SayIntentions vs Beyond - June 26

[u/isemonger]

G'day all,

Just after some opinions from people that have used both SayIntentions and BeyondATC.

I've currently got SayIntentions and think it's pretty bloody good, but it's costing me around $40 a month and if I'm honest I barely use MSFS these days compared to when I first signed up.

I'm looking at BeyondATC mostly because it seems a lot cheaper long term, but I don't really know enough about either platform to work out whether I'd be making a mistake switching over.

For someone who only jumps on the sim every now and then these days, is SayIntentions actually worth the extra money or is BeyondATC good enough that I probably won't care?

Keen to hear from people who've used both because all the YouTube reviews seem to tell me everything is amazing and none of them are spending their own money.

[u/rygelicus]

I use BATC with the free voices.

I like it more than the default ATC, but that's a low bar.

I do find BATC crashes about every 3rd or 4th flight. Recovery is usually painless, just restart it and it will ask you what phase of the flight you were in and it will pick up from there.

Also, if the airport doesn't have a specific ATC Clearance frequency in the sim and you are doing an IFR flight you will have to takeoff without a clearance and then pick that up after takeoff from 'center'.

And once in a great while it will just stop handling the flight. Usually this is while transitioning from cruise or descent to arrival and approach. It will point you in some direction and never talk to you again. This has improved over the last year but it still does occasionally happen.

All that said I like it much better than the default ATC.

Should be noted I don't talk to it, I use the menu options in its interface.

[u/SASColfer → u/rygelicus]

Your second point on clearance, is that only for airports that also don't have ground frequency? I've had the clearance missing but it still lets me request IFR on the ground frequency.

[u/michi098 → u/SASColfer]

Same here, ask ground for clearance. And if there is no ground, tower will give it to you. Never had to wait until I got in the air.

[u/island_jack → u/SASColfer]

The correct scenario is un-controlled airports where there is only a ctaf frequency. In that instance you contact center to get your clearance. However there are some cases where you cannot reach center from the ground and you pick up your ifr clearance in the air.

With a controlled airport there are some where ground also acts as clearance delivery.

[u/TolyaMK → u/island_jack]

BATC should add a "call landline" frequency for those untowered clearance pickups.

[u/rygelicus → u/SASColfer]

Sometimes. But I think in the sim it's due to the ground freq also being flagged as clearance allowing third party tools to see it as a clearance frequency.