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Experiences to share


David McClanahan
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David McClanahan
Posted
Posted

So many great experiences (12+) thanks to all involved. Especially the Controllers.

SO.

BOS yesterday about 5-6PM Eastern , rain and a dozen planes are on the taxiways.. very cool being in line with them

only 1 solo controller handling all the traffic .. unstressed and happy to be helpful  (this guy was the Mozart of the frequencies!)

so I get off to PHL fine, good flight .... and then !! (always)  I'm almost home, have the final in sight and my autopilot turns and descends ,  I'm looking at my software looking for some easy solution ...and suddenly my plane is turning another direction ...

cool controller ....  Delta 480 where are you going?

"Yes, I see that, my autopilot is going crazy"

Controller "probably better just to turn if OFF"?!?!?!

but, but , I have to land, ...  "You'll have to given me vectors Please"

 

D480 turn to heading 270   and altitude  5,000

"Yes, I can do that"   (but then I no idea where I am) ...... I turn

 

D480  speed under 210  ....

 

"me Got it, Speed under 210 knots ... and I see the ILS signals I can intercept"

 

Controller "turn right 4 degrees", "Did I hear you have the localizer?" 

 

me ("yes, I can catch it" 

 

Delta 480 3,000 ft and follow the localizer, let me know if you need anything further"

 

10 minutes later I'm on the ground and HAPPY that I didn't mess up anyone else's flight experience ....

 

I back track to the BOS controller .. "Thanks for saving my flight" 

controller "No problem, have a good evening"

 

AH, I love VATSIM

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  • Board of Governors
Don Desfosse
Posted
Posted

Experiences like that are the hallmark of what VATSIM strives to be.  May I suggest you also send your praise to the Boston leadership at http://bvartcc.com/feedback   Facility leaders like to get feedback so they can identify and correct issues and ensure everyone in the facility learns from any issues, and love to share good news/feedback with their teams.

Don Desfosse
Vice President, Operations

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Tobias Dammers
Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, David McClanahan said:

so I get off to PHL fine, good flight .... and then !! (always)  I'm almost home, have the final in sight and my autopilot turns and descends ,  I'm looking at my software looking for some easy solution ...and suddenly my plane is turning another direction ...

Teachable moment right here: whenever the automation does something you don't expect, your first reaction should be to turn it off, drop to a lower level of automation. For the purpose of this, there are only 3 levels of automation:

  1. FMS (LNAV/VNAV)
  2. Autopilot (HDG/ALT)
  3. Hand-flying

If the FMS does strange things, switch to HDG (which is why you should always set the heading bug to your current heading after each turn: this way, switching to HDG will keep the aircraft on its current course). Then turn the HDG bug where you need the aircraft to go. Then, and only then, start diagnosing why the FMS did what it did. Don't try to solve ongoing FMS misbehavior with your CDU.

If the AP does strange things, disconnect it and hand-fly the aircraft into stable flight, and going where you need it to go. Only then start diagnosing what the autopilot did and why. Don't try to solve ongoing AP misbehavior with the glareshield panel.

So you're on final, the runway is in sight, and you have your ILS needles centered and your airspeed where it should be, and suddenly the AP decides to make a turn - well, don't try to figure out how to make the autopilot behave, just disconnect it, and hand-fly the approach.

Also, follow "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate": First, fly the aircraft, establish a stable and safe situation. If you have lost situational awareness, flying straight and level is a good default - unless you're on short final, this should buy you at least a minute or so to regroup. Second, figure out where you are, where you're headed, and where you *should* be headed, and take corrective action. And third, communicate: tell ATC what happened, what you did to mitigate, and what you need from them.

13 hours ago, David McClanahan said:

but, but , I have to land, ...  "You'll have to given me vectors Please"

You will have to land eventually, but if anything is wrong with your approach and you're starting to panic or lose situational awareness, or even just having doubts about being able to safely land the aircraft, then, as the song goes, "you can always go around". A good mindset is to switch around your mental defaults: instead of flying the approach with the intention to land, and with a go-around as your backup option, fly the approach with the intention to go around, and have the landing as a backup option that you can activate if everything looks OK. This is huge, because in the heat of the moment, your brain will not make complex rational decisions, it will focus on your default plan and do everything it can to follow that. If your default plan is to land, and things go pear-shaped, your stressed-out brain will push for a landing, even when you're having doubts; if your default is to go around, then a stressed-out task-saturated brain will execute a go-around, and you can just try again, no harm done.

13 hours ago, David McClanahan said:

10 minutes later I'm on the ground and HAPPY that I didn't mess up anyone else's flight experience ....

Don't worry about that. We've all been new to this, and as long as the controllers are doing at least a half-decent job, the worst that can happen is that some of us get put on delay vectors, asked to go around, or put in a hold - but in most cases even that isn't necessary, and watching a controller deal with mishaps like these and seeing everything work out is actually pretty nice.

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Robert Shearman Jr
Posted
Posted
On 7/3/2021 at 11:13 AM, Tobias Dammers said:

instead of flying the approach with the intention to land, and with a go-around as your backup option, fly the approach with the intention to go around, and have the landing as a backup option that you can activate if everything looks OK.

Incredibly profound.  I'm definitely using that in the future.

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Cheers,
-R.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Nathaniel Miller
Posted
Posted (edited)

I tried to see if i could get a reaction out of a controller... being serious and deadpan doing an impression or two... this one was for Memphis Center (Doing Elvis Presley)

Me: Memphis Center - N2707BT with you, Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has entered your airspace... thankyathankyacverhy much... uh huh uh... (doing a little Elvis in his impersonated voice)  

Memphis Center: N2707BT tune transponder sqk 1211

(Silence in background and no guffaw or chuckle out of the controller)

Flight Continues and I cross Memphis:  With a few transmissions to Center... in Elvis voice... (Still nothing)

Memphis Center N2707BT leaving your airspace... Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left your airspace (Thankyathankyaverhyuch) uh huh uh...

Memphis Center: N2707BT: Tune 1200 good evening.

(DEADPAN all the way...) Hat's off they kept their standard... although I heard laughter in the background or a chuckle out of other pilots... Good job for keeping a straight face... 

(HEY It's Memphis...the home of Elvis... 3.6 million fans can't go wrong...) *does Leg Shimmy and Spinny Arm thing to point* 

 

😉

FA/MM N.A Miller, USN  Ret.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Nathaniel Miller
mispelled and bad grammer.

Respectfully,

FA/MM N.A Miller, USN Ret.

"Here's to our Navy and all the good things it stands for..."

Adm Rockwell Torrey, USN (John Wayne) In Harm's Way -- 1965

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Dace Nicmane
Posted
Posted

This is not appropriate. No fooling around on frequencies. 

KntU2Cw.jpg
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Ross Carlson
Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Dace Nicmane said:

This is not appropriate. No fooling around on frequencies. 

No need to be so strict ... there is room for humor on the airwaves, and it happens all the time in the real world. Some controllers even welcome it. Some controllers even instigate it. You just need to pick your moments. Obviously don't be wasting air time on a busy frequency. As with everything, there's a right time and a right place.

Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy

Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC

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Robert Shearman Jr
Posted
Posted (edited)

Well, hey, I wouldn't go THAT far, Dace, at least not in my opinion.  I agree that a control frequency shouldn't degenerate into nothing but bantering and giggling.  But if one is accomplishing the normal tasks of checking on, being handed off, etcetera, with a little "non-standard pheaseology," I don't see the harm in it.

It can be hard for people who don't know where to draw lines, especially the ones who can't leave a joke alone without trying then to "one-up" it themselves -- that's normally when it gets out of hand.  But I'm not gonna begrudge a guy a little fun when keeping it to the transmissions one would ordinarily make but adding a little "flavor" to 'em (barbecue flavor, even, given the locale).

Again, all my personal opinion.

Edited by Robert Shearman Jr
Ross beat me.  I guess he said it more concisely, too, lol...

Cheers,
-R.

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Dace Nicmane
Posted
Posted

Well, he said himself in another thread that he'd rather fly with adults than with kiddos with their ridiculous behavior. Meanwhile seems like he picked up some bad habits himself while flying with the kiddos. Singing Elvis on the frequency? Seems like he took up quite some frequency time. Memphis Center did the right thing by ignoring the nonsense. Well, my personal opinion anyway. 🙃

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Nathaniel Miller
Posted
Posted (edited)
On 7/13/2021 at 12:09 PM, Dace Nicmane said:

Well, he said himself in another thread that he'd rather fly with adults than with kiddos with their ridiculous behavior. Meanwhile seems like he picked up some bad habits himself while flying with the kiddos. Singing Elvis on the frequency? Seems like he took up quite some frequency time. Memphis Center did the right thing by ignoring the nonsense. Well, my personal opinion anyway. 🙃

Uhm,,, I don't sing... i can do impressions... Elvis in Memphis was an attempt to lighten up the fairly strict controllers who ATC there usually...  I know they are there to do a job... and control...  but Mr Carlton and Shearman are absolutely right... you can't be too strict and most controllers instigate it and welcome a bit of humor in RL... --

Suggestion: Listen to Youtube and Kennedy Steve who is the most famous controller in NYC (Now retired) who was notorious for keeping the mood loose in the most busiest airport in the US...  Love listening to his recording sessions, one of the best.  He was damn good...

As for me not liking Kiddos, you are right... Too many years of putting up being crashed into by them for no reason... or screwing up an approach...  I am very serious when i fly and try to do it right and keep it real as possible... (I don't use crash off, unlimited fuel etc) and what they usually do is VERY inappropriate even for FS.  It would get them killed in RL...

 

Edited by Nathaniel Miller
Grammar and mispelling

Respectfully,

FA/MM N.A Miller, USN Ret.

"Here's to our Navy and all the good things it stands for..."

Adm Rockwell Torrey, USN (John Wayne) In Harm's Way -- 1965

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Ross Carlson
Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Nathaniel Miller said:

I am very serious when i fly

Except when you're doing Elvis impersonations, right? :classic_tongue:

Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy

Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC

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Nathaniel Miller
Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

Except when you're doing Elvis impersonations, right? :classic_tongue:

Thankyathankyaverhymuch,.,, uh huh uh... *does spinny arm thing and leg shimy to point...*  😛

LOLZ

Funny you say that... i put in for the Flying Elvis skydiving team many years ago in Vegas.... LOLZ

Edited by Nathaniel Miller

Respectfully,

FA/MM N.A Miller, USN Ret.

"Here's to our Navy and all the good things it stands for..."

Adm Rockwell Torrey, USN (John Wayne) In Harm's Way -- 1965

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Andre Almeida
Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

Except when you're doing Elvis impersonations, right? :classic_tongue:

Seems like one of those "Do as I say, not as I do" situations. 😛

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Dace Nicmane
Posted
Posted (edited)

Do you really think I don't know Kennedy Steve? Everybody knows him, lol. I have nothing against humor on the frequency, quite the contrary. I just find your transmissions not funny and too longwinded.

Edited by Dace Nicmane
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David McClanahan
Posted
Posted (edited)

THANKS TO EVERYONE who responded to this thread.. Especially Tobias Dammers  .. I've studied you post and find it very instructive.

"f the FMS does strange things, switch to HDG (which is why you should always set the heading bug to your current heading after each turn: this way, switching to HDG will keep the aircraft on its current course). "    and if it screws up DISCONNECT THE AutoPilot !!!

 

I now realize and have real grateful thanks to the Controllers ... there may be 1,000 VATSIM pilots but it's nothing without the Controllers .. thanks!

Edited by David McClanahan
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Tobias Dammers
Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, David McClanahan said:

Especially Tobias Dammers  .. I've studied you post and find it very instructive.

Oh, I'm basically just regurgitating this guy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ESJH1NLMLs&t=1365s

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