VATSIM on RTE

pclancy

I missed this news article until this morning otherwise I might have flown in to EIDW for this...did anyone else know it was on?

VATSIM To Feature On Irish TV

Ireland's national broadcaster, RTE, will be filming the flight deck of PC Pilots Ireland owner's Terry McGee and Ian Broni as part of the ongoing series Capital D a program that covers different events around Greater Dublin and the people involved.

They will be filming Terry and Ian as they conduct a flight online with VATSIM between Dublin (EIDW) and Shannon (EINN), this Saturday March 6th, with filming scheduled to start at 1200z. In support of this event, the friendly staff from VATEIR will be online, staffing both airports fully.

Come along and join in with a flight, the more traffic the better and who knows... you may even get your voice to feature on Irish TV, this is your chance to get your 15 minutes of fame!

highlydebased

I should have posted up about this *embarressed face*

jasonb

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I've a couple of quick questions about Vatsim.

I'm currently doing my PPL, and I have FSX at home. I'd like to get more used to dealing with ATC etc.

I'd normally sim fly from Weston ( as that's where I'm doing my PPL ). While Weston does have its own ATC in RL, it doesn't in FSX and I'm guessing that there normally isn't a Vatsim controller online for Weston? So, if I'm flying from Weston and just doing circuits, would I connect to Vatsim at all, and if I would, what controller would I connect to?

If I'm flying from Weston to, say, Inis Oirr, would it then make sense for me to connect to Vatsim?

And finally, does Squawkbox 3 work with FSX or do I need Squawkbox 4?

I'm a complete newbie with regards to Vatsim but I'm wondering if I can use it to make my sim flying more realistic / enjoyable and also help improve my radio / atc skills and experience.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

J.

highlydebased

jasonb wrote: »

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I've a couple of quick questions about Vatsim.

I'm currently doing my PPL, and I have FSX at home. I'd like to get more used to dealing with ATC etc.

I'd normally sim fly from Weston ( as that's where I'm doing my PPL ). While Weston does have its own ATC in RL, it doesn't in FSX and I'm guessing that there normally isn't a Vatsim controller online for Weston? So, if I'm flying from Weston and just doing circuits, would I connect to Vatsim at all, and if I would, what controller would I connect to?

If I'm flying from Weston to, say, Inis Oirr, would it then make sense for me to connect to Vatsim?

And finally, does Squawkbox 3 work with FSX or do I need Squawkbox 4?

I'm a complete newbie with regards to Vatsim but I'm wondering if I can use it to make my sim flying more realistic / enjoyable and also help improve my radio / atc skills and experience.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

J.

The way in which VATSIM works is "top down" cover. No, there is rarely a Weston Tower online. However. If Dublin Control, Dublin Director or Shannon Control are online they will provide service for you- Shannon Control provides ATC for all airports in Ireland, and Dublin Control provides atc for Dublin/Weston/BAL.

You'd need SB4 or FSINN for FSX. Basically you'd check the ATC online in your ATC list and contact the one thats appropriate. You can check what is online before you connect to the network by using either Servinfo or vatspy. http://www.avsim.com/hangar/utils/servinfo/ or http://www.metacraft.com/VATSpy/

If there is no ATC its still worthwhile- there is a text unicomm frequency to announce your intentions if thats the case. ATC may logon during your flight also. If you were flying to Inisoir there would be alot of uncontrolled airspace but it would still be worthwhile.

Hope this helps- if you have any more questions ask away or PM me directly.

John_Mc

You'll get great practice with the RT terminology and use on Vatsim. I'm doing my PPL out in weston as well and was doing the radios on my second lesson once I'd demonstrated my ability to my instructor.

Despite not having a dedicated tower like in reality, you'll still get the same service off the Dublin controllers.

I was well impressed the first time I did it as I was reminded of the noise abatement procedures like in reality. FS X is very close to reality with regards to roads, train tracks etc.

I've found the whole experience very helpful and I've definitely progressed faster

jasonb

Thanks for your replies!

That's great, sounds like it'll come in handy for me, and help me get used to the radio!

So, just to double check, if I want to do an hour of circuits from Weston, when I log on to Vatsim I could connect to Dublin Control or Shannon Control ( if they're on ) and they'd look after me, I'd get them to give me start up approval, taxi / departure approval, touch and go approval etc., even though they're not at Weston but are in Dublin / Shannon? So, it'd be just like in real life except for the fact that I wouldn't be talking to Weston Tower?

J.

John_Mc

jasonb wrote: »

Thanks for your replies!

That's great, sounds like it'll come in handy for me, and help me get used to the radio!

So, just to double check, if I want to do an hour of circuits from Weston, when I log on to Vatsim I could connect to Dublin Control or Shannon Control ( if they're on ) and they'd look after me, I'd get them to give me start up approval, taxi / departure approval, touch and go approval etc., even though they're not at Weston but are in Dublin / Shannon? So, it'd be just like in real life except for the fact that I wouldn't be talking to Weston Tower?

J.

Yeah pretty much. You connect, switch to their frequency and tell them your intentions just like you do in reality.

You wont get specific taxi instructions, more likely clearance to take off at own discretion and report downwind or finals.You'll be VFR so no flight following on Radar.

I fly circuits at weston to get used to flying the circuit and doing the checks. If you want to use vatsim as a tool for practising your RT, then I'd suggest flying Shannon-Dublin on an IFR flight. That way you'll get full flightplan clearance, vectors, altitude clearances etc.

jasonb

Thanks again for your reply...

That sound pretty good to me, it'll be great to get used to the radio 'for free' and it'll have a definite improvement on my radio skills ( as I'm still a bit nervous and rushed when using the radio in real life ).

I've only got 10 hours under my belt so far, so I'm not at the IFR Flight from Shannon to Dublin. But this will definitely help me with circuits and using the radio during them. Thanks a lot!

J.

John_Mc

jasonb wrote: »

Thanks again for your reply...

That sound pretty good to me, it'll be great to get used to the radio 'for free' and it'll have a definite improvement on my radio skills ( as I'm still a bit nervous and rushed when using the radio in real life ).

I've only got 10 hours under my belt so far, so I'm not at the IFR Flight from Shannon to Dublin. But this will definitely help me with circuits and using the radio during them. Thanks a lot!

J.

No worries

jasonb

One other question that just occured to me...

I normally sim in the evenings ( as I work 9-5 ). At this time of year, that means I tell FSX to change the time to 'Day' so that it's not dark when I'm flying.

How does Vatsim handle this? Does it care whether it's bright for me on my computer or not? If I'm only flying VFR ( which clearly I am ) and I'm trying to fly at 7pm and it's dark outside in real life, is that a problem?

Sorry if these are all really typical newbie questions...

J.

John_Mc

jasonb wrote: »

One other question that just occured to me...

I normally sim in the evenings ( as I work 9-5 ). At this time of year, that means I tell FSX to change the time to 'Day' so that it's not dark when I'm flying.

How does Vatsim handle this? Does it care whether it's bright for me on my computer or not? If I'm only flying VFR ( which clearly I am ) and I'm trying to fly at 7pm and it's dark outside in real life, is that a problem?

Sorry if these are all really typical newbie questions...

J.

The controllers wont know what time your simulation is running at. All that matters is that pilots and controllers work off using the same weather and same procedures. The only situation that time would affect would be when airports rotate runways at certain times, like in heathrow. In that case, you'd act like it's the real time with them but set your sim up for daytime.

A fair enough question though!

jasonb

Cool... thanks once again! Just wanted to make sure the Controller wasn't going to have a problem with me flying VFR at 10 at night ( as they wouldn't know that according to my FSX it's midday! ).

Can't wait to get home to check this out now...

J.

jasonb

Well, I got Squawkbox 4 installed and I had lots of problems at first ( FSX crashed lots of times, when trying to connect to Squawkbox, or even when trying to change aircraft )!

But eventually I got connected ( to a Western Europe server, there wasn't a UK Server ) and got connected to Shannon Control. Thanks a lot to Damian there who was very very patient and helpful with a complete newbie. I don't have a mic yet, but he took the time to answer a lot of questions via text which helped me no end!

Now I need to buy a mic and learn how to file a flight plan!

J.

John_Mc

Yeah Squawkbox can be a bit troublesome so a lot of people use FSINN.

Check out the Vatsim pilots resource center for information on getting started. Getting a mic is a must

SteveSilverhead

pclancy wrote: »

I missed this news article until this morning otherwise I might have flown in to EIDW for this...did anyone else know it was on?

VATSIM To Feature On Irish TV

Ireland's national broadcaster, RTE, will be filming the flight deck of PC Pilots Ireland owner's Terry McGee and Ian Broni as part of the ongoing series Capital D a program that covers different events around Greater Dublin and the people involved.

They will be filming Terry and Ian as they conduct a flight online with VATSIM between Dublin (EIDW) and Shannon (EINN), this Saturday March 6th, with filming scheduled to start at 1200z. In support of this event, the friendly staff from VATEIR will be online, staffing both airports fully.

Come along and join in with a flight, the more traffic the better and who knows... you may even get your voice to feature on Irish TV, this is your chance to get your 15 minutes of fame!

Hope it went well for those that were involved.

Did anyone get any indication from the Capital D when this will be shown on TV?

Thanks.

bandit197

SteveSilvermint wrote: »

Hope it went well for those that were involved.

Did anyone get any indication from the Capital D when this will be shown on TV?

Thanks.

I believe it is scheduled to be aired on the 18th March. Its great to see it getting some exposure.

highlydebased

It'll be televised on thursday the 18th

Jammyc

Are there any VATEIR ATCOs on here?

highlydebased

Jammyc wrote: »

Are there any VATEIR ATCOs on here?

Right here


The airing of this programme has now been delayed until the 25th.

Sterling Archer

Don't forget it's tonight at 7:D:D

Hogzy

What channel?

Sterling Archer

Rte 1

jasonb

Cool, I thought I'd missed it. I'll set the Sky + Box now...

J.

Jammyc

Ahh shite. Missed it. If anyone gets a link or anything, dont be afraid to throw it my way!

bandit197

Missed it too :mad:

For anyone who missed it, it should be on the rte player shortly

Elessar

Ha, I only chanced upon this today! I used to be heavily involved in VATEIR and PCPilots Ireland. I knew Terry and Ian pretty well. Great to see them still at it. God, I must fire up the controller client again soon and give it another crack.

That program just brought a load of memories back!

John_Mc

Elessar wrote: »

Ha, I only chanced upon this today! I used to be heavily involved in VATEIR and PCPilots Ireland. I knew Terry and Ian pretty well. Great to see them still at it. God, I must fire up the controller client again soon and give it another crack.

That program just brought a load of memories back!

Yeah me too! It's been so long that my name has been taken off the Roster on the Vateir website. Emailed the staff address but not heard back from them yet.

Might see ya online

Elessar

John_Mc wrote: »

Yeah me too! It's been so long that my name has been taken off the Roster on the Vateir website. Emailed the staff address but not heard back from them yet.

Might see ya online

Heh, it's been so long that I cant remember my vatsim password and the email address I used is long gone (I'm talking back in 2001/2002 here!). I opened a ticket on the vatsim website anyway.

Is vateir still fairly active does anyone know? I was controller level before I stopped.

I think I'll install flightsim again and give it another lash. I'm all nostalgic now!

highlydebased

John_Mc wrote: »

Yeah me too! It's been so long that my name has been taken off the Roster on the Vateir website. Emailed the staff address but not heard back from them yet.

Might see ya online

Hi John. I saw that email (assumed someone else will reply)

We should have the new website up and running soon enough...next few weeks. you can be added onto that.

If you want a refresher mentoring session or anything like that feel free to drop me a line.