In the past three weeks, I have been questioned by supervisors checking on whether I’m alive or sleeping on six of my eight long-haul flights. I fly many long-haul flights and this is the first incidence of being questioned on whether I’m alive. I find this very objectionable as I have not missed an ATC call or have other incidents where a supervisor has been involved.
The other day when I was questioned, I told him I was too busy to chat as I was flying a B787-9 aircraft. He then basically questioned if I was being sarcastic. On one of these stops, I pointed out the Code of Conduct, section B, Pilot Conduct. Sub Section B3(b) which states that I can that you can be gone for up to 30 minutes without logging off.
I have been with VatSim off and on since 2013 right after I had my stroke and lost my medical. During that time, I have not had one problem with VatSim, or supervisors. As a matter of fact, on several occasions when I found a plane not moving for a long period of time. I have used the wallop dot command and reported that aircraft.
I have donated on several occasions, and if this harassment. continues, I will stop my support.
The most professional and efficient approach I have been privy to was a PM “The time is xxxx please offer a short response.” To which I have simply replied “hi” and it was nothing more. I believe this achieves the SUP requirement and minimises the pilot requirement.
Not quite sure I understand the stance, Bill and Mark. Effective leadership and management relies (in part) on understanding of risk and opportunity, mitigating risk, and seizing opportunity.
Somewhat recently, an aircraft developer released a long-haul aircraft. Based on past history, being borne out by current reality, VATSIM proactively started a slightly enhanced enforcement activity (against existing requirements, nothing changed) aimed at mitigating bad behavior as well as risk associated with people launching with long-haul aircraft and then disappearing. This could have been falling asleep by accident, could have been padding logbooks, could have been a lot of things in-between, but having the same impact on controllers and pilots later – a “non-present” connection interfering with others, causing potential traffic conflict issues, and/or causing ATC to mitigate the risk of non-present pilots.
VATSIM has been agile enough to react to emerging threats. If my goal were simply to pad my logbook with no care in the world for the rest of the 1+ million members of our community and increased risk mitigation were employed, potentially impacting me because I was a risk to the community, I might also reduce my support to the network.
But if I recognized that the network was actively “looking around the bend”, recognizing the potential for harming the simulation of those in the community, and taking corrective (or even preventive action), I might be thrilled with this realization and/or prescience, and actually increase my support as recognition that VATSIM was simply doing the right thing for the community.
I liken this to “data shows a sudden increase in speed-related driving injuries along this stretch of road. Though we we are not changing any rules, we’ll simply increase enforcement for some amount of time until the community gets their behavior back in check, and the risk to the community is again lowered to acceptable limits.”
I have been flying a long-haul aircraft with a 15.5-hour endurance for almost three years—the PMDG DC-6.
So a 777 plastic jet shows up, and I get a knock on the door as I am plodding along covered in ice at 230 Kts (M 0.38 on a good day) and FL120 with my Sextant, manual DR track-plot, and fuel Howgozit, which all, by the way, have to be constantly attended to or you get LOST or run out of gas. It takes 12+30 to get from Eindhoven to Halifax. Is the lowly CL5 (DC-6) really causing a twist in somebody’s undershorts? You can’t program the damn thing in 3D; it is lucky to hold a heading and an altitude. If you sleep, you die.
Chase the 777 dudes with their heads in the stratosphere. I’m too busy doing the pre-comp and plotting for my next three-star fix to make small talk.
And after a short while that in itself would be a violation of the Coc. Just because someone is driving an old car down the freeway doesn’t mean a speed camera will ignore the moving target or, in your case, you being exempt from a Sup doing their day to day duties. Sups treat everyone equally. The SUPs job is assist, solve and prevent potential issues down the road via the Coc and Cor.
What is so hard about replying “Hi there, I am at the controls”? Is it a question of honour? If so, as a real pilot I’d have to get angry every single time I have to pass through those useless security screening points, because I don’t feel trusted. It’s part of the “job”, just like here at VATSIM.
If you feel that you personally get checked all the time, then please send an e-mail to the VP Supervisors and ask for clarification.
I haven’t received a “ping” since I flew D-ILDO and even then me and the SUP had a fun conversation about the registration.
I’ve seen one better. There is an operator called Flight Calibration Services based in Braunschweig. Their callsign is NAVCHECKER and their ICAO code is FCK. They have used the callsign FCK1T and it has also been used on VATSIM. https://stats.vatsim.net/search/FCK1T
yup, they are regularly contracted by the German ANSP, DFS, to check procedures and navaids, so you can regularly see them at German airports IRL and here on VATSIM you somewhat regularly get people flying a little bit of local IFR with that callsign.
I have been contacted by a supervisor whilst on approach!
In order to combat ‘noise pollution’ from distant aircraft, I have text messages switched off (the sooner CTAF becomes a global policy, the better). Long story short. I missed the supervisor’s repeated enquiries after my well-being and I was disconnected.
I was not best pleased. Especially by the supervisor’s timing. Hand-flying the approach demands all my attention and I am unlikely to go rummaging through text messages.
This should not have happened, unless there was an ATCO who tried to get in touch with you and had called in a SUP.
If this was not the case, please send an e-mail to the VP SUPs and “give feedback” in a factual way. Some SUPs need to pay more attention for when is a suitable point in time to send those messages. Unless the leaders of the SUP department are aware of this, they cannot spread the word.
TWO of my last FOUR flights, a Sup rattled my cage. I asked why he did that as I was in the middle of starting a STAR, and it should have been obvious that I was there. He said he couldn’t determine that unless he “Looked Deeper” Well, then look deeper. I can see all that data on Vatsim-Radar (which is awesome, BTW). There is no FMS or autopilot on the DC-6; if you aren’t there to manage the ten fuel tanks, you run out of gas, and if you don’t manage the radial engines, you blow them up. It’s a high-maintenance bird, but that is the attraction. There were 980 pilots online, and I got selected for the examination—50%. Getting one out of two is statistically unlikely, verging on impossible. Yet this morning, I launched from KSAN, and a guy logged onto the network has been parked there since last night. Nobody rattled his cage, I guess. Come on Sups, go after the FMC, Plastic Jets, and airplanes clobbering a spot on the ramp for 12 hours.
Would hate to think, what would happen, if a controller came online and started to vector you around. Perhaps your workload would then be something more than a SUP rattleing your cage.
I understand why a SUP would have checked your flight: your last few flights took 11.1 hours, 13.3 hours, 13.8 hours and 9.7 hours. Especially with a DC-6 this looks highly suspicious, although SUPs should be more sensitive, especially when one is approach his destination.
I need to correct you, though:
Yes, the PMDG DC-6 does have a GPS and an autopilot. Just use at least the autopilot. Nobody flies an airliner manually for more than a few minutes or maybe one hour. No wonder you are worn out and grumpy when a SUP calls you (I am trying to lighten up the mood, please don’t take it as an attack!)
Again: if you are unhappy with repeated treatment (patterns) by SUPs: SEND A BLOODY EMAIL TO THE VP SUPERVISORS. BoG members - with a few exceptions - do NOT read this forum or VATSIM’s Facebook page. They got other things to do.
(I am trying to lighten up the mood, please don’t take it as an attack!)