I was doing a nice charter flight from Orlando S KSFB to Manchester EGCC. I was really looking forward to my 9 and a half hour flight back to the UK in my lovely Thomson Airways Boeing 767-304ER. It was a nice quiet night and i was at FL370 going through Boston when i got interupted by a phone call. So i just let the auto pilot do the work as it flew through incontrolled airspace. When i returned to the flight deck half an hour later my chuffin VATSIM account had been suspended by an arsy Govenor. Now i can't get on to my account for an other WEEK! and its my week off! I was hoping to get some hours up on VATSIM now i can't because im banned for leaving the flight deck for 30mins. Im so mad!!!!!!! I mean come on VATSIM! :( :( :( B)

Usually if you let someone know you have to disappear for a moment, they are quite ok with it. Personally I wouldn't let some phone call interrupt FS time - my Mrs is amazed at my ability to ignore phone calls if I'm doing anything more important :( I figure if it's important they can leave a message or phone back.

I was doing a nice charter flight from Orlando S KSFB to Manchester EGCC. I was really looking forward to my 9 and a half hour flight back to the UK in my lovely Thomson Airways Boeing 767-304ER. It was a nice quiet night and i was at FL370 going through Boston when i got interupted by a phone call. So i just let the auto pilot do the work as it flew through incontrolled airspace. When i returned to the flight deck half an hour later my chuffin VATSIM account had been suspended by an arsy Govenor. Now i can't get on to my account for an other WEEK! and its my week off! I was hoping to get some hours up on VATSIM now i can't because im banned for leaving the flight deck for 30mins. Im so mad!!!!!!! I mean come on VATSIM! :( :( :( B)

You left the flight deck? Don't blame the controller.......sorry for your troubles. B)

I was doing a nice charter flight from Orlando S KSFB to Manchester EGCC. I was really looking forward to my 9 and a half hour flight back to the UK in my lovely Thomson Airways Boeing 767-304ER. It was a nice quiet night and i was at FL370 going through Boston when i got interupted by a phone call. So i just let the auto pilot do the work as it flew through incontrolled airspace. When i returned to the flight deck half an hour later my chuffin VATSIM account had been suspended by an arsy Govenor. Now i can't get on to my account for an other WEEK! and its my week off! I was hoping to get some hours up on VATSIM now i can't because im banned for leaving the flight deck for 30mins. Im so mad!!!!!!! I mean come on VATSIM! :( :( :( B)

That's definitely a little harsh. If it was in controlled airspace, I'd definitely understand. I don't know the complete story, but that sounds to me like a little over reactive.

The controllers are just trying to do their job...can't say I blame them. Sorry...

You left the flight deck? Don't blame the controller.......sorry for your troubles. :(

MMmmm, yehh it was around 4ish in the morning :/ and there where no controlled airspace until i got back into the UK. I mean c'mon do you really expect me to sit in a cooped up 767 cockpit falling a sleep on a 9 hour flight? Wouldn't you rather go in the AFT section and talk to some hostes's? Anyway im hoping to get back on this weekend, and ill be in the skies again! :(

That's definitely a little harsh. If it was in controlled airspace, I'd definitely understand. I don't know the complete story, but that sounds to me like a little over reactive.

Mmm it wasn't if i was doing nose diving or messing around in the skies. Anyway im going to forget about it, and hopefully ill be back in command soon :(

I was doing a nice charter flight from Orlando S KSFB to Manchester EGCC. I was really looking forward to my 9 and a half hour flight back to the UK in my lovely Thomson Airways Boeing 767-304ER. It was a nice quiet night and i was at FL370 going through Boston when i got interupted by a phone call. So i just let the auto pilot do the work as it flew through incontrolled airspace. When i returned to the flight deck half an hour later my chuffin VATSIM account had been suspended by an arsy Govenor. Now i can't get on to my account for an other WEEK! and its my week off! I was hoping to get some hours up on VATSIM now i can't because im banned for leaving the flight deck for 30mins. Im so mad!!!!!!! I mean come on VATSIM! :( :( :( B)

Sorry it happened to you, but you have to understand the goal of VATSIM is to create a realistic ATC controlled environment. If you were in a real 767, and disappeared from the flight deck for a period of time, you'd have a lot more to worry about then a suspended account. Look what happened to those NWA (Delta) pilots, when they didn't respond to ATC. I think they're working at Walmart now B) If you are on a long flight, and can't fly the whole way real time, I would suggest you use default ATC (Modified with FS-Edit Voicepack in conjunction with AISmooth of course) or Radar Contact instead. That's the reason I don't use VATSIM, my environment is not conducive to it, especially for long flights.

That's why I sometimes use RCJimCYWG-20C and clear skies

You have to be smart when flying on Vatsim. If you are in uncontrolled airspace at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon the odds of anyone checking on you is near zero.If on the other hand you are flying at an off time. 4am in the US as you said, the supervisors will be checking, that is their job. 30 minutes of unattended connection and you are gone.As a controller, I can tell you it is frustrating when aircraft enter your airspace and will not answer. After 5 to 10 minutes I start the clock and call a super after 30 minutes.Mark.

Like others said. It is normal to leave the cockpit. We have to visit the toilet, get something from the fridge, etc.But it is always advisable to leave a message on that. If you are controlled, inform the controller you'll be back in, say, 20 minutes.If you are currently out of control (theoretically), leave a similar message on UNICOM (122.800).I had a similar situation a few years ago, flying overnight from (I guess) Chicago to Krakow. I just fell asleep. I got kicked out too. That was well deserved, so I've learned my lesson.

I did that once and just got a stern warning, now if I have to leave I simply disconnect while I am away, I think its a good rule and 30 min is a long enough time for a break. :(

VATSIM policy is clear on this issue.as has been stated if you need to step away just disconnect.you can reconnect once you return 'to the cockpit'.--

At least he can connect to VATSIM without issues...

VATSIM policy is clear on this issue.as has been stated if you need to step away just disconnect.you can reconnect once you return 'to the cockpit'.--

I do many long hauls on VATSIM and I cannot stay on for 9 hours at a time. The above VATSIM advice is on the money. If you have to leave for a while just log off let the flying continue on A/P, do your work or enjoy the scenery or the weather, and when nearer the destination reconnect and off you go. And what are you missing over large uncontrolled airspace anyway...?There is another trick. In FS2004 you can actually log off VATSIM and leave the multiplayer session and connect to FS default ATC midflight and thus get all the FS ATC and AI traffic accompanying you. When you want to return to real ATC just log back in to VATSIM.Happy flying!Shez

I do many long hauls on VATSIM and I cannot stay on for 9 hours at a time. The above VATSIM advice is on the money. If you have to leave for a while just log off let the flying continue on A/P, do your work or enjoy the scenery or the weather, and when nearer the destination reconnect and off you go. And what are you missing over large uncontrolled airspace anyway...?There is another trick. In FS2004 you can actually log off VATSIM and leave the multiplayer session and connect to FS default ATC midflight and thus get all the FS ATC and AI traffic accompanying you. When you want to return to real ATC just log back in to VATSIM.Happy flying!Shez

Sorry to derail the thread, but whatever happened to VATUK?I remember years ago they used to be really big and they were very active with lots of ATC on-lne..But now it doesn't seem very active, at least compared to what it used be years back.In true English style, did they regulate themselves out of existence or something?