Contacting Controllers

[Guest Tim W]

I just entered the world of VATSIM a few days ago, and have been doing a few flights in the European area late in the evening. I use Servinfo and Wazzup to see which controllers are online and then plan a flight accordingly.Several times now, when I am about 20 mins out from my destination and contact the relevant controller he has told me that he is closing down and leaves me with no ATC.My question is, is there a way to contact the controller in advance and ask him how long he intents to be on line for? That way I can make sure that when I plan a flight, the destination ATC facility will still be open when I arrive.Thanks and regardsTimEHAM

[Guest KD Larsen]

You can use a private message to contact him, but if your ETA is 2 or 3 hours, don't expect him to stay online for that long :-)But usually, if you're 20-30 minutes out, most controllers have no problem staying online to guide you down. That is, if their wife/girlfriend/whatever is not standing in the door tripping :-lol

[Guest Tim W]

Thanks Kaspar, much obligedRegardsTim

[Guest ilh]

It would help if more controllers would put their estimated time of departure in their ATIS.Controllers already know about when pilots will arrive (info available with ServInfo), but in general pilots do not know much about a controller's schedule.I do realize that plans may change, but having a best guess really would be helpful.Lee Hetherington (KBOS)UAL337