Hello I am new..

[Loren Tedford 1427501]

I have been reading over a lot of the site and although their is a lot of information still slightly confused as to how this links into flight sim x.. I now own flight sim x twice once from microsoft when it came out several years ago and now through steam.. This isn't a game I play much but would like to learn the proper way to fly around in the simulator rather then joyriding lol... Back in 2003 I did take some Flight School lessons was starting my Private pilot but medical reasons stopped me before we could even get started.. Back then Diabetes and some other medical conditions were a no go through the FAA.. Anyway so can some exactly guide me to how or why third party sites like this is better than logging and flying through steam?

I started out in flight sim 98 lol those were the day's rockin that wonderful Windows 98 SE with a usb controller that if you so much as touched it your usb wouldn't synchronize and would have to reboot the computer to get usb working again.. Just think of how far we have come over the past decade..

[Simon Kelsey]

Hi Loren,

 

Welcome to VATSIM!

 

In a nutshell -- VATSIM is a community which aims to link people flying various flight simulators (FSX, Prepar3D or X-Plane) both to each other and to other real people acting as air traffic controllers (and, naturally, many of us do both - though not at the same time!). This is achieved using a pilot client -- a small piece of software which links your flight simulator to the network, and provides text and voice communications as well as multiplayer functionality (i.e. all other users are displayed in your sim, in real time, regardless of which sim you are using -- so if you are in FSX Steam, you will also see X-Plane and P3D pilots connected to the network).

 

The idea is to create a realistic air traffic control environment where we do our best to have fun whilst replicating how pilots and ATC interact in real life, real-life air traffic procedures and so on with what I would describe as a relaxed but professional attitude.

 

This means that one does need to brush up a little bit on how to fly and communicate 'properly' -- fortunately there is plenty of help and literature out there. The VATSIM Pilot Resource Centre -- http://www.vatsim.net/prc -- is a good start. There are also various organisations which provide training toward VATSIM Pilot Ratings -- if nothing else, I thoroughly recommend doing at least the P1 course as this will provide you with a good overview of how the network operates and what is expected of pilots and controllers. The more advanced ratings will teach you how to 'fly' in increasingly more depth -- check out https://ptd.vatsim.net/atos for a list of approved pilot training organisations (the link in my signature provides an example of some of the courses that my own Virtual Airline runs).

 

You can of course also choose to become an air traffic controller, in which case you would need to find the area you want to control in and follow their processes for getting trained up.

 

Hope that helps and look forward to seeing you in the sky!

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Loren --

 

The way I look at it, a sim pilot has three options:

 

a) fly alone in an empty sky;

 

b) fly in a world populated by computer controlled aircraft and air-traffic-control, which will mostly behave exactly as predicted and direct you to perform your flight exactly as planned; or

 

c) fly in a world populated by other human pilots and with traffic flow controlled by human controllers, where you might experience vectors for traffic, holds, runway [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ignment changes, route amendments, go-around orders, and other unexpected instructions based on the actions of other human pilots and the corrective decisions made by human controllers to keep everyone safely separated.

 

I can only speak for myself, but I know which of the above *I* find by far most interesting & enjoyable...!

 

Welcome to your new addiction. We are a community who embrace self-initiative for learning, so generally do your best to read the available resources, use the search function here on the forum, & try to find answers on your own first. But if you have made a reasonable effort to do so & and find yourself needing additional guidance, we're a friendly bunch so just let us know!

[Joshua Jenkins]

I started out in flight sim 98 lol those were the day's rockin that wonderful Windows 98 SE with a usb controller that if you so much as touched it your usb wouldn't synchronize and would have to reboot the computer to get usb working again.. Just think of how far we have come over the past decade..

Well, if you are the unfortunate victim of Windows 8.1 and a FSX (as I am), not much has actually changed in relation to usb joysticks/yokes I have had to call controllers way too many times now telling them I had to restart my sim because of joystick issues...

But anyways enough about me and welcome to VATSIM!!!

Josh

[Trent Hopkinson]

Vatsim is an international network that allows pilots to use their own flight simulator with one of Vatsim's connection clients which will let their position (altitude, attitude, location, speed etc) and aircraft information (type, callsign, transponder status, radio frequency) be broadcast to anyone else on the network.

 

Other users will receive that information which will be displayed in their simulators (as another aircraft out the window, on their TCAS, TCAD, ADS-B, or Radar return on a radar scope).

 

Some users will connect to the network using ATC client software which allows them to set up voice rooms, observe other aircraft on Radar/ADS-B, see and manipulate the flight plan or strip information, see and communicate with other air traffic controllers.

 

Both ATC and Pilot clients can use voice communication based on frequencies and range to connect to a specific VOIP 'chatroom'. The ATC can set up a voice room, and both ATC and Pilots can join it.

 

ATC can also set up an ATIS which is a voice chatroom, with a looped audio recording broadcasting information on it.

 

While anyone can log in anywhere at any time, there are moments when ATC and Pilots will congregate in one specific area or locations for an event. Anything from a small "2 or 3 guys messaged each other to get together after lunch" to "100 controllers were organised in 2 continents to operate for 12 hours via an event committee which organised for 3 months to make this happen"

 

To see some of the larger events planned in the week to come, see the events page

https://www.vatsim.net/events

 

One of the biggest events is WorldFlight, where ATC is set up to open up sequentially (then close sequentially behind) a travelling cavalcade of simulators flying a route of 45 airports over a period of 7 days. Last year I captured a timelapse video of the ATC centres opening and closing as the convoy travelled around the planet using the vattastic website http://www.vattastic.com

 

 

You can see each ATC centre (operated by 1, or in some cases many more than 1) controller, opening as the worldflight event approaches their airspace, then closing as everyone leaves and the event moves on to different airspace.

 

Another big Vatsim event is "Cross the Pond" which sees even more airspace opened up simultaneously, and even though it only lasts 12 hours, instead of 7 days, is considered one of Vatsim's biggest events

 

There's a good view on what it takes to do Air Traffic Controlling on Vatsim here

 

And here's someone doing Air Traffic Controlling on Vatsim

 

I do a roughly weekly video where I fly an event on Vatsim as a pilot using a number of addons from the "pilot side" of the vatsim experience, and you can find those videos at

https://www.youtube.com/user/musicalaviator/videos

(this isn't a "How to" channel, just a "what I did on vatsim this week" channel)

 

AviationPro does some good "How to" videos of the pilot side of Vatsim

 

So get on out there and fly!

[Loren Tedford 1427501]

I want to first say Thank You to the amazing response!! I will be studying up since in Real Life I don't know what I am doing lol.. This past week many other projects had priority I had to move my web and email servers to the server units at the house which took me from Tuesday to Thursday and all types of other projects going on.. It might take me a couple of weeks or so to get in the game but I will be looking forward to flying around with all of you in the near future! Now it's time for me to hit the educational side as listed above! Thanks!