Your experiences and thoughts of Vatsim

[Fiorentoni 4,119]

45 minutes ago, threegreen said:

Yes, but using the default MSFS ATC would entail... using the default MSFS ATC. 😄

What ATC tool are you using?

[DaWu 779]

Can’t fly without vatsim anymore

[stratone 86]

And don't forget IVAO.

Beside VATSIM another free alternative too. More common in SE Asia. 

And before someone is complaining about coverage and duty times, as already mentioned - they are volunteers. I know, some of the staff in VHHH or VTBS eg. is spending much more time for their hobby than I can spent for flying.

Always worth to mention - on both web pages you will find events listed or standard opening hours - ATC coverage guaranteed.

Thanks to all people on VATSIM or IVAO. Great stuff and great immersion to flightsimming.

Best regards

Detlef  

[tfm 169]

I used to spend hours on VATSIM back in the day, great fun and as others have said, nothing to lose really.

For starting out, maybe pick a flight from a VATSIM-controlled airfield and then fly somewhere nearby with no controller, so you get used to departures and the general pattern of chat. Then when you’re comfortable with that, fly to a destination with approach and landing and ground control for the full experience.

 

It can be frustrating when controllers go offline but … it’s not really a big deal and if you time your flights to the busiest times of day at the busiest airfields, you reduce the chances of this happening.

 

Quite a good route in terms of time in the air and chances of good controller coverage, is EGLL (or EGKK) to/from EDDF.
 

The fiddliest bit, I usually found, was taxiing correctly on an unfamiliar airfield. 

[MarkW 1,490]

For those that want guaranteed ATC coverage for VFR and IFR you can go with Pilot Edge (there is a cost per month).  its limited to US West but you will get full coverage of all positions in their coverage area.  I don't use it myself but have seen a lot of streamers use it on Twitch (you can watch Sim Ceesar for example).

[Stearmandriver 2,232]

17 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Thanks! I think I’m ready to give it a try 🙂

Can't recommend it enough! Go for it! 

One thing I found funny when I tried Vatsim for the first time a few years ago: I actually got mic shy.  I fly airliners in reality; don't even think about it before keying up to talk to ORD or SoCal approach etc... but there I was sitting in front of my computer, feeling weird about talking to someone else at their computer 😆.  I think it was because I'm not involved in the "gaming" world other than flight sims, and at that point had never used Discord or any medium of chatting with strangers online, so it felt really weird haha.  But the point is, this seems to be normal, you see people talk about it on the Vatsim forums often. So don't let it dissuade you! Once you take the plunge and key up for that first time, it will feel normal very quickly. 

The most immersive sim flights I've ever done have been on Vatsim.  Airline flying is good, but GA IFR flying doing multiple practice approaches with published misseds is great, and even VFR flight following is a lot of fun. Whatever you're flying, Vatsim can add to it. I enjoy the CTAF experience too... adding voice CTAF really added to the network. 

[threexgreen 3,135]

19 hours ago, Fiorentoni said:

What ATC tool are you using?

PF3.

[CFIJose 5,485]

As Ryan said, don't even think about trying "live" ATC without mastering the airplane you are going to fly.

I have not embraced VATSIM because in real life, the ATC doesn't just go home. With the exception of a US towered controlled airport (Class D Airspace) where hours of operation are clearly shown, controllers don't just go home for the day.

Since I'm not going to complain about a free service, that is also invaluable for those who seek to learn, I'd rather wait and see where VATSIM goes from here.

For now, I stick with default or Pilot2ATC.

[Gazzareth 808]

 

I've always been put off VATSIM by the fact I fly at odd hours (typically early AM) so no coverage in Europe when I have checked. 

Pilot2ATC keeps me going though.

 

G

[Bobsk8 12,541]

On 6/17/2022 at 7:36 AM, MarkW said:

For those that want guaranteed ATC coverage for VFR and IFR you can go with Pilot Edge (there is a cost per month).  its limited to US West but you will get full coverage of all positions in their coverage area.  I don't use it myself but have seen a lot of streamers use it on Twitch (you can watch Sim Ceesar for example).

I tried it a couple of years ago Around $33 a month, and you are limited in where you can fly and get coverage. 

[Konterhalbe 295]

On 6/16/2022 at 6:51 PM, GAJ52 said:

I don't use Vatsim very often, usually GA VFR.

On one occasion I flew the PMDG 737-800 from Faro to Gatwick and the ATC was very good until I got to Gatwick.  [...]

I might be over reacting but after this incident my enthusiasm for Vatsim quickly declined, both with the Controllers actions and the reply I got from the Vatsim forum.

That's sad to hear but there's some tricks to have almost guaranteed ATC when flying.

 

First thing I do when I come home is to see which ATC stations will most likely be online this evening.

I use Qutescoops "Plan" function: (you can also use web based https://statsim.net/atc/ for this matter).

I also check FIRs websites, like https://www.vacc-austria.org/index.php https://cts.vatsim.uk/bookings/calendar.php?month=6&year=2022 and https://vatsim-scandinavia.org/ to see where exactly trainings and exams take place.

Then I paste it to my Google calendars to make it look like this:

 

Resulting in a fine overview of which of my addon airports will be staffed.

According to this, I plan my legs for this evening:

 

 

Sounds super complicated but it isn't. Once you're into it, you're finished in a couple minutes and guarantees you having ATC on departure and arrival.

Great success 👍👍

[Konterhalbe 295]

On 6/16/2022 at 8:04 PM, Fiorentoni said:

I disagree, at least where I fly normally. No one bothers using Unicom. I have noticed however that it's a bit different in the US, so cheers to all of you over there.

Yeah Unicom is a special chapter.

@icewater5 it's basically a frequency (122.8) you should tune in your radios and announce all of your intentions there.

@Fiorentoni I've to admit I'm one of those who's never tuned 122.8 in for two specific reasons: I've got my push to talk on the left CTRL and every time I open a tab in Firefox, copy and paste something or whatever, I need to push my PTT key. And every single time everyone within range gets the "push to talk" sound in their vpilot client.

The second reason is: when I announce on unicom that I'm about to impact the RWY in a few miles, I can't be sure other pilots (on the ground or wherever...) can hear this.

So I just monitor my position via Ross Carlsons VATspy and simaware.ca and when there's absolutely no one around me, there's no one I need to make aware of my presence.

When I'm approaching an airport and I see there's a single traffic taxiing to the RWY (always bear in mind vatspy and simaware are 30-60 seconds behind in-sim), I just write this specific callsign via vPilot (.chat DLH12A ... "hey captain! my position is currently 15nm north of the airport and I'm planning to arrive on RWY15 in 4 minutes. see you on the ground ;)" and everybody's happy. 👍

[icewater5 181]

9 hours ago, CFIJose said:

As Ryan said, don't even think about trying "live" ATC without mastering the airplane you are going to fly.

I have not embraced VATSIM because in real life, the ATC doesn't just go home. With the exception of a US towered controlled airport (Class D Airspace) where hours of operation are clearly shown, controllers don't just go home for the day.

Since I'm not going to complain about a free service, that is also invaluable for those who seek to learn, I'd rather wait and see where VATSIM goes from here.

For now, I stick with default or Pilot2ATC.

Totally agree to master (or at the least close to that) your airplane. Which is good because although it is friendly it is quite  "professional " . On both the pilot and ATC side. Certainly ATC side. 

I do hope that Vatsim atc centers will get more populated fairly soon. The membership numbers would seem to suggest that.

I am waiting to see where Vatsim goes from here too.  Still the 3 videos i have seen so far on msfs 2020 Vatsim videos (all full time bloggers)  have been an absolute treat to watch (and very busy) ymmv

Could be incidental of course, but when it works, well...   One plane did a pushback at an airport that did not allow pushback and nearly caused go-arounds at Split international airport, because it has one exitway. The atc controller said a complaint has been filed, and the pilot despondent said "ok understood" and the ground controller laughed and said " thats only a joke mate ", lol. (maybe you had to be there but you get the idea) 😁

Quick edit... iff you do join Vatsim maybe study the taxiway charts/diagrams of an airport first. Can get confusing e.g madrid

Edited June 24, 2022 by icewater5

[virtualstuff 751]

The only thing I find if you fly at different time it can be lonely at unicom despite the great work all others do.

So I had Pro-ATC for P3D but at this point not a similar product for MSFS

[sidfadc 1,340]

Well its free so how entitled must you be to expect a controller to stay on just because it suits you - ridiculous.  When it works it works, but its free and the controllers don't get paid, you don't pay a bean so you take what you can and can't complain about it.

If you want guaranteed top down ATC coverage your only solution is PilotEdge.  You pay a monthly fee and it covers LA and/or the whole entire western seaboard of the US from the Pacific Northwest down to San Diego and stretches as far out as Phoenix (roughly).  The downside, its only US but it is highly professional and I believe its only Christmas day that coverage isn't provided.  I flew on PilotEdge for about a year but I'm from the UK - loved it.  Staffing times are Pacific time but for me this meant the service was online from about 4PM GMT until the early hours, this suited me perfectly because I work during the day.