Travis Marlatte writes:

I agree that the "staffing" in VATSIM is causing some of the confusion.
Normally, an IFR flight from origin to destination is going to be in contact
with ATC from beginning to end and will be handed off from one to another
without ever having to look up a frequency. The lines defining the coverage
areas are complex and not something I care to worry about in the air. Plus
there are letters of agreements that define exceptions and special cases
between them that make it even more complicated.

Oh well ... maybe someday there will be some full coverage in VATSIM,
although given the hoops one must jump through to become a controller
there, I'm not holding my breath.

It is typically not too important where the lines of division are and they
change frequently (even based on the hour of the day). Some of the flight
planning software has an overlay mode to show Center boundaries. Interesting
but not too useful. Most Approach areas have multiple frequencies that are
not always in use. So, we are all left scratching our head. I find those
little squiggly frequncy boxes to be totally unusable. First of all, I can
never find one when I need one. Second, when you do make contact, they want
you to switch to a different frequency. I've stopped using them.

The GPS gives a frequency for ATC, but I don't know how it decides
which frequency(ies) to list, or how reliable it is.

Real-world: Go by the airport listing, Center frequency listing, or there is
always FSS that is supposed to know who is covering what.

Is FSS fully covered in the real world, or are there areas without it?
VATSIM seems to staff FSS only for overseas flights, if at all.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.