'Basic Control Instruction' Commands
Conditional / Pilot's Discretion Commands
These commands are used by departure aircraft.
Aliases - caf
Information - This command tells the airplane that they are cleared to follow
the flight plan that they requested when spawning. Therefore, when a departure
spawns on the ground, and his strip shows that he filed for a particular SID,
there is no need to use the sid command. Just clear him "as filed" with the
caf command, and the airplane will take care of the rest.
Syntax - AAL123 caf
Aliases - cvs
Information - Authorizes the aircraft to climb in accordance with the SID that is currently in their flightplan. They will climb to their filed cruise altitude, whilst complying with all altitude and speed restrictions posted in the procedure. Optionally, an altitude may be specified to dictate the altitude to be climbed to.
Syntax - AAL123 cvs or AAL123 cvs [alt]
Aliases - takeoff, to, cto
Hotkey - numpad /
Information - This command clears the specified plane for takeoff. They will climb to the altitude they were previously cleared to, or in accordance with a SID if told previously to "climb via the SID". If neither has happened, they will ask for an altitude assignment before they agree to take off.
Syntax - AAL123 cto
Aliases - taxi / wait / w
Information - This command tells the specified plane to taxi to and hold short of the specified runway.
Syntax - AAL123 taxi [runway]
These commands are only used by arrival aircraft.
Aliases - e
Information - Informs the aircraft of the runway they should expect for landing. This is useful in cases where their route is sensitive to their runway assignment. In cases where their STAR says to follow a different series of waypoints dependent upon their runway, we can use this command to have an aircraft follow the desired branch of the STAR toward the desired runway.
Syntax - AAL123 e [runway]
Aliases - dvs
Information - Authorizes the aircraft to descend in accordance with the STAR that is currently in their flightplan. They will descend to the lowest altitude required by the STAR, and after no further altitude and/or speed restrictions are listed, will maintain their altitude and speed until receiving further instructions from ATC. Optionally, an altitude may be specified to dictate the altitude to be descended to.
Syntax - AAL123 dvs or AAL123 dvs [alt]
Aliases - ils / i / *
Hotkey - numpad *
Information - This command clears for an ILS approach to a runway. The aircraft will continue on its assigned heading until intercepting the localizer, and then automatically follow the runway centerline inbound, descending along the glideslope and land.
Note: This replaces the old land / l command.
Syntax - AAL123 i [runway]
These commands allow you to manipulate the route in the aircraft's FMS.
Aliases - f / fix / track
Syntax - AAL123 f [fixname]
This command has been deprecated
Aliases - hold
Information - This command instructs the aircraft to enter a holding pattern over a specified fix until further notice. (If no fix is provided, it is intended that the aircraft should hold over their present position, but this is currently not implemented.)
By default, the aircraft will fly a standard holding pattern, i.e. right turns, 1 minute legs, and using the reciprocal bearing to the fix as the outbound radial. You may override this by specifying any of: the direction of the hold (left/right), the leg length (either in minutes or nautical miles), and/or the heading for the outbound radial.
Parameters -
Specify the the fix to hold over with simply [fixname].
Optionally, you may also specify:
- the direction of turns during the hold with
left,l,right, orr - the leg length, either as
[time]minor[distance]nm - the
radial(a 3-digit course, eg. 001 to 360) which defines the outbound leg.
Any combination of these arguments provided in any order is acceptable, as long
as the command hold comes first.
To clear the aircraft out of the hold, you can use the exithold command below,
clear it direct to a fix, or assign it a new heading.
Syntax - AAL123 hold [fixname] [left|l|right|r] [leg_time]min|[leg_dist]nm [radial] or AAL123 hold
Aliases - cancelhold continue exithold nohold xh
Information - This command instructs the aircraft to leave a holding pattern and resume its flight plan.
Parameters - Optionally, you may specify the fix at which to cancel the hold,
by specifying the fix at the end of the command: AAL123 cancelhold [fixname].
This can be useful if multiple holds exist.
If no fix is specified, and the aircraft is currently in a holding pattern, it will exit from the current hold. Otherwise, the very next hold that the aircraft will encounter on its existing flight plan will be cancelled.
Syntax - AAL123 continue or AAL123 xh BOTON
Aliases - direct / pd / dct
Information - This command instructs the aircraft to go direct to a navigational fix, taking a shortcut. For example, if an aircraft is flying to fixes [A, B, C, D, E, F], issuing the command "pd D" will cause the aircraft to go to D, then E. After flying past the last fix, the aircraft will switch to heading mode and fly their present heading.
Syntax - AAL123 pd [fixname]
Aliases - route
Information - This command instructs aircraft to follow a user-provided "route", typically
one that is along an airway, approach, SID, STAR, other published procedure,
or a series of fixes. This is similar to the reroute/rr command, but this
command will allow you to "insert" a route that connects with the route
they're currently flying. Note that the route uses dot format:
Note: Input data needs to be provided with single dots connecting all procedurally-linked points (eg KSFO.OFFSH9.SXC or SGD.V87.MOVER), and all other points that will be simply a fix direct to another fix need to be connected with double-dots (eg HLI..SQS..BERRA..JAN..KJAN).
An example would be if an aircraft filed to take a particular airway, and
you needed them to take a different one. Additionally, if the current route
and the user-provided route share a common point, the routes are considered
to have "continuity", and the FMS will remove the intermediate fixes. This
is demonstrated below:
Current Route: BAM..CUTVA..LLC..FMG..BINNZ..HETUX..CHOIR..NEWPI..LKV.HAWKZ4.KSEA
Command run: AAL123 route FESKO..RUFUS..CHOIR
Resulting route: FESKO..RUFUS..CHOIR..NEWPI..LKV.HAWKZ4.KSEA
Thus, since the routes have continuity at CHOIR, we are able to give shortcuts and/or
route extensions without needing to restate the whole route, as with the rr command.
In the case of the above example, the aircraft would immediately turn direct to FESKO,
join the specified route to CHOIR, and continue via last routing cleared.
Partial Route Example: WHITE.J209.ORF or FESKO..RUFUS..CHOIR or KSEA.MTN7.ELN..HAMUR.J12.DNJ
Syntax - AAL123 route [route]
Aliases - reroute, rr
Information - This command allows you to wipe out the aircraft's current
route, and assign a new route of your choosing. This is similar to the route
command, but this command will allow you to change the entire route, while the
other is meant for specifying a route to follow to join a later point in the
aircraft's flight plan. Note that the route uses dot format:
Note: Input data needs to be provided with single dots connecting all procedurally- linked points (eg KSFO.OFFSH9.SXC or SGD.V87.MOVER), and all other points that will be simply a fix direct to another fix need to be connected with double-dots (eg HLI..SQS..BERRA..JAN..KJAN).
Full Route Example: KSEA.HAROB5.ERAVE.Q1.ETCHY..MLBEC.BDEGA2.KSFO
Syntax - AAL123 rr [route]
Aliases - sid
Information - This command tells the specified plane a standard instrument departure route (SID) it should follow. Each SID is a list of fixes to be flown in sequence. Having a standardized route often helps organize departing traffic, and maintain separation from arriving aircraft.
Syntax - AAL123 sid [SID name]
Aliases - star
Information - This command tells the plane to add or change their filed
Standard Terminal Arrival Route to match the route you specify. This must be
entered in dotted format, and include the point where the STAR is joined, as
well as the destination airport, for example: MLP.GLASR9.KSEA. See the section
on rerouting for further detail.
Syntax - AAL123 star [transition].[STAR name].[airport]
These commands control the three most basic ways we can control aircraft, collectively called the "basic control instructions" of air traffic control.
Aliases - climb / c / descend / d / altitude / a
Hotkeys - up arrow / down arrow (if "Control Method" setting = "Arrow Keys")
Information - This command tells the specified plane the altitude, in hundreds of feet (flight levels), it should travel to. This means that when writing altitudes you would drop the last two zeros. For example, 3,000ft = "30", 8,300ft = "83", 10,000ft = "100", and FL180 (18,000ft) = "180". Airplanes will not descend below 1000 feet nor the minimum safe altitude (unless locked on ILS).
Altitude also accepts an expedite or ex argument which can be used as the last item in the command.
Syntax - AAL123 c [alt] or AAL123 c [alt] ex
Aliases - fph
Information - This command has the aircraft fly straight ahead, regardless of assigned routing.
Syntax - AAL123 fph
Aliases - heading / h / turn / t / fh
Hotkeys - left arrow / right arrow (if "Control Method" setting = "Arrow Keys")
Information - This command tells the aircraft the target heading to fly towards: up (north) is 360, right (east) is 090, down (south) is 180, and left (west) is 270. Of course you can use any angle in between these as well. If the heading is set before takeoff, the aircraft will turn to that heading after takeoff.
The target heading is specified by a three digit heading. You can force the
aircraft to reach the heading by turning left or right by inserting left,
l, right, or r before the new heading, as demonstrated below.
Alternatively, you can instruct an aircraft to turn from its current heading by a given angle by specifying the direction of turn with the heading change as a one or two digit number of degrees.
Syntax - AAL123 fh [hdg] or AAL123 (rightarrow) [hdg] or AAL123 t r 270 (target heading) or AAL123 t r 45 (heading change)
Aliases - speed / slow / sp / + / -
Hotkeys - numpad + / numpad -
Information - This command sets the target speed; aircraft will stay within their safe speeds if you tell them to fly faster or slower than they are able to. It takes some time to increase and reduce speed. Remember that speed assignments are given in indicated airspeed, whereas our scope can only display groundspeed.
Syntax - AAL123 - [spd] or AAL123 + [spd]
These commands are used to give instructions which pilots are free to determine how to operate the airplane, as long as they comply with the restrictions given.
Aliases - cross, cr, x
Information - This command has the aircraft cross a specified point along their route at a specified altitude and/or speed. The altitude must be entered in hundreds of feet (eg 130 for 13,000 feet). The speed should be entered in knots (eg 210 for 210 knots).
Syntax - AAL123 x aubrn a[alt] s[spd]
These commands are used to ask the aircraft some basic questions.
Aliases - sa
Information - This command reads back the aircraft's current altitude.
Syntax - AAL123 sa
Aliases - saa
Information - This command reads back the aircraft's assigned altitude.
Syntax - AAL123 saa
Aliases - sh
Information - This command reads back the aircraft's current heading, in degrees.
Syntax - AAL123 sh
Aliases - sah
Information - This command reads back the aircraft's assigned heading, in degrees.
Syntax - AAL123 sah
Aliases - si
Information - This command reads back the aircraft's indicated airspeed (IAS), in knots.
Syntax - AAL123 si
Aliases - sas
Information - This aircraft reads back the aircraft's assigned speed, in knots (IAS).
Syntax - AAL123 sas
All other commands are listed below.
Aliases - abort
Information - Instructs the aircraft to abort the current operation.
Currently, only landings, taxiing, and fix navigation can be aborted.
Syntax - AAL123 abort
This command has been deprecated
Aliases - sq
Information - This command tells an aircraft to set its transponder code, or "squawk" a four-digit number, from 0000 to 7777. These codes uniquely identify each plane to the air traffic controller. Certain codes have special significance, such as 0033: Paradrop in progress or 1200: VFR. Currently the squawk is purely cosmetic, though it will be important for features planned in the future.
Parameters - A four digit number. Each number must be between 0 and 7, inclusive. For example, 0736 is a valid squawk, 9416 is not.
Syntax - AAL123 squawk ###
openScope has a number of commands that do not change simulation mechanics, known as system commands. While most are able to be executed via various menus, they can be entered in the command bar if one so desires.
Information - Changes the current airport to the one specified.
Parameters - The ICAO (four-letter) code of the desired airport.
Syntax - airport [ICAO]
Information - Pauses the simulation. Click anywhere to resume.
Syntax - pause
Information - Sets the rate at which time passes, normal is 1. While the time warp button can only set the rate to 1, 2, or 5, the command accepts any number.
Parameters - A number to multiply the rate at which time passes. 1 resets to normal time.
Syntax - timewarp [rate]
Information - Opens the tutorial.
Syntax - tutorial