When I first started flying on vatsim I was scared shitless until I realized just how friendly everyone was on the network and how willing they were :D
I hope you're proficient at IFR clearances now a year later. To anyone else who is not: First of all, listen to ATIS information, what you're looking for really is the departure runway and QNH which will be told to you during your clearance. Let's say that you know the active runway now, write it down somewhere, same for the QNH. After that look at your initial waypoint, as an example INITT. Now that you know your runway and initial waypoint, you can make out your SID quite easily. There should only be 1 SID that works for that specific runway and waypoint. To figure out the SID look at the airports' charts. Go through departure charts with your initial waypoints' name (Navigraph charts does this automatically for you and is highly recommended for online and offline flying) So now that you have your SID figured out, let's say in our case INNITA 3G write it down again. The ATC will 9/10 give you that SID if they don't, it will only be the last few characters that change, so rather than INNITA 3G departure, it could change to INNITA 4P departure. If you have most of this written down already it will be very easy to alter it slightly depending on what the ATC will tell you. Now that you have your SID you will be given an initial climb (not always though, you have to look through the charts in some airports such as Stockholm where the initial climb is always 5000 feet unless cleared otherwise by ATC) This should be pretty easy to note down, don't write it down as e.g. 7000 but rather as 7, you know you're not going to climb to 7 feet so the number is there for reference during readback, just x1000 while reading back. Now you have your SID and Initial Climb (IC), be ready to receive a departure frequency if the appropriate station is online (check via the likes of vatspy). If an approach/departure frequency is online just check beforehand to see what their frequency is and note it down so you don't have to write it down while receiving your clearance and not being able to listen to the next instruction. e.g 136.67 (shorten it to 36.67 if you want to be as efficient as possible) ONE FINAL STEP REMAINING, your squawk code. There is only a range of 0-7 in numbers for a squawk code, so just carefully listen to those numbers and note them down quickly in order on a notepad (I prefer IRL on a sticky note or similar) You should be able to write this down while listening to your clearance very easily if you have done the steps above and professionally guessed your clearance. What my notepad/sticky looks like PRIOR to receiving my clearance: SID: INNITA3G RWY: 24 IC: FREQ: 136.67 SQUAWK : QNH: 1016 #I'll also have the ATIS information identifier to have while asking for my clearance so: INFO: A Some people use the acronym CRAFT C- cleared to. R- Route (SID) A- Altitude F- Frequency (departure) T- Transponder I don't personally use it but it works for many so I'd give that a try too. Hope this helps!
Great information - very encouraging.. I have completed almost 20 offline flights with DVA and have been trying to build up the courage to go "live". The first time someone speak to me I completely froze. I forgot everything including the phonetic alphabet so I could not respond at all and disconnected as fast as I could. I have been finding lots of excuses since not to go live. I am going to try it tomorrow ! Hartelijk bedankt.
Thank you! Yes that feeling is very relatable to when I once started on VATSIM many years ago. It will need some practice and courage, and I hope these tips will help as well! :) You won't regret it once you get the hang of it ;)
@Daniel Walder I have never returned to flying Vatsim. I think about it sometimes but I am happy doing what I do. In the meantime I have completed 134 flights and gained 5 captaincies. One day maybe?
The biggest problem for me on VATSIM is that I have a really hard time understanding what is being said by some controllers due to the simulated radio distortion.
I'm with you, the VATSIM audio codec system is atrocious. It tries to be realistic, but in reality only ends up being weird and unbearable. Real AM radio doesn't sound like that. Real radio is rather noisy and compressed (in the dynamic sense), but it doesn't randomly cut out words or entire parts of sentences. That behavior is rather typical of a lossy packet-oriented VoIP service. On real radio, if you e.g. lose reception for a fraction of a second, you either get that moment filled by static, or the audio goes quiet completely (depending on whether squelch reacted fast enough). You don't get sentences that just skip words. IOW, in reality you might hear this: "Cessna 3AB, climb tain sand" Instead on VATSIM, you might get something like: "Cessna 3AB, climbtainsand" The first situation is rather rare on real AM radio and it's easy to recognize that it's a climb instruction that got broken. The second situation on VATSIM happens *all the freakin' time* and just sounds like gibberish. Oh and btw: this is why I rarely fly on Vatsim nowadays. I just can't stand the audio quality. That's why I prefer PilotEdge, because it doesn't suffer from this.
Yeah, I forgot about using text. I'm just apprehensive about clogging up the lines if it's busy and don't want to sound like a fool asking for a controller to repeat themselves over and over. :) I'll try to remember that text option.
The internet connection is fine. I'm referring to exactly what Totoritko explained. The simulated radio distortion is a cool idea but everybody's mics are different, the connections are different, and other factors all lead to making this intended sound not quite what it should be. I have real world 108 hours as a crew member on board a KC-135R during my time in the US Air Force and I would always listen in on radio chatter with my David Clarks. I could clearly understand everything except for people who just talked too fast. Aircraft radios sound better (except the occasional high pitched squeel) than what we use in VATSIM. I'll just have to remember to resort to the text option when I can't understand radio chatter.
I find that Pilot2ATC can help immensely in this area, because you can practice with it as often as you can without feeling any PTT fear. From the first 2-3 flights it will somehow trigger a reaction that will rewire your brain and force it to think differently compared to when using in-game ATCs. You'll need to start keeping notes though, as Pilot2ATC's voice recognition can have limited results (try to train it as much as you can) and you'll have to make some concessions between VATSIM ATC and the app's ATC. I'd say the latter works well 80% of the time or more, especially if you stick to the exact phraseology it can process. After you make your 5th flight, you'll know more or less what to expect and you'll be wondering why you were flying with the silly in-game ATC all these years. The above method has another advantage over VATSIM ATC, as the latter does not have 24/7 coverage especially in areas outside central/NW Europe or US (actually despite 70-100 ATC controllers being around at any given time, most of the planet is not really covered most of the day). So unless you're operating in said controlled areas, you're effectively flying in 122.800 Unicom without any ATC services most of the time. In these cases using Pilot2ATC can still help you get the ropes instead of staying silent all the time.
@@zanix1116 So, im in a similiar situation, im 13 and a half, do you think people would still talk to me normally over vatsim or would it be horrible? I havent joined yet but im thinking about it so maybe any advice?
TheDiamondNinja Oh nah mate you’re good. What I wrote above doesn’t happen to me anymore and I really recommend using voice. It’s really just the beginning where you are learning stuff that is scary, but in reality the community is really nice. Go for it, you won’t regret it.
I have comfort in the process and even comfort talking to people IRL but I *still* always freeze up when it comes time to ask for clearance or contact a new area controller. There's something about how real it feels both in the audio filters and the quality of controllers that makes it feel more like LiveATC except now they can talk to you!
I just had my first Vatsim flight (and first talking on ATC) , IT WAS FUN, I was scared but the controllers are nice and if you cant understand due to the static, just ask to repeat
I had my first flight a couple of days ago and the controller was so awesome helped me with everything, and I've found that everyone is so friendly across the network and it really helped my anxiety.
I see a lot of comments about the Vatsim-coded disortion at the radio frequencies. With more than 350 hours of online flying under my belt, I can tell every new simmer it's not that bad. Yes, it might be annoying, but you won't really notice it. So, just try it out :)
je hebt als het goed is fsx fligth sim maar welke jaar 2014 15 16. heb jij steam edition welke moet ik kopen welke fsx raad je mij aan . wat moet ik er bij instaleren bv als je online wilt praten/vliegen. hoe dowload je op windows 10 de vliegtuigen bv KLM...transavia heel er bedankt als je mijn vragen zou willen beatwoorden groetjes!!!
I've never used flight simulation to the degree many on here have. have flew several "larger" GA aircraft such as the Caravan and the Titan in reality. I've find it helpful to start small, Cessna 172 in VFR flight. have your frequencies loaded up on Navcomms before flight and on your flight plan. think in what you need from ATC and listen to others. relax, don't overthink it. ATC and pilots have even argued with each other over the radio.
I'd say, initially just go ahead and fly on any area where there is no Vatsim ATC, connect, start flying 1 hour flights or less, and say over the radio your intentions (Taxiing to Rwy XX via XX taxiway, Departing via SID XX, Turning LH/RH heading XXX, etc. for the entire flight on each procedure). You will see how quickly your confidence is going up, and your memory will retain the proper phraseology. Then go to a place with ATC, but minimum traffic, and you will see how well you will do (zero stress), until you decide to jump into medium to heavy traffic areas. The more congested, the faster ATC's use to talk, BUT you can always ask to "please repeat slower last instructions", and they will slow down their pacing. When you transmit on initial contact, don't speak fast, do it at slow pace, because if you do, the ATC person will think you are a fast speaking pilot so he/she will answer two times faster than you. You, as pilot, set the rules on initial contact. Don't feel afraid, don't let your fear of radio stop your dream of flying on line, just enjoy the time, talk at normal-to-slow speed, relax, anticipate the possible calls, and you will do fine.
Keep it going man you have been the main person helping me out with vatsim. Thanks again haha (there will probably be more questions in the future). Thanks John
No problem also im just about to buy a saitek pro flight yoke and maybe the ruder pedals and a instrument display i know you have the yoke well im pretty sure you do and the ruder pedals what would you recommend of it all before i go through with it ive heard alot of good things so far? thanks.
I have the yoke, pedals and throttles. Don't need anything else really. Those other products are mainly for GA aircraft, and although fun to have they don't really add anything to my "cockpit" since I'm flying airliners mostly ;)
One thing i have tried while connected to vatsim and talking to controllers is to follow there instructions and then replay back after i have done what i was instructed to do. If i try to do a read back before following instructions i tend to panic. Less than 30 hours of flight on vatsim and little or know experience with controllers. Yesterday i was on and was in contact with 2 center controllers then an arrival controller into new york. I was manually vectored in from FL380 to landing the only way i was able to get things done was to follow instructions then do read back. Which was easy cause i was just reading back what i dialed in.
I also had this problem on IVAO years ago. I was always thinking what do I need to say and I was always preparing to start talking. But now I confidently talk with controllers.
I always have a list from all possible frequencies and sids and stars next to me. I also have pen and paper next to me if it comes to a ground controller giving me taxiways, ATIS or something. Always prepared for whatever happens :D Real Pilots do write down a lot of stuff too that is told by the controller from what I know. Some sentences can be so long that you simply can't memorize all of it.
I just did my first flight (not complete) with Vatsim (KDTW-KPVD). While in the final for ILS 05, the Boston Center told me to contact him. As soon as I said where I was I already started stuttering. The ATC also told me to go around and I only had 5% fuel (2% later while turning back). I think I put the wrong heading later and the ATC asked me what my intention was. I was confused (and only had 2% fuel left and was too anxious about declaring a fuel emergency because I messed up my reserve fuel in simbrief) and so stressed I private chatted him I had to go offline and if it was ok to go off (he answered yes luckily). Thx this tutorial might help. I didn't expect that to be that hard to understand the ATC xD.
Thanks for sharing such a great video. I do agree flying on vatsim can be challenging especially when the network is so busy and can easily miss out your call sign due vatsim distorted sound. It would be great if vatsim could improve on the quality of the sound, but in the same way that's practical impossible as trying to match the voice signal over various networks due different bandwidth. I wonder if vatsim sound quality is same as real world atc? Thanks for making this video and highlighting special areas to help overcome that vatsim fear I'm a lot would find this video very helpful. .
You're welcome! The sound quality is not the same, it is more distorted on VATSIM because the audio network is not very good indeed, but I hardly have any big problems nowadays ;).
I tried it several times... problem is not so fear, the big problem is that no one seems to be interested in being loud and clear, dont know if they all use this nonsene option with simulated "radio distortion". When I listen via liveatc the problem is more the speed they talk because they are pro's, but they are clearly understandable in most cases. Dont know why vatsim dont want to have more active members, because if they change something in this case more people would fly online. I have read tons of forum topics about the garbling sound on vatsim and people who dont fly online because of this. Sorry for texting so much here, but this is very anoying for me, because I would love to fly online. Kind Regards!
I actually like the "VFR Simulation" option, otherwise the audio starts to kind of sound like teamspeak and you can hear a lot of echo and room noise. You should not be fearing the audio quality on VATSIM, it's really not that bad, watch some of my full flight videos and get a headset so you can adjust the volume of the ATC seperately from the Flight Simulator sounds. ;)
I’ve never had a fear of talking to ATC, it’s understanding what the hell they are saying that’s difficult. it’s always “ Skywest 1234 *gives clearance faster than sonic can run*”
as a new guy....I tend to write down what they gonna tell me before they actually do. As an Indian tho...I struggle in the british airspace understanding them as their accent is a bit hard for me to understand. But british ppl are very friendly and if u ask them to repeat. they do. Ask them to repeat and they will. Bon voyage
As a real life controller it is funny seeing these comments people afraid to talk to ATC. Because in real life new controllers are often terrified to talk to the pilots. I’ve watched trainees have a pilot request something on the radio and they have no clue what to say so they simply just remain silent. Makes training someone hard when they are afraid to talk, if they say something incorrectly I can fix and train on that but I can’t train on silence.
I give everyone as tip to make a sheet with examples how you can talk to tower. By constantly flying you will learn the sheet out of your head and everything goes by itself. If you want to have an example of my sheet, mail to my email of this RUclips account. By the way, thank you very much AviationPro. You have a fantastic channel! Learned a lot! Already started at the KLM Flight Academy?
I'm 14 and I get really nervous talking to ATC, I'm not one of those kids who mess around and I know what I'm doing but I still get nervous that they'll have less patience with me or treat me differently because of my age
well truth is, theyre human too and they know you are struggling, its maybe good to fly on less busier and smaller airports so that the SIDs are easier and you can focus more on atc and flying the aircraft
Henry Wallace for that you can search up a phraseology guide/chart so you can just look quickly what to say, or you just try to read everything back literally (from what he first said to back) most of the time they find it fine or you get a correction which u can then correct
My biggest problem is that the atc changes my arrival STAR and runway and then I am way too high for that and the atc also veers me off of my flight plan and uhhhhh. Then I leave
You're welcome! The pro version, 3.2 at the moment. Not updating to newer versions yet to prevent problems with addons and I'm happy the way it works now :).
I am stuttering and I do not feel self confident AT ALL when I talk and I just repeat the same word ten times wich makes me feel even more self unconfident! Plus I'm learning english at school and I can't understand almost nothing at the radio. Yeah, I'm really feared of talking, so imagine talking to atc! I appreciated very much you tips but I they are going to be slightly more difficult to me... :\
I've found that when flying in Australia there is often not many other pilots and the controllers can give you more assistance. Flying Brisbane to Whitsunday Coast is a good one to get used to the ATC.
I know, but what you saw was actually an ATC transmission, the pilot response written underneath later in the video doesn't include the wind information ;).
I'm not sure flying IFR is a good way to start out on radio comms. Yeah, most IFR flights tend to follow a somewhat standardized template, but as soon as *anything* doesn't go according to plan, I worry that for a beginner, it'll all come apart at the seams rather quickly. E.g. you get issued a non-published hold, or some sort of a clearance you've not heard before. Or you mess up on a procedure, because most beginners don't really know how to read charts and so they rely on the FMS to know what to do. PilotEdge has a very good set of online webinars on VFR & IFR flight procedures and there's a good reason the VFR one is about 2 hours long and the IFR one is over 10. I'd say for people who are only starting out with online flying, start like they do in the real world. Forget about flight plans, jump in the airplane and start in the traffic pattern. Just do a few dozen laps of an airfield, always talking only to one controller. Get acquainted with VFR phraseology. Learn basics of airspace. Then maybe do some hops between two nearby airfields. And always learn in this sequence: first learn how to fly the airplane (aviate), then learn how to navigate and finally, learn how to communicate. With this knowledge under your belt, IFR charts and procedures will make a lot more sense when you get to them.
True, but in practice such things never happen on VATSIM when you learn, as a newbie, to fly from and to smaller airports during evenings when there's is not a lot of traffic but where is ATC. What I have noticed in my many years on VATSIM is that people tend to learn the basic IFR stuff quicker than the VFR stuff. Actually, VFR is more scary to them somehow, which is the opposite from the real world I know, but that's the way young and new VATSIM pilots work I guess ;)
+AviationPro I guess that's because most new pilots on Vatsim have got most of their experience in singleplayer with IFR. So, even though Vatsim is more difficult on IFR compared to singleplayer, I guess it feels 'trusted' :)
Ok so here is the thing. I'm afraid of saying the wrong thing. When I fly on vatsim, I always mess up my callsign and put it in the wrong place, or I cant multitask being asked to fly and rotate the knobs.... Squawks stress me out, and so does clearance. I can't find a way to put all the info down so I can have a sufficent readback.
Make sure you get a piece of paper and a pen, then for example for the clearance: already write down 'runway:' , 'squawk:', 'SID:' so you only really have to enter the numbers that you hear for all items of the clearance. Key is to keep it short and make abbreviations for yourself that you can understand. At the top of the same paper you can put your callsign.
Yesterday first flight (15yo) on VATSIM from EDDF to EGLL: Logged on in Frankfurt stand A34 and had a look on who's online. Frankfurt TWR. Tuned in frequency and was like... like... 2 mm over the button... should I... After first radio com, everything was fine :)
It kind of developed as I flew on VATSIM starting from a young age. First flew with a friend of mine who gave me a VFR communications handbook which helped a lot. Next to that I listened to a lot of live ATC, watched cockpit videos, and just flew a lot on the VATSIM network to improve my phraseology bit by bit :).
aviation pro, i use logitech joystick ,what button should i press for atc communication? i mean where is the PTT switch? on my joystick. just for information i use v-pilot
Well it's not that bad, you will get used to it. Text is even worse, typing takes a lot of time and is especially very frustrating during events. Nor does it really add to the realism that VATSIM tries to provide.
I have tryed to connect to vatsim fsinn and vpilot and they dont work for me there always seems to have a problem and i need help please i have windows 10 and fsx steam edition
I know its a bit late but god I go on vatsim and all the ATC are like no no you have to confirm blah blah blah and I’m like what? Confirm What? Ahh? Then I become I confident to talk to them.
For me it goes like this; Think about how to ask taxi clearance for 3 min so it goes right I get my clearance and my route to the runway Say again? Tells the same What was the runway number again? Tells the runway number Readback the clearance only partly *Silence intensifies* I taxi to the runway my own way xD
I want to start flying on VATsim specially with the new amazing audio codec, but I'm worried about my self confidence talking to ATC. Not sure from where should I start :(
I’m kinda young I’m over 13 not gonna put my exact age on the internet but I’m under 16 my voice is still a bit high. I’m worried I’m gonna get like every one saying you shouldn’t be on here your a kid. So I can’t get better at flying until I’m more confident. Is this me just having an irrational fear or should I just not use vatsim? Or is every one very professional and just wont care? Please help me!!
Don't worry: even if you do embarrass yourself, you'll probably never encounter that person again, and if you do, they probably won't remember you. The internet is a big enough place that you don't need to worry, especially because you won't embarrass yourself in the first place!
+Ralph De Coninck Ik zal het je verklappen: Het is de druk op het vliegveld, tot aan de transition altitude. Het is in Europa uitgedrukt in hectopascal, het kan ook in inches (VS)
Why? That's the easiest thing not to be scared of. Just ask what's wrong with it and say: oh sorry, I'll correct it. 99/100 times they will say: "No problem". VATSIM controllers are really friendly :)
Hey AP I just joined vatsim and i use vPilot but every time I try to connect it says invalid CID/password But I copied and pasted both my id and password. Is there any tips you can give me to help me figure this out?
I'm not sure, but maybe you are using an old password. I know VATSIM has changed the passwords of all users some years ago and you should have received an email about that. Otherwise you can always visit the membership department on the VATSIM website to recover your info. I don't think it's a vPilot issue.
for clearance use CRAFT
C- cleared to.
R- Route (sid)
A- Altitude
F- Frequency (departure)
T- Transponder
I always use this and it helps a ton!
Nice!
Ahh yes the CRAFT Acronym, I read about that
how do you remember all of that
@@SpidaMez Oooo there is a lot more to remember than that. It will come with time. Aviation requires a LOT of studying and memorization.
@@matthewnoaks4759 okay but what if you miss a frequency or something
When I first started flying on vatsim I was scared shitless until I realized just how friendly everyone was on the network and how willing they were :D
Absolutely, apart from some controllers maybe, I too have great experiences with friendly controllers! :)
Yeah you do get the odd grumpy controller haha, generally they tend to be nice :)
I swear I see you fly to KMCO almost every week haha
Oh really? I think they gonna kill me on first flight...
@@eliacomo9891 have you had your 1st flight yet :)?
It's funny, I still get nervous talking to controllers when doing flights, and I just got my S1 controller certification with Boston Virtual ARTCC
2:50 I have problems with the read back when getting my IFR clearance. They seem to talk to fast and I can’t seem to write it fast enough lol
I hope you're proficient at IFR clearances now a year later.
To anyone else who is not:
First of all, listen to ATIS information, what you're looking for really is the departure runway and QNH which will be told to you during your clearance.
Let's say that you know the active runway now, write it down somewhere, same for the QNH.
After that look at your initial waypoint, as an example INITT.
Now that you know your runway and initial waypoint, you can make out your SID quite easily.
There should only be 1 SID that works for that specific runway and waypoint.
To figure out the SID look at the airports' charts. Go through departure charts with your initial waypoints' name (Navigraph charts does this automatically for you and is highly recommended for online and offline flying)
So now that you have your SID figured out, let's say in our case INNITA 3G write it down again. The ATC will 9/10 give you that SID if they don't, it will only be the last few characters that change, so rather than INNITA 3G departure, it could change to INNITA 4P departure. If you have most of this written down already it will be very easy to alter it slightly depending on what the ATC will tell you.
Now that you have your SID you will be given an initial climb (not always though, you have to look through the charts in some airports such as Stockholm where the initial climb is always 5000 feet unless cleared otherwise by ATC)
This should be pretty easy to note down, don't write it down as e.g. 7000 but rather as 7, you know you're not going to climb to 7 feet so the number is there for reference during readback, just x1000 while reading back.
Now you have your SID and Initial Climb (IC), be ready to receive a departure frequency if the appropriate station is online (check via the likes of vatspy). If an approach/departure frequency is online just check beforehand to see what their frequency is and note it down so you don't have to write it down while receiving your clearance and not being able to listen to the next instruction. e.g 136.67 (shorten it to 36.67 if you want to be as efficient as possible)
ONE FINAL STEP REMAINING, your squawk code. There is only a range of 0-7 in numbers for a squawk code, so just carefully listen to those numbers and note them down quickly in order on a notepad (I prefer IRL on a sticky note or similar) You should be able to write this down while listening to your clearance very easily if you have done the steps above and professionally guessed your clearance.
What my notepad/sticky looks like PRIOR to receiving my clearance:
SID: INNITA3G
RWY: 24
IC:
FREQ: 136.67
SQUAWK :
QNH: 1016
#I'll also have the ATIS information identifier to have while asking for my clearance so:
INFO: A
Some people use the acronym CRAFT
C- cleared to.
R- Route (SID)
A- Altitude
F- Frequency (departure)
T- Transponder
I don't personally use it but it works for many so I'd give that a try too.
Hope this helps!
@@msc6227 what does the F and T stand for may you give an example
@@jasoncave37 F is the departure frequency. T is you squawk code.
@@fcolaaa Thanks
if u write down what u know they are gonna say u can ignore the first half of clearance and then it is easier
aviation Pro, I just want to say thanks for your helpful videos! your entire VATSIM series has thought me a lot. thanks!
I'm glad to hear that, thanks for watching! :)
I'm trying to give this comment more than one thumb up *click click clickety-click* Nope, I can't. But I would if I could :D
+Peter Wilhelmsson LOL thanks! I will thumbs up it with my other accounts :)
same
Great information - very encouraging.. I have completed almost 20 offline flights with DVA and have been trying to build up the courage to go "live". The first time someone speak to me I completely froze. I forgot everything including the phonetic alphabet so I could not respond at all and disconnected as fast as I could. I have been finding lots of excuses since not to go live. I am going to try it tomorrow ! Hartelijk bedankt.
Thank you! Yes that feeling is very relatable to when I once started on VATSIM many years ago. It will need some practice and courage, and I hope these tips will help as well! :) You won't regret it once you get the hang of it ;)
@Daniel Walder I have never returned to flying Vatsim. I think about it sometimes but I am happy doing what I do. In the meantime I have completed 134 flights and gained 5 captaincies. One day maybe?
The biggest problem for me on VATSIM is that I have a really hard time understanding what is being said by some controllers due to the simulated radio distortion.
Just ask them to say again... If you still don't understand they will send you via text also!
Check your internet. Bad internet connection does not really help understanding them.
I'm with you, the VATSIM audio codec system is atrocious. It tries to be realistic, but in reality only ends up being weird and unbearable. Real AM radio doesn't sound like that. Real radio is rather noisy and compressed (in the dynamic sense), but it doesn't randomly cut out words or entire parts of sentences. That behavior is rather typical of a lossy packet-oriented VoIP service. On real radio, if you e.g. lose reception for a fraction of a second, you either get that moment filled by static, or the audio goes quiet completely (depending on whether squelch reacted fast enough). You don't get sentences that just skip words. IOW, in reality you might hear this:
"Cessna 3AB, climb tain sand"
Instead on VATSIM, you might get something like:
"Cessna 3AB, climbtainsand"
The first situation is rather rare on real AM radio and it's easy to recognize that it's a climb instruction that got broken. The second situation on VATSIM happens *all the freakin' time* and just sounds like gibberish.
Oh and btw: this is why I rarely fly on Vatsim nowadays. I just can't stand the audio quality. That's why I prefer PilotEdge, because it doesn't suffer from this.
Yeah, I forgot about using text. I'm just apprehensive about clogging up the lines if it's busy and don't want to sound like a fool asking for a controller to repeat themselves over and over. :) I'll try to remember that text option.
The internet connection is fine. I'm referring to exactly what Totoritko explained. The simulated radio distortion is a cool idea but everybody's mics are different, the connections are different, and other factors all lead to making this intended sound not quite what it should be. I have real world 108 hours as a crew member on board a KC-135R during my time in the US Air Force and I would always listen in on radio chatter with my David Clarks. I could clearly understand everything except for people who just talked too fast. Aircraft radios sound better (except the occasional high pitched squeel) than what we use in VATSIM. I'll just have to remember to resort to the text option when I can't understand radio chatter.
I find that Pilot2ATC can help immensely in this area, because you can practice with it as often as you can without feeling any PTT fear. From the first 2-3 flights it will somehow trigger a reaction that will rewire your brain and force it to think differently compared to when using in-game ATCs. You'll need to start keeping notes though, as Pilot2ATC's voice recognition can have limited results (try to train it as much as you can) and you'll have to make some concessions between VATSIM ATC and the app's ATC. I'd say the latter works well 80% of the time or more, especially if you stick to the exact phraseology it can process. After you make your 5th flight, you'll know more or less what to expect and you'll be wondering why you were flying with the silly in-game ATC all these years.
The above method has another advantage over VATSIM ATC, as the latter does not have 24/7 coverage especially in areas outside central/NW Europe or US (actually despite 70-100 ATC controllers being around at any given time, most of the planet is not really covered most of the day). So unless you're operating in said controlled areas, you're effectively flying in 122.800 Unicom without any ATC services most of the time. In these cases using Pilot2ATC can still help you get the ropes instead of staying silent all the time.
This is so me! No confidence at all.. get sweaty armpits just looking at the PTT button. :(
Aranlex oh mate be happy that you’re not a kid (probably). It’s so much harder for me, everyone just assumes that I don’t even know what an ILS is
@@zanix1116 So, im in a similiar situation, im 13 and a half, do you think people would still talk to me normally over vatsim or would it be horrible? I havent joined yet but im thinking about it so maybe any advice?
TheDiamondNinja Oh nah mate you’re good. What I wrote above doesn’t happen to me anymore and I really recommend using voice. It’s really just the beginning where you are learning stuff that is scary, but in reality the community is really nice. Go for it, you won’t regret it.
I have comfort in the process and even comfort talking to people IRL but I *still* always freeze up when it comes time to ask for clearance or contact a new area controller. There's something about how real it feels both in the audio filters and the quality of controllers that makes it feel more like LiveATC except now they can talk to you!
I just had my first Vatsim flight (and first talking on ATC) , IT WAS FUN, I was scared but the controllers are nice and if you cant understand due to the static, just ask to repeat
Awesome! :)
I had my first flight a couple of days ago and the controller was so awesome helped me with everything, and I've found that everyone is so friendly across the network and it really helped my anxiety.
I see a lot of comments about the Vatsim-coded disortion at the radio frequencies. With more than 350 hours of online flying under my belt, I can tell every new simmer it's not that bad. Yes, it might be annoying, but you won't really notice it.
So, just try it out :)
Couldn't agree more actually, it's really not that bad. Watch some of my VATSIM full flights and you'll be able to understand it pretty well :)
what are some of your tips of you could give any haha thanks?
hallo ik wil een vraag stellen
Vraag maar raak :)
je hebt als het goed is fsx fligth sim maar welke jaar 2014 15 16.
heb jij steam edition welke moet ik kopen welke fsx raad je mij aan .
wat moet ik er bij instaleren bv als je online wilt praten/vliegen.
hoe dowload je op windows 10 de vliegtuigen bv KLM...transavia
heel er bedankt als je mijn vragen zou willen beatwoorden
groetjes!!!
I’d also recommend the Vox ATC plugin for FSX.
I've never used flight simulation to the degree many on here have. have flew several "larger" GA aircraft such as the Caravan and the Titan in reality. I've find it helpful to start small, Cessna 172 in VFR flight. have your frequencies loaded up on Navcomms before flight and on your flight plan. think in what you need from ATC and listen to others. relax, don't overthink it. ATC and pilots have even argued with each other over the radio.
Absolutely, it's best to start small and slow :)
I'd say, initially just go ahead and fly on any area where there is no Vatsim ATC, connect, start flying 1 hour flights or less, and say over the radio your intentions (Taxiing to Rwy XX via XX taxiway, Departing via SID XX, Turning LH/RH heading XXX, etc. for the entire flight on each procedure). You will see how quickly your confidence is going up, and your memory will retain the proper phraseology. Then go to a place with ATC, but minimum traffic, and you will see how well you will do (zero stress), until you decide to jump into medium to heavy traffic areas. The more congested, the faster ATC's use to talk, BUT you can always ask to "please repeat slower last instructions", and they will slow down their pacing. When you transmit on initial contact, don't speak fast, do it at slow pace, because if you do, the ATC person will think you are a fast speaking pilot so he/she will answer two times faster than you. You, as pilot, set the rules on initial contact. Don't feel afraid, don't let your fear of radio stop your dream of flying on line, just enjoy the time, talk at normal-to-slow speed, relax, anticipate the possible calls, and you will do fine.
Excellent presentation.
Thank you! :)
Great advice.
Keep it going man you have been the main person helping me out with vatsim. Thanks again haha (there will probably be more questions in the future). Thanks John
Thanks John! :)
No problem also im just about to buy a saitek pro flight yoke and maybe the ruder pedals and a instrument display i know you have the yoke well im pretty sure you do and the ruder pedals what would you recommend of it all before i go through with it ive heard alot of good things so far? thanks.
I have the yoke, pedals and throttles. Don't need anything else really. Those other products are mainly for GA aircraft, and although fun to have they don't really add anything to my "cockpit" since I'm flying airliners mostly ;)
Thanks then i will go Through with it.
en weer een geweldige video
Thanks!
One thing i have tried while connected to vatsim and talking to controllers is to follow there instructions and then replay back after i have done what i was instructed to do. If i try to do a read back before following instructions i tend to panic. Less than 30 hours of flight on vatsim and little or know experience with controllers. Yesterday i was on and was in contact with 2 center controllers then an arrival controller into new york. I was manually vectored in from FL380 to landing the only way i was able to get things done was to follow instructions then do read back. Which was easy cause i was just reading back what i dialed in.
Excellent, and that's actually the way it should be done because: aviate, navigate, and only then communicate :)
Many Thanks!
You're welcome!
I also had this problem on IVAO years ago. I was always thinking what do I need to say and I was always preparing to start talking. But now I confidently talk with controllers.
Glad to hear that! :)
I always have a list from all possible frequencies and sids and stars next to me. I also have pen and paper next to me if it comes to a ground controller giving me taxiways, ATIS or something. Always prepared for whatever happens :D
Real Pilots do write down a lot of stuff too that is told by the controller from what I know. Some sentences can be so long that you simply can't memorize all of it.
Very good, and yes that's true, gotta have that pen and paper at the ready in the cockpit! :)
Whiteboard works great too! =)
I just did my first vfr flight. Absolutely terrifying talking to atc
I am pretty confident by now, but recently I went out of insbruck the first time on the Rattenberg3j departure and good lord I was scared :'D
I just did my first flight (not complete) with Vatsim (KDTW-KPVD). While in the final for ILS 05, the Boston Center told me to contact him. As soon as I said where I was I already started stuttering. The ATC also told me to go around and I only had 5% fuel (2% later while turning back). I think I put the wrong heading later and the ATC asked me what my intention was. I was confused (and only had 2% fuel left and was too anxious about declaring a fuel emergency because I messed up my reserve fuel in simbrief) and so stressed I private chatted him I had to go offline and if it was ok to go off (he answered yes luckily). Thx this tutorial might help. I didn't expect that to be that hard to understand the ATC xD.
A good one is when starting vatsim do small flight to get used to it and build up
Absolutely!
Thanks for sharing such a great video. I do agree flying on vatsim can be challenging especially when the network is so busy and can easily miss out your call sign due vatsim distorted sound. It would be great if vatsim could improve on the quality of the sound, but in the same way that's practical impossible as trying to match the voice signal over various networks due different bandwidth.
I wonder if vatsim sound quality is same as real world atc?
Thanks for making this video and highlighting special areas to help overcome that vatsim fear I'm a lot would find this video very helpful. .
You're welcome! The sound quality is not the same, it is more distorted on VATSIM because the audio network is not very good indeed, but I hardly have any big problems nowadays ;).
I tried it several times... problem is not so fear, the big problem is that no one seems to be interested in being loud and clear, dont know if they all use this nonsene option with simulated "radio distortion". When I listen via liveatc the problem is more the speed they talk because they are pro's, but they are clearly understandable in most cases. Dont know why vatsim dont want to have more active members, because if they change something in this case more people would fly online. I have read tons of forum topics about the garbling sound on vatsim and people who dont fly online because of this. Sorry for texting so much here, but this is very anoying for me, because I would love to fly online. Kind Regards!
I actually like the "VFR Simulation" option, otherwise the audio starts to kind of sound like teamspeak and you can hear a lot of echo and room noise. You should not be fearing the audio quality on VATSIM, it's really not that bad, watch some of my full flight videos and get a headset so you can adjust the volume of the ATC seperately from the Flight Simulator sounds. ;)
I use text because I got a terrible working memory and can't type fast enough to take notes.
well, im scared to talk to atc with 2people in the airport but not when i do unicom with 30+ pilots...
Liked and subbed friend!
Thanks! :)
For me, the main reason with refrain me is simply speaking English, I know how to write in English but I struggle a lot with my accent as a French
Its so challenging to fly listen reply take notes at the same time 😂
Yep
It sure is. I find just taking things slow helps, try not to get too flustered. Also I make good use of the AP where possible ;)
Could you uh.. Tell me how to assign a yoke button to the "Push To Talk" So far i can only use the keyboard becouse it doesent detect my yoke.
I’ve never had a fear of talking to ATC, it’s understanding what the hell they are saying that’s difficult. it’s always “ Skywest 1234 *gives clearance faster than sonic can run*”
as a new guy....I tend to write down what they gonna tell me before they actually do. As an Indian tho...I struggle in the british airspace understanding them as their accent is a bit hard for me to understand. But british ppl are very friendly and if u ask them to repeat. they do. Ask them to repeat and they will. Bon voyage
Rohit Roy ill never go to london again on a busy friday....
my god what a mess
As a real life controller it is funny seeing these comments people afraid to talk to ATC. Because in real life new controllers are often terrified to talk to the pilots. I’ve watched trainees have a pilot request something on the radio and they have no clue what to say so they simply just remain silent. Makes training someone hard when they are afraid to talk, if they say something incorrectly I can fix and train on that but I can’t train on silence.
I give everyone as tip to make a sheet with examples how you can talk to tower. By constantly flying you will learn the sheet out of your head and everything goes by itself. If you want to have an example of my sheet, mail to my email of this RUclips account. By the way, thank you very much AviationPro. You have a fantastic channel! Learned a lot! Already started at the KLM Flight Academy?
I'm 14 and I get really nervous talking to ATC, I'm not one of those kids who mess around and I know what I'm doing but I still get nervous that they'll have less patience with me or treat me differently because of my age
well truth is, theyre human too and they know you are struggling, its maybe good to fly on less busier and smaller airports so that the SIDs are easier and you can focus more on atc and flying the aircraft
@@RealPyro88 Ok I'll take your advice, maybe I'll make my first flight soon
@@RealPyro88 My one concern is if they say something I don't know how to respond to
Henry Wallace for that you can search up a phraseology guide/chart so you can just look quickly what to say, or you just try to read everything back literally (from what he first said to back) most of the time they find it fine or you get a correction which u can then correct
@@RealPyro88 ah great. Thanks for all the help, I just got some new MFG crosswind pedals so maybe I'll make my first flight in the zibo 737 soon!
guys I have a siateci yoke and a airbus sidestick is there a way to have a ptt on both of them?
My biggest problem is that the atc changes my arrival STAR and runway and then I am way too high for that and the atc also veers me off of my flight plan and uhhhhh. Then I leave
I am terrified of trying it for the first time, more terrified of the talking than doing anything wrong
Controllers don’t bite!
Progress?
Great info, thanks for sharing! What P3D version are you using (Academic/Pro)?
You're welcome! The pro version, 3.2 at the moment. Not updating to newer versions yet to prevent problems with addons and I'm happy the way it works now :).
First Once Again anyways when is your full flight video comming up
End of October probably.
No new video???
I am stuttering and I do not feel self confident AT ALL when I talk and I just repeat the same word ten times wich makes me feel even more self unconfident! Plus I'm learning english at school and I can't understand almost nothing at the radio. Yeah, I'm really feared of talking, so imagine talking to atc! I appreciated very much you tips but I they are going to be slightly more difficult to me... :\
You're welcome! Just take your time, start slow and small.
I've found that when flying in Australia there is often not many other pilots and the controllers can give you more assistance. Flying Brisbane to Whitsunday Coast is a good one to get used to the ATC.
Good video but you never read back the wind from the tower controller, that is just an advisory message for the pilot
I know, but what you saw was actually an ATC transmission, the pilot response written underneath later in the video doesn't include the wind information ;).
I'm not sure flying IFR is a good way to start out on radio comms. Yeah, most IFR flights tend to follow a somewhat standardized template, but as soon as *anything* doesn't go according to plan, I worry that for a beginner, it'll all come apart at the seams rather quickly. E.g. you get issued a non-published hold, or some sort of a clearance you've not heard before. Or you mess up on a procedure, because most beginners don't really know how to read charts and so they rely on the FMS to know what to do. PilotEdge has a very good set of online webinars on VFR & IFR flight procedures and there's a good reason the VFR one is about 2 hours long and the IFR one is over 10.
I'd say for people who are only starting out with online flying, start like they do in the real world. Forget about flight plans, jump in the airplane and start in the traffic pattern. Just do a few dozen laps of an airfield, always talking only to one controller. Get acquainted with VFR phraseology. Learn basics of airspace. Then maybe do some hops between two nearby airfields. And always learn in this sequence: first learn how to fly the airplane (aviate), then learn how to navigate and finally, learn how to communicate. With this knowledge under your belt, IFR charts and procedures will make a lot more sense when you get to them.
True, but in practice such things never happen on VATSIM when you learn, as a newbie, to fly from and to smaller airports during evenings when there's is not a lot of traffic but where is ATC. What I have noticed in my many years on VATSIM is that people tend to learn the basic IFR stuff quicker than the VFR stuff. Actually, VFR is more scary to them somehow, which is the opposite from the real world I know, but that's the way young and new VATSIM pilots work I guess ;)
+AviationPro I guess that's because most new pilots on Vatsim have got most of their experience in singleplayer with IFR. So, even though Vatsim is more difficult on IFR compared to singleplayer, I guess it feels 'trusted' :)
I guess so ;)
Ok so here is the thing. I'm afraid of saying the wrong thing. When I fly on vatsim, I always mess up my callsign and put it in the wrong place, or I cant multitask being asked to fly and rotate the knobs.... Squawks stress me out, and so does clearance. I can't find a way to put all the info down so I can have a sufficent readback.
Make sure you get a piece of paper and a pen, then for example for the clearance: already write down 'runway:' , 'squawk:', 'SID:' so you only really have to enter the numbers that you hear for all items of the clearance. Key is to keep it short and make abbreviations for yourself that you can understand. At the top of the same paper you can put your callsign.
Yesterday first flight (15yo) on VATSIM from EDDF to EGLL: Logged on in Frankfurt stand A34 and had a look on who's online. Frankfurt TWR.
Tuned in frequency and was like... like... 2 mm over the button... should I...
After first radio com, everything was fine :)
Awesome! Glad to see your success story, have fun on VATSIM! :)
Watching your videos made this a whole lot easier ;)
Thanks! Glad to hear that :)
Just out of interest, where did you learn to communicate to ATC?
It kind of developed as I flew on VATSIM starting from a young age. First flew with a friend of mine who gave me a VFR communications handbook which helped a lot. Next to that I listened to a lot of live ATC, watched cockpit videos, and just flew a lot on the VATSIM network to improve my phraseology bit by bit :).
aviation pro, i use logitech joystick ,what button should i press for atc communication? i mean where is the PTT switch? on my joystick. just for information i use v-pilot
There's no pre-defined PTT button, you need to set it yourself in the vPilot settings.
I sometimes use voice but because the voice codes are awful so I just use text most of the time
Well it's not that bad, you will get used to it. Text is even worse, typing takes a lot of time and is especially very frustrating during events. Nor does it really add to the realism that VATSIM tries to provide.
Hi. How many years have you been flight simming?
+Larry Cañenguez About 10 years ;)
i dont have push to talk in real life, i copy full ifr clearances with ease, on vatsim for some reason its different
Cessna5335 its probably because u dont want to ruin other’s experiences or because of the bad audio quality
Kun je een video maken hoe je op vatsim komt?
Daar heb ik al heel veel videos over: aviationpro.nl/vatsim/pilot-training/p1-pilot-rating-course/
Thanks
I have tryed to connect to vatsim fsinn and vpilot and they dont work for me there always seems to have a problem and i need help please i have windows 10 and fsx steam edition
Its an another way for Steam Edition. idk cuz i have fsx professional.
I know its a bit late but god I go on vatsim and all the ATC are like no no you have to confirm blah blah blah and I’m like what? Confirm What? Ahh? Then I become I confident to talk to them.
i start shaking
Will you take part at the CTP Eastbound 2016 or do you already have an slot ?
Unfortunately not.
what is the default hot key for push to talk,and how can we find it out??
Look in the vPilot settings.
Usually scroll lock is default, but you'd have to check in the settings to make sure.
For me it goes like this;
Think about how to ask taxi clearance for 3 min so it goes right
I get my clearance and my route to the runway
Say again?
Tells the same
What was the runway number again?
Tells the runway number
Readback the clearance only partly
*Silence intensifies*
I taxi to the runway my own way xD
Haha, oh well, that's how it went for me in the early days as well ;)
I want to start flying on VATsim specially with the new amazing audio codec, but I'm worried about my self confidence talking to ATC. Not sure from where should I start :(
There are many videos on this channel with some tips and tricks on that ;)
@@AviationPro Thanks, I'll check it out :)
How do you configure the talk button on the joystick
Assign a key in vPilot and then via FSUIPC set a joystick button to 'push' that key.
Or just assign your joystick button in vPilot directly. I do it via the key method though, since I'm using two PTT keys.
I’m kinda young I’m over 13 not gonna put my exact age on the internet but I’m under 16 my voice is still a bit high. I’m worried I’m gonna get like every one saying you shouldn’t be on here your a kid. So I can’t get better at flying until I’m more confident. Is this me just having an irrational fear or should I just not use vatsim? Or is every one very professional and just wont care? Please help me!!
Don't worry: even if you do embarrass yourself, you'll probably never encounter that person again, and if you do, they probably won't remember you. The internet is a big enough place that you don't need to worry, especially because you won't embarrass yourself in the first place!
Thanks that helps a lot. :)
Hey weer leuke video dat me wat verder helpt op vatsim kan je me helpen met dat qnh gedoe?
Thanks! Wat begrijp je niet aan QNH?
Ja soms zegt de atc zet qnh naar 1010 ofzo
Zoek eens op wikipedia op QNH, dat is al een goede start ;)
+Ralph De Coninck Ik zal het je verklappen: Het is de druk op het vliegveld, tot aan de transition altitude. Het is in Europa uitgedrukt in hectopascal, het kan ook in inches (VS)
Ok bedankt iedereen
But i have to talk i need to open vpilot and that pause the sim how can i solve it ? I use a single screen
Make sure you run vPilot as administrator
I have fear of tower sayibg flight plan incorrect :/
Why? That's the easiest thing not to be scared of. Just ask what's wrong with it and say: oh sorry, I'll correct it. 99/100 times they will say: "No problem". VATSIM controllers are really friendly :)
sir which flight sim u use fsx or fs9
+Ashwin Prakash I used to use FS9, but I recently switched to Prepar3D ;)
VOX ATC will sort you out
Hey AP I just joined vatsim and i use vPilot but every time I try to connect it says invalid CID/password But I copied and pasted both my id and password. Is there any tips you can give me to help me figure this out?
I'm not sure, but maybe you are using an old password. I know VATSIM has changed the passwords of all users some years ago and you should have received an email about that. Otherwise you can always visit the membership department on the VATSIM website to recover your info. I don't think it's a vPilot issue.
Hey again just wondering what rex version you bought or verisons Thanks again John?
REX Texture Direct ;)
So no soft clouds or anything extra? just Rex Texture Direct. Also dose it use real world weather? or do you use something else for that?
Oh yes, I mean Texture Direct + Soft Clouds, it comes in one pack. For real world weather I'm using Active Sky Next ;)
dose active skynet work with rex? how do they work together?
Yes, REX is just for the textures, Active Sky is the weather engine. They work perfectly fine together ;)
PMDG 777
.
PMDG 737 and 777 are great planes.
get 777 man
Arman Bajwa I think he has it.
Nope, only the 737 at the moment.
:D
:D
It's the same as you talk to your team8s on cs go or something similar...
Strong Wheel54 no this is much more professional
I am new to vatsim is there my tips to help me for my first flight
Of course there are: ruclips.net/video/UcmOg6iCXWQ/видео.html