Newbie questions

[Rick Postma]

Good morning from freezing Germany.

Yesterday i did my first Vatsim flight in my C172 D-EENE. I was very happy that my connection, communication and airplane  worked so well. ATC EDDL was not online, only EKCH was visible as online ATC. I switched UNICOM and talked to „nobody“. Then i did my takeoff with weather set as summer and noon as daytime, not real weather and not real time. Then i heard on UNICOM a EW flight stabilized on LOC ILS 23L, i was downwind on the same runway. I could see the EW on final, and turned final behind hin, radioing on UNICOM: DNE on final RW 23L, EW in sight. Then i landed and took the first exit to the apron. Nobody talked to me, but i believe i did the right things.

My questions:

Was my use of UNICOM in this case okay? Or should i have contacted EKCH as „top layer“ for EDDL?

When we fly in Vatsim, is it okay to use not-real-time weather and time settings, or should they always be actual?

Will my logbook times automatically update in myVatsim?

What is the meaning of 25% in my PPL status indicator?

PS: D-EENE was the airplane i did my first solo in Aachen-Merzbrueck on....  I remember this flight very well! It was in 1996..... I am now working on my A320 homecockpit.

cheers!

Rick

[Joshua Jenkins]

First of all welcome to VATSIM!

Secondly could a mod maybe move this topic out of screenshots and into a different topic😜?

Thirdly, to answer your questions:

54 minutes ago, Rick Postma said:

Was my use of UNICOM in this case okay? Or should i have contacted EKCH as „top layer“ for EDDL?

The way you used UNICOM seemed just fine to me. You coordinated your landing safely with other traffic while taking up as little time as possible on frequency. I’m not familiar enough with European airspace to give you a definitive response to the second part of that question, but iirc EDDL is covered by EDDH center/radio (again I could be way off on this so don’t quote me on it). Another indication you were on the right frequency, A.K.A. UNICOM, would be that the other flight was also talking on UNICOM.

1 hour ago, Rick Postma said:

When we fly in Vatsim, is it okay to use not-real-time weather and time settings, or should they always be actual?

Nothing says you can’t change weather or time when flying on VATSIM. That being said, controllers will almost always give you the altimeter, wind, etc. that match up with real-time and if you have something different, that’s on you to figure out. Personally I always try and fly with real time/weather.

1 hour ago, Rick Postma said:

Will my logbook times automatically update in myVatsim?

To my knowledge they should, but I don’t really use myVatsim a whole lot outside of pre-filing flight plans so again I can’t say I have the definitive answer.

1 hour ago, Rick Postma said:

What is the meaning of 25% in my PPL status indicator?

Welp I’m not turning out to be as much of a help as I thought I would be when I started writing this post xD. Not sure where this PPL status indicator even is so someone else will have to answer that bit for you.

Anyways, welcome to VATSIM again and hope to see you around in the virtual skies soon!

Cheers!

[Torben Andersen]

Hello Rick

EKCH (or Copenhagen) is definitely not to be contacted for a flight "down" in Germany. Only very close to the Danish border is a little bit of Germany delegated to Danish controller and no airports. So UNICOM was the correct choice. (BTW. EKDK_CTR covers all of Denmark, EKCH_APP cover approach to EKCH and EKRK, and EKCH_TWR is, well, tower at Cpenhagen Kastrup airport).

As for the weather - I think the best is real (or Vatsim) weather as this is what ATC has to work with. As controllers it would be a complete mess, if every pilot had its own weather resulting in different runway configurations, SIDs, STARS etc. However, if you use a weather different from vatsim, you can always ask for a sid/star/approach/runway, but be prepared for a "no" or long delays. ATC will always try to accomodate you, but it is not always possible.

regards

Torben