Hey guys,I tried to fly online today, and to be honest I was overwhelmed by the whole experience!I was absolutely clueless the whole time, and quit in the end.Sids, departures, inersections etc. It all means nothing to me!Are there any websies which can help me learn how to fly? Where i could get taxi charts, departures, approaches etc?Thank you.Regards,Bob

You don't say with which organisation you tried online flying-- there are several-- the best of which by far is Vatsim.If you go to their website ---http://www.vatsim.net/ Join if you haven't already done so , then visit their Pilots Resources Center ( see the menu on the left side of the Vatsim homepage). There you will find a step by step guide to flying online- from the very first basics to the complex stages.Believe me - once you get the basics sorted out - it's easy and it's very enjoyable.Dave

thanx for that. I was on vatsim, but i never realised they had thses resourc4s ontheir sie.Thanx!rehgards,Bob

BobAn alternative might be to hook up with a virtual airline and fly multiplayer rather than VATSIM (or both, when you're ready!). I belong to DC-3 Airways (www.dc3airways.com) which is one of the best, and we fly with anything from 5-20 pilots in the air three times a week. It's challenging, but you'll find an informality that you can't, inevitably, achieve in VATSIM and also that people are really helpful to newbies. In my case, it's also pretty mindblowing to see and hear all those big prop planes maneouvreing for take-off! Not to mention, interesting on arrival ....Good luck, whichever way you point! Flying on your own is pretty bland once you've hooked up with others a few times!Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Hi Bob,adding to the other hints: you might want to take a look a Hal Stoen's site over here http://www.stoenworks.com/Aviation%20home%20page.htmlI learned quite a bit there.Sure it's quite easy to get overwhelmed at first, but if you start off with a few simple hops, it will all start to make sense and great fun.But be careful: Mark is absolutely right, once you've flown multiplayer, you'll be hooked. I touch single player nowadays only for training and testing new airplanes. ByeOliver