Hi fellow avaiators
Im here to bring the question about using the vatsim resources to study for real world pilot exams. Are the resources the same as a flight club? Do they help for my future study at become a pilot? Any input will be appreciated
Fly safe!
Hi Minas,
there are pilot training documents available at VATSIM and other organizations and you can use them. But you need to understand that probably the amount of studying even for a real PPL will exceed the available manuals that virtual aviation organizations can and want to provide you with.
From my perspective the combination of flight simulators and VATSIM is great to learn procedures and radio communication. Flying an actual aircraft is a different thing that cannot be taught by a simulator, although flight simulators help quite a bit.
As Andreas said, certain things cannot be simulated (very well, or at all), or are not (as) important in our online environment as they are in the real world, and could therefor be brushed aside as if they don’t exist. If you’re not aware of those sim limitations, it’s easy to slip into bad habits that are likely to negatively impact your professional training.
That said, if you approach it with the proper attitude, striving to learn, staying vigilant of your own shortcomings, using valid sources (official documents and manuals) to find the answers to the questions you have, and ideally, are supported by licensed pilots and / or controllers, VATSIM can be a very good way to train procedures, phraseology, …
I am a RL pilot, and love using vatsim (and my Sim software (and VPilot). While there are obvious differences, for example, my son lives in central FL, near an airfield I have not flown into. Using the sim, I can practice my approaches, practice procedures, and work on my communications skills. Notably, I also fly with Garmin Pilot, RL flying software when in flight. This software seamlessly integrates into my sim software so I have practice using my Real world equipment, in the sim. Bottom line is while there are obvious differences, it is a great learning tool AND a lot of fun, especially when it comes to communications, frequencies, ATIS, etc. Have fun and learn everything you can. Learning to actually fly is a blast and well-worth the effort.
VATSIM is a great way to get used to using the radio while “flying” and navigating, and far less expensive than practicing while you’re burning avgas and running the Hobbs meter.
Be aware that the ATC and Airspace organization on VATSIM differs from real world in several ways.
For example,
Make sure you’re using the current textbooks (paper or pdf) that your CFI requires. Good luck!
In what sense? vACCs generally simulate things as realistically as possible and practical and apart from the facts that controllers often cover a larger AoR than you would normally or ever see IRL and that certain temporary airspace may not be simulated quite the same way as IRL (e.g., a vACC may treat an HX airspace as H24 or they may just completely disregard certain military airspace) the airspace usually works pretty much the same as IRL.
1627359: “In what sense…”
One example is the depiction of boundaries between NY and DC Center. Refer to an FAA IFR chart and note that Philadelphia underlies DC center airspace. The boundaries are close to, but not the same as, those depicted on VATSPY and VATScope.
If you’re departing KPHL (or KPNE, KVAY, N14 etc) and you contact a DC controller for clearances, he’ll tell you to call NY.
I suspect there are other locations that this happens as well. My point is merely that a student ( or any pilot for that matter) may find some VATSIM details that vary from what they’ll encounter IRL. That said, it’s still a great way to practice comms and get a great intro to procedures.
This is pretty much always a shortcoming of map tools using a 2D depiction while airspace itself is obviously 3D. In this case, e.g., if you look at the airport info on SkyVector, you will see that Philadelphia falls under KZNY, so (presumably) the TMA is not managed by KZDC, even though a 2D map of the FIRs will put it above that airport.