I took off from LSGG (Geneva) for a short flight to LSZH (Zurich) with an Air Berlin 738: upon passing FL140 the plane depressurized! After declaring the emergency, Swiss Radar cleared me for an rapid descent and the ILS 23 app into Geneva.ATC handled the emergency very well : Tuesday night is the Vatsim Switzerland online night. Worth a flight: they are very friendly and provide a great service. Best Karim

Good job! Thanks for the info on VATSIM Tuesdays at Zurich! I love flying in Europe - the ATC there is almost always EXCELLENT and the controllers are always professional and courteous. I'll try to remember Tuesdays in Europe from now on. Love that NGX!

I thought emergencies are prohibitted on VATSIM.

Generally speaking, emergencies are prohibited on VATSIM without prior agreement with ATC. That said, sometimes when a controller is not too busy, they'll often be very supportive. My first VATSIM flight (years ago, with FS98) involved an unintended casualty...a loss of cockpit lighting. I reported it to ATC with my intentions to log off and reboot, but he said no, let's work through it if you're up to it. We did, and it was awesome. (Back in those days, SOCAL Approach was lucky to have one or two aircraft at a time. I'd never try that there now!)

I thought emergencies are prohibitted on VATSIM.

If I remember well, only lost comms and hijacking are severely prohibited. Emergencies are allowed but only if realistic and conducted in respect of ATC coordination and other traffic. So yes, they are allowed, just be nice, friendly and respectful... And controllers will help You the best they can. It happened to me twice on Vatsim flying with fspax

The rule for emergencies on VATSIM is,

Pilots are permitted to declare in-flight emergencies. If, for any reason, air traffic control requests the pilot to terminate the emergency, then the pilot must do so IMMEDIATELY or log off of VATSIM. Pilots are notpermitted to simulate, in any manner, an unlawful act while logged onto the VATSIM.net network including, but not limited to, declaring a hijack by statement utilizing either voice or text or by entering a transponder code of 7500.

My controller rule of thumb is as follows: -If I'm controlling center and I'm the only one, and very busy, I'll tell you to stop or log off, kindly.-If you scream "mayday mayday mayday, 5 engine fire, type 747-400, 400 passengers, fire onboard," and other absurdities, making it too dramatic, I'll tell you to knock it off, bluntly.-If it's a realistic, calm, emergency, I'm all for it. Ny gyro vectors are fun, among other non-standard ops.

The couple times I have had an emergency I have politely asked the controller "xxx CTR, I have an emergency on board, my landing gear won't come down, can you handle the emergency, or do you want me to log off?" I have never had a controller tell me to log off, but they weren't that busy either. Like Kyle says, be respectful, be calm, it goes a long way. Remember, it's a hobby for both sides.