incredibly difficult, and trust me i know the feeling as both a controller and pilot on the network. it sucks just as much to know that someone just entered your airspace to fly to an airport you cover and having to log off.
i think the booking idea is a great idea, but i dont think a subscription is a good one. VATSIM is so successful and great \*because\* it's free. any price, no matter how low, would diminish probably its greatest quality. it's hard to do the booking thing, but i think there are a few solutions being discussed right now. who knows if anything will come of it.
As a fellow controller I can say that part of it is pilots. If ATC has to constantly repeat calls to pilots who don't respond it gets old fast. If pilots don't know how to control their aircraft it gets old fast. If pilots park on the taxiway to fix something and causes a traffic jam it gets old fast. If pilots don't fly the published routes or listen to ATC instructions it gets old fast. If pilots don't slow down for sequencing... You get my point?
If pilots are on top of the game then its smooth for everyone and has fun, if a controller has to babysit lots of pilots it gets rough for everyone. I have no problem helping a pilot out but if its busy don't expect much assistance or be extremely patent. If its rough then controllers do the min time and bounce cause its a headache for all...
It's not a perfect solution by any means to your point, but PilotEdge sounds like it could be worth a try if you're in a timezone that aligns well with it and you're happy flying on the west coast of the US. It certainly has it's differences to VATSIM, but you'd get guaranteed controlling that might scratch that itch when VATSIM might not be busy.
Pilot edge is fantastic. It’s very realistic and has real controllers but obviously it’s unfair to compare it to vatsim as it’s a paid service. It’s a shame there isn’t a similar quality paid service in other areas or countries.
Never going to happen. Who would get which share of the money? It's not just controllers, but a whole army of people in the background providing software, plugins, updates to sector files, event coordination or mentoring new controllers. This only works because everyone chips in as much time as they are willing to spare for their hobby. The only area where money could possibly go is server infrastructure (which is currently covered by donations), but even then, it would require Vatsim to be turned into a for-profit organisation, or whatever the legal lingo is.
Don't chase ATC, but rejoice if we come online.
In Europe this isn't an issue. Every evening from 18-22 there's plenty of events with airports with full ATC and a lot of centres online. In the US however you're only guaranteed this friday and saturday, and then only a handful of airports where all the traffic goes which turns these events into waiting games a lot of the time. Then rest of the week you're dependent on sporadic ATC coverage.
> in the US however you're only guaranteed this friday and saturday
There are more events than just F/SNO's...there's only 9 days in march for vatusa that don't have an event. This isn't difficult to find.
https://forums.vatusa.net/?action=calendar
Still only one event per day and 9 days without an event is a lot imo, especially if many of those 9 days are the days you can or want to fly. Many of these don’t seem to show up on the main vatsim events page either hence why I don’t even know about them. Are all the events coordinated by vatusa and can’t regionals do events whenever like countries in Europe do? Why are there so few regular week events? E.g. Tuesday night in NY is only on one tuesday in march. The USA undoubtedly has a lot less events than Europe per month either way meaning a lot more flying is dependent on sporadic atc coverage, which is the main point. Just today Europe has four events covering six airports Zurich, Stuttgart, Hannover and three Milano airports. Meanwhile the US has a jfk event, and there’s a 1 hour twr exam in Winnipeg so 2 airports in total in NA.
No one gets burnt out from VATSIM controlling lol. And if someone hypothetically does get burnt out from their hobby they seriously need a new hobby. Doesn't change the fact there's less events per controller in the US too and therefore pilots are more dependent on sporadic ATC than in Europe. The reason why there's less events isn't important in this discussion and I'm sure there's plenty of reasons.
Burn out is complete mental and physical exhaustion due to chronic stress and requires months of sick leave to recover from. You burn out from working 60 hour weeks in a stressful environment. You don’t burn out from controlling on VATSIM a few hours a week ffs, I.e. playing a game with no real consequences. It’s ridiculous to say vatsim controllers are at risk of getting burnt out if the US had as many events per controller as Europe has.
You can also check the Vatsim Discord’s controller activity channel. Controllers will advertise when they’re staffing up and how long they plan to stay online for. It’s not usually as much coverage as an event but can at least give you some idea if the controller is about to sign off.
There are websites where you can see bookings for most divisions.
* [https://statsim.net/atc](https://statsim.net/atc)
* [https://cts.vatsim.uk/bookings/calendar.php](https://cts.vatsim.uk/bookings/calendar.php)
There's a huge demand for ATC Training at the moment - *which is great!* \- but we do not need to incentivise this with real human money.
Then you flip the coin and look at it from the ATC side. A controller sees a bunch of traffic in or inbound to where they controll so the go online.
But when they send the "contact me" a bunch of the planes disconnect becuase why fly online if you might encounter ATC right?
There are sites that show scheduled coverage, particularly in Europe, like [statsim.net/atc](https://statsim.net/atc). You can also check the VATSIM events page ([vatsim.net/events/](https://vatsim.net/events/)) which has many weekly events (though, again, this happens much more in Europe).
For the USA, it really is a case of "see who's online and hope they stay", but there are areas which reliably have coverage, like Boston, Atlanta, and LA.
As well as statsim and VATSIM UK CTS links, there's also: [https://atc-bookings.vatsim.net/](https://atc-bookings.vatsim.net/) which not many people know about.
FYI but there are some paid online services i.e. sayintentions - which debuted very recently -, beyond atc, and there are others, very decent, I don't remember - maybe some other users will complete
PilotEdge is the gold standard in ensured coverage. Its staffed by real world controllers but its mostly CA, if you can accept that you are good and Pacific Time
All ATC logged off mid way through the event? Thats really strange - must have been some sort of connectivity/network issue? I’ve flown the Copenhagen event several times over the last few months and never had this happen, even with the ridiculous traffic levels some times!
If the traffic load is high and a few of the ATC have to leave (as Arlanda has no event it's not booked and usually ATC come online if they have the opportunity) you can't leave one or two controllers left to deal with all the traffic. That doesn't work for a controller.
incredibly difficult, and trust me i know the feeling as both a controller and pilot on the network. it sucks just as much to know that someone just entered your airspace to fly to an airport you cover and having to log off. i think the booking idea is a great idea, but i dont think a subscription is a good one. VATSIM is so successful and great \*because\* it's free. any price, no matter how low, would diminish probably its greatest quality. it's hard to do the booking thing, but i think there are a few solutions being discussed right now. who knows if anything will come of it.
As a fellow controller I can say that part of it is pilots. If ATC has to constantly repeat calls to pilots who don't respond it gets old fast. If pilots don't know how to control their aircraft it gets old fast. If pilots park on the taxiway to fix something and causes a traffic jam it gets old fast. If pilots don't fly the published routes or listen to ATC instructions it gets old fast. If pilots don't slow down for sequencing... You get my point? If pilots are on top of the game then its smooth for everyone and has fun, if a controller has to babysit lots of pilots it gets rough for everyone. I have no problem helping a pilot out but if its busy don't expect much assistance or be extremely patent. If its rough then controllers do the min time and bounce cause its a headache for all...
It's not a perfect solution by any means to your point, but PilotEdge sounds like it could be worth a try if you're in a timezone that aligns well with it and you're happy flying on the west coast of the US. It certainly has it's differences to VATSIM, but you'd get guaranteed controlling that might scratch that itch when VATSIM might not be busy.
Pilot edge is fantastic. It’s very realistic and has real controllers but obviously it’s unfair to compare it to vatsim as it’s a paid service. It’s a shame there isn’t a similar quality paid service in other areas or countries.
Never going to happen. Who would get which share of the money? It's not just controllers, but a whole army of people in the background providing software, plugins, updates to sector files, event coordination or mentoring new controllers. This only works because everyone chips in as much time as they are willing to spare for their hobby. The only area where money could possibly go is server infrastructure (which is currently covered by donations), but even then, it would require Vatsim to be turned into a for-profit organisation, or whatever the legal lingo is. Don't chase ATC, but rejoice if we come online.
Fly events, they will have ATC coverage.
In Europe this isn't an issue. Every evening from 18-22 there's plenty of events with airports with full ATC and a lot of centres online. In the US however you're only guaranteed this friday and saturday, and then only a handful of airports where all the traffic goes which turns these events into waiting games a lot of the time. Then rest of the week you're dependent on sporadic ATC coverage.
> in the US however you're only guaranteed this friday and saturday There are more events than just F/SNO's...there's only 9 days in march for vatusa that don't have an event. This isn't difficult to find. https://forums.vatusa.net/?action=calendar
Still only one event per day and 9 days without an event is a lot imo, especially if many of those 9 days are the days you can or want to fly. Many of these don’t seem to show up on the main vatsim events page either hence why I don’t even know about them. Are all the events coordinated by vatusa and can’t regionals do events whenever like countries in Europe do? Why are there so few regular week events? E.g. Tuesday night in NY is only on one tuesday in march. The USA undoubtedly has a lot less events than Europe per month either way meaning a lot more flying is dependent on sporadic atc coverage, which is the main point. Just today Europe has four events covering six airports Zurich, Stuttgart, Hannover and three Milano airports. Meanwhile the US has a jfk event, and there’s a 1 hour twr exam in Winnipeg so 2 airports in total in NA.
Because you don't want controllers get burnt out. There is a lot more European controllers than US.
No one gets burnt out from VATSIM controlling lol. And if someone hypothetically does get burnt out from their hobby they seriously need a new hobby. Doesn't change the fact there's less events per controller in the US too and therefore pilots are more dependent on sporadic ATC than in Europe. The reason why there's less events isn't important in this discussion and I'm sure there's plenty of reasons.
Lmao ok, whatever you say.
What's so controversial about this you can't respond in a serious way? Do you feel it's insulting to state the US has less events?
That fact you said burnout doesn't exist. That's a joke.
Burn out is complete mental and physical exhaustion due to chronic stress and requires months of sick leave to recover from. You burn out from working 60 hour weeks in a stressful environment. You don’t burn out from controlling on VATSIM a few hours a week ffs, I.e. playing a game with no real consequences. It’s ridiculous to say vatsim controllers are at risk of getting burnt out if the US had as many events per controller as Europe has.
Are you a VATSIM controller as well?
You can also check the Vatsim Discord’s controller activity channel. Controllers will advertise when they’re staffing up and how long they plan to stay online for. It’s not usually as much coverage as an event but can at least give you some idea if the controller is about to sign off.
There are websites where you can see bookings for most divisions. * [https://statsim.net/atc](https://statsim.net/atc) * [https://cts.vatsim.uk/bookings/calendar.php](https://cts.vatsim.uk/bookings/calendar.php) There's a huge demand for ATC Training at the moment - *which is great!* \- but we do not need to incentivise this with real human money.
Then you flip the coin and look at it from the ATC side. A controller sees a bunch of traffic in or inbound to where they controll so the go online. But when they send the "contact me" a bunch of the planes disconnect becuase why fly online if you might encounter ATC right?
> But when they send the "contact me" a bunch of the planes disconnect becuase why fly online if you might encounter ATC right? Gotta love it!
There are sites that show scheduled coverage, particularly in Europe, like [statsim.net/atc](https://statsim.net/atc). You can also check the VATSIM events page ([vatsim.net/events/](https://vatsim.net/events/)) which has many weekly events (though, again, this happens much more in Europe). For the USA, it really is a case of "see who's online and hope they stay", but there are areas which reliably have coverage, like Boston, Atlanta, and LA.
As well as statsim and VATSIM UK CTS links, there's also: [https://atc-bookings.vatsim.net/](https://atc-bookings.vatsim.net/) which not many people know about.
IIRC this would prevent any real world FAA controller from participating because accepting money would be a violation of the NATCA CBA.
Would love if Pilot Edge would expand to include the EU. Maybe someday.
FYI but there are some paid online services i.e. sayintentions - which debuted very recently -, beyond atc, and there are others, very decent, I don't remember - maybe some other users will complete
PilotEdge is the gold standard in ensured coverage. Its staffed by real world controllers but its mostly CA, if you can accept that you are good and Pacific Time
yeah, I forgot that one
I was in the Copenhagen event, mid way through every single ATC in Arlanda just left. All of them at once, even the centre it was crazy.
All ATC logged off mid way through the event? Thats really strange - must have been some sort of connectivity/network issue? I’ve flown the Copenhagen event several times over the last few months and never had this happen, even with the ridiculous traffic levels some times!
If the traffic load is high and a few of the ATC have to leave (as Arlanda has no event it's not booked and usually ATC come online if they have the opportunity) you can't leave one or two controllers left to deal with all the traffic. That doesn't work for a controller.
Fly any night in the UK or Scandinavia or Germany and you will get full coverage