Talking

[Andre Pieczara 1409668]

Hello!

I just wanted to do my first flight with my PDMG 737-800NGX.

I've been preparing for this flight for a long time. I've been watching youtube videos/tutorials on how to comunicate.

When it was time to fly, i was way to scared or nervous to say anything, i was also very scared i will misunderstand something or copy it incorrectly because of the poor audio quality in vatsim.

Could anyone help me get over this?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Janeks Tompolskis]

Hey there, and welcome to the Network!

 

In addition to those YouTube tutorial videos which can be very helpful, have you considered spawning at an airport where there's ATC online, tuning the radios to an active frequency and just listening to what's happening? (It might be a good idea to choose a small plane and park on an apron which isn't too busy, as you shouldn't have any trouble with other traffic there.)

 

When I was new and it was all very scary to me, this helped me a lot. I listened for a while, made some notes and observed the patterns of what was said and done, so I knew what to expect the next time when I flew there. At a large or busy airport, this might be very confusing, but at a smaller airport which has ATC online (but also a fair amount of traffic so you can listen without being overwhelmed by a lot of things happening at once!) should be a little easier to listen to .

 

I hope this helps...

[Don Desfosse]

Janeks' recommendation is a very good one. The key is to start out small and slowly, and build your confidence level as you learn.

 

Also, for your first flight, add to your flight plan comments "First Flight on VATSIM", and for the next several, "Newbie" or "Newbie, please be patient and I appreciate your help". Although controllers are not required to review flight plan comments, many do.

 

The most important thing though is to just try, and do your best. We were all new once, and we all had our first transmission once. We all learn by doing. So go do it, start slowly and build up, and learn from every interaction.

 

Welcome to the community!

[Dace Nicmane]

ATC can be scary, but it could be worse. Imagine how scary it must be when you are the ATC?!

 

Personally, I used the voice receive option for the first few months of flying. There's no way I would've dared to even dream about pressing that PTT.

 

Here's a read for you if it makes you feel better that you're not the only one.

[Luka Stevens]

Another reccomendation to maybe become a bit more confident is shooting the controller a private message explaining the situation, if you get familiar with the guy(s) controlling it might be easier to talk to them.

And as said before, don't start at super busy airport and/or events, try some smaller airports that aren't super busy.

In that case the controller as alot more time to deal with you personally and help you with the communications.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Also -- if you're still learning the PMDG, you might consider making your first few VATSIM flights in something smaller & simpler, rather than trying to learn two new complex tasks at the same time. Once you get comfortable with one or the other, you can dive in & try both. Either way, it's best to do your first couple of VATSIM flights in areas where traffic levels are low. Most importantly, if your first one or two don't go well, don't give up! Making mistakes is a very effective learning technique, sometimes.