Shane Garrott Posted February 19, 2022 at 02:16 PM Posted February 19, 2022 at 02:16 PM (edited) Hi all, I have just flown my 2nd VATSIM flight. It was a 45min VFR flight. I mentioned I was new to the controllers. As I was holding short of the runway for take-off, I mistakenly tuned to Departures instead of Tower (which is what i thought i was supposed to do). Departures gave me clearance for takeoff, after I queried them. Tower then contacted me, claiming I had taken off without permission. I explained I got clearance from departures and apologised if I had caused confusion, but the tower didn't believe me. He also claimed departures said I didn't get clearance. I was dumbstruck. Next thing I know, I've got a supervisor contacting me.Then I had to justify something I didn't do to a supervisor. He told me to maybe practice more before joining vatsim. But I cant really practice this scenario without...being in a scenario like this! That's called learning, I figure? Anyway, it was all rather obtuse and not a great 2nd flight experience. I've been spending numerous hours listening in as an observer to get things right. Question: is this normal behaviour with new pilots, and I should just get over it? And more importantly: does "getting called by a supervisor" impact my vatsim profile in any way? Sorry if this question doesn't belong here. Cheers all. Edited February 19, 2022 at 02:36 PM by Shane Garrott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dace Nicmane Posted February 19, 2022 at 02:37 PM Posted February 19, 2022 at 02:37 PM Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Departure should have sent you back to tower when you called in instead of giving you takeoff clearance. And yeah, I'd say they should have gone easy on a new pilot. Tower controls runways and the immediate vicinity of the airport for VFR flights (and sometimes taxiways between active runways when there's more than one). But I guess you already learned it the hard way. Best of luck in the future and don't let this one misunderstanding keep you from flying! You can also find the vACC/ARTCC's homepage and file feedback to the controllers. Perhaps they'll be able to explain it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dace Nicmane Posted February 19, 2022 at 03:20 PM Posted February 19, 2022 at 03:20 PM 1 hour ago, Shane Garrott said: does "getting called by a supervisor" impact my vatsim profile in any way? What supervisors do with our accounts is top secret. 🙂 But if you were not suspended, I wouldn't worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair Thomson Posted February 19, 2022 at 03:23 PM Posted February 19, 2022 at 03:23 PM Also, maybe the clearance you got from Departure wasn't "cleared for takeoff" but your clearance for the flight? I don't think any Departures controller would use these words I have quoted, because they are very specific and only ever used by Tower. Alistair Thomson === Definition: a gentleman is a flying instructor in a Piper Cherokee who can change tanks without getting his face slapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Garrott Posted February 19, 2022 at 08:48 PM Author Posted February 19, 2022 at 08:48 PM 6 hours ago, Dace Nicmane said: Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Departure should have sent you back to tower when you called in instead of giving you takeoff clearance. And yeah, I'd say they should have gone easy on a new pilot. Tower controls runways and the immediate vicinity of the airport for VFR flights (and sometimes taxiways between active runways when there's more than one). But I guess you already learned it the hard way. Best of luck in the future and don't let this one misunderstanding keep you from flying! You can also find the vACC/ARTCC's homepage and file feedback to the controllers. Perhaps they'll be able to explain it. Thank you so much for that commentary. Yeah good to hear. I think I was more concerned about my profile getting tagged or something. I'll keep chugging. Never thought something could be so stressful and enjoyable at the same time. 😂. I get the attraction now, though. Early days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Garrott Posted February 19, 2022 at 08:54 PM Author Posted February 19, 2022 at 08:54 PM 5 hours ago, Alistair Thomson said: Also, maybe the clearance you got from Departure wasn't "cleared for takeoff" but your clearance for the flight? I don't think any Departures controller would use these words I have quoted, because they are very specific and only ever used by Tower. Yeah. The tower guy was having issues with his client minutes before, so I think departure were trying to help out. Quiet airport. I was very clear with takeoff request language, as I was holding at the time. I reckon when tower questioned him, he froze up, and didn't admit to releasing me. Weird he would deny it. But yeah I hear ya. Possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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