VRC Documentation

Assigning Temp and Cruise Altitudes

Another common function you will perform when working with aircraft is assigning altitudes. There are two types of altitudes you can assign to an aircraft while it is under your control. They are the cruise altitude and the temporary altitude.

The cruise altitude is assigned by the controller when the aircraft needs to be given a new cruise altitude which will remain in effect for the remainder of the flight. For example, this often happens if the pilot reports turbulence at his filed cruise level and requests a new one.

To assign a new cruise altitude to an aircraft, press the F5 key, type the new altitude in hundreds of feet, then slew the target or press the ASEL key if the aircraft is already selected. The new cruise altitude will be displayed in the aircraft's datablock (if applicable) and updated in the Flight Plan Editor window or flight strip if you have either of those visible for the aircraft.

Temporary altitudes are used when you need to restrict an aircraft to a certain altitude for the time being, but you intend to assign a new altitude or clear the aircraft to its filed cruise altitude later. An example would be when an aircraft is climbing to its cruise altitude, but will possibly conflict with another aircraft during the climb. In this case, you might assign a temporary altitude for the aircraft to maintain until the potential conflict has passed.

To assign a temporary altitude to an aircraft, press the F8 key, type the new altitude in hundreds of feet, then slew the target or press the ASEL key if the aircraft is already selected. The new temp altitude will be displayed in the aircraft's datablock (if applicable) and updated in the Flight Plan Editor window or flight strip if you have either of those visible for the aircraft.

To clear a temporary altitude assignment, press the F8 key then slew the target or press your ASEL key if the aircraft is already selected.

The cruise altitude can also be assigned via the Flight Plan Editor window. (See "Viewing & Editing Flight Plans" for details.)

Note that assigned cruise and temporary altitudes are automatically propagated to other controllers.

Note that you can only assign altitudes to aircraft that are not already being tracked by another controller.

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