General usage (and recommended areas to fly)

[Gil Bennoon]

Hi All,

I'm back to VATSIM flying after 10 years break (and real life piloting...). 

Apologies if this question was posted in the past; I was wondering if there is a site / URL / table that shows which areas are more active (with online ATC / ARTCCs) in which days of the week so I can plan my flights accordingly.

 

Thanks,

 

[Brant Marshall]

2 hours ago, Gil Ben-Noon said:

Hi All,

I'm back to VATSIM flying after 10 years break (and real life piloting...). 

Apologies if this question was posted in the past; I was wondering if there is a site / URL / table that shows which areas are more active (with online ATC / ARTCCs) in which days of the week so I can plan my flights accordingly.

 

Thanks,

 

Hey there,

Use services like VATSpy to see who's online when you're ready to fly.

[Tobias Dammers]

Apart from vatspy, there are also these maps:

• https://map.vatsim.net/
• https://vau.aero/fsmap/?va=vau

Both give a good idea of the current activity on the network, though of course it is always possible that a controller logs off right around the time you pop up in their airspace.

Another resource to watch is the event calendar: https://www.vatsim.net/events (or the "events" forum here, though that one isn't sorted by event date). Participating in events means that you can be more confident that the stations you expect are actually staffed when you expect them to be.

In general, and outside of events, the busiest region by far is the UK, and the surrounding areas often have suitable destinations staffed for a nice short hop. The best time for flying in Europe is typically between 1700z-2000z during the summer months. I believe other regions have similar peak hours in their local timezones, but are less busy overall.

[Gil Bennoon]

Thank you very much Brant and Tobias!

I'll check all the resources though, I think it will be useful to have some sort of which areas are busy in which days (beyond the very active UK) but I understand for now it's mainly a word of mouth and using the current activity views.

[Andreas Fuchs]

The Events Calendar of VATSIM usually lists more than just "big events", but also weekly online days of VACCs. You can also check out booked ATC stations through Qutescoop

or vroute https://vroute.net/

or local VACC websites - many do list those reservations.