who would like to fly from KDFW to KORD

[Peter Rodriguez 1164452]

looking for someone who would like to instruct me in how to speak while runway, take off, on route and landing who will want to flight ahead of me ?

 

plane airbus A380

KDFW- WIND CLEAR SKY

[Charan Kumar]

Hi Peter,

 

even if someone decided to fly with you, what would you do if there is no ATC? I suggest you fly another flight, a short IFR flight between two airports where there is ATC and then try to apply to this. If ATC is there, you will also hear them talking to other pilots, so you can pick and follow one of them.

 

Additionally, you can go to this page where there is training material. look at the ratings like and particularly I-05. That is a short IFR flight with full transcript of the flight, so you can pick up from there. Or fly that flight and then try to apply that for your DFW-ORD flight.

 

And, if you would still prefer the lead flight, post a general timing of availability so the ppl who fly around that time can reply.

 

Cheers and good luck

[Peter Rodriguez 1164452]

ok you lead a shorter flight would be amazing i just need to get more experience in speaking to ATC and stuff like that i have practice landing on a380 more than 80 times with perfect landing and take off i just want to make it more realistic what sort of flight ? from kdfw to houston?

[Stephen Richey 985064]

ok you lead a shorter flight would be amazing i just need to get more experience in speaking to ATC and stuff like that i have practice landing on a380 more than 80 times with perfect landing and take off i just want to make it more realistic what sort of flight ? from kdfw to houston?

Two pieces of advice:

1. A shorter flight will get you more contact with ATC. Cruise flight doesn't involve talking to ATC all that much on VATSIM since we don't generally carve up center coverage into sectors.

2. Use something other than the A380. Start with something small and slow for learning like the Cessna 172 or even the Mooney M20. Otherwise you will run into problems trying to aviate, navigate and communicate (remember, it's in that order) in a fast, heavy and complicated aircraft. There's a reason (beyond expense) why people learn to fly in small planes before moving on to progressively larger and more complex aircraft. You are not doing yourself any favors by starting out "at the top", if you want to look at it that way.

[Daniel Churchman 1050104]

looking for someone who would like to instruct me in how to speak while runway, take off, on route and landing who will want to flight ahead of me ?

 

plane airbus A380

KDFW- WIND CLEAR SKY

Peter, if you are truly comfortable with the A380, then go for it. On the other hand...

2. Use something other than the A380. Start with something small and slow for learning like the Cessna 172 or even the Mooney M20. Otherwise you will run into problems trying to aviate, navigate and communicate (remember, it's in that order) in a fast, heavy and complicated aircraft. There's a reason (beyond expense) why people learn to fly in small planes before moving on to progressively larger and more complex aircraft. You are not doing yourself any favors by starting out "at the top", if you want to look at it that way.

While I do not automatically agree with this view point, he has a good point *IF* you are less than completely comfortable flying the A380. I include operation of the FMC as well. You MUST know how to use all of this quickly and efficiently, otherwise trying to learn ATC operations AND figure out how to go DIRECT to some fix at some speed and some altitude while in busy airspace is not a good idea. You'll find yourself still trying to set your systems to fly the previous set of instructions while ATC is giving you a new set. Next thing, he's asking you why you haven't changed course yet, do you think you can make the [Mod - Happy Thoughts]igned crossing altitude....

 

It can all turn into panic for you very fast if you overload yourself.

 

If you are NOT fairly comfortable with the A380 and its FMC and autopilot, I recommend you learn before jumping into controlled airspace.

 

If you do know your aircraft well, a good starting point would be to find somewhere that isn't heavy with aircraft but shows some ATC online. Approach or Center servicing an airport with little or no traffic is a good choice. Use something like ServInfo or VatSpy to find a suitable location.

 

Once you get comfortable with this, pick busier areas. When you think you have it nailed down, KLAS - KLAX during heavy traffic will test you. You have a lot of stuff to ensure you set correctly in your FMC, you are going to need to be familiar with the SID out of KLAS and the STAR into KLAX; and I do mean familiar - when things are busy you must maintain situational awareness at all times, and that's hard to do if you don't know exactly where you are in relation to your own flight plan. You will frequently not fly your posted flight plan because ATC will often give you differing directions.

 

When it all comes together, it can be a hoot.

 

And Peter, EVERYONE makes mistakes. EVERYONE has a first time, and over and over I hear people talk about their nerves the first time you try to key up to talk to ATC. It will p[Mod - Happy Thoughts], and it will become fun to do. You will make mistakes; that's ok. Most ATC understand and will try to accommodate you. And if not, well, maybe try a quieter area next time and build a little more confidence.

 

Finally, I highly recommend the ZLA pilot certification courses. This is a more traditional approach, and starts you at VFR tasks in a small prop, and takes you through to the IFR procedures every commercial pilot needs. These guys have put a lot of thought into these courses, and everything builds towards helping you understand what is going on "up there". Back in my first days online, the hardest thing I found was understanding what ATC told me to do. A lot of this was because I did not know the "lingo".

 

For example, if you are flying IFR, getting very close to the airport, ATC might instruct you to fly a certain heading, maintain a certain altitude until established on the localizer in preparation for an ILS approach. This is pretty common. When they fire of the instructions really fast, however, and you are not familiar with this routine, you sit there thinking, "What the heck did he just say? What language is he speaking?". If on the other hand you are expecting this kind of clearance, you suddenly discover that that rapid fire set of instructions was meaningful - you glean the altitude, the heading, the approach clearance, the runway verification - because you are expecting those pieces of information. Your mind has a framework sitting waiting for that data. It makes sense, and you wonder why you had so much trouble before. Well, scratch that last part, I know why I used to have trouble - ATC can sound like auctioneers or horse race announcers at times.

 

Good luck Peter. There is a learning curve - nothing can be done about that, but it is well worth working through.

[Stephen Richey 985064]

If you are NOT fairly comfortable with the A380 and its FMC and autopilot, I recommend you learn before jumping into controlled airspace.

 

99.9% of pilots, both VATSIM and RW, are not nearly as proficient as they think they are. This includes myself...I still have an "Oh ****" moment whenever I have a failure or something otherwise unexpected happens despite several thousand hours of sim time and a fair bit of RW time.

[Jody Turner 1018734]

If you are NOT fairly comfortable with the A380 and its FMC and autopilot, I recommend you learn before jumping into controlled airspace.

 

99.9% of pilots, both VATSIM and RW, are not nearly as proficient as they think they are. This includes myself...I still have an "Oh ****" moment whenever I have a failure or something otherwise unexpected happens despite several thousand hours of sim time and a fair bit of RW time.

 

Oh yes, those moments are the best. Like figuring out that you set a shortcut key on the PMDG MD-11 to the same shortcut that is used to auto shutdown your engines, and you press it just a couple hundred of feet above the ground... during an event. It will take much time to learn your aircraft. I agree that the simpler the aircraft the easier it would be to focus on ATC communications.

[Romano Lara]

There's no shortcuts to reading the manual and understanding the ATC procedures.

 

You will always have to walk before you can run. Not unless you are Stewie.

 

I'd recommend at least trying the 737 first (if you really like jets), learn how to use it's systems, auto-pilot, FMC, etc. And ALWAYS be ready for anything. If for example you are asked by the controller to track this certain radial, do you know how to do it using it's FMC, or can you do it manually?

 

But then again, if you are looking for training, you can try ZLA's Pilot Certification Program. You will never see a student pilot in the real world to jump into an A380's flight deck and fly it from DFW to ORD. That's insane.

 

Start with the small ones, familiarize yourself with the ATC procedures, read the PRC, understand the phraseology and what could they possibly mean. Once you're comfortable, move up a bit. Try longer routes, try IFR. Don't forget your charts, and all other necessary things you think you need. Remember though, charts are essential when flying IFR. And if you think you're headed for the "OH ****!" moments, try and do something to avoid it.

 

Read, practice, review, practice, read and ask. If you ask you discover, if you discover, you try. Apply the things you've learned/discover. <- Confusing?

 

Happy flying!