It’s April 2020. Everyone is locked up at home, with nothing to do all day long. So you hop on your favorite mobile flight sim and load into the expert server. A few minutes later, you’ve been reported for one reason or another. How did we get here?
Although we are all locked up right now, there is not an excuse to treat the ES like a playground. The amount of pilots that can’t fly an ILS approach, don’t listen to ATC vectors, cross runways without permission, or just generally being unprofessional has skyrocketed due to recent world events and an increase of free time. This phenomenon is often referred to as “Summer Pilots”, which seems to have come early this year. However, this nuisance has become an increasingly concerning problem, often forcing IFATC to have to close due to the sheer amount of pilots behaving like this.
Take a look at this screenshot (credit to @Liam_Kirk). This is just one example of the many times airports have become overwhelm by these pilots.
So how do we solve this problem? Of course, not every pilot is on the IFC, but you are. If you see approach closes, make our lives a little easier by not diving for the cone. If there’s no ATC active, try holding for a bit and not race everyone else to land first. Do not taxi without permission or at ridiculous speeds, and don’t enter a runway without permission.
Now you may be saying to yourself, “I’m not one of those pilots, I’d never do that!” However, you don’t know if you’re doing something wrong until it’s too late. Being on the IFC does not mean you have a complete understanding of ES procedures and you are still at risk of being ghosted, unless you take a few minutes to review the #tutorials section before your next flight.
Also take a look at these topics so you know what to avoid and how to fly professionally on the expert server:
To the pilots
Please read completely the ATC commands: example, when ATC tells you to ‘exit runway xx when able and contact ground on the taxiway’ you must not contact it on the runway or before passing the hold short line, just listen and contact it on the taxiway.
Patience is a virtue, just wait at your gates, taxiways or just do not run to the runway, just if you do not have time, do not fly expert in the featured region!
Let’s be mature and fly professional, well said @Guxk
Thanks, @Guxk, for the reminder! I also wanted to add that if you’re told to check the tutorials on the forum, please do not shrug it off with a “just one mistake, it doesn’t matter, and I’m a good pilot most of the time” mentality. With the sheer volume of pilots on expert these days, we don’t have the time to babysit you and hold your hand from descent to landing.
It takes five minutes to get on the IFC, find your controller, and send them a message asking what you did wrong and how you could improve. The consequences are dire; without knowing how to avoid making that mistake, you risk losing ATC and/or being reported, which is not helpful to either party.
We love providing you guys with our services, truly. But please, help us do our jobs by flying responsibly and knowing how to interact with ATC. Pilots who are new to the expert server will look up to you as their role models. Show them that ES is is a fun-but-serious place to be. Your experience and our experience will improve exponentially. :)
A very informative thread. Theres just so many incompetent people on ES nowadays that the charm is diminishing. Thanks for the reminder!
I have a concern though, normally when ATIS says “straight out departures only” I usually do as said. However sometimes the ATIS states this, but Tower assigns a takeoff at “Runway heading until at or above xxxx ft”. What should someone do in this scenario? I just dont want to be clear this confusion up
this is absolutely not selfish… Imagine our position:
You are a Tower controller on a busy Airport and Approach closes down, because, like all and everyone has a personal life besides Infinite Flight, and we operate globally, so one might go to bed… also beeing IFATC is fun, but also exhausting at times. Well, Approach closes, and you are left with say 20 Aircrafts on Approach calling in and request something at the same moment from all directions… you also have Airplanes on ground wantig to get Attention… from one Second to another, like shown on the Screenshot, you get overwhelmed with messages, is extremely hard to control and not loose focus…
just look at the bigger picture, as a pilot you only have to focus on what ATC says, but ATC has many Aircrafts they have to overlook at the same time… use some Common Sense :)
I totally agree, I’m not in IFATC yet, but I understand how frustrating it must be for you controllers, please pilots, fly correctly, follow atc instructions and make expert server have expert pilots again:)
I don’t want to sound like I’m gate-keeping as I enjoy seeing more users on the expert server, however it’s quite unfortunate that non-expert server behavior has increased, and it’s really the only gripe I have with flying on expert. Given that I’m stuck at home, I’ve had the opportunity to fly at least once per day and with that being said, the number of times I’ve seen non-expert behavior has gone up drastically - nearly every session I fly I am witness to some sort of shenanigans or lousy piloting. I’m hoping the extra time on some people’s hands will also be spent reviewing this topic or the tutorials in addition to their time in the app. Great topic @Guxk!
I believe what he is trying to say in this case is that it is selfish of the pilots to behave so much like wild animals that we are forced to close. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, @Ondrej.
It’s just a mess and impossible to put so much burden on IFATC to deal with all of this and the subsequent ‘omg i got ghosted for no reason!!!’ IFC threads.
I know, we allready cleared that up in a PM haha. but my point wasnt pointed at @Ondrej personally, its more meant as a reminder to look at the situation from a controllers point of view
well, at the end of the day this is a Simulator where everyone can fly what they want… yeah, also for me its a bit unrealistic, but when someone wants to fly an Easyjet in Vietnam, let them do so… as long as they behave correctly, no problems at all
I don’t mind people flying an Air Canada from Mumbai to Dubai.
It’s their business.
But when it comes to not being realistic when flying an aircraft, it’s gets on my nerves.
Like, not listening to ATC or landing at the same time with another aircraft.
You’re just fooling around at this point, and not caring about people who want realism, and want a peaceful flight.
Well said @Guxk I think people should remember that expert is a place for the highest amount of realism, respect real world procedures eg. don’t taxi though other aircraft and follow ATC instructions. If you want to mess around go to the casual server. IFATC are trained professionals and they have worked hard to get to were they are and they are passionate to provide the best ATC service around.
As a fellow IFATC, it is quite frustrating to see pilots doing these things. I’ve seen (and ghosted) numerous pilots which just can’t read the text when you just spawn into the flight. It takes like a minute to read, but some just ignore it and get ghosted, and immediately say “it wasn’t my fault” or “IFATC ruined my week.”
Before you get all mad and stuff, just remember it might be a controller issue and the controller will tell you what happened. Just stay calm and safe, folks!
The behavior of some pilots on the Expert Server is truly disgusting and sometimes is a dealbreaker when flying or controlling for IFATC members. The devs should do something like firstly pin this topic and then raise the XP and flight hours needed to enter Expert Server, i do not understand why they haven’t done that yet
