Hello everyone!
Many of you may already know me, but if not, I’m Jinco, ATC Trainer and Appeals Team member. Throughout the years I’ve been part of IFATC, I was able to notice many big and small details that live in the Expert Server skies. In this server, pilots should be professional, however, we as IFATC controllers often see inappropriate behaviour that should take place on the Casual Server only. I see already multiple topics similar to mine, but they are quite old and I wanted to let the newer Infinite Flight members know about their mistakes when joining the Expert Server. I’m always up to help people in this community. For this, I decided to write this topic. Happy reading!
1. Incorrect departure request
When departing an airspace, you should ask the Tower controller to depart towards the North/East/South/West. Requesting a “Remaining in the pattern” or “Straight out” departure is not always correct. Patterns are circuits you perform around the airport while doing T&Gs (Touch & Goes), while a Straight-out departure is when you plan on departing following the runway heading for a bit. Turning immediately after rotating is not a straight-out departure.
2. Request to cross the runway while waiting to back taxi
If an airport requires you to back taxi prior to departing or after landing, you do not need to ask to cross the runway. Just ask for your departure request if you are departing, since the clearance for take-off or the LUAW (Line Up And Wait) commands allow you to back taxi. I will leave two pictures below.
3. Flying at pattern altitude
When pilots request to remain in the pattern with their departure request, and they actually want to do circuits, they often climb too high. As stated in the Infinite Flight Flying Guide, “the pattern altitude is 1000ft AAL (above aerodrome level) for prop aircraft, and 1500ft AAL for jet aircraft”.
4. Racing towards the runway while taxiing
I’ve seen this many times already, and every time I see it, it makes me giggle. Two or more pilots are in two taxiways which are next to each other. Both of the pilots want to depart first, but only one can “win this race”. From here, the race starts and pilots start taxiing at inappropriate speeds (> 30 knots Groundspeed) to arrive first at the runway. Eventually, though, one of them is asked to give way to the other, and the race stops. Why does this make me giggle? Because often, such pilots are the ones who do long hauls which last a lot of hours, and at the same time, they want to save one minute on the ground, haha! Remember: always be careful of your surroundings, and be kind towards others sometimes letting them go first, especially if the airspace is not that busy. Do not race on the taxiway, with the risk of sliding off of them or taxiing through others.
5. Stopping prior to fully exiting the runway after landing.
This is a very discussed topic in the IFATC Team. Upon landing, it is crucial that you fully exit the runway to avoid any conflicts. If you exit the runway partially, while being still behind the Hold Short line (so not past it), the aircraft behind you cannot land or take off, resulting in Go Arounds and, in general, delays. Pictures will be left below
Examples
- Runway not clear/pilot still on the runway
- Runway clear/pilot successfully exited the runway
6. General unnecessary requests to Radar controllers
While communicating with Radar controllers, it is crucial that you know what are the correct requests you need to make. I leave below some of the requests which are unnecessary while transmitting to a Radar frequency in the Infinite Flight world.
- Checking In with approach. Unless you are switched from one approach frequency to the other during your arrival, you only need to ask for your approach request during the descent. In fact, if you Check In, you’ll most likely (and most of the time) receive a “Radar contact, say approach request” instruction from the ATC controller. This only increases our workload (especially in busy airspace), because we need to send you one more instruction. Instead, simply ask us for the approach request!
- Flight Following request after Check In. This often happens when an aircraft is departing the airspace and just contacted the Radar frequency (usually, Departure or Centre). FF is a VFR service, while the Check In is an IFR one. Basically, by asking FF after Check In, you are contradicting yourself and will receive a “Flight Following request not required after Check In” message from the controllers. Check this guide for more information.
- Asking to receive RV (Radar Vectors) or any approach service to your arrival airport after departure. Obviously, we cannot give you vectors or any command for your arrival airport if it is on the other side of the world after you depart. An example may be a pilot taking off from LIRF and asking for Radar Vectors to KJFK. This is wrong and unnecessary.
7. Pilots not able to intercept the LOC or RAIS
Intercepting the Localizer while performing an ILS approach, as well as “reporting the airport in sight” (RAIS) during a Visual approach is crucial. It happens a lot of times in the Expert Server that pilots cannot do the two things mentioned above.
- Intercepting the LOC. This is pretty easy. Once close to the airport, you will be told to descend to a determined altitude and intercept the localizer after being also told to follow a precise heading. You will notice how this heading is usually as close as possible to 30° offset compared to the runway heading. This will help you out while intercepting it. After you descend to the desired altitude and put the desired heading on the A/P, you can activate APPR, which will make you intercept the LOC by turning towards the runway. This way, you intercepted it. If you continue to fly to the heading you were told to fly without intercepting the LOC, this will either result in an MA (Missed Approach), re-clearance or eventually, even a violation (“Failure to complete instrument approach”).
What if my aircraft does not have APPR? You can still follow the ILS course/path with the help of your HUD view. Check this section of the Flying Guide. - Reporting the airport in sight. This is even easier than the ILS approach. As soon as you can see the airport you need to land at, click the button “Report Airport In Sight” in your ATC menu and from there, ATC will clear you for the Visual approach.
8. Unnecessarily requesting a frequency change
Pilots sometimes request a frequency change when it is not needed. If you are on the ground and you have been told to “Taxi to runway XX, contact tower when ready” you need to switch by yourself when ready, as the instruction says. If you do not, and ask for a frequency change, you’ll most likely receive a “You were already instructed to change frequency” command by the ATC controller. In other cases, like right after rotation, when tuned into approach during your arrival, etc. asking for a frequency change is 99% of the time incorrect. Unless you are 100% sure the controller forgot about you (which is pretty rare), do not ask for a frequency change and wait until the controller hands you off to another frequency.
9. Maintain appropriate speed
Always be careful of your surroundings and be mindful. Do not go at 250 KIAS on final, especially if there are other aircraft ahead of you since you may be told to Go Around. The same applies to going too slow: do not go at 140 KIAS in a 15 NM final if your aircraft is able to go faster. This way, you won’t slow down all of the queue of aircraft. The same applies at high-altitude airports, where the Groundspeed is higher. An example is MMMX, where pilots come towards the airport way too fast. Check your altitude AGL (Above Ground Level), as well as your distance from the airport and the surroundings, and manage your speed accordingly.
10. Local flying
In busy airspace, local flying is not allowed. What does this mean? It means flying from an airport which is too close to the hub of the day. An example may be departing from EGKK towards EGLL when the latter is the hub of the day/pretty busy. Not to ruin the sequence created by Radar controllers, as well as not to increase their workload, they will most likely ask you to divert. Pick an airport which is at least 50 to 100 NM of distance from the hub of the day to avoid such issues. Also, check this topic.
11. NOTAMs and aircraft size
NOTAMs/TFRs are there in the airports surrounded by a red circle on the Expert Server. If you’re planning to spawn in at one of these airports, a pop-up will appear which will explain to you what NOTAM is in effect. If you’re inbound towards one of these, you need to access the information via the map. Either way, it is crucial that you follow them. Failure to do so may result in violations.
In addition to this, always check if the airport you’re planning to spawn into is big enough for your aircraft. There’s not always a NOTAM for this, or you can even spawn in an A380 at a small airport, for example, because most likely, the spawns have not been edited yet by IFAET.
I suggest you check this section of the Flying Guide regarding TFRs and NOTAMs, as well as Flightradar24 and IFATC.org to get more information about what aircraft can spawn in at a determined airport.
Always remember to follow the ATC instructions, everyone. It is not that hard, especially after my tips and the ones of many other fellow community members and the official guides and videos. We can make the Expert Server skies even better than what they are now, but we all need to put some effort into this. I can assure you that, despite it helps to learn, nobody likes to report people, and people do not like to be reported.
Anyway, thanks for reading! I can agree this is a long guide and a long thing to read, but I hope my topic has been helpful to you, as well as to many other IFC members. If you have any questions, you’re always welcome to ask them!
Thank you so much!