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What if I told you there was a way to fly as often as you like, in all weathers, in whichever aircraft you want, from wherever you want, with live ATC and it won't cost you anything. You'd like that wouldn't you? Of course you would. But you would also want to know what the catch was wouldn't you?
Well, I have one word for you: Simulation.
Flight simulation is a growing industry. Since the early days of the Microsoft Flight Simulator the state of the art has moved on in leaps and bounds. Whole industries have sprung up to manage the ancilliary markets with thing such as new planes, scenery and adventures. A whole host of forums, web-sites and communities have appeared dedicated to the art and science of flight simulation. I even heard about a guy who is building his own 747 flight simulator - with full motion control - in his garage!
The problem with a lot of this was always twofold:
1) Even if you get all the latest add-on's, up-to-date software and patches, it was still a case of sitting in your room staring at a screen and playing with a keyboard.
2) It didn't fully replicate the flying experience because it was missing one vital ingredient - proper Air traffic control.
Well unfortunately the problem of 1) is not going to go away soon. Even the guy building his own 747 simulator is still a guy sat at home - albeit with some sophisticated machinery. But the problem of 2) is more easily solved.
Flight sim manufacturers have included some pretty good ATC functionality in their packages. Each release brings more and more advanced settings and realistic situations. But at the end of the day it is all preprogrammed and cannot take the place of 'real' controllers. Back in the early days of flight simulator software there began a parallel movement to create and run a community of Air Traffic Controllers using ATC simulation software. The software was fairly rudimentary to start with, but as with the flight simulators it has increased in sophistication to the point where it can be very lifelike indeed.
Except that it is not, actually real life. It's computer controlled planes in a computer created environment.
So on the one hand you have the pilots wishing they could have ATC that was 'real' and on the other controllers wishing they could have 'real' pilots to control. It didn't take long for someone to make the logical connection and pretty soon VATSIM was born.
VATSIM is the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network which uses some sophisticated software to link pilots, planes and air traffic controllers together across the internet.
It works very simply:
With your flight simulator program you download a small piece of software which acts as a "squawkbox" to provide a transponder type functionality to your machine. This channels all your typical transponder type information from your flight sim to the web.
On the web are servers which monitor this data and pass it to other simmers who are running the same squawbox software as well as ATC's simmers who are running controller software.
The net result of this is that you fly your own simulation on your own machine, but - with the aid of the squawbox and a headset/microphone - you are connected to controllers who can both see your plane AND interact with you as a pilot, along with all the other pilots who are currently using the squawbox.
The beauty of this is twofold:
a) You get to fly your own planes in your own environment whenever you want, thereby increasing your flight time and experience (albeit simulated).
b) You get fully managed ATC cover - with ALL the appropriate terminology - which thereby increases your comfort level and experience when interacting with real ATC and flying real planes.
The whole process is very well thought through and it works like this:
Now before you look at this and say "It's not the same as flying the real thing because you would never be able to fly an Airbus without years of training" let me just clarify one thing. I fly all sorts of planes in the simulator, including the ones I was originally trained on - single engine propeller planes - and every time I fly one in the simulator it improves the way I fly them in real life. I can use this as an exercise to do all those things I would never want to do in reality - such as simulate an engine failure or something equally as nasty. It also allows me to practice my instrument flying (Which you will all have done some of in your PPL training) without worrying about really getting lost. Now imagine being able to do all this AND have some friendly controller watching over you - all for free!
I thoroughly recommend having a look at flight simulation and VATSIM. It can surely only improve your flying can't it? Even if it makes you more comfortable talking with controllers this is a great benefit to it.
Here are some links to help you get started:
VATSIM - The central hub for this. Create a free acount and log in
Squawkbox - The connection software (again free)
FSInn - An alternate connection software (A lot more functional but a bit too complex for my liking)
Well, I have one word for you: Simulation.
Flight simulation is a growing industry. Since the early days of the Microsoft Flight Simulator the state of the art has moved on in leaps and bounds. Whole industries have sprung up to manage the ancilliary markets with thing such as new planes, scenery and adventures. A whole host of forums, web-sites and communities have appeared dedicated to the art and science of flight simulation. I even heard about a guy who is building his own 747 flight simulator - with full motion control - in his garage!
The problem with a lot of this was always twofold:
1) Even if you get all the latest add-on's, up-to-date software and patches, it was still a case of sitting in your room staring at a screen and playing with a keyboard.
2) It didn't fully replicate the flying experience because it was missing one vital ingredient - proper Air traffic control.
Well unfortunately the problem of 1) is not going to go away soon. Even the guy building his own 747 simulator is still a guy sat at home - albeit with some sophisticated machinery. But the problem of 2) is more easily solved.
Flight sim manufacturers have included some pretty good ATC functionality in their packages. Each release brings more and more advanced settings and realistic situations. But at the end of the day it is all preprogrammed and cannot take the place of 'real' controllers. Back in the early days of flight simulator software there began a parallel movement to create and run a community of Air Traffic Controllers using ATC simulation software. The software was fairly rudimentary to start with, but as with the flight simulators it has increased in sophistication to the point where it can be very lifelike indeed.
Except that it is not, actually real life. It's computer controlled planes in a computer created environment.
So on the one hand you have the pilots wishing they could have ATC that was 'real' and on the other controllers wishing they could have 'real' pilots to control. It didn't take long for someone to make the logical connection and pretty soon VATSIM was born.
VATSIM is the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network which uses some sophisticated software to link pilots, planes and air traffic controllers together across the internet.
It works very simply:
With your flight simulator program you download a small piece of software which acts as a "squawkbox" to provide a transponder type functionality to your machine. This channels all your typical transponder type information from your flight sim to the web.
On the web are servers which monitor this data and pass it to other simmers who are running the same squawbox software as well as ATC's simmers who are running controller software.
The net result of this is that you fly your own simulation on your own machine, but - with the aid of the squawbox and a headset/microphone - you are connected to controllers who can both see your plane AND interact with you as a pilot, along with all the other pilots who are currently using the squawbox.
The beauty of this is twofold:
a) You get to fly your own planes in your own environment whenever you want, thereby increasing your flight time and experience (albeit simulated).
b) You get fully managed ATC cover - with ALL the appropriate terminology - which thereby increases your comfort level and experience when interacting with real ATC and flying real planes.
The whole process is very well thought through and it works like this:
- Once connected you file a flight plan. This can be VFR or IFR. You can fly long distance in a 747 or just do circuits in your Cessna, or any combination in between.
- You tune your flight simulator radio to the correct frequency and a real live voice greets you and issues instructions. (These folks, by the way have gone through some fairly extensive training and mentoring and are every bit as good as the real thing)
- When you fly you can both see other (non AI) planes in your sim AND hear their transmissions on the radio.
- Air traffic control will act in the expected manner providing directions, asking questions, giving clearances and providing flight following. It's pretty much as close to the real thing as you can get it. The system is even designed to download the real weather from the nearest airport to your current location and update your simulator.
Now before you look at this and say "It's not the same as flying the real thing because you would never be able to fly an Airbus without years of training" let me just clarify one thing. I fly all sorts of planes in the simulator, including the ones I was originally trained on - single engine propeller planes - and every time I fly one in the simulator it improves the way I fly them in real life. I can use this as an exercise to do all those things I would never want to do in reality - such as simulate an engine failure or something equally as nasty. It also allows me to practice my instrument flying (Which you will all have done some of in your PPL training) without worrying about really getting lost. Now imagine being able to do all this AND have some friendly controller watching over you - all for free!
I thoroughly recommend having a look at flight simulation and VATSIM. It can surely only improve your flying can't it? Even if it makes you more comfortable talking with controllers this is a great benefit to it.
Here are some links to help you get started:
VATSIM - The central hub for this. Create a free acount and log in
Squawkbox - The connection software (again free)
FSInn - An alternate connection software (A lot more functional but a bit too complex for my liking)
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