What is the best way to get into VATSIM?

[ocais ceti 0]

I've been flying offline for my whole life with no AI ATC whatsoever, i have very little experience when it comes to ATC.

Now i want to get into VATSIM but of course i don't want to annoy anyone and i want to know what i'm doing.

What do you guys think is the best way to learn how to properly communicate with ATC?   omegle  xender

Edited December 4, 2020 by ocais ceti

[Mats Edvin Aaro 131]

Hi, and welcome!

Getting into VATSIM might seem intimidating at first, there's no getting around that. However VATSIM offers a great program called the Pilot Learning Center (PLC),  a resource at https://my.vatsim.net/learn which offers new pilots the ability to learn anything from the most fundamental skills all the way to advanced methods you will benefit from knowing while flying online. If you haven't had a chance to look at it yet, we definitely recommend doing so before connecting for the first time!

If you prefer one-to-one training, you may want to look at VATSIM's Authorized Training Organizations (ATOs). A full list is available at https://my.vatsim.net/pilots/atos.

We also have many community-based platforms, such as the VATSIM Facebook Group, and the VATSIM Discord where you will get tonnes of very competent answers from experienced users in no time.

For the first time connecting, spawn into a busy controlled airport (see controller coverage at http://vattastic.com) and tune into an active frequency and simply listen. Get used to how things are done, spoken, and instructions given.

When you feel ready, relocate to a quieter airport (that also has ATC), and jump head first!

It's very important to remember that you will be frightened the first times you use the network; everyone has been where you are now when they started out. But "messing up" isn't a big deal, we're an educational network. Make sure you read the VATSIM CoC, and you'll see with time that you start messing up less and less, until you start getting comfortable. 🙂

Welcome!

[Ryan Bentley 22]

For me, I joined a small Discord group and made some friends there and barraged them with questions. It was less of structured / serious environment. Casual learning in a quiet environment. 

You can view some groups here: Groups - VATSIM Community

[Mike Teague 5]

do all that.. and also listen to real atc 

https://www.liveatc.net/

 

 

 

[Paul Albertz 2]

Youtube. Search for "vatsim" and you will find a lot of full length flights and tutorials. I listend to a lot of those and then researched what the pilot and atc where saying. Also: I know it does not seem like it at first, but everyone on VATSIM makes mistakes. Pilots and ATC, but we are all here for fun. So don't worry about it. Be polite, do your best and worst case scenario you disconnect. 

[Parick Amrein 0]

Hi,

ATC may be indeed overwhelming for newbies.

Edited February 16 by Parick Amrein

[Parick Amrein 0]

I'm a Belgian community member and I began with VATSIM not so long ago, so I completely understand your fear. Not sure if Vatstar is still alive, but you could try googling them too.
Here's a helpful tutorial >>

[VATSIM] How to talk to ATC:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=750969555

Edited February 17 by Nestor Perez
Removed dodgy link

[Gunnar Lindahl 99]

Youtube, Youtube, Youtube!

A very warm welcome to VATSIM.

[Tomas Hansson 10]

VATSTAR is indeed alive and doing well - currently close to 2,500 members in our Discord community. www.vatstar.com

 

Edited February 21 by Tomas Hansson