The learning curve

[Dieter Bollmann 1381439]

Hi folks, I decided to keep this running journal of my experiences with learning to fly and use VATSIM. I have the P1 qaul (which should really be your first step) as well as obviously practicing flying offline. Next you're probably where I am and just starting to get use to online flight with VATSIM. I have booked the P2 written test and will let you know how that goes next week sometime. So first I'll begin with my set up.

 

I'm using the new fully kitted macbook pro 15" with an xbox one controller, and a thrustmaster joystick as well as a self-customised (by that I mean bits of paper blue-tacked to the keys lol) external keyboard which I pre programmed with the controls I need for flight. and a mouse. I am also using a second macbook pro (mid 2009) 15" for online refs such as charts and maps and g_d knows everything else. I also use an ipad 2 air running xmapper pro for quick flight computer use and flight tracking.

 

I am running on xplane10 with a bunch of add ons and sceneries with my settings turned to full on (so far - no issues except the ipad xmapper auto pilot which sometimes locks and wont return control - (irritating but I'm working on it). I use the squawkbox plugin to connect to VATSIM.

 

I have been using the Airfoil labs cessna 172SP and recently the Carenado Beechcraft Baron 58 (T?) without the reality expansion pack (although that is on my wish list) I have a customised livery that I built using the gimp2 software (but that's another story - so don't look too closely at it lol).

 

I like flying in Australia (which is where I grew up)but the charts and plates are either too expensive or kind of hard to find (have a look at vatview to see that the entire region is missing chart coverage) - not impossible to get, just not easy. I eventually want to fly there and around in Japan (which is where I live and work)but so far I have not been impressed with any of the scenery here - might have to build them entirely from scratch - will need loads of time for that one). So I recently decided to do all of my training in the US. Easy to get charts and maps, and there is nearly always someone online manning the ATC. Australia is spotty at best, and Japan is virtually completely dead. - Then again that what I have come to experience and could be completely wrong.

 

That being said, I am trying to master the KSAN to KLAX (and return) route/routes to hone my skills and gain familiarity with the area and VATSIM. So my apologies in advance if I completely muck up the first hundred or times lol.

 

Flight times - Well I'm a [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istant professor of linguistics (and a PhD student) so its fair to say that between semesters I have all the time in the world, during the academic semesters, however, I have virtually none. So my learning curve will have to take second place. This leaves me with the few times available to actually fly. Right now its somewhere between 000 hrs and 0900 Zulu most days of the week.

 

So as my journey unfolds, please give me advice and tips, and the information I need to help me become a good pilot and a proactive member of the VATSIM community.

[Dieter Bollmann 1381439]

[Clive Gulliver]

Hi Dieter,

 

As regards Australian charts and plates, you can find them all for free at http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/aip.asp. Just scroll down and click on the button and away you go. There's plenty of excellent scenery available for Oz, both free and payware. Look for FTX and OZx for a start.

[Dieter Bollmann 1381439]

Thanx Clive.

 

I'll check out that source for Oz plates for sure. My comment about not being impressed with the scenery was regards to Japan. I think I have just about every Australian pak you can imagine (even the outback ones lol) I have roo's instead of deer jumping about too - the whole nine yards. On Xplane, come to my local airport here in Japan (RJOO and RJBB) and it's well, kind of bland by comparison, not to mention just wrong in terms of architecture - Something I'll fix one of these days.

[Sean Harrison]

Dieter,

 

Have you used Air Services Australia;

 

http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/aip.asp?pg=10

 

Then open the current ERSA link. It changes with the AIRAC so I can't give you a direct link.

 

Note it may direct you to an I Accept page, if it does follow the links to AIP then the ERSA link.

[Dieter Bollmann 1381439]

Thanks Sean,

 

I was just having a look at that site now when you posted. Awesome - looks good. I'm searching for the plates for Moorabbin as we speak.

 

Dee

[Dieter Bollmann 1381439]

Todays flight.

 

Fiurstly a huge thanks to everyone for helping me out today, I totally appreciate it.

 

Lessons learned:

 

Did the flight from KSAN to KLAX and flew the SANN3 TEC route from San Diego with an ILS 25L landing at Los

Angeles, that went really well.

 

After landing however, I got off the runway to the left and realised I had no clue as to where I was or the taxi routes to where I wanted to be. A quick look at the charts and I was good. Now I had to get from A4 to the remote West gates. And here the fun began. I had trouble both navigating my aircraft, and studying the taxi routes. I also discovered that my copy of the airport environment, the taxi lines on the ground and the charts didn't seem to match up. I managed as best I could to finally get to where I was going - probably irritating the poor ground controller on the way - sorry mate.

 

I should have left it there for the day but was feeling good, so I decided to try the return leg. Taxiied to the Zulu ramp for a 24L intersection departure flying the LAXN63 TEC route back to KSAN (feels good to be able to say that - feeling like a local already)... erm well that was the plan.

 

I totally had my map upside down and instead of taking off in the 24L direction, I took off in the wrong 06 R direction. Again sorry my bad. Thanks again to the tower that had me turn downwind 24 R for a departure to get me back on track.

 

After that it was a pretty uneventful flight and at some point realised that I was alone. Switched to unicom and decided that I would cut my journey short in the absence of traffic and controllers and fly the ILS 09 at KSAN instead of the RNAV GPS 27 I was going to.

 

So I am cordially texting away incase someone else spawns in and or is preparing to leave KSAN. Everything is going fine. Start and complete my descent and approach. Right at the last moment I think I'd just type that I'll be exiting the runway to the left when I get a chance.

 

BUT... again, I forget to hit the text button, and start typing away..... yep turned everything off including the engines. With a few meters to go and no way to restart the engines I had to put down in a nature strip between two rows of houses.

 

Glad I made it down. Glad I didn't smash into houses. But feel totally ripped off that I didn't land first then type latter.

 

Oh well.... better luck next time...

 

[Dieter Bollmann 1381439]

OK Folks, so today was not a good day either.

 

I can in fact confirm that no one can possibly be seeing the same things on the ground as everyone else. This should have been a 'nobrainer' from the start, but hey, I like the fantasy aspect of all of this. To clarify: Remember how I thought that everything was kind of weird and not matching up, well it turns out that there are several different version s of the airport you happen to be at. After downloading several differnt versions of the same airports; some costing cash (namely KSAN and KLAX); I soon realised that they were far from similar. The KSAN I was using before and the KSAN I am using now are two completely different creatures altogether. So that answers a techincal question I had.