Adventures of a VATNZ noob

[deeknow]

Although I've been flying MS Fsim for many years now it was only relatively recently that I realised there was a virtual airline community, and subsequently discovered there was a sub-sect, or should that be cult that flies online.

So after months of procrastinaton I finally bit the bullet tonight and had a crack at an online flight. Followed the instructions to configure and connect with Squawkbox, set a Cessna441 up at NZAA, logged a nice short flight to NZHN, and with some trepidation CONNECTed to the VATSIM network

I was somewhat releived to see a familiar name in Mark Richards as Auckland area Oceanic controller (or something?), had a brief txt chat with him to see who I should actually be contacting for my flight, turns out that was NZCH_CTR, staffed by Jason tonight

Clicking the transmit button so see if anyone was present and to make a request for Taxi for my flight to the south was an unneccesarily nervous moment. Jason was very understanding once he realised I was a noob, and the whole taxi, takeoff and vectoring down to Hamilton communication was clear and straight-forward.

The actual communication side of things wasn't as difficult as I thought, but what really suprised me was how much extra load it put on my feeble central-processor (ie Brain) to fly and listen/talk to ATC at the same time. It really changes the shape of the challenge.

My flight performance was very scratchy, the responses I made to ATC were no doubt hardly by the book, but overall the experience was a beauty. If you've been holding off doing an online flight for whatever reason I'd say GET INTO IT, have a crack, you can only improve over time, as I desperately need to

Some mistakes I made tonight which I will try to avoid next time are...

o fly an aircraft you are VERY familiar with. For some bizarre reason I used the Cessna 441 which I hardly ever fly, this was a problem when opening closing windows esp as there are a couple of extras in view for Sqwuakbox
o spend some time on the ground listening on a busy scheduled night, I've only listened in on two other occasions, I'm definately gonna do so again one night just to immerse myself in the expected chatter and talk
o check out the forums and docs at VATNZ, which I'm gonna do right now

Thanx Jason, and Mark, you took a lot of the pressure of tonight, see yaz again

Dino (aka NZ192)

[ZK-MAT]

Great stuff Dino, although I've been absent from the friendly Vatsim skies it's a great experience isn't it? You were fortunate to have Mark and Jason there, two great guys!

[NZ255]

QUOTE (ZK-MAT @ Aug 3 2008, 08:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great stuff Dino, although I've been absent from the friendly Vatsim skies it's a great experience isn't it? You were fortunate to have Mark and Jason there, two great guys!

Yeah, well done it was quite a large all day event (I hope), I couldn't make it unfortunatly. Must get back into it, but our room doesn't have a door, and it's a bit embarrasing "new zealand 255 cleared for ils approach runway 23 L, will contact tower when established" ......."were you talking to me?" "NO! mum and dad I wasn't!

[deeknow]

QUOTE (ZK-MAT @ Aug 3 2008, 08:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You were fortunate to have Mark and Jason there, two great guys!

Yeah, Jason was very understanding, he resorted to chat-comms a few times to help me out, I guess he didnt want to shame me out too much on the air

[Mattnz]

Good on ya, Dino!

Always good to see more people getting actively involved in online flying like that....even if it is on Vatsim . (joke...)

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Aug 3 2008, 08:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, well done it was quite a large all day event (I hope), I couldn't make it unfortunatly. Must get back into it, but our room doesn't have a door, and it's a bit embarrasing "new zealand 255 cleared for ils approach runway 23 L, will contact tower when established" ......."were you talking to me?" "NO! mum and dad I wasn't!

Hahaha nice!!!

[Alex]

Hahah yea, my parents/siblings always give me a second look when I'm chatting or doing comms like that.

Alex

[AlisterC]

Both Jason and Mark are excellent guys, so you were in some of the best hands possible. Glad to hear you had a good time. Might see you in the vatsim skies sometime! It certainly makes flight simming a lot more fun with lots of ATC and traffic

[mfraser]

To their credit, it sounds like the VATSIM controllers are more understanding and forgiving than their real-world counterparts!! I've often thought about signing up for a look-see but have never got around to seeing how it all ties in together - by the sounds its not as complicated as I thought. The option of being able to log into the server and 'eavesdrop' rather than take part sounds great and I'll definitely look at doing that during one of the next sessions. Thanks for the info deeknow!

[ZK-MAT]

I've spent many an hour sitting parked up somewhere just listening. It also helps to do that before you announce your presence, and here are two tips:

1. Practice saying what you are about to say first, and slow your speech down. As Kiwis we tend to speak too quick and as a result it can sound mumbled, some pilots and ATC seem to think there's a medal for getting all the sentence out in 2 seconds. If you say slowly and clearly out loud to yourself first (for example Alpha Bravo Charlie at Gate 2 awaiting clearance as filed) your brain will be prepared for when you say it with the press to talk button pressed.

2. Have a pen and paper ready. Jot down what ATC tells you, in shorthand, so you can read it back. I usually note things such as r/w to taxi to, what taxiway to use, squawk code, approved flight level and so on. It's amazing how quick things go from your mind when you are trying to sort out your plane's nav settings, instruments and so on and it's a bit embarrasing asking for details again. In saying that don't guess details if you have forgotten them, ask again.

That's all for now

[NZ255]

QUOTE (mfraser @ Aug 5 2008, 08:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

To their credit, it sounds like the VATSIM controllers are more understanding and forgiving than their real-world counterparts!! I've often thought about signing up for a look-see but have never got around to seeing how it all ties in together - by the sounds its not as complicated as I thought. The option of being able to log into the server and 'eavesdrop' rather than take part sounds great and I'll definitely look at doing that during one of the next sessions. Thanks for the info deeknow!

Please do join, It'll be great to have your real world knowledge!

www.vatsim.net

www.vatnz.net

Nick

[nickj]

VATSIM can seem really daunting at first, and there is a bit to figure out when you first start flying online, but everyone on there has been in the same position at some point and there is no crime in making mistakes.

A large percentage of VATNZ's members have no real-life flying or controlling experience. While one of the goals of VATSIM is to reasonably approximate real world air traffic control, the primary goal of everyone involved is to have fun.

Another good idea would be to mention that you are a newbie in the Remarks section of your flight plan.


Nick

[Matthew]

I'm glad you had fun

I can remember the first time I ever logged on to VATSIM the controllers were very helpful

If you need any advice, feel free to post on here, or on the VATNZ forum.
Everyones more than happy to help

[waka172rg]

where do i go and what do i do?? can someone help with instructions please cheers Blake

[NZ255]

QUOTE (waka172rg @ Aug 9 2008, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

where do i go and what do i do?? can someone help with instructions please cheers Blake

http://www.vatsim.net/prc/

For your devision, choose New Zealand or VatNZ

www.vatnz.net

[waka172rg]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Aug 9 2008, 04:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

http://www.vatsim.net/prc/

For your devision, choose New Zealand or VatNZ

www.vatnz.net

so iv loged in do i have to wait till pepl are flying and tower active? oh so i wait till 7 sunday then log on? how do you connect to fly?

[ZK-MAT]

Go to the first link and register / join up. You'll get a PRC/User ID number so you can log in to the Vatsim network. You don't need to have anyone online in the area you are flying to connect, you'll find that when someone's on more will follow. You could always choose to fly where there is traffic, such as around the other side of the world if NZ skies are quiet.

As far as connecting you could take a look at a tutorial I did a few years back. PLEASE NOTE that the software may have changed since those times, but it will give you an overview. The link is:

http://www.mattz.co.nz/vatsim/


Edit: Actually look here on this forum, forgot about it:

How to Connect To Vatsim

[waka172rg]

QUOTE (ZK-MAT @ Aug 9 2008, 06:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Go to the first link and register / join up. You'll get a PRC/User ID number so you can log in to the Vatsim network. You don't need to have anyone online in the area you are flying to connect, you'll find that when someone's on more will follow. You could always choose to fly where there is traffic, such as around the other side of the world if NZ skies are quiet.

As far as connecting you could take a look at a tutorial I did a few years back. PLEASE NOTE that the software may have changed since those times, but it will give you an overview. The link is:

http://www.mattz.co.nz/vatsim/


Edit: Actually look here on this forum, forgot about it:

How to Connect To Vatsim

des this work in fsx? vista?

[NZ255]

QUOTE (waka172rg @ Aug 9 2008, 08:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

des this work in fsx? vista?

Unfortunatly it says it only runs on FS2002 and FS2004, and not on Vista.

Hold on, the is an alternate, I am just serching it now

[NZ255]

Edit: OK, I'm not familiar with it but the only program currently for FSX and Vista is FSInn.

Heres the manual to get started on Vatsim with FSInn : http://usa-w.vatsim.net/prc/VPTPublic/pdfs/103h.pdf
And heres the Download here, read the red writing, you have to have version 1.3.

[Mark Richards]

Firstly, thanks everyone for their kind comments about me... I'll just go back in the corner to hide my embarrassment.

I've been around the VATSIM traps since the very early days, 1995 to be precise, back when it was called SATCO. I'm guessing in 1995, quite a number of you wouldn't have been able to reach the computer keyboard! God I feel old.

Dino, great to have you online for your first flight and one of many so I have seen. Well done.

If any of you have any questions, be sure to ask. There's not much about this hobby called VATSIM I don't know!

Mark