossible to reduce height to land in time.

I ended up having to do a kamikazi landing which, in reality, would have wrecked the aircraft.

Do others find that they are given silly approach altitudes from ATC or is it just me? I also am told to go to sya heading 150, then 2 minutes later 195 and the two minutes later back to 150. It's a wonder my AP hasn't folded its arms and gone on strike!

Regards
Richard

ATC logic has never been the strongest part of Microsofts flight simulators, and although I use mainly FS9, this problem seems to go on with FSX.
There may be some workarounds:
1. Best alternative (in my view): flying online.
or 2. Use a commercial ATC add-on.
or 3. Create a "reasonable" flight plan in FS: On the planning page, with the map showing the planned flight route in red or pink line, draw the line to some waypoints, which are aligned with the landing RWY. This incompletely simulates a STAR route (you can do a SID analogously). If you force this info into FS, ATC seems to rely on it a little bit and you don´t have so much trouble with rapidly alternating headings. I can´t remember if this also flattens the otherwise often steep approach. Rational radar vectoring and ATC hand offs is obviously a prerequisite of real life.
Does somone know other/better alternatives?:roll:

Cheers

Chris