Requests and clearances...

Thanks to keyboard inputs you can talk to the ATC.

Affectations...
Clic Settings/Requests

1. Select the line in the list you want to change then press the key you want to use for the given request. The key you pressed must appear in the Key column.
2. WARNING!: you must use keys that are not used for any other command in X-Plane!  If not, Assume that "A" key is requesting for take-off clearance in EasyATC and is toggling gears, when you will press this key after take-off to move up gears, the pilot's voice will request for a take-off clearance!
3. Clic Save button when all affectations are done

How to request...

1. Press the key of the request
2. The ATC menu item of EasyATC is turning blue
• This means the ATC and the AIs let you talk
• I added this option for people like me who want to request by speaking and not only by pressing a key and using the pilot's synthesized voice.
3. Then, once you have spoken your request, press the Return key to actually send the request to EasyATC and get an answer... I hope...

Requests...
Awake ATC
The pilot simply announce its situation in short way. This is inspired by what it seems to be usually said in IFR when contacting the first time an approach controller. See this video.

Altitude up or down
This request consists in asking for a given number of feets to climb or descend. The pilot asks for the next waypoint expected altitude more or less the ALTITUDE_CHANGE_REQUEST_FEET value in the constants you can edit as you wish (1000 ft by default).
So, assuming you fly at 10,000 ft, and the next waypoint Altitude is 12,000 ft if you want to fly at 14,000 ft, you have to request twice: a first time to obtain 13,000 ft and a second one to be cleared o 14,000 ft.
This is not very user friendly and will be improved one day, but asking for altitude change is not something you ask every 5 minutes, so...
In some circumstances, the ATC can deny and the will ask you to maintain the expected altitude. The probability of deny can be changed with the ALTITUDE_CHANGE_REQUEST_DENIED_PROBABILITY constant. Note that you cannot change altitude within an approach

Flight
Before asking for a take-off clearance, you must request for a flight clearance. If you don't use a Taxi chart in your flight plan, the TOWER of you start airport will give you this clearance. If you have a Taxi chart, you must contact the controller of the APRON waypoint of the Taxi chart.

Guidance
The ATC gives you vectors to follow precisely the expected track. You must request again each time the controller changes. If you request Guidance whereas you are already in this mode, the ATC stops giving you vectors.
Note that the flight mode does not change. If you are lost and wants your flight to be handled til the next landing you can request for an IFR flight.

Heading left or right
Request for a new heading of a given angle offset toward the left or the right. I never use this request so it's probably buggy. Actually, the ATC inserts a new waypoint at 20 miles from the plane in the requested direction (the plane heading +/- the given angle).
The angle can be edited with the HEADING_CHANGE_REQUEST_DEGREES constant (30 degrees by default)

Landing
The pilot asks for landing instructions. Pay attention on the frequency you use! If you talk to Paris Tower while approaching Bordeaux, Paris will give you a clearance for HIS airport and not for Bordeaux... The ATC should warning in the following updates with some confirmation or whatever...

Landing pattern
This is not really a request. The pilot just says (or should say...) the appropriate Traffic pattern speech.

IFR
If you are flying in VFR, the pilot will request for IFR flight. This option can be used like in real life if you had a wrong timing in your flight and night falls before you reach your airfield, or if you feel lost and want to be vectored by the ATC.
If you fly IFR, the IFR flight will be cancelled and you will be in VFR mode.

Readback
The pilot readback the last ATC message he received. If you want to handle the readback by yourself, make sure the Pilot auto-readback option is disabled (Settings/Pilot's readback).

Repeat
The pilot asks the ATC to repeat its last message.

Report
The pilot says the current state and position of the plane. Use this request (not a request actually, but well...) to report after the ATC has previously asked for a "report over...". After report, the ATC is supposed to validate the next flight segment even if you don't trigger the waypoint.

Runway vacated
For coming 2.3 version...
After landing, you can make the pilot announcing the runway vacation. The ATC will then answer to contact ground if a Taxi chart is available or to taxi to general aviation apron if no Taxi chart is available.

Say again
The ATC repeats exactly the last speech

Speed up or down
Same comments than Altitude up or down. The constant is SPEED_CHANGE_REQUEST_KNOTS.

Take-off
The pilot asks for a take-off clearance. You must contact the ATC of  the airport waypoint in the flight plan to be cleared for take-off

Taxi
The pilot asks for a taxi clearance from the apron to the expected holding short point. If there is a taxi chart in the flight plan, you must contact the ATC of  the GROUND waypoint(s) to be cleared for the flight. If no taxi chart, any of the airport ATCs (Tower, Departure, Center...) will deliver the flight clearance.

Top-of-descent
The pilot announces he is starting the descent. You don't need to use this request since I added this just to make communication with ATC more realistic: in IFR, the pilots do this, usually. It's a sort of IFR report position in a way.

Transit in
The pilots reports the plane situation and asks for a transit. This is the best and more realistic way to awake the ATC when approaching a controlled area (but any of the other requests can awake the controllers!). Note that if you fly VFR, and you want to land, you should use the Landing request. With the Transit in request, the ATC will just allow you to fly over the airport.

Transit out
The pilots says that he leaves the controlled area. The ATC gives the next frequency and says goodbye. If you are too far from the next waypoint where the frequency changes, the ATC should not approve the transit out and ask you to call later. If you were flying in VFR special you should now be VFR.

Weather
The pilot asks for a weather information update. At this stage the ATC gives the wind direction and speed, the QNH and in some cases the transition altitude and/or the the transition level .

Traffic patterns...

When flying VFR, after having requested instructions for landing to the Tower ATC, or announced your landing in Unicom, you can use the Landing Pattern request (not a request actually but it works the same way than the requests (by pressing the appropriate key on your keyboard)).
The Landing pattern command makes the pilot announce the appropriate landing pattern state among the following...

Entry...

• To hear the pilot saying "entering...", your altitude MUST be 1500 ft or more ABOVE the airfield altitude (so don't forget to indicate the altitude of the airfield in the filght plan).
• If you fly on the downwind left hand side of the runway, the pilot will say "entering left hand". He will say "entering right hand" if you approach from the other side.
• If you fly BELOW this limit, EasyATC will consider you have entered the traffic pattern and the pilot will say one of the followings...

Pattern...

Crosswind

"Crosswind left hand" if your heading is close to 90° from the runway landing heading AND the airport is between 9 and about 11 o'clock. I let you guess for the right hand...

Downwind

"Downwind left hand" if your heading is close to 180° from the runway landing heading AND the airport is between about 7 and 11 o'clock.

Base leg

"Base leg" if your heading is close to -90° from the runway landing heading AND the airport is between about 9 and 11 o'clock.

Final

"Long final" if your heading is close to 0° from the runway landing heading AND the airport is between about 10 and 2 o'clock AND you are at more than 5 miles from the airfield.

"Short final" if you are closer.

Why my requests are not said nor displayed?

• Make sure the EasyATC/Preferences/Commands.txt file exists, is not corrupted and all the commands you want to use have a valid value (not equal to -1)
• If you can read the requests inthe Message box but you don't hear them, check that the Pilot's voice is not disabled.
• Note that the pilot's automatic readback can be enabled/disabled. If disabled, you need to press a key to readback.

Why the ATC is not clearing me to land?

• Make sure you are landing in the right direction. Ask a landing clearance if needed and pay attention on the runway heading. Depending on the wind direction, the take-off runway can be different from the planned runway.
• The ATC says the clearance:
• You just have triggered a FAF or a MAPT waypoint (IFR stuff)
• If not, when the distance from your plane to the airport is lower than about 2.5 miles (actually, it depends on the triggers min, max, and minimum for airport Constants)

Why the ATC is not clearing me to take-off?

• Have a look on how the radio comunications are handled in EasyATC
• First, there is two clearances before starting a flight: a flight clearance and a take-off clearance. If you have a taxi chart, see the Taxi chart article for how requesting flight, taxi and take-off.
• First of all, make sure you have asked for a flight clearance. If you don't use any Taxi chart, you must ask this flight clearance to the ATC of the airport you are on (usually a Tower). If you use a Taxi chart for this airport, you must ask the flight clearance to the APRON waypoint.
• Check that you are using the right runway! Ask a take-off clearance and pay attention on the runway heading the ATC gives. Depending on the wind direction, the take-off runway can be different from the planned runway.
• If you are not using a taxi chart, you must be on the right side of the expected runway with the same heading (+/- about 10 degrees). Make sure the coordinates of the airport are as close as possible to the middle of the runway you want to take-off from: to know if you are ready for take-off, EasyATC processes the coordinates and heading of your plane with the coordinates of the airport and the heading of the expected take-off runway. 
• If you have a taxi clearance (see Taxi chart section), make sure you are within the trigger limit of the taxi waypoint (0.1 Nm by default, this value is displayed in the Debug text)
• You must trigger the airport
• You must talk to the appropriate ATC: any ATC that have the same CallSign that the aiport. For example if you take-off from Lima, you must contact a Lima ATC (Lima Tower or Lima Approach or Lima Departure). Note that Centers and FIS don't deliver take-off clearance.
• Finally, if you cannot have a take-off clearance, you can take-off and do a transit-in clearance after take-off (wait 10 seconds after leaving the ground to make sure the ATC is informed by X-Plane that you are now flying): everything should become normal for the rest of your flight. Don't hesitate to post your flight plan on the EasyATC forums so that I can found where the issue comes from.