TX-Chukar's First VATSIM flight

[TX-Kingsnake]

Chukar flew his first VATSIM flight IFR from SFO to LAX using the Porte Three Standard Instrument Departure to Avenal and the Sadde 6 Standard Terminal ARrival charts. It was a shared cockpit flight with me on VATSIM with Chukar handling the aircraft and Air Traffic Control communications. Chukar had his hands full with everything and was commended for a job well done by SFO ground and Los Angeles Center but he had a snafu when he couldn't hear SFO tower after takeoff which caused the tower controller to hold all communications for a moment. Other than that everything went well and he was very busy.

California has three airspaces that are often controlled, San Francisco, Los Angeles, & San Diego. A flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles is a good flight because it often keeps you in contact with Air Traffic Control and you don't need to time warp like you would in a flight from Houston to Chicago. VATSIM does not really cover the entire airspace all the time and mostly covers only the big international hubs. That leaves you on your own in a lot of flights or using a time warp. A flight from SFO to LAX would likely get us ATC the whole way but that is a probability. You choose a real world airline you like and use that callsign for the flight. I like to fly the CRJ700, its a smaller jet but not tiny. It is simple compared to the Airbus and easier to transition to from propeller aircraft because the Airbus feels like the cockpit is on the roof of a two story house.

before we got going from SFO Chukar hosted at an airport away from everything so we could test and configure VATSIM, did a radio check with ATC then got the copilot features working and figured out if we could talk to each other. After that we checked the weather at both airports and planed a flight using a Standard Instrument Departure and a Standard Terminal ARrival. He filed the flight plan and requested it from Clearance and Delivery, readback the clearance, called ground for taxi, then tower for takeoff.

FSX has a lot of toys. Trying out the jets might be fun or you might like something else after trying it. The pros for jets are that they are mostly autopiloted and you can bring cocktails and snacks. The cons are that flying a jet is mostly about a little computer screen inside your computer monitor and it feels like a bus with wings.  

 

[TX-Kingsnake]

http://www.vatsim.net/news-details/san-francisco-real-time/f17bd262ca/


I just noticed a VATSIM event at SFO is coming up.

San Francisco Real-Time will consist of 51 slotted departures from San Francisco Int’l Airport

May 29th 2010, from 4 PM to 7:55 PM Pacific Daylight Time, separated in 4-minute intervals. Arrivals are not slotted, but are highly welcomed.

[TX-Kingsnake]

This is how ATC sees you on VATSIM.






These are from a thread on Vatsim.

[TX-Gunslinger]

Wow, that is way cool to be able to simulate that...

S!

Gunny

[TX-Chukar]

Wow, I was so over my head last night.  Thank God I had an experienced co-pilot who knew what he was doing for my first time out.   Cocktails my arse, well afterward for sure but I was riveted during the flight.  Let alone the aircraft controls but dealing with the radio stacks, Nav freqs, GPS, way points, approach plate (new word for me) it seemed to come at a crazy fast pace. 
What really is impressive to me was the professionalism of everyone especially the ATC guys.   They can actually see you!  If you violate his speed restrictions or are slow to make a course or altitude adjustment, he is calling you back in quick order to get you back in his pattern.  Yet they still give some leniency for a new pilots.
Very cool, great time last night.

[GOZR]

Good stuff hey ! Sorry on and off from comms..

[TX-Rahman]

Chukar and all other Gents here:  If you ever get the feeling that you want to fly for an Airline, I'm an executive at www.metroairvirtual.com check us out!

We fly everything from twin turboprop Bombardier Dash 8 Q200's all the way through Airbus A330's.  Our East Coast hub is Washington Dulles, KIAD, central focus city is Kansas City, KMCI, and our West Coast hub is Ontario, CA.  KONT, and also launch to the Carribean form Ft. Lauderdale, KFLL.

Below are a few links to some killer screenshots by our pilots!

http://www.metroairvirtual.com/forums/index.php?topic=10121.0
http://www.metroairvirtual.com/forums/index.php?topic=9958.0
http://www.metroairvirtual.com/forums/index.php?topic=10138.0
http://www.metroairvirtual.com/forums/index.php?topic=9941.0
http://www.metroairvirtual.com/forums/index.php?topic=10069.0

[TX-Gunslinger]

Thanks for those pics, Rah - they were really cool.  You should post more like that over here, you know

Awesome!

S!

Gunny

[GOZR]

Good shots !! but the 2D cockpit is a real turn off.. luckly it's a matter of choice ....and hardware

[TX-Kingsnake]

The LA scenery looks really nice, which add on scenery is that?

[TX-Chukar]

Ditto on that scenery package, excellent.

[TX-Rahman]

I believe he said it was the MegaScenery X package for SoCal...will ask because I want it too!!

[GOZR]

Hoo! BTW My friend Patrick fly the CRJ700 ..

[TX-Kingsnake]

http://www.megascenery.com/megasceneryxsocal.htm

[GOZR]

Those scenery are very cool to fly in for sure a lot of gen is missing but at list to a certain height they are good..

I do have many of those also the Reno and vegas scenery is cool.