I had an embarassing first VATSIM flight, still a fantastic experience

[Oliver Damkjaer]

I finally gathered enough courage to do my first flight on VATSIM. Simple stuff, just doing some circuits at Birmingham and landing again.

Well, I crossed holding lines when I shouldn't have, and I didn't cross holding lines when I should have. I typed wrong squawk codes and forgot basic procedures. In the moment I just panicked, but ATC was really nice to me though, and all in all it was a pleasant experience. I learned a lot, and perhaps you can learn from my mistakes if you're on the fence about trying it out. Despite the errors I made, I am just so relieved now that I have had some actual experience on the network. I'm confident this will help me a lot the next time I log on!

The whole flight from taxi to landing (22 mins): https://youtu.be/xMGs3lxS4S4

Edit: 2nd flight. A lot less nervous this time (32mins): https://youtu.be/KHPi32b-DOM

Edited August 1, 2021 at 10:41 AM by Oliver Damkjaer
Added link

[Chris McGee]

I'd rather you have the nerves online under my scope than out in the real world. Dust yourself off, don't sweat it, and try again!

[Dace Nicmane]

Not bad at all for the first flight. You sounded quite confident.

Thanks for the video. Brought back memories how I myself was flying VFR and listening to ATC talking to all the big jets.

[Oliver Damkjaer]

I appreciate the kind words Dace, I was sweating bullets even if it didn't sound like it!

[Daryl Jacobs]

Even those of us that have not flown on the network for years like me get nervous. Coming back after years of being away from the network. Watching your video now, great job, we all screw up at some point. BTW, you are very brave to record your first flight on VATSIM, but I am learning a lot from it. Thank you!

Good Luck!

Edited August 15, 2021 at 08:09 PM by Daryl Jacobs

[Jason Smith]

That was really fun to watch, felt like I was just as nervous viewing the video! 

Still waiting on the last pieces of my new sim rig to arrive but the sole pourpose is to fly on VATSIM. In the meantime, have been working on / completing the training and hopefully one day soon I'll be in the same shoes taking my first flight!