VATSIM.net

I understand that there is no point in tying up bandwidth while on an extended flight where there is no control en route. My question is: How long is an extended flight, and if I do disconnect, at what point do I re-connect in order to not cause problems to controllers and other pilots?

You can stay online as long as you can be reached if someone contacts you (Like ATC). There is no point disconnected because there is no ATC, just self announce on UNICOM.

Or just squawk 7600... that's what I usually do in an extended flight when I fear the ATC popping up en route.

You can't be serious...

Isn't there a rule preventing this? I must admit, an excellent idea though!

Hi Ray,

As Daniel said, once you can be contacted, there is no problem whatsoever with remaining connected to VATSIM.

If you need to step away you can leave your connection unattended for a maximum of 30mins, within reason.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!
Paul.

There is.

CoC B8

"..Pilots are not permitted to simulate a “Radio Failureâ€

Ray: The general rule is if you are not planning on "attending your connection" (i.e. being in front of your computer for your flight), you should disconnect. The hard rule is that if you step away and are unresponsive for 30 minutes, a network Supervisor can remove you. The Supervisor is not required to wait 30 minutes if you are unresponsive in controlled airspace or are interfering with ATC or other pilots. It's really a common sense rule. If you aren't going to be flying and otherwise enjoying what VATSIM offers, then please don't use our limited resources and log off.



There is.

CoC B8

"..Pilots are not permitted to simulate a “Radio Failureâ€

[quote="George Marinakis 800006"]
[quote]
There is.

CoC B8

"..Pilots are not permitted to simulate a “Radio Failureâ€

That 7600 thing sounds irresponsible to me. 7600 is for when radios aren't working. Walking away from your computer, or minimizing Flight Sim, or going to the bathroom, or making dinner, or whatever doesn't qualify as that. You're voluntarily leaving Flight Sim/Squawkbox/FSInn, not having a "radio failure"...so 7600 shouldn't be used. All you have to do is follow the 30 minute rule, and that's it. You can put a message in your remarks or whatever, but squawking 7600 sounds not right.

If you have radio failure remember that we are virtual, we still have the use of the keyboard . And if you're unable to communicate on the frequency, there's always private messages.
You should disconnect if you know you are going to be away longer than 30 minutes. Personally I disconnect if I know I will be away for 15mins if I know could turn into longer.

To answer Ray's original question, you should just stay connected unless you will be away from your computer longer than 30mins.

Please don't come through my airspace doing that... or you'll get the fastest wallop/kick vatsim has ever seen...

[Mod.: Post removed. This is out of line Mr. Lawrence and completely off topic to boot. -GSM (800006)].

Mat,

Come on. There's no need for that. Trying to making fun of him is downright disrespectful and tant amount to verbal bullying. Don't go down that road.

Cheers!
Paul.

Another 2 cents: believe it or not, legit radio failures CAN happen on the network. I know because it happened to me.

Ever since reinstalling Windows, FSInn has been slightly unstable. About a month ago, I took off from my airport of origin with all systems working. After flying to several other airports to shoot practice approaches, I returned to my departure point. I called in to the approach controller and was given vectors. At that point the chat function of FSInn crashed. Approximately 30 seconds later, the approach controller handed me to the tower controller. When I went to respond.... you guessed it... voice would not work. I could tune radios and listen, but not transmit. So, there I was... no voice, no chat. NORDO. I squawked 7600 and switched to the tower controller. He had a couple of aircraft about to depart and told them to 'hold short for an aircraft inboud with an apparent radio failure'. I tried squawking Ident to let him know I could hear him. The landing went unevetfully and I was able to reestablish chat by restarting FSInn (voice never did come back). I believe the malfunctioning chat module was intercepting my keystrokes, thus preventing voice transmit.

I always though the NORDO things was just 'kids looking for some action', but my experience proves otherwise.