Hello,
You have heard about flying on line on VATSIM, you have X-Plane and even set up XSquawkBox, then you went to read required material , you studied few pages and .... you gave up, too much to read and learn.
That is exactly what happened to me, I started large, printed all required materials, started reading, had to stop, started again, stopped again.
It happened few times until I finally did it.
I had no clue what to do but I connected to VATSIM, I put in comments section of my flight plan: new pilot, watching ATC interaction and I was just
sitting there doing nothing.
After few times, I had to try to fly and so I did.
I do not remember exactly where I was flying but I remember how I felt after the flight.
I had a huge headache, my blood pressure was probably in a dangerous zone and I felt kind of very intimidated and small......
VATSIM flying can be a great experience but I believe that majority of us need a little guidance and friendly advice to get started.
I have seen so far many people quitting before they ever started ....the reason?
Very simple, they did not know how to operate XsquawkBox and how to interact with ATC.
I know that there are many people who would love to try VATSIM flying and remembering my mistakes and pains at the early stage of learning, I created ARB X-Plane VATSIM Center, Googlr Group web page to help you successfully join VATSIM, probably one of the largest , international on-line flying community.
I belong to two virtual airlines Air Northwest and California Airlines, both based on X-Plane but ARB X-Plane VATSIM Center can be used by anybody using X-Plane and XSquawkBox without any VA association.
I hope you will find the information useful and I will see you on VATSIM soon.
My call signs are ANW686 and CAX777.
Good luck, you can do it! Check the link below.
Andrzej
http://groups.google...e-vatsim-center