We are considering to use X-plane in our group (civil aviation) and we already tested SmartCopilot in the last flight, today we decided to perform multi crew flight in Vatsim!
ABOUT VATSIM AND IVAO
VATSIM and IVAO are “environments” for flights and their control. These systems resemble air traffic of the real world aviation traffic. Most participants play as pilots and there are participants who play as controllers. VATSIM or its analog IVAO is good for our community because these “environments” force you to follow rules (VFR or IFR) during the flight. Simple flight in X-Plane, without following any rules in style “I am flying where and how I want” is very easy and can quickly become boring. For example, if will compare a flight simulator with studying how to use car – i.e. how to use break and accelerator, VATSIM or IVAO we can compare with studying how to drive a car in society or how to follow traffic rules. Hope no need to explain that the last traffic rules for cars are important too.
We chose VATSIM because this “environment” is more strict in comparison with IVAO. In VATSIM flight rules resemble real world – they can be VFR (Visual Flight Rules), IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) or mixed.
PLANNING OUR CREW FLIGHT IN VATSIM
For a flight we choose USA because one of our member lives there and we can use Skyvector site for creating a flight plan for the USA, in contrast of Canada.We decided to fly from N33 to KMFV. You can see the flight plan in the picture below. To avoid entering restricted areas we added three points: DE25, KOXB, MD00.
ERRORS and MISTAKES
Actually I used VATSIM long time ago but forgot a lot of things. So, at the first I forgot to check ATIS of nearest airport (N33 airfield doesn’t have ATIS). For this reason we set altimeter only when we were on hold short before the runway.
Then I spend some minutes to recall how to use transponder. Then I forgot to use NDBs and VORs to add in the navigation log – so we flew like during WWII time… The flight also shows that I forget how to use GPS properly… And the last point during planning I confused with magnetic deviation and I subtracted magnetic deviation from the course instead to add it! For this reason I lost a little bit near Pocomoke city 🙂
CONCLUSION
In spite of some errors, the flight was great! And during the flight, Andy was talking how they fished in places we flew. Watch a video below.
Sound is very poor, Alex. But the beat sounds pretty good )))).
As for me I do not understand anything for I can’t manage planes. Whether you do mistakes or not – it’s beyond me…
You both (I saw only one person at the time) flew and talk about something … I hear nothing. Straight-line flight, some roll-turns, landing… Sightseeng…
But!!! You were together and rule the plane together – this is the main thing in the report you published!
God luck!
Yes, civil aviation mostly flies by straight lines… Many times, when I flew as a passenger on Airbus from one city to another, I wanted that pilot do a loop or a roll, or something interesting… but you right – it was so boring! 🙁