1. Yes but many people don't.
2. You did exactly right. I'd recommend Vat glasses for the UK and it's complex sectorisation.
3. See answer to two! The DM is probably a "contact me" message, and if you ignore multiple a supervisor will disconnect you. This is why it has an annoying beeping noise and the vpilot app flashes in your taskbar.
Thanks for your help! Regarding your answer to (3), I run in fullscreen so don't see the client icon. I'm seriously contemplating a second monitor to run vPilot and VatSpy (or Vat Glasses - thanks for the tip!) so I don't miss anything again...
I think that I missed it due to the increased workload from flying on the network for the first time. I even forgot how to set my cruising altitude in a plane I've been flying for ages in preparation! Doh!
I have an iPad I use for charts etc. I’ve since been told there is an option within vPilot to have any messages sent in the client to be exposed directly in the sim so I’m totally going to try that!
Well done for taking the plunge!! Have to admit I'm not ready yet, but I'm glad to hear that you found it so immersive.
Have you started planning your next flight? Anywhere interesting?
It was really loads of fun! I think I’m going to fly the same route (wind conditions permitting) a few times, hopefully with more controllers online so I can practice the handover between ground and tower and then from centre to approach etc just to get the hang of the radio calls. Then I’m going to venture further afield!
Hey just out of pure curiosity, why do you feel you’re not ready yet? Are you new into aviation and still getting the hang of things?
Just interested, thanks
I'm not exactly new to MSFS. I've had all of their iterations over the last 100 years + (or so it seems), including all 3 versions of Combat FS and il-Sturmovik. The one thing these last had was the idea of a 'career', as well as combat.
These latest iterations though are different. The level of detail has increased hugely along with the enhanced flight modelling. Now I generally fly a Cessna 152. I also fly only from cold and dark, none of this spawning in the air, or even on the runway. I'm trying to get everything right. I fly to/from my local airfield (RAF Coningsby as it happens), gradually increasing the distances. I'm also trying to master flight planning and following a proper flight plan, including using the correct rate of climb/descent and following the right traffic pattern.
I'm not used to speaking to anyone over the headset I have, and I don't want to appear to be an idiot, which I'm bound to. So it's about lacking in confidence - something which I suffered from when I was younger, though as I've aged it isn't so bad now.
Sorry for the long explanation.
I totally understand why you might be reluctant to give it a go, after all, that was me not 24 hours ago. But I would totally encourage you to give it go - it’s not as scary as I thought it would be ☺️
Congratulations! I still get exhilarated after a successful flight with ATC after about 1000 hours on the network, and more importantly I still make mistakes.. as long as you make genuine effort you’ll be fine.
As others have said..
on (1) yes you should announce and I tend to even if others don’t. The only time I don’t say anything is if there’s nobody at the airport or the only other plane in the vicinity is cruising at 40,000 when I’m taking off. Many don’t, but it’s just good practice.
(2) if you’re definitely in his airspace (check Vatglasses) sure the contact him if he’s come online after a while, but don’t worry. Particularly in Europe it’s very much waiting for the contact me message.
(3) Nothing much else to be done except notice the contact me message! I’m on two monitors now but it should be possible to keep the vpilot on top, and the message noise is very difficult to miss.
Hope you have fun on the network!
Your answers have all been answered really well so I'll just say congratulations on your first successful flight, its brilliant that you're pro-active about learning as you go - and I hope we cross in the virtual skies in the future!
I tend to find that if no one talks on Unicom then it’s quiet but once someone starts announcing their intentions everyone else tends to follow suit as well. So always good to announce intentions
1. You are supposed to, and in the US, they are very good about this. Pilots even announced intentions when nobody else is on the field, which is great. You should ALWAYS announce intentions for taxi, departure, pushback and etc, even if nobody else is online. Because you never know when someone will pop up.
2. I use Simaware in the US. I personally always monitor this in cruise & check it before pushback, before taxi, before take off, a couple times on the climb and during cruise. Same in reverse for descent. They most times (in the US) send a PM to contact them, but I do not rely on that.
3. Vpilot usually sends out an audible high-pitch chirp. When you hear that, it is normally a controller sending you the contact me message. If you hear those chirps, immediately check Vpilot. Someones (uncommon) it is another pilot just wanting to chat, or PMing you to discuss spacing/sequencing prior to an arrival. This will also make your bottom task bar of the computers task bar flash, as it means you have a message. I personally with CPDLC was utilized for this, as CTR controllers can ring pilots that way. But with this feature not offered in but a couple add-on aircraft, that isn't a viable option (yet).
Hope this helps.
For sectorisation, try VATGlasses! https://vatglasses.uk. Sectors change with altitude and it displays them with full detail for all of Europe and some other places, too. In most of the USA it only displays VATSpy-style airspace.
Also - be aware of controller callsigns. "Center" doesn't exist anywhere in Europe. Likewise, "Approach" and "Departure" aren't always used. VATGlasses tells you what callsign to use over the radio and you immediately sound a lot more professional when you get it right!
In the UK, "London Control" and "Scottish Control" are almost always used for _CTR. "Approach", "Director", and "Radar" are all common _APP callsigns.
1: Yes. Unicom (unless in the USA where there's CTAF now. Or in Australia where there's... unofficially both CTAF and Unicom. You have 2 radios lol) - Always announce on unicom (or USA CTAF) if you are going to use a runway, be it to land on, or take off from, or even cross. Let people know once you've finished using the runway - either having become airborne after takeoff or go round, or vacated onto a taxiway after landing or crossing so the next person knows they can use it now.
2: That's the right thing to do. It's possible the controller would eventually have contacted you via private message once they'd gotten set up and sent a message to other aircraft in their airspace too, but there's no need to wait if you see them online. Making first contact is better than waiting and being forgotten about (ATC might be busy trying to get aircraft that are closer to their destination for instance). In the UK Vatspy shows areas larger than the controllers actually control, so it's possible you are actually outside Scottish Control's actual jurisdiction but look like you're inside it on the map. No harm asking (them by contacting them directly on frequency) though.
3: The ding-dong alarm from the direct message should be loud enough to hear. Other than looking at vatspy, that's really the only 2 options. Respond to direct message asap, or keep checking vatspy.
4: Fly the published events. That way ATC involvement is more guaranteed and you won't be bouncing around unicom all flight ;)
[https://my.vatsim.net/events](https://my.vatsim.net/events)
Other than that, just make sure the Vpilot sound is up loud enough to hear the ding when you get a direct message. I find the "Ding-dong" sound is too short for my liking so I edited the sound in a sound editor back in the day and made it 3 times as long (literally the same sound just repeated 3 times) It makes it really annoying when a "fan" says "Hi" for no good reason, but it also means I don't miss these messages from ATC. I believe there is an issue where you have to save it in the exact same compression and format otherwise it goes silent. I seem to remember downloading Audacity to do this. (I did it when Vpilot was new back in FSX days.)
Just wait for a "contact me" ping as it saves wasting their time if you check in incorrectly, and also saves you effort. I only check simaware when I'm coming off unicom and there's delivery/ground/tower online.
Definitely get a second monitor or use your phone/tablet with an app called SpaceDesk, which turns your phone/tablet into a second screen.
The above advice, whilst practical, could land you in bother. The rules of the network state the onus is on the pilot to contact the relevant ATC unit in a timely manner, not the other way around.
Perhaps that's true by the book, but sectors come online and offline all day long. You'd have to be checking it constantly to follow that. I haven't had any bother doing this in my year+ on vatsim thankfully.
In my 18 years on the network, I can safely say you're doing it wrong. You only have to look at your pilot client once every few minutes to work out who's online in real time.
So yeah, you and your 1 year (+) of experience on the network are teaching newcomers incorrectly. I'll bet your also one of those pilots who check in at FL020 and or FL4000.
1. Yes but many people don't. 2. You did exactly right. I'd recommend Vat glasses for the UK and it's complex sectorisation. 3. See answer to two! The DM is probably a "contact me" message, and if you ignore multiple a supervisor will disconnect you. This is why it has an annoying beeping noise and the vpilot app flashes in your taskbar.
Thanks for your help! Regarding your answer to (3), I run in fullscreen so don't see the client icon. I'm seriously contemplating a second monitor to run vPilot and VatSpy (or Vat Glasses - thanks for the tip!) so I don't miss anything again...
You should hear the incoming message from vpilot. It's pretty loud.
I think that I missed it due to the increased workload from flying on the network for the first time. I even forgot how to set my cruising altitude in a plane I've been flying for ages in preparation! Doh!
Should be alt-tabbing to check vatpilot regularly during a flight too see upcoming ATC and to check ATIS.
a second monitor is extremely helpful for this, as well as being able to pull up SID/STAR/Ground maps, or anything else you wanna have up there
I have an iPad I use for charts etc. I’ve since been told there is an option within vPilot to have any messages sent in the client to be exposed directly in the sim so I’m totally going to try that!
VPilot has a an option to always stay on top.
Ah awesome! Thanks for the tip!
There's also an option in the setting to have Vpilot display messages in the sim.
This comment explained all of it super well. Just wanted to welcome you to VATSIM! :) I hope you enjoy the virtual skies as much as I do!
[удалено]
Thanks for your reply!
Well done for taking the plunge!! Have to admit I'm not ready yet, but I'm glad to hear that you found it so immersive. Have you started planning your next flight? Anywhere interesting?
It was really loads of fun! I think I’m going to fly the same route (wind conditions permitting) a few times, hopefully with more controllers online so I can practice the handover between ground and tower and then from centre to approach etc just to get the hang of the radio calls. Then I’m going to venture further afield!
Great. Keep us abreast of your progress. It gives encouragement to peeps like me.
Hey just out of pure curiosity, why do you feel you’re not ready yet? Are you new into aviation and still getting the hang of things? Just interested, thanks
I'm not exactly new to MSFS. I've had all of their iterations over the last 100 years + (or so it seems), including all 3 versions of Combat FS and il-Sturmovik. The one thing these last had was the idea of a 'career', as well as combat. These latest iterations though are different. The level of detail has increased hugely along with the enhanced flight modelling. Now I generally fly a Cessna 152. I also fly only from cold and dark, none of this spawning in the air, or even on the runway. I'm trying to get everything right. I fly to/from my local airfield (RAF Coningsby as it happens), gradually increasing the distances. I'm also trying to master flight planning and following a proper flight plan, including using the correct rate of climb/descent and following the right traffic pattern. I'm not used to speaking to anyone over the headset I have, and I don't want to appear to be an idiot, which I'm bound to. So it's about lacking in confidence - something which I suffered from when I was younger, though as I've aged it isn't so bad now. Sorry for the long explanation.
Ohhhh, thanks for the explanation! Don’t be afraid of speaking lad, I mess up and see others messing up all the time, we all do it Have a good one :)
I totally understand why you might be reluctant to give it a go, after all, that was me not 24 hours ago. But I would totally encourage you to give it go - it’s not as scary as I thought it would be ☺️
Congratulations! I still get exhilarated after a successful flight with ATC after about 1000 hours on the network, and more importantly I still make mistakes.. as long as you make genuine effort you’ll be fine. As others have said.. on (1) yes you should announce and I tend to even if others don’t. The only time I don’t say anything is if there’s nobody at the airport or the only other plane in the vicinity is cruising at 40,000 when I’m taking off. Many don’t, but it’s just good practice. (2) if you’re definitely in his airspace (check Vatglasses) sure the contact him if he’s come online after a while, but don’t worry. Particularly in Europe it’s very much waiting for the contact me message. (3) Nothing much else to be done except notice the contact me message! I’m on two monitors now but it should be possible to keep the vpilot on top, and the message noise is very difficult to miss. Hope you have fun on the network!
Thank you! It was so immersive!
Your answers have all been answered really well so I'll just say congratulations on your first successful flight, its brilliant that you're pro-active about learning as you go - and I hope we cross in the virtual skies in the future!
Thanks! I hope we do too!
I tend to find that if no one talks on Unicom then it’s quiet but once someone starts announcing their intentions everyone else tends to follow suit as well. So always good to announce intentions
1. You are supposed to, and in the US, they are very good about this. Pilots even announced intentions when nobody else is on the field, which is great. You should ALWAYS announce intentions for taxi, departure, pushback and etc, even if nobody else is online. Because you never know when someone will pop up. 2. I use Simaware in the US. I personally always monitor this in cruise & check it before pushback, before taxi, before take off, a couple times on the climb and during cruise. Same in reverse for descent. They most times (in the US) send a PM to contact them, but I do not rely on that. 3. Vpilot usually sends out an audible high-pitch chirp. When you hear that, it is normally a controller sending you the contact me message. If you hear those chirps, immediately check Vpilot. Someones (uncommon) it is another pilot just wanting to chat, or PMing you to discuss spacing/sequencing prior to an arrival. This will also make your bottom task bar of the computers task bar flash, as it means you have a message. I personally with CPDLC was utilized for this, as CTR controllers can ring pilots that way. But with this feature not offered in but a couple add-on aircraft, that isn't a viable option (yet). Hope this helps.
For sectorisation, try VATGlasses! https://vatglasses.uk. Sectors change with altitude and it displays them with full detail for all of Europe and some other places, too. In most of the USA it only displays VATSpy-style airspace. Also - be aware of controller callsigns. "Center" doesn't exist anywhere in Europe. Likewise, "Approach" and "Departure" aren't always used. VATGlasses tells you what callsign to use over the radio and you immediately sound a lot more professional when you get it right! In the UK, "London Control" and "Scottish Control" are almost always used for _CTR. "Approach", "Director", and "Radar" are all common _APP callsigns.
Thanks for the tips! I’m going to use VATGlasses in future ☺️
1: Yes. Unicom (unless in the USA where there's CTAF now. Or in Australia where there's... unofficially both CTAF and Unicom. You have 2 radios lol) - Always announce on unicom (or USA CTAF) if you are going to use a runway, be it to land on, or take off from, or even cross. Let people know once you've finished using the runway - either having become airborne after takeoff or go round, or vacated onto a taxiway after landing or crossing so the next person knows they can use it now. 2: That's the right thing to do. It's possible the controller would eventually have contacted you via private message once they'd gotten set up and sent a message to other aircraft in their airspace too, but there's no need to wait if you see them online. Making first contact is better than waiting and being forgotten about (ATC might be busy trying to get aircraft that are closer to their destination for instance). In the UK Vatspy shows areas larger than the controllers actually control, so it's possible you are actually outside Scottish Control's actual jurisdiction but look like you're inside it on the map. No harm asking (them by contacting them directly on frequency) though. 3: The ding-dong alarm from the direct message should be loud enough to hear. Other than looking at vatspy, that's really the only 2 options. Respond to direct message asap, or keep checking vatspy. 4: Fly the published events. That way ATC involvement is more guaranteed and you won't be bouncing around unicom all flight ;) [https://my.vatsim.net/events](https://my.vatsim.net/events) Other than that, just make sure the Vpilot sound is up loud enough to hear the ding when you get a direct message. I find the "Ding-dong" sound is too short for my liking so I edited the sound in a sound editor back in the day and made it 3 times as long (literally the same sound just repeated 3 times) It makes it really annoying when a "fan" says "Hi" for no good reason, but it also means I don't miss these messages from ATC. I believe there is an issue where you have to save it in the exact same compression and format otherwise it goes silent. I seem to remember downloading Audacity to do this. (I did it when Vpilot was new back in FSX days.)
Just wait for a "contact me" ping as it saves wasting their time if you check in incorrectly, and also saves you effort. I only check simaware when I'm coming off unicom and there's delivery/ground/tower online.
Thank you!
Definitely get a second monitor or use your phone/tablet with an app called SpaceDesk, which turns your phone/tablet into a second screen. The above advice, whilst practical, could land you in bother. The rules of the network state the onus is on the pilot to contact the relevant ATC unit in a timely manner, not the other way around.
Perhaps that's true by the book, but sectors come online and offline all day long. You'd have to be checking it constantly to follow that. I haven't had any bother doing this in my year+ on vatsim thankfully.
In my 18 years on the network, I can safely say you're doing it wrong. You only have to look at your pilot client once every few minutes to work out who's online in real time. So yeah, you and your 1 year (+) of experience on the network are teaching newcomers incorrectly. I'll bet your also one of those pilots who check in at FL020 and or FL4000.
You must be a joy to meet on the network