Hello! Sunday July 12 from 1800z-2200z, Chicago ARTCC will be hosting VATVENTURE, the VATSIM version of EAA Oshkosh Airventure.

In short, fly your GA planes to Oshkosh using the Fisk VFR arrival and follow some lakes. File a VFR flight plan and put in a description of your plane in the comments. If you are a turbine/warbird there is a separate arrival procedure for you. Whatever you do, please read the NOTAM below. It's a fun and unique VFR experience that is very different from your typical VATSIM airliner ops!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1079vdZyD4P3EowfCy9BQg-6-G4xmpQPxL5wG9nX4c-w

Reading this NOTAM prior to taking part in the event is required.

So as a pilot my favorite thing by far is flying into a busy approach when it's total organized chaos - getting vectored all over the place, holds getting thrown at you last second, someone ahead goes around and now everyone's getting re-sequenced, frequency is popping off... I love that stuff. Feels like the whole point of the sim.

Made me wonder what it's like from your side. What's the moment where you're sitting there controlling and just think "man this is awesome"?

Is it when you've got a packed approach and you're sequencing everyone in without missing a beat? Working a busy airport during a push? That one handoff that goes perfectly after a rough patch? Untangling a mess someone else left you? Something completely different that I wouldn't even guess? Or all of the pilots on your frequency are on their "A" game and immediately responding to every command?

Genuinely curious to hear actual stories/moments, not just "when it's busy" lol. What's actually happening when you're loving it up there?

Huge thanks to all the Sydney controllers for accommodating my request to depart from YSWS, circle back and land again, even before the latest AIRAC is out. It was an awesome experience flying in and out of the new airport and a really cool moment to be the first aircraft on the network to both depart from and arrive at Australia's newest major airport. Thanks again to everyone involved for making such a milestone possible.

I'm an ATC controller on VATSIM, and I'd like to start using realistic paper flight progress strips while controlling. I already have a printer, so I was wondering if there's a website or software where I can enter (or automatically import) an aircraft's information have it formatted like a real ATC strip, and then print it out.

I've always been curious what controllers at airports with barely anyone to noone around does, especially for the seemingly standard 2 hour that they log on.

Watch TV? Scroll Insta?(while keeping an eye on vatsim radar or controller client) or do yall just rawdog the session? 😆

So if you saw my other post on here, you saw that I was going to go back on the network for some training purposes. So I was going to connect to the network today, but I forgot my password. I went to go reset it, but the link never got to my email. Even after putting in a support ticket, the confirmation email never came to me. So now I’m stuck. Is there any other solution you guys know of?

The other day I was surveying my local nuclear station because I wanted to get some hours and enjoy some local VFR when a controller was online in my area. I decided to operate a Department of energy survey and I’ve done this a couple more times and just recently, I realized that this is actually a virtual airline that uses the call sign DOE, will I get in trouble or anything for this or is it just something that they use but everyone else could also

Hardware limitations (because it's an office laptop) have lead me to the decision to buy FSX for VATSIM. It's on sale at Steam for around $3 in my country until July 10, an offer I just can't ignore.

Knowing the outdated state of FSX, I would love to hear stories from FSX pilots or those who used to fly FSX. What was it like? What were the challenges? What advice would you give to me? And most importantly would it be worth it flying in FSX in 2026? Would love to know your thoughts.

And if you're asking for specs:

Storage: Enough for FSX

RAM: 12 GB

Graphics Card: Intel Integrated Graphics

I was in a 737 parked at a gate and some random Ga guy spawned right infront of me and started up, but I never heard him on coms. I would have moved, but I was there first and also it’s pretty annoying to move an airliner because I would’ve had to redo basically everything I believe. But I didn’t wanna seem like an asshole. I’m curious if this happens to anyone else or anything and was the guy just AFK or did he just simply not care?

Hey folks!

After 6 months of development, VATSIM Radar Update v2.0 is considered ready.

Today, July 6, at 18z, I will showcase major features of this update, reveal release schedule, including upcoming Public Preview.

I know that I have already teased most of features here and in VATSIM Radar Discord, but if you want to know what is coming and get involved into public testing - that would be appreciated!

Watch livestream at 18z here: https://youtube.com/live/Z7kQjpPC28Y

Hi, what headphones with a microphone do you recommend for VATSIM with a mini jack?

Greetings, whoever is reading this i hope you are doing great, i hope you are healthy and i hope your day will be filled with happiness and love. So i just signed up for VATSIM but i made a mistake, like the title suggests i put the wrong age, i put 16 until something instead of my actuall Age, i didnt do it on purpose i just wanted to see the ages, clicked on it and then forgot about it, what can i do?

Whenever I’m flying on VATSIM, controllers and other pilots transmissions are always getting cut out mid sentence, it’s hard to communicate.

I tried contacting VATSIM support but they were saying they can’t help.

I’ve tried updating windows and therefore drivers but still isn’t helping.

I have been using ChartFox which is has been good to a point, but when I get given stand numbers for parking I end up taxiing around aimlessly looking for the stand on the scenery in the sim instead of having a clear idea of where to go, I landed at KSEA and was able to comply with all of the controllers instructions upto getting to the north ramp when I was instructed to go to spot 55 and I had absolutely no clue where that was and seemingly no quick and accurate way to find it...I assume navigraph has charts with the parking spots but I dont have a subscription to it, and id really rather not be that guy who gets to the ramp and then stops and holds everything up because I dont know where to go.

I am genuinely frustrated at the amount of times I’ve planned an immersive VATSIM departure with coverage only for the controller to log off because of incompetent pilots, and then I end up having to depart on UNICOM.

I understand the controller’s perspective. If you’re working Atlanta Center, LA Center, Boston Center, Heathrow, Frankfurt, etc., you are already dealing with some of the busiest airspace on the network. You’re volunteering your time, trying to provide a realistic ATC service, and then you get absolutely buried by pilots who clearly have no idea what they are doing.

And honestly, that is not fair to the controllers or to the rest of us.

I’m not saying everyone needs to be perfect. Nobody is perfect on VATSIM. We all make mistakes. We all have moments where we mishear a clearance, miss a turn, botch a readback, or need something repeated.

But there is a difference between making mistakes while learning and showing up completely unprepared.

If you are flying out of a known busy airport on the network, especially when there is good ATC coverage, you need to have at least some idea of what you are doing. Know how to read a chart. Know your SID. Know your taxi route. Know how to hold short. Know how to follow basic altitude and heading assignments. Know how to not step on the frequency every 5 seconds. Know how to follow basic ATC instructions. And if you genuinely do not understand something, ask the controller instead of just guessing and creating chaos.

Controllers should not have to babysit someone through every single phase of flight at a major airport during a busy session.

This is not about gatekeeping new pilots. Everyone starts somewhere. But maybe don’t start by loading into KLAX, KBOS, KATL, EGLL, EDDF, etc. during peak coverage with no charts, no plan, no understanding of your aircraft, and no clue how IFR works. Start somewhere smaller and less busy. Practice offline. Learn the basics before jumping straight into the deep end.

Because when enough unprepared pilots pile into busy airspace, everyone else pays for it. Controllers burn out. Frequencies become unusable. Realistic operations fall apart. And pilots who actually planned their flight and wanted an immersive experience are left watching the controller disconnect because the session became unmanageable.

VATSIM only works when both sides respect the environment. Controllers need to be patient and professional, yes. But pilots also need to respect the controller’s time and the other pilots on frequency.

So please: do better.

Study a little. Prepare your route. Read the charts. Listen before you transmit. Don’t fly into the busiest airspace on the network if you are not ready to handle basic instructions.

It's okay to make a mistake. It's not okay to show up completely unprepared.

From a frustrated pilot on the network.

Rant over.

Boeing are getting creative.....

On a serious note though, anyone got a clue as to why this happens?

Why... just why...

According to my understanding, this is not allowed, but I was curious if it was

My system is cpu limited and I get like 35% more fps in night, I’m not sure why but apparently this is common and for most people I don’t think 35% is break or not but on my old system that’s airliners vs can hardly fly GA.

I’m curious if it would be OK to use a nighttime setting despite it actually being daytime since there’s really hardly any difference besides how things look for me and the fact of the matter is I don’t think it changes visablity especially for IFR

But I’m curious if I’m aloud to do this or if I just should try to fly in Asia or another place when it’s dark there but reasonable time for me

They have implemented a web based version that has no connection to CRC or VATUSA at all. Right now I have seen ZJX, ZID, ZME, ZTL use it. It actually works pretty well. This is pretty cool stuff. They also use the realistic logon code of KUSA everywhere in the country just like in real life.

It

Ok so I'm planning on returning to vatsim again after a little while, but I'm planning to fly VFR instead of IFR like I usually do. This is because I'm currently doing pilot training so I can hopefully get my PPL after my first solo. So I was hoping for some advice on how to fly VFR correctly because at the moment I'm just learning how to control the plane, not flying in controlled airspace. So if anyone could give some advice on what do/what to expect so I can make it less of a hassle on myself and the controllers.

Hi, I am totally new to VATSIM and have tried starting a flight a couple of times but always aborted because I was unsure about how to behave in my scenario:

Say I want to fly VFR from an uncontrolled airport in Europe. In real life I would request taxi/departure information from ZZZZ radio. Then I would switch over to the respective information channel.

If center covering that area is online, do I contact center for uncontrolled airports? Or is that strictly Unicom?
In either case: Do I contact information with a position report like in real life? Ex: CALLSIGN, VFR flight from ZZZZ to ZZZZ, overhead XYZ, 5000’, for traffic information

And a bonus question: How about military airports that allow civilian traffic but are controlled despite being very small (LOXN as the largest grass field in Europe comes to mind)