Flying VATsim improved my professional life

[Spender Vondel]

Since I've started flying VATsim from July this year I have noticed that I've become better at my job, which is completely outside aviation, but does come with a certain level of responsibility. I figure that the skill, effort and mindset needed to fly an airliner with ATC spills over to other domains.

I have noticed that at work I've become:

• faster to tackle issues instead of postponing
• better at finding solutions for problems
• less affected by stress
• clearer in my communication

I was very surprised to notice this change in my behavior, and I didn't immediately link it to VATsim, but when I thought about it it became obvious. So there's that 🙂

Edited September 24, 2021 at 09:12 PM by Spender Vondel

[Alistair Thomson]

Nice one!

And in addition, I'm certain that VATSIM is also good for folks learning to fly, particularly for instrument procedures (under manual control, not under automation!). It's very expensive to shoot the ILS repeatedly in RW, trying to "chase the needles" without over-compensating, but it costs diddly-squat on VATSIM - and ATC is needed for that, which is why VATSIM is better in that scenario than just tooling around offline (although that is a good starter in the process and shouldn't be left out).

[Andreas Fuchs]

Great to hear! Yes, I think that aviation - if pursued to a certain level of professionalism - will have an effect on the rest of your life outside (virtual) aviation. I can attest to this as well.