View Time= 32 Minutes

Until you’ve flown in the virtual world of VATSIM, you have not truly been immersed in flight simulation. VATSIM allows you to connect with other virtual pilots and virtual controllers in a world that is scarily close to the real thing.

In this course we’ll get you comfortable with VATSIM so you can jump on and fly confidently, and communicate effectively.

***This is a paid course. We decided to give you the first episode for free to get you pumped up about this. If you want the full course, and the rest of the AviatorPro series, signup HERE for only $19 per/mo!***



Download the Videos. Whether it be our HD version, or the Mobile version, get your videos downloaded for offline viewing. These downloads are available to all members, in addition to the streaming version so you can take your training on the move!

HD 720p Format

Mobile 480p Format



For a greater understanding, try the following resources.
Angle of Attack members’ VATSIM Experiences
First Time VATSIM Experiences (Mentioned)



Are you interested in getting started on VATSIM? What are some of the fears and challenges you face as you look forward to getting into the VATSIM skies?

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  • Jordan Krushen

    So funny to be explaining how people will be nervous on VATSIM, as I was nervous recording an AviatorPro episode as I spoke!

    I’m learning as we go along, too, so expect the episodes to just get better as we go, guys. Looking forward to teaching and learning along with all my fellow AviatorPro members.

    If anyone has any last-minute requests or questions you’d like answered, please let us know.

    • Frank

      What type of mic and/or headset will you be using?

    • Frank

      Jordan, I see you already have answered my question further down in the posting, so just disregard (smile)…

  • Martin Liebisch

    very very cool episode. I’m looking forward to the upcoming episodes

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Glad you enjoyed it, Martin! Looking at what’s coming up, I think it’ll be a great start for anyone looking to get into VATSIM.

  • GCRicker

    Great episode! This is just why I need… to take this communication stuff very, very slowly. Yes, I’m one of those with Mic fright, and if I can even successfully ask for a radio check without getting tongue tied, I’ll be proud of myself. I jumped ahead to this episode. I actually just finished watching Episode 53, where Chris flew from Van Nuys to Long Beech using VatSim. I was panicing thinking that I was expected to talk to a VatSiml LA Controller already at this point of my traing.
    I can’t wait for these upcoming episodes.

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Hey GC,
      Yeah, that LA Controller was intense. That is about as intense as things will get on VATSIM. We wouldn’t expect you to just dive into something like that! I thought I mentioned that it was just a taster and just wanted you guys to see what it was like. Sorry for the confusion there.

      All-in-all, this VATSIM thing should be awesome!

  • Jean Paul Reuland

    Hi Chris,
    Very exciting new program coming on!
    In order to prepare myself, would you be so kind to recommend what type(brand) of headset you are using with TrackIR and would be most adequate for Vatsim communications.
    Thanks
    Jean Paul Reuland

    • Jordan Krushen

      Jean Paul,

      I can’t speak for what Chris uses for flying, but the most common recommendation for a headset you’ll get from VATSIM users is to get a USB headset, which provides its own audio device. This way, you can route the aircraft and environmental sounds through your PC’s speakers, while your headset only sends and receives radio communications. This is more realistic, and makes it easier to adjust the volume of other people’s voices without affecting the sound of your plane.

      The Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB is a common recommendation. Not too pricey, lightweight, and has a mic that’s plenty fine for flying or controlling online. If you have money to burn, Plantronics headsets are also highly recommended, as that’s what real world ATC tends to use, at least in the U.S. and Canada.

      • mwilk19

        Jordan,
        What process do you use for separating the sound? I’m using a USB headset with Windows7. I can’t keep the sounds separated. All of the sounds, engine, cockpit, ATC come through the headset.

        Regards,
        Mike W.

        • Jordan Krushen

          Mike,
          You just leave your flight sim sending sounds to the main sound card that’s hooked up to your speakers, and in your pilot client you select the alternate device to use for voice input and output.

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Hey Jean Paul,
      I’m using THIS HEADSET. And yes, I do use TRACKIR with it.

  • Raymond Jornd

    Chris,
    I’m so pumped that you’ve taken on this subject. I’ve been siming with live ATC since the days of SATCO. Yes, it has only gotten better as technology has progressed. This series will undoubtedly help to raise awareness of VATSIM and help to get others interested in full immersion flight simulation. There is NOTHING like having a live person being a controller (fsim ATC sucks!). Keep at it, my friend. :o )

    • Jordan Krushen

      Wow, Raymond, you could probably teach me a thing or two if you’ve been around since the SATCO days. :)

      We’re hoping this raises awareness of both VATSIM and Angle of Attack’s training—everybody wins!

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Thanks man!

  • Bob Welch

    Chris,
    Well done first episode.How many do you plan for vatsim and will you have it on DVD?.

    Bob

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      No DVD, and there will be 10 Episodes. We’ll then move into the promised Multi Engine Training after that, continue COMMS101 and so on.

  • djcoax

    Hello,

    I’m actually an IVAO pilot. IVAO is very comparable to VATSIM but is more centered on Europe. About a 1000 pilots online every day, which is cool.

    They really should merge IVAO and VATSIM together in order to get even more people online.

    Pretty good intro if you’re new to this sort of thing.

    • Jordan Krushen

      djcoax, IVAO actually split of from SATCO, the same group that died and spawned VATSIM from its ashes. While very similar, they have different goals, and the competition is probably a good thing. IVAO is definitely more Europe-centric than VATSIM, but VATSIM still has a healthy European contingent.

      Many virtual airlines fly on both networks, actually, so that’d be a great way to get to know IVAO once people are familiar with VATSIM.

      • zeide

        Jordan is mostly correct as VATSIM was born out of the defunct SATCO organization. VATSIM purchased all of the assets of SATCO, changed the name
        and 350,000 members later we continue to be the worlds largest online
        ATC organization. VATSIM stands for Virtual Air Traffic Simulation. The story in
        itself would take hours to explain so lets just leave it at this. Harv VATSIM5

        • Jordan Krushen

          Harv! I’d heard you were around here somewhere, I’m happy to see you joining in the conversation. I’m glad to have someone around that can correct my mistakes. :)

          So that everyone knows, Harv is of course a much better authority on VATSIM history than myself. I’m a relative newcomer to VATSIM, actually—I’ve had the luxury over the last year and a half or so to study aviation (both piloting and ATC) exclusively, but I’m certainly not the one with the most experience.

          It’s an honour to have you here with us, sir. I hope I can do you some justice, here.

  • Bruce

    Hey Jordan,
    Welcome to the “Nervous Club”, why should you escape the butterflies?

    To Chris,
    very many thanks for taking AOA AvPro down this route which at the end of the day will allow us to immerse ourselves even deeper into fs. I bought my first headset in anticipation of Vatsim & after a couple of hours of #+@$£ I discovered that the mike was u/s. Replacement works fine so I am all ready to go. Wish I’d known about the USB recommendation, but no worries, it’s on the Christmas list.

    • Jordan Krushen

      Bruce,
      All is not lost if you have an 1/8″ headset. If you have both an on-motherboard audio device and a separate PCI audio device, you can use them both, one going to your speakers and the other handling your headset, and can then configure your flight sim accordingly. You should be able to pick up another sound card for not that much cash—even in Canada, I can buy an Asus 5.1 DTS-capable sound card with optical out and a headphone amp for $22.

      Alternately, you can do what I did for my first year of flying on VATSIM—get a cheap USB audio device from Monoprice or somewhere else, and you have the same effect. They’re not the greatest quality for $10, but you really don’t need anything fancy for flying—you just need mic and headset jacks. For controlling, the USB audio device was lacking when I needed to monitor several ATC frequencies at a time, but for flying, it worked just fine.

      The goal isn’t USB per se, it’s about having a second audio device. Having digital audio can be nice for some things, but it’s certainly not a necessity.

  • Gary

    Been a member of VATSIM for probably 3 years now but haven’t plucked up the courage to speak yet. Hope this training will help, I just sat at KLAX and listened and it still scares the hell out of me LOL

    • Jordan Krushen

      Gary,
      That not all that uncommon—I actually worked my way up to controlling tower before I had the nerve to fly on the network! I think having a controlling curriculum but not having a flying one is what made me more comfortable with controlling first. This VATSIM series (along with Comms101 and indeed all of AviatorPro) is an attempt to solve the pilot curriculum problem. :)

  • Fabrizio

    I am part of a VA and Fly in vatsim, I use to fly most in USA but for me the difficult part is the quality of the audio where instruction are difficult to understand.(I am connect from europe)
    So definitely I would like to hear about connect to those serever used by the network and how to improve the quality of the audio and how to get the most from SquawkBox and FSInn.
    Another aspect is the behave on vatsim, in real Aviation you are always covered and you can’t miss instruction, but on vatsim if there is no atc you always type on 122.80 then if an ATC connect on your sector or the sector near you as CTR, you don’t know if he want to cover you in last phase of APP or in DEL phase or whatever.
    I really would like to know what you normal decide in those case and what they want you to do.
    One thing that happen, is when you are vectored and you wait to be insctracted for the final App phase and you have to hurry at the end for slowing down and procede for flap detection wich sometime result in a bad landing.
    As a pilot you should normal follow your star but you have to wait to get altitude and heading that change your plan.
    Thank’s and looking forward for those training

    • Jordan Krushen

      Fabrizio,
      We’ll cover much of what you wrote about later in the series, but I’ll address a few points briefly.

      Connecting do different servers won’t help the audio quality problem. We can only work on improving your own transmissions, with the exception of disabling the VHF simulation option in some pilot clients. Try toggling that one off or on, and see what you prefer. Comms in general (and for real) can be spotty at times, so developing an ear for these kinds of things will come with experience. This is also why standardized phraseology is so important—the context and knowing what to expect make things much easier to understand.

      If you’re not sure when to contact a controller, he’ll probably send you a ‘contact me’ message around the time when you enter his airspace. We’ll cover this in a later episode on communication etiquette, along with the controlling hierarchy.

      As for how to manage your approach, that’s mostly on the pilot to sort out, ’cause the controller doesn’t know how to fly your plane. :) If you need to descend, ask for lower; if you need to slow down, just go ahead and slow down unless you were given a speed to hold. I’m not saying you’ll never get a bad vector to final (you will on VATSIM from time to time), but that human on the other side making mistakes occasionally is part of what makes VATSIM so fun and challenging. We all have to work around each other, and unlike a game, this part just isn’t predictable, so stay on your toes!

  • http://www.SpeedAIR.pl Chris

    Hi,
    Thats rilly, rilly, rilly great that your doing the VATSIM training. I’ve been flying on VATSIM for about an year now, but it would be fantastic to know the AoA way of doing it ;) It would be nice if you would also fly in europe, because it is actually harder here the in US.
    Regards,
    Chris

    • Jordan Krushen

      Chris,
      It sure can be harder in Europe, especially with planning a route—it’s so easy to come up with a route that’s unacceptable, with so many specific preferred routes to take from location to location. The RNAV that’s so prevalent is already well taught by Chris in previous AviatorPro episodes, but we’ll try to address some of the differences in future episodes as the context dictates.

      I know Chris and I are both mostly familiar with North American flying, but we’ll be focusing not so much on the specific regional details, and will be focusing on the generally VATSIM-specific things. Many of the differences are somewhat superficial, as flying is still pretty standardized globally. As Bart Simpson said (paraphrased), “the stupid little differences aren’t as important as the big, stupid similarities.” :)

      It’s always up to the pilot to do their homework, online or for real, as to the local procedures at their origin and destination fields. What we will do is show you where to find that information, and hopefully some tools to help you along the way.

  • jlaporte

    Really looking forward to this training sound like a lot of fun. I’m getting excited for the fly-in event, that will be fun to fly with everybody here.

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Should be a wild party! I’m excited, that’s for sure ;)

      • Jordan Krushen

        Me too. The fly-ins will be the icing on the cake, and I looove icing. The cake kind, not the other kind.

  • John

    offtopic: Video player works only when i use Google Chrome. It doesn’t work in IE, FF at least on my PC… blank screen appears..

    • http://www.flyaoamedia.com/ Chris Palmer

      Hey John,
      Not really off topic! We like to know of these issues. We are testing new HTML5 video and don’t quite have the flash fallback figured out yet. Once we do get it figured out, we’ll be up and running on all browsers (including iOS). That means streaming video for you iPad kinfolk!

      • http://www.eamonnwatson.com Eamonn

        Really? awesome, i have to download them to view on my ipad.

        thanks Chris

  • Peter Marnick

    Always wanted to do this and always felt nervous in doing so. Cannot wait for this training.
    Many Thanks

    • Jordan Krushen

      Peter, that nervousness is exactly the type of thing we’re aiming to help with. Knowing how VATSIM works, and who to contact, coupled with the communications you’ll learn in the Comms101 episodes, will surely see your confidence increase.

      You can still bet on being nervous when you key that mic the first time, though, no matter how thoroughly trained you are. :) That’ll go away soon enough, however.

  • http://na R. Jones

    Hey!
    Glad to hear about this on Vatsim! I downloaded the programs but dont get how to set everything for it to work right. So this will get me up and going, just need to get my id and password, as out of frustration I quit! But here I am back again, to give it the old college try! Rj

  • skip

    thank you very much i hope i do okay skip

  • signmanbob

    Thank you sooo much, Chris and Jordan, for taking on the MUCH NEEDED subject head on.
    It sounds like you will be building this course just the way that it needs to be presented.
    This first episode has really got me excited about what we will be learning.
    I believe this course will do the job of getting us, who are overcome with fear, to feel confident enough to get our “feet wet”.
    I’m really glad that I “chatted” with Cris last night and I am also very glad that I went ahead and jumped on-board once again for Aviator Pro.
    I’m ready to “Throttle On…”

    Bob

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  • Ed Mcbain

    I am happy to see that training for Vatsim is coming soon, thanks very
    much. I am really looking forward to that. I joined Vatsim in 2005, but soon
    got lost, and I finally gave up. I will reactivate my account with Vatsim now,
    I know with your training I will succeed.

    I am not sure if I am doing the right thing by putting this here, I hope it
    will be alright. Now that your Vatsim training will be available, I have
    purchased a USB Headset and tried to set it up, but I don’t think it is
    correct. The headset works properly, but as I understand it, the headset can be
    set up so that the aircraft sounds are heard through the PC Speakers and not
    through the headset and the comunication back and forth between the Tower etc.
    and me will be heard only through the headset and not also through the PC
    Speakers. If this is correct, can you help me sort this out?
    Regards
    Ed

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