Today I was in a hurry. I wanted to get airborne without having to connect with VATSIM. The Tower controller was on duty, but all other relevant UK airspace was unmanned. The next VATSIM controller I would ‘meet’ was EHAM Approach. I intended to connect when I was out of EGCC Tower airspace and out of the way of traffic in the vicinity. However, I stupidly connected only a few moments after getting airborne from 23L and almost immediately a VATSIM Supervisor was on my case. The Supervisor put me into Observer mode (temporarily, as it turned out) while I profusely apologised for my unforced error - and indeed it was an unforced error on my part, never having done anything like that before. I was able to carry on with my flight to EHAM but the Supervisor apparently reported me for a breach of the VATSIM Code of Conduct. Does this impact my interaction with VATSIM in any way going forward? What does it mean in practice for sim flying in VATSIM?
Hi Chris,
no, it won’t have an impact on how ATCOs or any other normal user would treat you. Nobody has access to this kind of information.
The only implication could be a more serious talk to a conflict resolution manager or a temporary ban (24 or 48 hours) if you did this again AND if a Supervisor would catch you doing it.
In essence: just carry on as normal and you now know that you need to be more cautious when to connect in such a situation.
Andreas
Thank you so much for that advice. It puts my mind at rest. To be sure, I will be very careful in future to avoid committing Code of Conduct violations.
Chris
Yeah, don’t worry too much. Things happen and the SUP surely understood.
Maybe next time depart in OBServer mode and when you are further away from active airspace switch over to normal mode.