I love this video, that's pretty much what it feels like the first time you ask for clearance, this is a real life student asking for his first IFR clearance: 

 

 

Sweaty palms, breaking voice and all. Even for basic VFR "departure to the north" kind of stuff I still feel some of this.

I think the nervousness comes because we try so damned hard to simulate it as closely as possibly.

What about flying online when no ATC is present?  I'm reading through the rules on vatsim.net right now and they say pilots need to monitor 122.80(UNICOM) when no ATC is present.  Does this mean then that we announce intentions, position, etc over UNICOM for everything we are doing in non-controlled airspace?  Wouldn't that be sent to everyone online regardless of if you are in the same geographic region or not?  Or, do we just monitor that frequency but fly our flight plan as filed and not make any radio calls?

 

Hopefully later tonight(time and real life commitments permitting), I want to try a flight.  I'm currently sitting in ESPA and will be heading to ESSA.  If there is no ATC on then in these areas, do I just tune 122.80 and go fly?  Or, do I announce to UNICOM everything I'm doing along the way?  I.e. "ESPA traffic NAX4044 taxiing to RWY14 south departure".  And, what about up at cruise?  Do we report positions to UNICOM?

 

Sorry if these questions are answered already somewhere.  I'm just asking my questions as I come up with them when reading the docs.  So, it's not like I'm not trying to find the answers myself.  I just haven't gotten there yet.    Thanks.

You would only announce intentions on 122.8 when there's traffic in your near vicinity. For example, if there's a plane on short final and you're approaching the holding point for that runway you could announce "ESPA tfc: holding short rwy 19" or if you're about to land and you see traffic on the field you're about to land on you can say something like "ESSA tfc: turning final rwy 1". When there is no traffic in your area you should not report anything.

if like myself occasionally you want to avoid controlled airspace i use vatspy this will show you which airports are controlled and what regions, so you can choose where you want to fly easily. I also use vroute  to see what area has booked to come on line from what time till waht time with this info you can plan to fly to a distant destination and arrive in their region as they go live say 3 hours later!

122.80 is there if you are out of a control area but can see in vatspy some possible conflict so you announce your intentions there (runway to use etc) so the other pilot can avoid you

Since you're a pilot it won't be anything new... (With regards to the first time on the radio)

I keep seeing the reference to vatspy.  Is vatview.com ok to use too?  Does they both show the same data?  I have a macbook and would like to use it for the traffic/coverage areas rather than my FS pc.

I keep seeing the reference to vatspy.  Is vatview.com ok to use too?  Does they both show the same data?  I have a macbook and would like to use it for the traffic/coverage areas rather than my FS pc.

 

All the different Vatsim traffic programs access the same data, so yes. I use Servinfo, an ancient program from I don't know when. That also works fine, but looks a bit dated.

There are many tools that shows the online traffic on vatsim. None of them are official and all of them use the same datasource. You can choose which one you like to use yourself, or you could of course not choose to use any of them if you prefer to just show up

 

 

You would only announce intentions on 122.8 when there's traffic in your near vicinity.

 

When these announcements are made, are they heard throughout the network?  So, if someone is at KLAX and using 122.8, do I hear them in Norway?  Or does Vatsim keep them local to your area only somehow?

with vatspy it is easier to find the regional frequencies being used, airports are the same but if you have a region or something like eurocontrol I cant find their frequencies in vatview.

 

with 122.80 it can only be heard over a normal radios range so if you are in the us you will not hear euro transmissions

The range varies with your altitude, if you're really high into the sky you will hear more transmissions on 122.8 and I believe that your own transmissions will reach further as well. There's a bug that happens infrequently where you can hear transmissions from the other side of the globe, but it's not very common. I say hear, but what I really mean is see, as 122.8 is a text-only frequency on vatsim

I love this video, that's pretty much what it feels like the first time you ask for clearance, this is a real life student asking for his first IFR clearance: 

 

 

Sweaty palms, breaking voice and all. Even for basic VFR "departure to the north" kind of stuff I still feel some of this.

I think the nervousness comes because we try so damned hard to simulate it as closely as possibly.

 

Of all the videos to pick!. That's my friend Tom, making his first ever call for an IFR clearance for our flight out of KHEF. He's using my radio and leaning on my airplane

That's me in the blue helping him out.

 

Considering he'd never picked up a clearance, he did a great job. You can credit online flying with that (VATSIM in this case, it was pre PilotEdge)

Ignore the last message...I'm on. I forgot to fill out the basic info so it was my bad.

Congrats, try connecting as an observer at an airport where there is ATC and just sit back and listen to the relevant channels like Ground, Tower, Approach, Centre and so on.

Vatsim has an excellent Pilot Resource Centre http://www.vatsim.net/prc/ and would advise you to spend sometime doing some reading. There is of course no reason why you should

not try out some VFR flying to start with, just follow VFR rules and don't be afraid to contact controller to let him/her know that you are new, which is nothing to be ashamed of.

See you in the virtual skies.

 

Regards

Of all the videos to pick!. That's my friend Tom, making his first ever call for an IFR clearance for our flight out of KHEF. He's using my radio and leaning on my airplane

That's me in the blue helping him out.

 

Considering he'd never picked up a clearance, he did a great job. You can credit online flying with that (VATSIM in this case, it was pre PilotEdge)

 

You're famous!  He's famous too!

I have recently started flying on VATSIM and it's great.  There really is very little to worry about either.  All the controllers I have interacted with have been friendly and patient.  As long as you have done a bit of research on common ATC phraseology you will be fine.  Putting something like "New to VATSIM" in the remarks of your flightplan will also alert controllers that you are new.