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[John Stockton]

I used to be a P1. After VATSIM restructuring I became a P0. I have no desire to join a VA. An ATC (VATSIM controller) should be able to say " Hey this dude/dudette knows what they're doing. They should be bumped up a certified level. Who better to judge than VATSIM ATC?

[Koen Meier]

Pilot rating is separate from joining a VA. I would suggest you read the associated documents for the pilot ratings and that only authorized training organizations can issue a rating just like you train for ATC.

[Alistair Thomson]

6 minutes ago, John Stockton said:

An ATC (VATSIM controller) should be able to say " Hey this dude/dudette knows what they're doing. They should be bumped up a certified level.

A couple of things. Firstly, we live in a world of standards. So Vatsim has standards, therefore rather than basing action on recommendations, we base our decisions regarding competence on measurable quantities, measured against our set standards. You can usefully argue that our standards are flawed, but they are less flawed than personal recommendations. Nothing wrong with recommendations, but measurable standards are better.

Secondly, would you also apply your criterion to a request from a pilot to "bump up" a controller to a higher level based on that pilot's experience with that controller, rather than on criteria worked out in detail by experienced controllers and accepted by the controllers themselves? Again the "flawed standards" caveat applies, but I don't think that is  your suggestion here.

[Tobias Dammers]

Not to mention that pilot ratings, unlike controller ratings, are purely decorative; they don't "unlock" anything on VATSIM, except training courses for higher ratings. Anything you can do as a pilot, outside of the training system, can be done with a P0 rating, and I believe there are no plans of changing this either.

[Alistair Thomson]

1 hour ago, Tobias Dammers said:

Not to mention that pilot ratings, unlike controller ratings, are purely decorative; they don't "unlock" anything on VATSIM

... except of course that the P0 rating allows members to fly on the network.

1 hour ago, Tobias Dammers said:

I believe there are no plans of changing this

I'm wondering if there might be value in considering changing that?

[Tobias Dammers]

1 hour ago, Alistair Thomson said:

I'm wondering if there might be value in considering changing that?

This comes up every now and then, and AFAICT, the bottom line is always that the benefit (enforcing a certain quality standard among pilots) is not worth the cost (losing as large portion of the pilot population, many of them for good).

It's different for controllers: right now, pilots outnumber controllers roughly 10:1, and that's a decent ratio. Imagine what happens when that ratio shifts to something like 2:1, or even 1:1. It gets silly fast, and no amount of pilot competence can make up for that. If you only ever get to control 1 or 2 aircraft at once, then there's not much to it anymore, is there. And if you're flying and never get anywhere near anyone else, and all your ATC communication boils down to "climb to cruise, proceed direct IAF, when ready descend your discretion", you might as well fly offline.