Ok so I got Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) Gold for Christmas and immediately starting downloading addons to make it as real as possible. The primary reason for this is my New Years resolution to get my private pilots license and wanted to brush up on some of the core fundamentals. Of all the things a private pilot must do the one that seems the most intimidating to me is the communication with the various towers for take offs and landings. Just go to YouTube and watch a few videos of student pilots doing basic VFR (Visual Flying Rules) communication and it will scare the heck out of you.
Although I love FSX for flying and navigation practice I always thought the push button ATC (Air Traffic Control) was extremely lame. After doing a lot of reading I finally tried what 85% of the other virtual pilots out there recommend as a replacement and that is VoxATC. VoxATC doesn’t compliment the existing ATC in FSX it completely eliminates it and replaces it with on the fly voice recognition system. For instance after a quick setup on my Windows 8 laptop I was actually talking to the virtual air traffic controllers for everything from ground routing, landing and take offs.
VoxATC is currently being developed and supported by Tegwyn West who responded quickly to a request I had regarding price vs. versions (more on this below).
Not convinced? Don’t take my word for it, go over to VoxATC and download the fully functional 7-day FREE trial. Once you are convinced then just register it via the website to receive your unlock code. As a note, for a few dollars more, there is also a DVD Boxed version that includes 4 AT&T voices. This version can be purchased over at FSPilot at http://www.fspilotshop.com/voxatc-version-p-3509.html.
The software isn’t cheap but then again you get what you pay for and in this case it’s a spectacular piece of software that will completely change your Flight Simulator experience!
Update: Tegwyn was nice and sent me over a quick summary of the purchase options and an upcoming update.
Just to let you know that if you are flying VFR in the UK, you should get the VoxATC UK Enhancement.
That adds FISO and A/G phraseology at appropraite airports. It costs £20 for the download.
There is also a DVD version available from RC Simulations
(www.rcsimulations.com) that bundles together VoxATC X, the 4 AT&T voices and the UK Enhancement.
An updated version of VoxATC X is currently in beta and should be available in the next month or so.
Personally I would strongly suggest the DVD pack as it adds 4 AT&T voices for only a few dollars more.
Update: So I’m not someone who likes to wait for snailmail and instead I opted to purchase my VoxATC license directly from their site at http://voxatc.com/Home.aspx/Register. This is a very simple process that has you pay via PayPal and then the code was immediately sent to my email box. Now the downside to this is that I didn’t get the 4 AT&T Voices but those and others can be purchased direct from NextUp.com at http://www.nextup.com/attnv.html.