[Newbie] Some ATC General Questions

[David Pearson]

Hi all!

I started to fly on MSFS 2020 a few months ago and I decided to give Vatsim a try. I've been able to request instructions as well as communicating with ATC for the past week, but I have some general questions that I thought the community might be a good place to ask. Let me know if this isn't the right place.

1. If I understand the top-bottom control correctly, when I am waiting at my gate to get taxi instructions, and there's no ground ATC available, should I defer to Tower or Approach or Center to ask taxi instructions?

2. What is the best way to get the atmospheric pressure (barometer)? During my VFR flights, should I request the information through ATC, or tune in the closest ATIS?

3. If there are no tower controllers available at my destination airport, I should ask for clearance from Approach or Center, correct?

4. PilotEdge records every radio communication and allows you to listen to them afterwards so you can improve, what is a good way to do that with Vatsim?

5. When you are requesting a VFR flight following with Center, what should you expect from it? Should I reach out if I change headings or altitude?

Thank you, all!

David

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Quote

"If I understand the top-bottom control correctly, when I am waiting at my gate to get taxi instructions, and there's no ground ATC available, should I defer to Tower or Approach or Center to ask taxi instructions?"

Yes.  If Delivery isn't online, Ground control at that same airport will handle Delivery and Ground duties.  If neither of those are on, Tower inherits both of those duties in addition to runway clearances and sequencing.  If Tower isn't online, all of the aforementioned pass to any Approach or Departure controller who covers the airspace immediately surrounding that airport.  If none of those are online, all of that passes to the Center controller whose ARTCC or FIR you're operating within.  if you see a TWR and a CTR, that means that DEL / GND / TWR duties will be handled on one freq, and APP/DEP and Enroute duties on the CTR freq. 

Quote

What is the best way to get the atmospheric pressure (barometer)? During my VFR flights, should I request the information through ATC, or tune in the closest ATIS?

If you are VFR and utilizing Flight Following services, ATC will update you with nearby altimeter info as you go.  If you're VFR and not talking to ATC (which is absolutely fine if operating in Class E or G airspace), connecting with nearby ATIS is good if there is one -- but remember, generally only staffed airports on VATSIM will have an operating ATIS.  You're probably better off using whatever weather add-on program you may be running, or something like SkyVector.com, to stay up-to-date on nearby weather conditions.

Quote

If there are no tower controllers available at my destination airport, I should ask for clearance from Approach or Center, correct?

See my first response, above.

Quote

PilotEdge records every radio communication and allows you to listen to them afterwards so you can improve, what is a good way to do that with Vatsim?

You can make your own recordings via Bandicam, Streamlabs OBS, or something similar.  While Streamlabs is what I and many others use to broadcast our flights on Twitch and other livestream venues, it also has the ability to record video without broadcasting it.

Quote

When you are requesting a VFR flight following with Center, what should you expect from it? Should I reach out if I change headings or altitude?

I don't know that I'd report every heading and altitude change necessarily, but, any *substantial* change in your plan should be communicated.  You'll have already told them your destination and your intended cruise altitude, but it's understood that you might need to zig-zag around a bit and/or descend to maintain cloud clearance minima.  If you decide to deviate way off one way or another, it's not a bad idea to get their attention and say something like, "just for your planning purposes, we'll be proceeding eastbound along the interstate here until {town name} then northbound toward the destination," or the like.

Hope that helps!  I love to hear about more people interested in flying GA VFR on the network!

[Jim Rish]

On 11/29/2020 at 6:24 PM, David Pearson said:

1. On 11/29/2020 at 6:24 PM, David Pearson said:

   1. On 11/29/2020 at 6:24 PM, David Pearson said:

      1. 2  If there are no tower controllers available at my destination airport, I should ask for clearance from Approach or Center, correct?

       

       

    

 I've done that starting out from EGLC, which I'll only use the Dash 8, if I ever do it again, in contacting Heathrow Centre. The just told me to go ahead to UNICOM, and go from there, which I do. Whether or not their interested, makes no difference to me. I simply contact them, and that is a wrap. My route is already loaded, and wile I'm flying,  if they want to talk to me ever again, which they don't, then that's pretty much a wrap as well.

[David Pearson]

On 11/29/2020 at 8:36 PM, Robert Shearman Jr said:

Yes.  If Delivery isn't online, Ground control at that same airport will handle Delivery and Ground duties.  If neither of those are on, Tower inherits both of those duties in addition to runway clearances and sequencing.  If Tower isn't online, all of the aforementioned pass to any Approach or Departure controller who covers the airspace immediately surrounding that airport.  If none of those are online, all of that passes to the Center controller whose ARTCC or FIR you're operating within.  if you see a TWR and a CTR, that means that DEL / GND / TWR duties will be handled on one freq, and APP/DEP and Enroute duties on the CTR freq. 

If you are VFR and utilizing Flight Following services, ATC will update you with nearby altimeter info as you go.  If you're VFR and not talking to ATC (which is absolutely fine if operating in Class E or G airspace), connecting with nearby ATIS is good if there is one -- but remember, generally only staffed airports on VATSIM will have an operating ATIS.  You're probably better off using whatever weather add-on program you may be running, or something like SkyVector.com, to stay up-to-date on nearby weather conditions.

See my first response, above.

You can make your own recordings via Bandicam, Streamlabs OBS, or something similar.  While Streamlabs is what I and many others use to broadcast our flights on Twitch and other livestream venues, it also has the ability to record video without broadcasting it.

I don't know that I'd report every heading and altitude change necessarily, but, any *substantial* change in your plan should be communicated.  You'll have already told them your destination and your intended cruise altitude, but it's understood that you might need to zig-zag around a bit and/or descend to maintain cloud clearance minima.  If you decide to deviate way off one way or another, it's not a bad idea to get their attention and say something like, "just for your planning purposes, we'll be proceeding eastbound along the interstate here until {town name} then northbound toward the destination," or the like.

Hope that helps!  I love to hear about more people interested in flying GA VFR on the network!

Hey Robert,

Thank you so much for your thorough response. This is very helpful!

Thanks,

David