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Sorry for this


Johannes Bergmark

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Johannes Bergmark

I planned a flight from ESGG to ESSA with a Boeing 732, this was my second time flying at Vatsim, and I'm unused to talking with a live ATC.

First, there was some technical problems communicating, because some times I heard the ATC loud and clear, and sometimes there where no sound at all. I'm using XSquawkbox in X-Plane 64 bit Linux. I'm not sure if there is a bug in the software. The hardware is perfectly fine in other cases.

Second, I did take off from runway 21, and the wind was 260 and 12 knots. Quite much a side wind, and I almost fell of the runway at takeoff. Maybe I should not have taken off, I need to refer to the wind limit and runway heading for this airplane at takeoff. With all this, when coming up to speed, I retracted the flaps one time, but I forgot to fully retract from flaps 1 to 0 (you can fully blame me), and I got flaps damaged because of overspeed. I noticed the autopilot struggling and speed decreasing. I declared a PAN_PAN_PAN and returned to ESGG.

Third, I got permission to land on runway 21 ESGG, and I got ILS established. I had some hard time with communication under the situation, as after the ILS establishment, the plane increased in pitch, turning its nose 30 degrees offset from the course. ATC asked me if I would be possible to vacate the runway, but I had hard a time controlling the plane, and I should have declared an emergency. At that time the problems with the flaps increased, speed decreasing rapidly and autopilot fighting hard to maintain the course to the runway. As stupid as I was, I thought maybe extending the flaps one step would solve the problem, at that time, the aircraft rolled heavily and there was no chance to save the situation. Now, I had time to call for an emergency, a short one.

It felt quite awkward with both having communication failures, a serious airplane problem (which was my fault), and also be a newbie trying to communicate in the correct manner.

Before flying again, I need to fix the communcations problems, and practice more on the communication. :)

Overall, I'm looking forward to fly more, but I need to stop making a fool over myself by keeping my tongue straight. :)

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Andreas Ineman (1184133)

I was the first controller on GG-TWR. First, check your software so you don't loose us, happened a few times that I was calling you for 2-3 minutes and after a try on text I got response. Didn't see your pan or emergency, but other than that you did all right in my opinion, we've all been new once. 

From my point of view you should focus on handling the plane. If you now how to handle the plane properly you can execute our instructions quicker and we see that you do what we expect you to do. Communications will come from flying online.

As I said, we've all been new once, and it's fun to see people come to the network with a will to evolve as pilots. I've not been here that long, 5 years, and I've seen many people evolve from insecure pilots to confident pilots. 

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Martin Loxbo (811805)

It's great that you have the courage to come on here and talk about it! :)

As Andreas said we've all been new once, so don't worry too much about it. Just work on ironing out the issues, get the software working, know your aircraft, know the procedures. We have made short list of things for pilots to think about: http://vatsim-scandinavia.org/pilots/dos-and-donts-for-vatsim-pilots/

You talk about crosswind. In your example you have 9 kt crosswind (the wind comes from 50 degrees off the RWY course, that means sin50 * 12 kts = 9 kts crosswind). This is noticeable but is nowhere near the limits as a 737 should be able to take off in around 30 knots crosswind if the runway is dry (not sure if X-Plane simulates dry/wet conditions). So probably it wasn't the wind's fault that you almost went off the runway. Sounds more like a control problem.

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Johannes Bergmark

Thanks for your encouragement! :)

I switched on to Windows 10 now, and I hope that everything works well there. So expect me harassing you between Landvetter and Arlanda in the time coming. I think it best to learn the local area at the beginning. Also I feel quite embarrassed about the wind, as I've thought I got the wind working in the client, but it seems it did not update so well, so basically I've flown in windless environments for a rather long time. I now have installed some external weather software, and I got some surprises...

Andreas, I know it is very necessary to know your plane very well, but I can't resist to fly online, as it is very boring when flying offline. Also, it seems that there will be all sorts of problems when flying online, always forgetting something. :S When flying offline there seems to be no problems. It would be fun to fly with a copilot!

Anyway, I'm a little unsure of how to handle the CTR when departing from uncontrolled airports. As of what I know, CTR airspace in Sweden is from FL095 and up, and below it is G airspace. I contacted the CTR to be sure, and he wanted me to remain on his frequency when I asked if should switch to unicom before taxiing to runway. So I'm guess I missed something here.

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Martin Loxbo (811805)
52 minutes ago, Johannes Bergmark said:

Anyway, I'm a little unsure of how to handle the CTR when departing from uncontrolled airports. As of what I know, CTR airspace in Sweden is from FL095 and up, and below it is G airspace. I contacted the CTR to be sure, and he wanted me to remain on his frequency when I asked if should switch to unicom before taxiing to runway. So I'm guess I missed something here.

Yes, this is how it works on VATSIM to improve the ATC coverage. If only "CTR" is online, the position will cover all controlled airspace, including that normally controlled by GND/TWR/APP. So in Sweden with ESOS_CTR online you will in essence have "full" ATC all over Sweden. So in short, if no DEL, you contact GND, if no GND -> TWR, if no TWR -> APP, if no APP -> CTR, bearing in mind that APP and CTR positions will cover multiple airports. For example ESGG_APP covers the whole Göteborg TMA, so it includes ESGP, ESGT and ESIB. ESOS will also cover ESMM AoR so it covers ESGG, ESMS etc.

We do simulate all the details of controlled and uncontrolled airspace, so if you want to take off from a small GA airfield outside controlled airspace, there is no requirement to contact ATC, just like in real life, and the same applies if you fly below FL95 outside TMAs. Of course if you're not sure, just ask ATC!

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