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Vatsim is one of those communities that reminds me a lot of the early Internet. You have this smallish community of hobbyists that are all volunteering differin
by snide 3y ago
Vatsim is one of those communities that reminds me a lot of the early Internet. You have this smallish community of hobbyists that are all volunteering differing amounts of time and skills to come together over a shared goal that seems impossible when you write it out as a sentence.
> What if you could fly flight simulators with real ATC, talking to real humans?
It's a super friendly place and the barrier to entry for learning these types of skills is typically extremely high in real life. After COVID grounded me during my pilot's training I moved to VR and a virtual cockpit with Vatsim. Little did I realize I could "fly" at home at such a level of fidelity with other people. I ended up realizing I was getting my license only because I was interested in learning the systems. I could do that safely (I have kids, and was a bit worried) at home. It's not the same, but it's close.
- scrapcode 3y agoFlipped the other way around, I researched what aircraft my local flight school had and started using sims with VATSIM before pursuing my PPL. My CFI was impressed with my radio acumen when I started and I imagine it saved me a good deal of money in some regard (less training needing to be spent there). Nothing replaces getting in the air, but using a sim certainly can make those (expensive) hours up in the air more enjoyable.
- squigz 3y ago> Vatsim is one of those communities that reminds me a lot of the early Internet. Which really just shows that whatever made "the early Internet" special didn't die, despite what people have been saying for... oh, 30 years?
- exitb 3y agoIt was much easier to stumble upon that kind of geekery though.