Hope We Don't Do This Too Often

[japascoe 98]

"DEE CEE CENTER, AIR FORCE ONE DECLARING AN EMERGENCY!!! FIVE ENGINE FIRE!!!!!! HYDRAULIC FAILURE!!!!"(For the record, as was in my signature for quite some time, I hate being called "DC" Center)

For the record / my knowledge, what is the correct callsign? I didn't see it in the controller info last flight, though I got put straight through to unicom by KPHL_TWR (was headed northwest into Canada, so wasn't in ZDC airspace for long) so it wasn't an issue.

As an Albuquerque Center controller on the network you see a fair share of crazy vatsim pilots. Still there are plentiful numbers of those who are real or retired pilots and fly on the network in their recreational time. You never here about those gentlemen because they can fly and even better, talk to Atc properly. Many seasoned Vatsim veterans can do things that would go with out saying as well. Bringing extra fuel to an event, maintaining a hold, playing ball with other aircraft, etc.

I'd like to think that some of who are only pretend pilots also don't do too badly on vatism; not just those who have real world experience ;). Edited February 1, 2012 by japascoe

[Nathan Cupps 0]

Then they should be banned from flying on there. If people cant take it seriously then they shouldn't be allowed to take part....even though it isn't real.

There are restrictions to what a pilot can and cannot do on the network. For one if Atc is online he should contact and follow that controllers instructions. When controllers aren't on, (happens a lot during the week) most of the policies that are set in place could be summarized to some good courtesy with all the other pilots. Don't crash your plane into other aircraft, don't circle people or sit on runways while people are trying to land or depart. Here is a list of what is expected from all of the Vatsim Pilots.

• A basic understanding of piloting skills, and to safely perform all of the following:
  • Taxi
  • Take-off
  • Maintain an assigned altitude, heading, and airspeed
  • Navigate to and from an airfield in VFR flight, or navigate to and from navigation aids such as VORs when in IFR flight
  • Fly a basic traffic pattern
  • Land on an assigned runway

• Understand the difference between VFR and IFR flight
• Although IFR skills are not required, learning to file and fly on an IFR flightplan greatly enhances the VATSIM experience later
• Understand valid altitudes for direction of flight
• Be familiar with the Pilots’ Etiquette Guide
• Understand basic ATC phraseology
• Tune to different radio frequencies and effectively communicate with a controller
• Answer a private message (or “hail”) from a controller or supervisor
• Follow instructions from VATSIM air traffic controllers
• Ask questions or get clarifications if you do not understand
• Set up the software required, join the network with your real name, choose a callsign, set the aircraft type, and be able to file a flightplan
• Be courteous and respectful at all times
• Operate within the limits of the VATSIM Code of Conduct, User Agreement, and Code of Regulations

The Vatsim user agreement, code of conduct, and code of regulations are also excellent at specifying what is and what is not allowed the network.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Nathan Cupps

[jturie 0]

I know exactly what your saying, we get one of the Air Force One guys probably two to three times a month. The 12-13 yr old boy who spawned in the 737 at Phoenix and files a flight plan to Las Vegas GPS direct at 11,000 ft. Then he decides to call up as Air Force One when he can't even read back a taxi clearance. Lucky for us when most of them get off the ground they'll declare engine failure and crash into one of the conveniently placed mountains in the P50. :(

heh heh...saw this near KJAX once...kid gets on screaming at the top of his lungs "double engine failure" whilst we were in the middle of an event for Delta Virtual. CTR was dealing with 15 planes entering the STAR with no Approach online, and quite reasonably refused his request. Kid starts yelling about how he's gonna report CTR and continues to jam up the frequency about how many "people" (not souls, but people) were on the flight and that it was CTR's fault. Fortunately, just as the kid face-planted into a convenient swamp, CTR gets on, refuses to take the emergency one last time and calmly says "have a nice day".. Priceless.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

Yep, those AF1 kids on VATSIM are always good for a laugh. I was on a 10 mile final for (unstaffed) Dulles once on VATSIM when "AF1" got on unicom and demanded that all inbound flights clear out and stay 5nm away or "my escorting fighters will shoot you down." BTW he was a good 40nm out....I ignored him, but he never landed-just pulled the plug at some point.I think in my ~50 hrs on VATSIM I've heard more emergencies declared than I've seen in real life....don't know how you controllers can deal with that nonsense, but my hat's off to you.

Luckily, we're allowed to tell them to knock it off or log off if we find it's interfering with other peoples' enjoyment of the network.

I know exactly what your saying, we get one of the Air Force One guys probably two to three times a month. The 12-13 yr old boy who spawned in the 737 at Phoenix and files a flight plan to Las Vegas GPS direct at 11,000 ft. Then he decides to call up as Air Force One when he can't even read back a taxi clearance. Lucky for us when most of them get off the ground they'll declare engine failure and crash into one of the conveniently placed mountains in the P50. :LMAO:I guess I'll edit this an throw in that this character is the main stereo typical Air Force One we as an ARTCC see a majority of the time. They're pilots who can fly Air Force One and other military procedures that shock us.

Yeah, every once in a while, I'll get someone in a mil/gov aircraft who knows his stuff and it's fun to control them. Likewise, some are surprised to know I know some of the basic military procedures.

For the record / my knowledge, what is the correct callsign? I didn't see it in the controller info last flight, though I got put straight through to unicom by KPHL_TWR (was headed northwest into Canada, so wasn't in ZDC airspace for long) so it wasn't an issue.

The listed callsign is DC_CTR when you look in the list, which is why everyone says "Dee Cee," but the actual call is "Washington Center." Some people get upset about that, but it's just like airports, really:ORD? Anybody out there calling it Orchard field anymore? Nope - O'Hare.IAD? Dulles.MCO? Anybody calling it McCoy still? Nope - Chuck Testa! ...er...Orlando!IAD_APP is Potomac Approach, LAX_APP is SoCal, and somewhere in TX is Regional, so it's not a foreign concept. I think it's just that DC sounds like it could fit, unless you knew aviation never uses acronyms like that in communications.We actually tested it using WSH_CTR for a night and hardly anyone called us "Dee Cee," but it confused the regulars who were used to seeing DC_CTR.

[rocketfs 2]

You'd be surprised at the things you see as a VATSIM controller...RW controllers have interesting stories of their own, sure, but sim pilots pull some weird stuff all the time.

O so true. I've had my share at the IVAO side as controller :Hypnotized:Bert Van Bulck

[MrKen 3]

...and somewhere in TX is Regional, so it's not a foreign concept.

I believe that's at kggg, Longview Regional Airport (Gregg county regional up to a few years ago).I'm surprised you've run across it though, it only has 2 American eagle round trips to dfw each day, a small amount of charter traffic & the tower is only manned from sunrise to sunset. It is (or was, nowadays) an alternate landing site for the shuttles & B-52's from barksdale afb used to go there for touch & go's because of the 10k ft runway. I could be wrong of course, but I'm pretty sure that's the 'regional' you were referring to. Edited February 1, 2012 by MrKen

[scandinavian13 5,192]

I could be wrong of course, but I'm pretty sure that's the 'regional' you were referring to.

I don't fly down there at all RW and hardly ever on VATSIM, but I think the DFW area TRACON refers to itself as regional. That's what I was going for, but to be honest, I'm glad you mentioned the stuff about KGGG. Airports around the country have some cool pasts.

[MrKen 3]

I don't fly down there at all RW and hardly ever on VATSIM, but I think the DFW area TRACON refers to itself as regional. That's what I was going for, but to be honest, I'm glad you mentioned the stuff about KGGG. Airports around the country have some cool pasts.

You're probably right. Kggg is about 120 miles east of dfw. Speaking of interesting airports, ever heard of green river intergalactic spaceport in Wyoming? 48U was founded in 1994 so people from Jupiter would have a safe haven in the event of meteor strikes on their home planet. So far its only been used by human pilots. Current notams include deep 4x4 ruts & broken beer bottles on the 5800 ft dirt runway. I spent about 6 months in green river doing some work for Exxon.

[japascoe 98]

The listed callsign is DC_CTR when you look in the list, which is why everyone says "Dee Cee," but the actual call is "Washington Center." Some people get upset about that, but it's just like airports, really:ORD? Anybody out there calling it Orchard field anymore? Nope - O'Hare.IAD? Dulles.MCO? Anybody calling it McCoy still? Nope - Chuck Testa! ...er...Orlando!IAD_APP is Potomac Approach, LAX_APP is SoCal, and somewhere in TX is Regional, so it's not a foreign concept. I think it's just that DC sounds like it could fit, unless you knew aviation never uses acronyms like that in communications.We actually tested it using WSH_CTR for a night and hardly anyone called us "Dee Cee," but it confused the regulars who were used to seeing DC_CTR.

Thanks for that. I'm guessing it's the callsign in combination with the fact that it's called Washington DC, unlike your other examples. I wouldn't have guessed LAX_APP = SoCal either.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

Thanks for that. I'm guessing it's the callsign in combination with the fact that it's called Washington DC, unlike your other examples. I wouldn't have guessed LAX_APP = SoCal either.

You're welcome. There is a good bit of aviation that's not 100% obvious, so someone has to be the one to point them out...

[JS212 4]

Air India/ (Air India Express) seem to have had their fair share of incidents within the past couple of months. Lets not forget the Air India 777 that taxied onto the active runway at JFK. It's one of the airlines that is on my personal and family blacklist. VATSIM gets it's fair share of whack-jobs, but most of the people seem to behave them selves. It's also important not to loose sight of the 'fun factor' involved with VATSIM. Even in the RW, especially late at night, I and others have 'joked' with ATC. Not as in telling jokes over the frequency, but just adding a little colorful flavor to our transmissions or radio checks if there has been a prolonged period of silence on the frequency. I remember a late night on VATSIM in LAX where a kid was screaming... excuse me... squealing on Center's frequency. Every time a pilot tried to communicate the kid would start squealing into the mic. It took about 15 minutes to get an Admin to bump the moron off.As for Air India and it's subsid's, they need to get their act together or they may end up loosing their ability to operate to various foreign destinations.

[vc10man 732]

@John HeyeerAn astute observation of AI and it's subsid's. It too is on my blacklist and whenever I meet any Indian people and they tell me that they are going on a vacation, and I ask then if they are going to fly AI, their reaction says it all.They are losing traffic in of all places, their own home patch.

[JS212 4]

@John HeyeerAn astute observation of AI and it's subsid's. It too is on my blacklist and whenever I meet any Indian people and they tell me that they are going on a vacation, and I ask then if they are going to fly AI, their reaction says it all.They are losing traffic in of all places, their own home patch.

I believe there is a YouTube video of an argument that occurred in Mumbai (correction: Dehli) after passengers noticed that the food served by AI had mold and was past it's expiration date. I'll try to locate the video and post a link to it on here.AI could be a great airline, but they need to sort out these issues first. As always, the toughest part of fixing a fledgling company is in marketing the changes that have occurred. They've done a nice job of updating their aircraft and product, but they still have other areas to work on. All in good time I suppose.Video link:

Edited February 4, 2012 by JS212

[3-2-1-Now 126]

An Indian airline... say no more... ;)If you think the ATC stories are "interesting"...http://www.bbc.co.uk...-india-16866616That is the tip of the tip of a very large iceberg... I'd never fly with an Indian airline even if you paid me a very large amount of cash to do so.Best regards,Robin.

[vc10man 732]

An Indian airline... say no more... ;)If you think the ATC stories are "interesting"...http://www.bbc.co.uk...-india-16866616That is the tip of the tip of a very large iceberg... I'd never fly with an Indian airline even if you paid me a very large amount of cash to do so.Best regards,Robin.

This tops my tale of ineptitude. Am I really surprised? Not so.