Hi,Do the controllers on VATSIM usually welcome mid-flight emergencies? I'm thinking something along the lines of a triple engine failure on a 747 at cruise altitude, then having to dump fuel and come down to land at another airport.Would they enjoy dealing with something like this or would it just be considered an annoyance?Cheers :)

Many controllers do enjoy working with a simulated emergency. But do not be surprised if the request is denied because there may be more going on than what you as a pilot are aware of. I would not recommend requesting an emergency while on arrival to a busy controlled area. All simulated emergency requests must be approved by the controller in charge of that airspace. Depending on the task load at the time, the request may or may not be approved. If an emergency request is denied and you have a real issue with your simulator and unable to safely control your aircraft movement, you are expected to disconnect from the network until the issue is worked out.

Not meaning to overstep the instructions from Mike, I have always found that when I want to declare an emergency (real computer hangup or something simulated)I just send a private message to the controller to get his OK or denial. Sherm

You bet Sherm, that is a great way to handle it. Mike

I'v a couple of times gotten strange glitches with some software not coming up normally. Last one was departing NZAA for YSSY in a 767-300 (PIC) The Command Autopilot when engaged sent the aircraft into a spiralling left turn at 60+ degrees bank. Found that disengaging the a/p didn't work as planned and I couldn't command much right aeleron. By this time I'd deviated some miles off course and knew that the controller could see it. I'd also lost altitude and was at around 2000ft. if I'd taken my hand off the yoke we'd have ended up turning left even more, so I simply gave him the "Pan Pan Pan Pan Pan Pan, Qantas 227 heading 230 at 2000 lost hydraulic response can't turn right and have diminished controll of the aircraft. Request back to runway 34 for emergency landing." I'd previously been doing Precautionary and Emergency landings in my real life PPL flying in the Cessna 172, so I guess it was pretty much a neejerk reaction. Aviate (don't crash, hold altitude as well as possible, don't CFIT or UCFIT) Navigate, and if you can't navigate (ie I could'nt turn Right) Tell the guy. He handled it well (I might add this WAS actually a flyin... but then it wasn't an intentional malfunction. something just went wierd in the sim... still havn't worked out what happened, but it fortunatley hasn't happened since.)