RW 15 into Rio (SBGL)

[EHM-1570 Bruce]

I was vectored for an ILS approach into RW 15 Rio SBGL and I received a terrain warning from my Terrain Awareness software(TAWS) of a terrain collision. the visability was poor so I cleared all weather, to find that I was flying straight at a mountain side I had to disconnect the Autopilot and fly round the mountain then re engage the Autopilot, this is MS ATC for you. I thought I would warn other pilots of this issue in order that you do not incurr the 1000 penalty points from ProPilot for a crash.

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

I noticed this phenomenon too at some airports.

I think that FS data include some standard procedures that (closely or loosely) match real ones, but for some airports only. For other airports, AI vectoring seem to follow a VERY basic pattern, completely unrelated to the surrounding terrain.

This is why AI approach seems to do a good job in some places (it happened to me in Quito, on a Eurobusiness mission, and poor visibility) and a very lousy one in other places (worst experience I had was in Tarbes, on an ex-Euroholidays mission).

And it is not only approach which is hit, the same applies for departure (possibly worse, as I never noticed anything like a SID). Once I took off in Juneau, Alaska with an IFR plan heading north, and quickly was instructed by AI ATC to turn left right into a mountainside "then resume own navigation".

Thus I generally expect the worse when being vectored by AI ATC over difficult terrain, always ready to cancel IFR and find my own way down.

Also, in order to follow real world procedures, I often cancel IFR once airborne, fly by my own plan and standard procedures, and eventually contact tower on finals only to be cleared for straight-in approach (provided I get or guess the active runways correctly).

Andrei

[EHM-1465 Dominic]

Thanks for the heads-up Bruce, as Andrei says this is a common problem if you use MS ATC for routing. I tend to use it for take-off and landing only and ensure that I have approach and area charts whenever in hilly or mountainous terrain.

There are some addon files available for popular airports that reroute the AI planes and ATC instructions around terrain, most of them are by a couple of guys called Jim Vile and Ray Smith. These are great for 'problem' airfields...

[EHM-2155 Mariano]

I had an almost hit approaching zurich this way.. I dont remember what runway was I about to use but my breaking right at the last moment reminded me of Hunt for red october movie =P
Maybe Microsoft simulated psychotic ATC controllers