Mark Dodds 1387941 Posted April 9, 2017 at 04:54 AM Posted April 9, 2017 at 04:54 AM First time jitters? Understatement! I just joined the network as a member and am still trying to learn the basics prior to connecting for an actual flight. It just seems so daunting of a task to even get to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernesto Alvarez 818262 Posted April 9, 2017 at 06:25 AM Posted April 9, 2017 at 06:25 AM its mostly cause everyone tries and start with too much. there is a reason why real world pilots train in steps, its simply overkill to try and tackle it all at once. which is why i recommend start small. learn basics (VFR flight, maneuvering, flying with ATC) then jump into the tubeliners, youll be much more prepared. things happen way too quickly in jets which doesnt help you any better figure stuff out trying to keep up. plenty of resources available both on the network and around the net to help you get goin. many of the same training material used by real world student pilots are available online, including the training videos which you can find on youtube. highly recommend the videos by king schools and mzeroa.com thats at least for the US. for Europe and other parts of the world, things seem to get scattered. (if anyone can point to some videos for ICAO training itd be great! id personally like to see some as im very comfortable flying in the US VFR or IFR now having real world experience, but id like to compare if im doing it right, especially VFR, when in ICAO land) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Royal 1389755 Posted May 21, 2017 at 12:36 PM Posted May 21, 2017 at 12:36 PM Well, after my first 2 weeks on Vatsim my heart races now everytime I connect. I have been flight simming on fsx for close to 10 years and considered myself quite proficient flying the PMDG B-737-NGX and could quite easily handle flight plans, AI ATC, programming the FMC, but as soon as I tried my hand at this everything went belly up. In all those years even with or without a check list, I never forgot to set the flaps to 5 or set the climb rate, or turn on the sqawk control button, or turn on the landing lights at decision height....it goes on & I feel so embarr[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ed when things like that happen. Tonight while on a flight I really messed up the Visual landing big time & came in hot at just over 200knots. Threw out all the anchors but ran out of RWY. What fazed me was after departing a large airport Departure text me to use the Unicom freq. as there was no control centre available. Before I changed over he came back with a request to change to a new freq. as he had obviously decided to control the in & outbound flights. After giving height directions to myself and others I flew on for about 15 mins without hearing any calls to myself, so I [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umed I was beyond his control area and changed to Unicom. The airport as my destination had no Approach or Tower controllers only ATIS & from the METAR details I concluded the approach to the ILS runway available and could be entered into the FMC. After a while the ATIS recommended runway suddenly changed to the opposite one with the wind direction doing a 180deg (not according to the METAR). Then the freq suddenly came alive with the controller from the departure airport. He was obviously miffed that I had changed to Unicom without his approval and then I received a text message from Vatsim telling me how I had broken the rules. Told to change to another freq for the Tower controller at the Arrival airport after I was instructed to go into a holding pattern quite some distance away. Had to forget the ILS approach and was directed to the "current" RWY for a visual approach and from there I was so nervous I botched the landing. Now I realize that ATC controllers are only doing their job but wow was that a nail biting moment. All I can say is where is the co pilot when you can use him Live & learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Shearman Jr Posted May 21, 2017 at 01:15 PM Posted May 21, 2017 at 01:15 PM I flew on for about 15 mins without hearing any calls to myself, so I [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umed I was beyond his control area and changed to Unicom. If you're about to exit someone's area, or even if an area's about to go offline, the controller will almost always "hand you off" to the advisories frequency. One difference between FSX and VATSIM ATC is that not all the calls are for you. Especially when flying an RNAV procedure, there may not be a whole lot of interaction needed. It's a good time to listen to others' exchanges and anticipate what you're going to get next. All in all, don't fret. Joining VATSIM, I had the same experience you did -- went from knowing everything to knowing nothing, all within a handful of mouse clicks. Don't get discouraged; laugh about the errors instead of anguishing over them. But most of all, learn from them. The more you do it, the quicker you'll become an old pro. Cheers, -R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Royal 1389755 Posted May 22, 2017 at 01:22 AM Posted May 22, 2017 at 01:22 AM If you're about to exit someone's area, or even if an area's about to go offline, the controller will almost always "hand you off" to the advisories frequency. Thanks for the encouragement Robert, I will keep plodding along & today I re-flew the route off line (c/- FSUCIP saves) & ironed out a lot of bugs I had created for myself including faithfully doing the checklists. What threw me when I was online last night was I observed on VATSPY where the control area was highlighted to the East of the airport & not to the west where there were a number of us in the air. None of them were receiving instructions with all control going to east bound & inbound traffic. So I mistakenly thought I should change to UNICOM..........mea culpa. Again thanks for your good advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnus Meese Posted May 22, 2017 at 03:30 AM Posted May 22, 2017 at 03:30 AM Even veterans make the mistake of thinking VatSpy or similar software is anything more than a hint of what's going on. Boundaries change, sectors are formed and disbanded, shortcuts are made to accommodate the world of simulation. There're no official monitoring software, in other words there are none that can be trusted. Check your controllers Controller Info. If it's not informative enough, shoot a PM and ask. The most interesting thing I've encountered on this front is people actually tuning my ATIS for an airport (while I'm manning CTR), then departing on unicom because their VatSpy had the wrong lines drawn in. Oh my. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Royal 1389755 Posted May 22, 2017 at 08:58 AM Posted May 22, 2017 at 08:58 AM What happened tonight really had me scratching my head. Decided to file a plan between 2 airports that had no controllers just so I could have an easy time of it & to accomeulate some Vatsim hours. Everything went well from startup to taxiing, takeoff & departure. I was feeling quite pleased with myself. Then up comes the following on vPilot :- I couldn't figure why I was being disconnected as I was texting on Unicom (yes I know the FL700 was wrong but I'm a rotten typist). After I closed everything down I then noticed my VNP server had disconnected. Can I [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ume that was the cause of the disconnection & not a blunder on my part? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dace Nicmane Posted May 22, 2017 at 10:05 AM Posted May 22, 2017 at 10:05 AM It was a network error as it says. A supervisor wouldn't disconnect you without first talking to you, and certainly not for a typo on unicom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Royal 1389755 Posted May 22, 2017 at 11:06 AM Posted May 22, 2017 at 11:06 AM Thanks for the quick response. Whew! Because of my lack of experience I had a warning the night before about staying on frequency & was worried about another infringement getting me banned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Atanasova 1394780 Posted June 19, 2017 at 08:04 AM Posted June 19, 2017 at 08:04 AM I flew my first on Vatsim this evening. I was so nervous but did pretty okay, except for the fact that my flight plan was wrong. I also had a pretty bad landing at -604 fpm. But hey, I had fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dace Nicmane Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:21 PM Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:21 PM I also had a pretty bad landing at -604 fpm. It could be worse than this. Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Shearman Jr Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:31 PM Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:31 PM (edited) I also had a pretty bad landing at -604 fpm. It could be worse than this. Additionally, controllers can't tell what your landing rate at impact was, since their scopes update only once every few seconds. They'll pick up any substantial deviations from route or approach, but if a hard hit was your worst infraction, call it a success, & rest [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ured that you (& your VA admins, if it's an auto-reporting ACARS) are the only ones who know differently. Edited June 19, 2017 at 01:36 PM by Guest Cheers, -R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Shearman Jr Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:32 PM Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:32 PM (accidental double-post removed) Cheers, -R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dace Nicmane Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:58 PM Posted June 19, 2017 at 01:58 PM I hear a lot of controllers now use tower view in addition to the scope... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thimo Koolen Posted June 19, 2017 at 04:21 PM Posted June 19, 2017 at 04:21 PM If I'm correct, Tower view has the movements mostly interpolated; lots of math. If I watch a plane take off in the tower, it suddenly goes up. The math just guesses where the plane would be in the next frame based on what it did in the updates before. So no, we wouldn't be able to see. ACCNL4 (Training Director) - Dutch VACC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Atanasova 1394780 Posted June 19, 2017 at 06:09 PM Posted June 19, 2017 at 06:09 PM I also had a pretty bad landing at -604 fpm. It could be worse than this. Welcome! Tell that to my p[Mod - Happy Thoughts]engers! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dace Nicmane Posted June 19, 2017 at 09:03 PM Posted June 19, 2017 at 09:03 PM If I'm correct, Tower view has the movements mostly interpolated; lots of math. If I watch a plane take off in the tower, it suddenly goes up. The math just guesses where the plane would be in the next frame based on what it did in the updates before. So no, we wouldn't be able to see. It's the same as how we see other planes in a simulator, isn't it? (btw, I was still thinking about those "worse" scenarios when I wrote about tower view ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thimo Koolen Posted June 20, 2017 at 02:50 PM Posted June 20, 2017 at 02:50 PM It's like the same, yes. ACCNL4 (Training Director) - Dutch VACC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Shearer 1031764 Posted July 9, 2017 at 10:56 PM Posted July 9, 2017 at 10:56 PM Well, i had a couple of flights the weekend that were a nightmare. first flight, i filed a flight plan but ATC couldn't see it - was able to retrieve it but as i couldn't file a new one whilst in game i was kinda stuck... Flew again tonight, filed flight plan from glasgow to edinburgh and despite initially heading to the wrong end of the taxiway i managed to find my way to the right hold point and took off. One thing that confused me, i was flying VFR in a Baron 58 and the controller asked me to report when in edinburgh zone - likely i hadn't prepped as i didn't know where that started. Anyways, gets to edinburgh and asked to join RIGHT downwind for runway 24 which i got wrong and joined left... got completely flustered and ended up on final for wrong runway. ATC was kind enough to clear to land but i felt sooo stupid. At the moment, I'm text only and i don't think that helps as very hard to type while flying. I get how to depart but not sure when to contact the target airport town etc etc more practice I guess but what would be really good is nominated departure and arrival airport for newbies in non jetliners so that there can be some practice without the risk of screwing up completely and getting a "yellow" card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William McCulley 1374674 Posted August 29, 2017 at 04:32 PM Posted August 29, 2017 at 04:32 PM My first flight was almost a year ago I join vatsim and after many hours use XP default ATC I felt I knew how VATSIM worked... NOPE did not know how to file a flight plan really made LGA GND mad went over to KSFO in my Beechcraft BE58 tower was on and help me start on VFR I request a VFR City tour (I knew nothing) I taxi out to runway 10L I get T/O clearance and I takeoff... Then I hit a bird Why X-plane so I fly a traffic pattern and land without any issues The tower and GND controllers were great thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgi Bonchin 1394205 Posted November 7, 2017 at 06:15 AM Posted November 7, 2017 at 06:15 AM Hi Guys, This is maybe my first post here, no matter that I am using VATSIM for some time. However and in order to prevent a bann from the network, I would like to ask 2 questions in general: 1. I am using Vpilot for communication and am facing lots of issues during voice communication with a Controller. Sound is breaking, fades, disappears, etc. which in most of the cases results in misunderstanding. Tried texting only, but it is quite difficult as many of you may know. Is there any solution for such situations? 2. Where can I ask a general question about the usage of this forum? The section FAQ has no option for posting. Thank you! Regards: Georgi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Nessen 1116069 Posted November 10, 2017 at 06:57 PM Posted November 10, 2017 at 06:57 PM I'm back after being away for 3 years. I am just as nervous as I was the very first time I flew on the network. I am sure it will eventually p[Mod - Happy Thoughts]! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Munoz 1092390 Posted November 22, 2017 at 06:05 PM Posted November 22, 2017 at 06:05 PM Hello everyone, greetings from Guatemala, all do I had signed for VATSIM I think since 2009, I had been on and off but this time the plan is to stay active, so I'm a total newbie here so I guess it counts for. I look forward to meet you all here on the forums and as well on VATSIM. Juan Guatemala (MGGT - GUA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcus holmes Posted November 22, 2017 at 09:13 PM Posted November 22, 2017 at 09:13 PM Hello everyone, greetings from Guatemala, all do I had signed for VATSIM I think since 2009, I had been on and off but this time the plan is to stay active, so I'm a total newbie here so I guess it counts for. I look forward to meet you all here on the forums and as well on VATSIM. Welcome back to Vatsim Juan, looking forward to seeing you in the virtual skies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Munoz 1092390 Posted November 22, 2017 at 09:28 PM Posted November 22, 2017 at 09:28 PM Hello everyone, greetings from Guatemala, all do I had signed for VATSIM I think since 2009, I had been on and off but this time the plan is to stay active, so I'm a total newbie here so I guess it counts for. I look forward to meet you all here on the forums and as well on VATSIM. Welcome back to Vatsim Juan, looking forward to seeing you in the virtual skies. Hello Marcus thank you very much, I sure look forward seeing you in the friendly and virtual skies ! Juan Guatemala (MGGT - GUA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts