Phill Morgan 1299933 Posted August 23, 2014 at 07:05 AM Posted August 23, 2014 at 07:05 AM Ok so I had my first VATSIM flight last night, and thought I'd share my own stupidity, and find if anyone else had disastrous first flights. I decided to fly a route from Heathrow to Poland in the fs2004 default 737 (my add-on fleet isn't that great and I'm more comfortable in the 737 for now) I used the default fs flight planner to plan my route, and amended to what I could see the flight charts would be a good route. Again, with only default I have no way of flying STARs, only using online charts Safe to say it was a bit of a nightmare for me. Luckily the EGLL ground controller was brilliant, patient and really helpful. He helped me change my route a little and after a few amendments I was on my way. I taxied and took off all fine, but... Being nervous and (I don't have a mic so had to type everything) trying to multitask I turned completely the wrong way around the airport and had to fly a nice arc around in order to hit my first waypoint, I think the controllers let me off kindly and nobody mentioned it! Anyway, climbed my altitude correctly and traced the rest of my route over Europe. I kept contacting different centres that turned out that I was not in their airspace, which they did politely tell me (I should of known that already but again nerves and newbie syndrome!!) Getting closer to my destination there was no controllers present so I requested decent to the nearest tower (turns out I should have announced decent to my flight plan, again I should have known this) and overflow the airport about 10000ft to high! I announced circle and hold (but by this time was just.... And I excuse the pun....winging it) where a nice local controller who advised me I was too high, and let me know the best runway to land at due to wind direction ect... I flew the hold while descending and burning off a little speed (it needed to be a quicker decent than I would have liked) by this time I was so concentrating on aligning my approach as this particular runway had no Ils that I forgot all about the atc announcements! Another kind controller let me know of this and I announced accordingly. Made my turn to final only to realise that my announced approach was completely different to the approach I had selected, what an idiot! Anyway about 5miles from the runway I got (and rightly so!) kicked from the server, it was a long time coming. Anyway I continued offline and landed nicely. It's safe to say that I have a lot of reading to do. I think I may have to do a few small flights VFR in light aircraft to get use to the multitasking. It's a long way from the number pad selection on the default ATC, and my nav skills need a lot of work. Does anybody have any freeware software to recommend to [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ist with flight planning/en-route nav that displays altitude markers? Also is there any links to refresh my STARs memory, and SIDs? Also any reading/software to [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ist in mid flight changes to route? As the initial route change threw me off a little. VATSIM is brilliant and here's to more flying! I expect that after the newbie first flight jitters are now out the way I will at least not make these basic errors Happy flying, Phill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duarte Folgado 1106197 Posted August 23, 2014 at 09:29 AM Posted August 23, 2014 at 09:29 AM Hi Phill, Thanks for your interesting report about your first flight. VATSIM is a learning environment and I'm sure after a few natural mistakes on the beginning (as we all did) you will be on your way to make a "perfect flight". Regarding routes there are plenty of options: You can use for instance VatRoute or Routefinder to get an online suggestion (In my opinion I would suggest VatRoute for European flights). There is also a more complex platform that will be requiring an extra study from you called SimBrief. Like I said it's a little more complex but has the advantage to have good docomeentation for beginners and also prepares you all the content you need for a specific flight. To know where is online ATC and to check if they are actually covering the airspace you're flying there are also several freeware solutions: Servinfo, VATSpy and vRoute. vRoute also gives you routes and weather information for your flight as well ATC stations bookings. I also saw that you are enrolled in the VATSIM UK. Please visit their pilot's web page at http://www.vatsim-uk.co.uk/pilot-info/. You will find plenty of useful information. I would also recommend in invest on a headset as soon as possible in order to reduce the workload (like you said), and also of course to have a little more feel of interaction. Have fun and let us know if you have any doubts, Duarte Duarte Folgado Instructor (I1) & Certified Pilot (P4) Lisboa FIR Director (ACCPT3) Portugal vACC -VATEUD - VATSIM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandro Buscaglione Posted August 23, 2014 at 12:01 PM Posted August 23, 2014 at 12:01 PM Hi Phill, like mentioned by Duarte I strongly suggest vRoute. I found it extremely useful and made me feel comfortable with the chosen flight plans. I too had seriuos problems with fsx's planner. See you in the skies! Alessandro Buscaglione VATITA Director ACCIT1 [email protected] --- [email protected] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phill Morgan 1299933 Posted August 23, 2014 at 12:06 PM Author Posted August 23, 2014 at 12:06 PM Hi Phill, Thanks for your interesting report about your first flight. VATSIM is a learning environment and I'm sure after a few natural mistakes on the beginning (as we all did) you will be on your way to make a "perfect flight". Regarding routes there are plenty of options: You can use for instance VatRoute or Routefinder to get an online suggestion (In my opinion I would suggest VatRoute for European flights). There is also a more complex platform that will be requiring an extra study from you called SimBrief. Like I said it's a little more complex but has the advantage to have good docomeentation for beginners and also prepares you all the content you need for a specific flight. To know where is online ATC and to check if they are actually covering the airspace you're flying there are also several freeware solutions: Servinfo, VATSpy and vRoute. vRoute also gives you routes and weather information for your flight as well ATC stations bookings. I also saw that you are enrolled in the VATSIM UK. Please visit their pilot's web page at http://www.vatsim-uk.co.uk/pilot-info/. You will find plenty of useful information. I would also recommend in invest on a headset as soon as possible in order to reduce the workload (like you said), and also of course to have a little more feel of interaction. Have fun and let us know if you have any doubts, Duarte Many many thanks for your info I will be sure to check out the links and software. Also I have a mic inbuilt which is actually really good quality, but having trouble getting it to work. Also, voice seemed to cut out during my flight and I only had text, not sure why but I'm going to have a play with the settings next flight VATSIM certainly is a good learning environment and a steep learning curve, but there's lots of help and articles which all more appreciated. Hopefully I'll be back to this post soon detailing my perfect flight! Many thanks again, Phill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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