I'm sure you all saw the announcement on the home page about a new company providing professional online ATC for FS9. I took a look at their web site and demo videos and I have to say that I am VERY impressed! This might be the answer everyone has been waiting for. Maybe the only drawback is limits on where you can fly, but I'm not certain about that. But all the demo flights seem to be in Southern California. In my case that would be okay, as I have the Megascenery SC photoscenery and Cloud9 KLAX along with all the great freeware that Shez has released, plus Mateusz's new KSNA. So lots of good destinations and a very realistic environment. Now if ATC is not restricted to one area - then this is going to be a huge enhancement and will take FS9 to a completely new level

Hi, Ian! I too was initially interested, being a longtime VATSIM lover.But I am afraid they ARE very limited as to the area covered. From their website:The initial ATC coverage area at launch is the Los Angeles ARTCC (ZLA). The Oakland ARTCC (ZOA) will be added in the coming months. Anyway I think it may still be interesting to simmers, especially from the US, who want to practice very realistic area control.

Great to see the interest! Without a doubt, PilotEdge's coverage area is smaller than just about any other network out there. This is intentional. Other than it being a fiscal impossibility to staff a global network on a guaranteed basis, we also believe that there is limited training value in having 500-700 pilots flying online if they are scattered around the globe. The traffic density will simply not be there. Take the US, for example. There are often THOUSANDS of IFR aircraft flying within the real world airspace at any given time, plus thousands of VFR aircraft. And yet, you can find vast expanses of empty airspace just about anywhere you go. As much as we understand the desire to fly locally, we feel like with just a handful of exceptions, 'flying is flying' no matter where you are within the US. It's better to be flying somewhere that's new and unfamiliar with a lot of traffic (from a training perspective) than it is to be at your home airport with nobody within a 300nm radius. The wonderful thing is that there is now a choice. You can fly on network with guaranteed coverage 15 hours a day and a highly realistic radio procedure with a subscription fee, or you can use the existing networks with volunteer-based global coverage. It's a good thing, and both have their forte with various markets. We are interested in establishing service in other countries, of course. There is only limited training value for someone in the UK, Germany, or France flying over in the US, we understand that and are interested in potentially licensing the technology to other companies to establish local service in each country for the retail market (pilots at home) and commercial organizations (flight schools, universities, sim centers, etc).

Thanks for the information Keith. What you've said about the limited coverage makes perfect sense. I will definitely be giving the demo a try. For the average FS hobbyist I'm guessing that the small operating area will be a an issue but for those who want to experience ATC realism that seems as close to real-world as is concievable within a simulator this looks unbeatable... Obviously there are pros and cons for both VATSIM and what you are offering but the 7 days a week/15 hours a day coverage is going to be very attractive along with the professional quality of the controllersGood luck with thisIan

Very good, Ian, thanks for taking the time to read and process my post. One last thing I should add. One common question we hear is, "how can I see which controllers are online?" The answer: you can't. It doesn't matter how we are staffed, and which controller is working which position. In real life, pilots tune published frequencies, someone responds who's covering that frequency (and maybe many more, too), and then they get handed from controller to controller. The same is true here. We dynamically add/remove controllers as needed. The one thing we guarantee is that you will get controllers responding to you if you call within the coverage area, on a correct frequency (don't try calling LAX ground if you're 40 miles away from LAX and on the ground), and from 8am-11pm PDT, 7 days a week.

Can you arrive from outside the area and then contact controllers when in range? For example, could I depart from KLAS (without ATC or using default FS9 ATC) and then call your center within range to get arrival ATC for KLAX? If so, here's a suggestion. Could the client email you a flight plan and recieve back an email (or text) with a clearance and a required departure time and ETA to enter the controlled airspace. (Pretty much like the real world in obtaining an arrival time slot) That way your controllers would be expecting an arrival at a designated waypoint and altitude and squawking the appropriate ident. It would widen the skill sets required and be very realistic other than the lack of ATC prior to entering your controlled air space. And as we all know, once you're at cruising altitude there's not a lot going on anyway. It might even be possible for the flight to depart using VATSIM until entering your area - the best of all worlds! (Of course, they could also reverse the direction and depart from your area).. Just a thought. After I get my mid-term exams all graded I plan to try the free demo and give it a shot. CheersIan

Ian, LAS is within our coverage area. That's part of the Los Angeles ARTCC (ZLA). You can fly from LAS to LAX and receive full ATC coverage from wheels up to wheels down. To the spirit of your question, though, yes, you can arrive from outside of the coverage area, connecting to the network just as you arrive. Truthfully, there are so many towered airports within ZLA that we hope people will consider keeping their flights within the coverage area (particularly once we add the Oakland ARTCC into the mix in a couple of months from now), but if pilots to elect to 'fly from outside', they can simply connect as they approach the ZLA boundary, as depicted on the hi/low enroute charts. Here's a link to skyvector showing the lateral boundaries of the Los Angeles ARTCC. Here's a list of the top off my head of the more familiar airports within the airspace that would be of interest to heavy metal pilots:LAX, LAS, SAN, ONT, BUR, SNA, LGB, PSP, SBA, VNY, SMX, SBP, BFL, GCN. There are considerably more towered airports than those, but that's the list of fields that most people might be familiar with.

Ian, LAS is within our coverage area. That's part of the Los Angeles ARTCC (ZLA). You can fly from LAS to LAX and receive full ATC coverage from wheels up to wheels down. To the spirit of your question, though, yes, you can arrive from outside of the coverage area, connecting to the network just as you arrive. Truthfully, there are so many towered airports within ZLA that we hope people will consider keeping their flights within the coverage area (particularly once we add the Oakland ARTCC into the mix in a couple of months from now), but if pilots to elect to 'fly from outside', they can simply connect as they approach the ZLA boundary, as depicted on the hi/low enroute charts. Here's a link to skyvector showing the lateral boundaries of the Los Angeles ARTCC. Here's a list of the top off my head of the more familiar airports within the airspace that would be of interest to heavy metal pilots:LAX, LAS, SAN, ONT, BUR, SNA, LGB, PSP, SBA, VNY, SMX, SBP, BFL, GCN. There are considerably more towered airports than those, but that's the list of fields that most people might be familiar with.

That answers my questions. I'm in!!!!