Do you really need to talk on VATSIM?

[abrams_tank 7,393]

7 hours ago, captain420 said:

I want to take my IFR flying to the next level and fly on VATSIM, but I'm kind of a shy person and scared that I might upset the controllers, especially at really busy airports. Plus I don't have the best memory either. I'm afraid that I won't be able to read back what the controller tells me. Can I type in the vPilot client instead of talking and use the CPDLC on the Fenix A320 to avoid using voice altogether?

First and foremost, you need to do your homework.  You need to be able to memorize the entire NATO phonetic alphabet. Then you need to read up the basic tutorials of ATC communication, and also watch some videos on VATSIM. I think the VATSIM website has some tutorials on ATC communication.  I also think AviationPro has a very good video series on VATSIM: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtO_n5SzuAadbW1hjV59Ebm6s9APfWsZM

Don't shortcut your homework!  FYI, in addition to the above, I also did all the FSX tutorials, up to and including the private pilot lessons.  And of course, I did all the MSFS lessons as well (the lessons that were available on the release of MSFS). So I think, for me, I had done a lot of homework before venturing onto VATSIM (I am not a real life pilot, FYI).

Next, for your first time on VATSIM, you want to keep it simple - for you, and for the VATSIM ATC controller. What does this mean? This means, not spawning at a super busy airport, like Gatwick, during prime time.  Any VATSIM controller at Gatwick will probably be very annoyed and not happy, if a beginner spawns there during peak hours.  Instead, pick an airport out of nowhere, where nobody is using it.  Yes, there are sometimes very, very, dead airports where the VATSIM controller is waiting for someone, anyone, to spawn there.  

But before you spawn into that airport, you need to download the relevant charts for that airport, especially the taxiway charts.  To be honest, for a full IFR flight, you will also need the SID and STAR charts as well.  But we're going to keep it simple right?  So what you want to do, is a simple traffic pattern at an airport instead. If you do a simple traffic pattern at an airport, you can get away without downloading the SID and STAR charts for that airport. I also recommend that you do a search in Google to see if there is already a VATSIM homepage for the region or airport you want to fly at - often, there is a VATSIM website just for the region you want to fly in, and they have a link to all the charts that you need to fly at that airport.

KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid:

1. Find a VATSIM airport that is usually dead but has a VATSIM controller there. You can get one of the VATSIM apps, that show which airport has a live VATSIM controller.  Over the course of several days, pick a few airports where you notice a controller operating it, but where there is little to no traffic. For those airports that you picked, get the charts, especially the taxiway chart for it.

2. Fly a traffic pattern around that airport.  Also make sure you are comfortable with all the terminology of a traffic pattern. Please note that while traffic patterns are generally left hand turning, it depends on the airport.  For some airports, the traffic pattern is right hand turning, and left hand traffic patterns are disallowed.  Do your homework for that airport.

3. Let the VATSIM controller know that you are a newbie.  They will be much more understanding and more helpful if you tell them this is your first flight on VATSIM.  And because the airport is dead with no traffic, they can afford to be more helpful and patient with you.

4. To simplify things further, use clear weather in MSFS during the daytime, for your first flight.  You need to listen to the VATSIM ATIS for that airport and it will tell you the weather conditions that day, and also what you need to tune your altimeter to.  But for your first flight, you can just keep it simple and use clear weather.  When you get the hang of things on VATSIM, do it the proper way and use live weather, and set your altimeter properly.

5. Use a plane that you are very comfortable with and that you have mastered.  I highly recommend you use something like the Cessna 172, G1000 (the G1000 comes in handy, because you can use the autopilot keep a level flight and turn the heading knob, which is excellent for a traffic pattern).  Just master the plane, make sure you know all the controls and knobs in that plane.  For that reason, I don't recommend something complex like the A320 or 737.

6. Finally, what helped me the most is when I went through AviationPro's Youtube video, I tried to recreate a two way dialogue between ATC controller and pilot, for a traffic pattern, in a Word document. Yes, I actually typed up the communication that I expected, for a traffic pattern, at an airport (ie. VRMM), that should be occurring between an ATC controller and a pilot.  This document ended up being my own cheat sheet. For my first VATSIM flight, I had this cheat sheet handy and I referred to this cheat sheet so I can remember what to say.  I can tell you that my cheat sheet ended up being pretty close to what the actual VATSIM controller said for my first traffic pattern flight at VRMM. I still keep this cheat sheet around to this day.  If I got on VATSIM, I can instantly refer to my cheat sheet, and I know roughly what to say for departure and landing.

7. Have a pad of paper and a pen, ready to write down anything the VATSIM controller says.  You said you have a bad memory. I have a bad memory too.  That's why I write things down on a pad of paper when ATC gives me a set of instructions that I have to repeat back to ATC (and so do many other pilots in real life).

FYI, I did my first proper VATSIM flight in the Maldives at VRMM.  There were a few hiccups when I did it, but fortunately, I did my homework.  I came prepared, and it went well enough. I then continued to practice traffic patterns at different airports across the world, until I felt comfortable enough to do an IFR flight with SIDs and STARs.

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by abrams_tank

[highflyer2020 607]

I have flown on VATSIM text only for the last ~ 10 years and never had any issues.

ATC will not ignore/forget you when you are on approach/departure however during taxi/startup you should be prepared to nudge ATC if they are late in replying to your requests.

Like with anything hard in life it's easier if you take it one step at a time.

Use text only and once you get confident you can try and do voice receive which is where you reply in text and receive over voice then you can progress to being voice both ways.

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by highflyer2020

[MäxliBäxli 41]

45 minutes ago, Swe_Richard said:

I have been simming since about 2005-2006 (yeah, I am new to this compared to many of you out there.. 😉 ) and I have always thought that "some day, I'll try Vatsim". 

Seems I never find the courage to it, though... 😃

 

Richard, give it a try - you can declare yourself as NEWBIE in the REMARKS Section of your flightplan...what is important: You should know how to handle your aircraft, you should have charts (Navigraph eg) onboard and a kneeboard for writing down things.

I started years ago and i am sure everyone of use made enough mistakes 🙂 Never flew offline ever since,

Greets,

Markus

[VBHB 298]

Been using Vatsim for over 10 years I just type these days can't be bothered to talk. And when you don't have to talk you can listen to music *wink wink*.

But for yourself there's heaps of resources on Vatsim and YouTube now that can help you get confident in using Vatsim and the pilot lingo you need to know.

Edited May 28, 2022 by VBHB

[captain420 3,099]

I wouldn't mind receiving instructions in voice and replying back via text. How is this done using vPilot? Do I just type in the flight plan that I wish to receive my instructions via voice and do my readbacks via text? Or is there a setting for this?

Thanks a lot for all the useful advice! Much appreciated.

[JYW 2,977]

I'll never forget my first ever flight on VATSIM (c.2006ish).  I flew from Liverpool to Cardiff in a C172 but IFR (as that's where VATSIM really shines).    I checked in with Cardiff Tower, and it was Wycliffe Barrett (some of you may know him). He gave me these super complex visual reference point instructions; loads of local land marks.    I said "Err, I'm IFR" and Wycliffe said "Oh wow, sorry G-JWYL, I've never had a 172 come in IFR before, in that case turn heading XXX until incepting the localizer" 😁    I intercepted after a few mins, he cleared me to land and wow, what a feeling.  Sometimes IFR so so much more straightforward!

So yeah, just build up the courage, prepare for that first flight, and then get stuck in.  Most controllers are pretty friendly, I find.  Some can be grouchy, don't let them put you off.   Just keep this in mind, if things go absolutely wrong, just click that disconnect button and you're out of there and the pressures off.    They won't go wrong though, you'll be fine and the end of the first flight is a really rewarding feeling.

Incidentally, right from 2006 when I first tried VATSIM up until today, I've always found the most challenging part the taxi instructions from Ground, once you've landed!  

Edited May 28, 2022 by JYW

[Bob Scott 7,716]

The trick for catching an IFR clearance and reading it back is to know beforehand what to expect.  The clearance should come to you in the "CRAFT" format:

Clearance to XXXX
Route: as filed or ____________  R/V  SID/Trans ______.______
Altitude: initial____ expect XXX after 10 minutes
Frequency for departure control
Transponder squawk

When I get ready to call for a clearance, I have CRAFT laid out vertically as I did above on my kneeboard, and I will pre-fill the parts I already expect, like where I'm going, the route I filed/expect, and the altitude I filed, and then all I do is fill in the blanks or note changes as the controller reads the clearance.  Then I read it back in the same CRAFT format.

Practicing radio conversation offline with someone who's proficient helps a lot too.

[ark 1,288]

If you have a second monitor available, having a program like Little Navmap with a moving map is very helpful for situational awareness, and not just in flight. You can zoom in with LNM to clearly see where you are on the taxiways. Once you know the active runway for takeoff, and your parking spot, you can pretty much guess at what the controller is going to give you for taxi instructions before you even call the controller. The only caveat here might be with how MSFS labels taxiways (my VATSIM experience is in P3d).  I recall reading complaints that MSFS does not label taxiways correctly. If that is still the case, then LNM may not have correct taxiway labels either if it is using the MSFS scenery database -- not sure. Maybe someone can comment on this? However, if necessary, you can use P3d scenery with LNM which should have valid taxiway labels.

Al

[Mirach 38]

1 hour ago, captain420 said:

I wouldn't mind receiving instructions in voice and replying back via text. How is this done using vPilot? Do I just type in the flight plan that I wish to receive my instructions via voice and do my readbacks via text? Or is there a setting for this?

Thanks a lot for all the useful advice! Much appreciated.

In the "Flight Plan" section of Vpilot there is a specific setting that lets the controller know your transmitting option: Send and Receive with voice, Receive only, Text only

 https://vpilot.rosscarlson.dev/Documentation#flight-plan

 

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Mirach

[flightskyc 257]

12 hours ago, DaWu said:

Why fly on an ATC network and not talk ? Text only is terrible for everyone involved.

Some people are hearing impaired or deaf. I doubt text only is a ‘terrible experience’ for those folks, who perhaps, is their only way to interact on an online network. 

I’d prefer not to exclude folks, because of a disability. Wouldn’t you?

Edited May 28, 2022 by flightskyc

[Bruno Duarte 13]

1 hour ago, Mirach said:

In the "Flight Plan" section of Vpilot there is a specific setting that lets the controller know your transmitting option: Send and Receive with voice, Receive only, Text only

 https://vpilot.rosscarlson.dev/Documentation#flight-plan

 

 

 

Yes, and even when you select "Text Only", many controllers will ask you if you are able to receive voice.

Regards,

Bruno.

[captain420 3,099]

2 hours ago, Mirach said:

In the "Flight Plan" section of Vpilot there is a specific setting that lets the controller know your transmitting option: Send and Receive with voice, Receive only, Text only

 https://vpilot.rosscarlson.dev/Documentation#flight-plan

 

 

Thanks a lot! I've never even knew about this! If I were to use text to communicate with the controllers, would it be okay if I were to speak in plain english with them? My pilot lingo isn't up to par yet.

[Bruno Duarte 13]

46 minutes ago, captain420 said:

Thanks a lot! I've never even knew about this! If I were to use text to communicate with the controllers, would it be okay if I were to speak in plain english with them? My pilot lingo isn't up to par yet.

Hi,

It' my understanding that the phraseology should also be kept for text communiations, but it definitely is less restrict.

Regards,

Bruno.

[abrams_tank 7,393]

4 hours ago, captain420 said:

Thanks a lot! I've never even knew about this! If I were to use text to communicate with the controllers, would it be okay if I were to speak in plain english with them? My pilot lingo isn't up to par yet.

If there is a problem that you need to explain in normal English, you can do that.  But otherwise, for procedures and commands, no, you shouldn't use plain English.  You should stick with ATC phraseology. You need to do your homework for that to learn it.

Most of the times though, you are just parroting back the instructions from ATC, in shorter form.  ATC will give you some instructions, and you parrot the instructions back to ATC in a condensed, shorter form, to prove that you understood the instructions from ATC.  You need to learn the ATC phraseology for this and how to parrot back the instructions.

[Fiorentoni 4,142]

8 hours ago, flightskyc said:

Some people are hearing impaired or deaf. I doubt text only is a ‘terrible experience’ for those folks, who perhaps, is their only way to interact on an online network. 

I’d prefer not to exclude folks, because of a disability. Wouldn’t you?

Sure, because that‘s what he said: „Let‘s exclude all deaf people, let‘s prohibit the use of text messages by law!“

Also by implying that all people can read deaf’s people text messages on VATSIM, you are excluding visually impaired or blind people. I‘m sure text only is a ‚terrrible experience‘ for those folks. I‘d prefer not to exclude folks because of disability. Wouldn‘t you?