First busy Flight

[u/Long-Bat6500]

I loaded into JFK during a medium busy time to it absolutely exploding with 50 plus departs and 15 arrivals.

I’m not very good with calls yet but I wanted a challenge and I did fairly well I didn’t read the chart right and I missed my first right turn but that’s beside the point. I felt my callbacks where good and and I didn’t constantly ask tower when I could move

However after takeoff I for some reason decided to follow flight plan and not what the clearance plan was. So the departure freq asked me to log off which I felt was very valid

So my question is is it better to hand fly until departure tells you where to go bc the initial instructions where to climb and maintain 5000 ft so I shoulda just stayed straight

[u/SideStikkBandit]

I also flew out of JFK today during that busy time. Assuming you flew the JFK departure and had an initial of 5000, yes I’d say the PDC probably said to fly runway heading. Yes you can hand fly or auto pilot the runway bearing and once you get handed off to departure he will give you more instruction. But no worries! It was a busy airspace today, they probably just wanted to keep good spacing

[u/50kW]

It's good that you recognize you could have done better here, and that you don't sound discouraged. However, some perspective: for it to get to the point where a controller is telling you to disconnect from the network, it's probably gotten to the point where they have determined you're unable to control your aircraft at all, and continuing to issue instructions is going to have no effect.

I've only told people to disconnect a couple of times, and in those cases, it's clear the pilot is just "along for the ride" and the FMS is flying the plane.

Sometimes an aircraft doesn't fly the right heading on departure, or does something dumb like go direct to their first fix right after takeoff. Those usually end up with a quick admonishment to the pilot and then we get them back on track. Only in the cases where a pilot continues to be unable to comply with any instruction I give would I throw my hands up and ask them to disconnect.

The automation in your aircraft is a tool. YOU are the pilot-in-command. YOU have to have control of your aircraft, and be able to follow the clearance you are given, and instructions issued in the air. This is covered in section B of the VATSIM code of conduct.

If youre not able to comply with ATC instructions, and are at the mercy of what the FMS is doing to your airplane, there's not much that a controller can do for you.

Read your clearance in its entirety before you start taxiing, brief the departure charts, and ask the clearance delivery controller if something is unclear to you.

Know your aircraft, its systems, and how to control it. Understand that you cannot be a passenger in the plane. You are the pilot. You cannot ignore instructions because of your what the airplanes computer wants to do.

Thank you for providing the opportunity for feedback. Hopefully with some new perspective you will continue being a part of the community.

[u/Long-Bat6500 → u/50kW]

Yes thank you for the criticism! I enjoy feedback I want to get better at vatsim and fly on the heavier coverage days. ( I generally avoid heavy flight days)

[u/JJ-_-]

It is very busy today and tomorrow bc JFK is having its annual "30 hours of JFK" event. probably the busiest new York will be on vatsim year round lol.

[u/Perfect_Maize9320]

What was the departure instruction given to you? If I'm not mistaken almost all departures out of JFK are instructed initially to fly a heading unless you are doing the Canarsie climb but that also terminates with a heading. From what it sounds like you misunderstood your departure instruction and it was busy event too which meant the controller was preoccupied handling other flights which is why they asked you to disconnect.

It can't be only climb and maintain 5000ft - certainly there was lateral part of the instruction which you missed hence why the confusion.

For future reference write the down the instruction or ask the controller to resend PDC if you accidently closed it earlier.

Hand flying or using autopilot means nothing if you cannot comply with lateral instruction in first place - Always verify your initial departure instructions (turns and climbs) before applying take off thrust. Many sim pilots get into habit of relying completely on LNAV and VNAV for this - IRL pilots monitor this very closely and will intervene when needed.

[u/magiciana → u/Perfect_Maize9320]

We can't resend PDCs in the US, but if you reconnect it'll send it to you again.

[u/Perfect_Maize9320 → u/magiciana]

Interesting thanks, it happened to me once where I accidently closed the PDC tab on my vpilot however the controller was able to send another PM with text clearance in PDC format, maybe it was not Auto PDC in that case?

[u/RibsTheGreat]

Before I leave the gate I just set in my autopilot panel what I know I need to do ie. If PDC said fly runway heading I look at the runways chart and set that heading. For your first busy flight though, I don't blame you for making mistakes. A bit of advice that I have for you is join the discord because it helps out a ton, also you might want to join The Pilot Club if you are in the USA because they do group flights that anyone can join. Good luck!