Mark Jeffreys Posted October 18, 2018 at 02:50 AM Posted October 18, 2018 at 02:50 AM I have been a long term member of the network. Something I have never been able to understand is how there is an abundant amount of free resources available to every user that are not being used. During the last few hours I controlled, I saw multiple pilots incorrectly fly an arrival. Charts in the US are free. Each one the pilots I asked said that they plugged it into their FMC, but it did not fly it correctly. One of them even argued with me over the frequency saying they did nothing wrong, all while going direct to the wrong fix. People spend hundreds of dollars on this hobby (payware aircraft, AIRACs, scenery, hardware, etc.), yet they do not take 2 minutes to verify the taxiways they are supposed to follow, or the waypoints in their FMS correctly reflect the SID/STAR they are flying. No pilot will fly a procedure without a graphical or textual description in the real world. It is mind boggling to me why somebody putting so much into the hobby wouldn't do the same. AirNav, SkyVector, and AirCharts are all free resources available to you in the US. They provide sectional/enroute charts, approach plates, and SIDs/STARs. If you are not doing so, please start looking over the procedures you are supposed to be flying to verify you are flying them correctly. It will not only make the controllers happy, but it will increase the realism on your part. It will add to your enjoyment of the network as well. Mark Jeffreys ZFW ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Long Posted October 18, 2018 at 03:15 AM Posted October 18, 2018 at 03:15 AM I have been a long term member of the network. Something I have never been able to understand is how there is an abundant amount of free resources available to every user that are not being used. During the last few hours I controlled, I saw multiple pilots incorrectly fly an arrival. Charts in the US are free. Each one the pilots I asked said that they plugged it into their FMC, but it did not fly it correctly. One of them even argued with me over the frequency saying they did nothing wrong, all while going direct to the wrong fix. People spend hundreds of dollars on this hobby (payware aircraft, AIRACs, scenery, hardware, etc.), yet they do not take 2 minutes to verify the taxiways they are supposed to follow, or the waypoints in their FMS correctly reflect the SID/STAR they are flying. No pilot will fly a procedure without a graphical or textual description in the real world. It is mind boggling to me why somebody putting so much into the hobby wouldn't do the same. AirNav, SkyVector, and AirCharts are all free resources available to you in the US. They provide sectional/enroute charts, approach plates, and SIDs/STARs. If you are not doing so, please start looking over the procedures you are supposed to be flying to verify you are flying them correctly. It will not only make the controllers happy, but it will increase the realism on your part. It will add to your enjoyment of the network as well. Mark Jeffreys ZFW ARTCC Mark, I think it's due to the large variation in pilot skill and knowledge. Real world, we're not going to leave the ground without charts and having read and understand every part of the flight plan and ensuring that we can fly it with the equipment we have on board and it's within the qualifications of the pilot. Here in the virtual world, it's a bit different. The mindset isn't always one that mirrors what we do in the real world for some of those who have never really flown a plane or are new. Education is, and will always be, something we will have to make a part of the job of a controller on the network. Many people also don't always know about some of these resources, and even if they do, may not fully understand how to fly the plate or to fully utilize the resources in the airplane. The principle applies equally to the real world as it does here. The GPS/FMC is only as smart as the user operating it. If you tell it to fly to the wrong fix, load the wrong approach, activate the wrong leg it comes down to the human input. There is an abundance of resources out there, but you have to seek them out and they can be difficult to find sometimes, also. I do agree AirNav and SkyVector are great resources, you can also get the data straight from the FAA for those flying in the US Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Jeffreys Posted October 18, 2018 at 03:25 AM Author Posted October 18, 2018 at 03:25 AM If somebody is flying an airplane with an FMS on the network, they have the knowledge of SIDs/STARs and the charts that show them. Those are the people I see more issues with. From my experience, it's more laziness than a lack of knowledge. Those that are unfamiliar with a specific procedure usually own up to it, versus just flying what they've plugged into a GPS/FMS without verifying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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