Tips for Pilots flying ZLA
By Peter Grey (PG)

Beginner Tips:

TIP 1: The Basics:

First, before you start, please read the great information in the PRC located at http://www.vatsim.net/prc/ . It has a lot of good information for the new pilot to VATSIM or ZLA. Okay to begin make sure you're comfortable with the following:

Take some time to figure out a route for your flight plan. Nothing is more annoying to a controller then seeing 'direct' in the route section; it also makes much more work for a controller to fix your route. www.simroutes.com is a great resource for finding routes and the charts needed. Flightplans should be in the following format XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX where XXX is either a fix, departure, arrival, or airway. Never accept a clearance you don't know how to fly. Controllers would rather you stop and ask them a question on how to fly it, than guess. Learn how to read charts and navigate along them. They are really quite easy to learn and will increase your experience on VATSIM. Basic chart reading is beyond the scope of these tips, but there are many resources available to help you read them. http://www.laartcc.org/tf/tutorial.pdf covers chart reading and navigation, and a lot of basic VATSIM procedures. Never connect to VATSIM on a runway. Always follow instructions that are given to you. Please minimize contact with controllers in private messages; we would prefer if you just broadcast it over the main frequency. If you receive a message that says 'Please contact me on XXX.XX' tune your COM1 radio to that frequency and transmit to the controller there; do not respond to the private message. These messages are automated and are used to get your attention, usually because you are about to fly into that controllers airspace. Getting one of these messages usually does not mean you have done something wrong. Don't be afraid to ask questions. We prefer that you minimize your questions if the frequency is busy as the controller may have up to 30 planes or more under his control at any one time. However if it's quiet, ask away. Please log on with proper call signs. If you want to fly United flight 433 your call sign should be UAL433, not UNITED433. A list of airline codes is located here http://www.faa.gov/atpubs/cnt/3-3.htm. If you wish to fly a non airline flight, your call sign should be your aircraft registration including the N such as N123AB. More details on call signs can be found under the intermediate section. Understand the difference between VFR and IFR. VATSIM has traditionally been an IFR environment, but VFR can be very fun also. http://www.laartcc.org/article_page/11 has a lot of information on IFR vs. VFR.

TIP 2: Understanding Which Controllers do What and Where:

The more you understand who's controlling what positions will make your time on VATSIM much more enjoyable, not only as you know to expect to talk to, as you can feel confident your calling the right controller where ever you happen to be. Here's a few tips for flying in ZLA:

If only LAX_CTR is online they will handle any IFR clearance requests, and will run tower and ground operations at all controlled airports within ZLA, for a list of these airports see this list. All airports listed as Class B, C, and D are served will full tower and ground services 24/7. If other controllers are on, center will not cover the airspace covered by another controller. If only LAX_APP is online they will handle IFR clearance requests for the entire Southern California region. This area is approximately bounded by KVNY to the NW, KPSP to the E (just East of KONT), South to the Mexico Border, and West to KAVX. LAX_APP will also handle tower and ground services at all Class B, C, and D airports in this area. If you aren't sure if your airport is covered, just ask. If another approach sector is online. That approach sector will only cover IFR clearance requests for airports within their airspace. A map of these approach controls is located at http://www.laartcc.org/airspace.php?map=socal . Note that LAX_APP will also cover the areas within BUR, ONT, SNA, SAN, and PSP Approaches if those controllers are not online. The reverse is not true. Tower will handle any operations for the specific airport they are at; this is also true for ground and delivery. They will not give you a clearance from another airport. For example, SAN_GND will not give you a clearance for departing LAX, nor will LAX_TWR give you a clearance for a departure out of ONT. Unlike other areas of the planet, controllers at ZLA do not give pushback, start-up, or shutdown approval. You are welcome to do these acts at your own discretion without informing the controller.

TIP 3: Talking on the Radio:

If possible please operate in voice receive mode. This will reduce the controller's workload. It is understood that sometimes this is not possible for a variety of reasons, but when you are able, it is highly recommended. When using text to communicate to ATC, please refrain from using all capital letters. It can make your message hard to read. Please check your microphone settings. A radio check is a great way to do this. Depending on the controller you will either hear 'I read you X by X' where the first number is a numberic value of your volume, measered on a scale of 1 to 5. The second is the value of your clarity. So if your 5x5, your loud and clear, if your 1x5, that means we can hardly hear you, but your very clear (turn up the mike gain or talk closer to the mike will normally fix this), or if you're a 5x1, your volume is sufficient but your clarity is poor, (similar to someone talking in a moving car with the windows down). Example: 'Los Angeles Tower, American 200, radio check' 'American 200, Los Angeles Tower, I read you five by five' OR 'American 200, Los Angeles Tower, I read you loud and clear' OR 'American 200, Los Angeles Tower, You sound (quiet/broken/muffled/over modulated)' If a controller tells you that you are unreadable and to switch to text, please do so unless you know exactly what is wrong. A radio frequency is a lot like a classroom in terms of rules. If a controller is talking to someone else, don't but in until the other pilot has responded. If a controller talks to you, please respond as quickly as possible. If you need to make a request or check in, wait until no one is talking and ATC isn't expecting a response from someone before saying something. When talking to a controller for the first time, all you need to say is your callsign and altitude. You do not need to say heading, airspeed, position, or anything else. For example: "Socal Departure, American 413, climbing three thousand five hundred for one-three thousand" Controllers get busy. If you're told to standby, that means don't talk, and don't acknowledge the standby. It also means the controller understands you want something and will get back to you when he has the time. If you think you've been forgotten, try again (usually 5-10 minutes would be a good criteria unless you've been advised it will be longer). Call signs for civilian (non-airline) call signs are stated with each individual digit stated. Example: Cessna N31ER 'Cessna, three, one, echo, romeo' Pilatus N123SX 'Pilatus, One, Two, Three, Sierra, X-Ray' Airline call signs are stated in group form Example: AAL200 'American two, hundred' UPS412 'UPS, four, twelve' SWA1023 'Southwest, ten, twenty three' If you are using a airline call sign you may never abbreviate it to just the numbers. Example: FDX213 'Fedex, two, thirteen' is Good. 'two, thirteen' is Bad. If you are using a civilian call sign you may abbreviate it to the last 3 digits as long as the controller does it first. Example: Cessna N31ER 'Cessna, one, echo, romeo' Ok 'one, echo, romeo' Not Ok Pilatus N123SX 'Pilatus, three, sierra, x-ray' Ok 'Pilatus, two, three, sierra, x-ray' Not Ok Example of transmission with controller: (Pilot italic Red, Controller Blue) 'Los Angeles Tower, Cessna, three, one, echo, romeo, holding short runway two, five, right' 'Cessna, three, one, echo, romeo, Los Angeles tower, continue holding short for landing traffic' (Controllers are required to use your full call sign the first time) 'Continue holding short, Cessna, three, one, echo, romeo' 'Cessna, one, echo, romeo, runway 25R, position and hold' 'Position and hold, runway 25R, Cessna, one, echo romeo' (You may now abbreviate your call sign for all future transmissions as the controller has done it)

TIP 4: Remarks:

The controller client we use (ASRC or VRC) has a finite limit to the length of remarks it will display. Please limit your remarks to the following or at least place these remarks in the beginning otherwise important information the controller needs to know will not be displayed to us.

Voice Tag (/v/, /t/, /r/) (Some programs put this in automatically, including squawkbox. Please double check that it is accurate, some ATC clients require us to erase all your remarks to fix this.) Radio Call Sign, if not a real world airline, i.e. 'Rubber Duckey Airlines', 'Nobodys Heard of Us Air' etc. SELCAL (some programs put this in automatically) (No) Charts on board New Member/First Flight etc.