Don't quit when you get Please follow instructions

[azeeuwnl]

Over the past months I see more pilots quit their flight after I sent him a ‘Please follow instructions’ or ‘Check help pages’. Some contact me here and ask me why I sent them this, and then they tell me, that they quit because they were afraid to get ghosted.

With the new expert server requirements, the fear of being ghosted is there; I realise that.

But to those pilots, the serious ones who visit this community regularly, learn about the rules and try to contribute to good game-play, to those pilots I say this: IFATC’s, just like you, are in this to have fun in a good simulation game play environment.

IFATC’s do not have a mission to ghost pilots. With a ghost, there are only losers.
Ghosting is a matter of last resort. We do it, because we see pilots hindering others (and themselves) in good game play. As an IFATC, I need to be able to account for every ghost I do, both to the moderators as well as the pilots who contacts a mod and asks ‘why’.

The communications between ATC and pilot is limited to the instruction-set we have. So ‘Please follow instructions’ is not by definition a negative thing; neither is ‘Check help pages’.

Sometimes I see a pilot taxiing to the opposite runway; I treat this as an honest mistake. Or I see a pilot who does respond to the new heading, but simply does not realise the instruction contained a new altitude as well.
What do I tell this pilot; “yo dude, don’t forget to descent to 4000!”? I don’t have this instruction. So I use ‘please follow instructions’, hoping the pilots checks his log and sees that he is forgetting something.
And then there’s times, I sent a ‘please follow instructions’ too quick; I’m impatient, or the pilot is just a bit slow.

So don’t just quit your long haul flight, because you received a ‘please follow instructions’. Instead, check your log, see if you made a mistake and correct it. An ‘I’m sorry’ from a pilot can do wonders, most times.

And if you do get ghosted, then I challenge you to learn from it; make the screenshots and follow the instructions in the procedure below. And remember, 15 ghosts is a lot!

If you’re racing across the platform, with 60kts, racing through other aircrafts, ignoring taxi-ways, repeatedly contact Tower while on Approach; things like that, then…you better quit quickly!

When Inquiring About Your Ghost

While your lovely ATC Moderators enjoy trying to decipher posts about why you were ghosted, we’d like to request you include certain information that will help us expedite the complaint process. •Your call sign when you were ghosted. Your call sign last week or earlier that day won’t help us. We need to know what it was at the time you were ghosted. •Please include which server you think you were ghosted on. If you were “ghosted” on the training server, don’t ask for IFATC assistance resolving…

[Cpt.TC]

This is all well and good, but I can think of many times where I was ghosted and I wasn’t given any warnings prior / I couldn’t get my point across due to the restriction of what I can say over ATC, resulting in the controller thinking that I am being deliberately defiant.

[Namit]

@azeeuwnl

An ‘I’m sorry’ from a pilot can do wonders, most times.

This I can agree to.

---

Good article @azeeuwnl

[azeeuwnl]

Yep, mistakes are being made.

@azeeuwnl

make the screenshots and follow the instructions in the procedure below.

Again: 15 ghosts is a lot.

[Cpt.TC]

I take a screenshot when I am ghosted, but often delete it and never post it due to fear of further sanctioning / looking like a crybaby

9/10 of my ghostings are due to the controller not understanding me / it being hard to communicate through limited things to say.

Oh and yes, I always quit my flight after a “please follow instructions” message as I am scared that I will be ghosted. It is alright all you guys who are IFATC saying that you don’t bite and that you’re friendly and all that, but in the end it’s much easier to quit a flight than receive a ghosting.

[AnikaitD]

If your post doesn’t look like the many “WHY WAS I GHOSTED?!?!” threads then we can take you seriously and you will be helped

[azeeuwnl]

As long as you are respectful in your approach and it’s clear you are in there to learn or to see if perhaps a mistake was made by an ATC, then you’re never a crybaby. Ghosts do get reversed you know. Fair play has to rule here!

And you don’t post the screenshot here publicly, but you use it in the procedure when you are enquiring about your ghost.

You risk becoming a crybaby only if you do not accept that the moderator ultimately has the last word in this.

[Maxmustang]

@azeeuwnl. MaxSez: Great summery from a Controllers perspective. However, you must admit that the communications menu it sorely lacking in Pilot Frendly requests and Interrogatories. I recall a significant time and effort spent by the community generating a rational all inclusive comm menu update that apparently lingers in the archive. It’s grand to get new Aircraft and Global but Work on this platforms communication infrastructure needs to be moved up on the FDS TO-DO List. Just Sayin for the uncountable time. Regards All

@azeeuwnl

Please follow instructions’ or ‘Check help pages

WHAT Instructions or WHAT Help pages ya takin bout?

[Ark_of_Ahmed.IF]

Yeah, I agree, there should be a difference between a “reminder to follow instructions” and a “warning before getting ghosted”.

[Trio]

Great post. Compeltely agree with @Maxmustang and @Ark_of_Ahmed.IF.

[Ollie_James]

I’ve been playing Infinite Flight Live since its launch and have only ever been ghosted twice, one of those times was only a week ago. I’m not foolish, and nor am I trying to say I’m 100% right, but I was definitely not given any prior warnings. I was ghosted incredibly quickly on a final approach to Frankfurt. This has now very much intimidated me into never going anywhere near the IFATC areas. Especially with the new ghost limits recently implied. It’s simply not worth the risk. I hate flying on the training server since all the airlines and flight plans are so inaccurate so I will, however, be staying on the Expert Server for now.

[Boodz_G]

I think what makes pilots quit when they get a “Please follow instructions” is that they’ll get ghosted right away because some ATC don’t give you the chance to correct for your mistake.

[SkyHighGuys]

I think when people on expert hear “please follow instructions” it’s the universal sign amongst all pilots that the pilot in question is about to get ghosted. It’s completely understandable the are afraid. It’s been that way years now.

[Trio]

@azeeuwnl or any other IFATC controller. How often has this happend to you?

• Frequently
• Occasionaly
• Rarely

[Brandon_Sandstrom]

Did you contact the controller to figure out why? Do you know why? Or are you like the other 90% that just want to complain about it?

[MarcusCKJ]

@Ollie_James @Boodz_G We will always give warnings first. Ghostings, as said, are our last resort. We give pilots “Please follow instructions” and “Check help pages” to give pilots a chance to correct their mistake. There will be a few seconds window before the ATC controller thinks “That’s it.” and ghost you.

Also, if you feel the ghosting is unfair, or you want to know the reason behind the ghosting, always inquire with the controller, after you have taken a screenshot of the communication log immediately before your ghosting.

Only on a few occasions, we would immediately ghost without warning. When frequency is busy, controllers may ghost without warning. In the first place however, you should always know what’s wrong and right before entering Expert. It’s Expert Server after all.

[A_Plane_Guy]

Dang it, I’ve been busted. I’m this kind of guy…

[Brandon_Sandstrom]

@Boodz_G

I think what makes pilots quit when they get a “Please follow instructions” is that they’ll get ghosted right away because some ATC don’t give you the chance to correct for your mistake.

For blatant offenses you’re right we don’t.

[Chad_Garnett]

I too am guilty of quitting the flights after this and it does make me feel a little bad that I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. However, I can attest to the fact that they don’t always use it to scold you but to help you fix something that you might be doing wrong. I have been for stronger communications options for both pilots and ATC but many of the suggestions don’t seem to be wanted by a lot of the controllers. They aren’t the ones being ghosted though so I think its only right to help the pilots out a bit from time to. People should be stressed out about flying in sim, it should be a fun challenge but I think the demographic of players in made up of a lot younger people who don’t really understand that yet or lack maturity.

[Boodz_G]

Well, you see I’m talking about something like a misunderstanding, it’s hard to correct for it worrying about the “Please follow instruction”. Lets say you tell me to turn left heading 270 and I turn 260 by mistake and you tell me please follow instruction, I would know I did something wrong, check what I did wrong correct for it and all good.

Also, something like sequencing… sometimes ATC tells me to follow a specific aircraft but I’m not sure which one it is, I’m trying to understand the situation but it’s taking long due to traffic. Give the pilot sometime to check what he did wrong and correct for it. I’m not saying that non of the IFATC do, I’m saying some don’t.