What is Vatsim like?

RobitTV

I might try out Vatsim because i heard its actually amazing.

I Usually play online on gamespy, but i want to switch to vatsim for a more better experience.

What is it like?

greenpilot

Hi,

Vatsim is the dogs!!..Its very very real, so there is no room for messing around. It is operated as a real ATC enviornment, to such an extent as it is used to train budding ATC's. They DO NOT tolerate people who act the mick. You must take it seriously. You register as a pilot or controller, and then just spend a couple of weeks observing...which is recommended. Pick an aircraft which you are very very familiar with, as you dont want to be messing around with VNAV or such when you are asked to perform a particular STAR or SID. The best buzz is then joining VATEIR, which is the Irish leg of VATSIM (every country has one) http://www.vateir.com/

You will need this... http://squawkbox.ca/downloads/

and a mic, of course.....the rest is up to you!!

Drop me a line if you have any questions. Im usually flying at the weekends, an Aeroworx Beech kingair 200, usually from Knock...

Bye!!

Firekitten

Vatsim is as much or little as you want to make it... It can be as truely real as it gets, dealing with e very level of control, or it can simply enhance your simming experience, but Green is right. It's taken seriously, you can't fanny around, BUT, the controlers realise people are new, and you CAN make mistakes. you do not need to study aviation law and theory for months to sign in, if you mess up, call it, and they will help you. A lot of vatsim controlers are Pilots too (like me) and we can appreciate when things go pear shaped for newbies, that it spirals, and makes a scary thing worse. So relax, read the Vatsim pilot resource centre info on control, contact, and other such useful tutorials, and have a go

As he says, its great, come join in

(Admitedly, I'm with Vatcan (swapped region as I fly there more, and wanted to control where I was part of the community)


Come on in, the skies are lovely!

pclancy

Great way to learn about real world ATC and have some fun with other virtual flyers. The events are the best, keep an eye out for flyins or times when certain airports are set to get busy. Can get boring flying around on quiet nights but the events can be epic and very realisitic!

One tip is to make sure and have all the charts and procedures to hand before you call up the tower or try and approach an airport. Theres nothing worse then realising you have no idea how to follow the instructions you were just given or not knowing the right ILS frequency for a runway you were not expecting.

I credit VATSIM with my real-world radio ability, radio work has been the easiest part of flying lessons for me thanks to the years spent at home with my headset

andy_g

Havent been on fsx or vatsim in years but just reinstalled it and i hope it works on the old laptop. so ya might see me back on But as everyone says its great fun

greenpilot

What excellent Replies!!! Cool...Im booting up the PC!!

adam2626

New to the flight sim world and looking to get some advice. Have FSX and Saitek rudders, yoke and throttles. Saw may cool ways to take this further from Sim Samuri.com. Any advice on ways to progress further... ie vatsim or fsuipc... etc. Father in law happens to be a private pilot who has helped to a point in my education. But what I have seen on sim samuri etc is amazing. Would love to have some guidance or advice on the best steps to get there...

John_Mc

adam2626 wrote: »

New to the flight sim world and looking to get some advice. Have FSX and Saitek rudders, yoke and throttles. Saw may cool ways to take this further from Sim Samuri.com. Any advice on ways to progress further... ie vatsim or fsuipc... etc. Father in law happens to be a private pilot who has helped to a point in my education. But what I have seen on sim samuri etc is amazing. Would love to have some guidance or advice on the best steps to get there...

FSUIPC is very different to Vatsim and serves a completely different purpose. It's a utility which runs inside of Flight sim and exposes extra settings and controls. A lot of third party addons use it for this reason.

Vatsim is a network, which pilots and controllers connect to. In flightsim you can connect using Squawbox or FSInn, which are both applications which run inside of FS.

Vatsim is completely free and you can use it to really enhance your simming experience. When I started doing my PPL out in Weston, I had absolutely no problems using the radios because of the experience I had on Vatsim. The terminology and procedures are exactly the same.

There really is nothing more satisfying than flying into London on a Sunday evening and being sequenced between a number of different aircraft who are real people. Fantastic!