Hi all,
I’m hoping someone can help me understand how a single violation or report on the expert server can be so devastating. Specifically, I made an error and got too close to another aircraft over the weekend. It was immediately reported, and I dropped from level 4 to level 2 and must wait a week to participate in the expert server again.
While this feels a bit severe, I’d love to know more about the thinking behind it as I grow in this community.
Thanks!
Eric
Hey! Thanks for getting in contact with us.
Violations/ghosting penalisation is 7 days for a number of reasons. I’ll outline a few below, but over the years we have chopped and changed this to try other methods, times and severity, but for now 7 days works well.
For our ATC, having only one button to report people is a time saver, and in busy airports it means that they don’t have to select a specific time for the penalisation from a pop up menu. This means more time for controlling and less time dealing with issues. Yes, that means that there is a downside as all issues, even if small, are 7 days across the board and there is no differentiation between small and large issues, but for now that is something that is acceptable as a compromise from our standpoint.
On top of that, the expert server is the place where true real life rules should be executed to the greatest extent. In your example, getting too close to an aircraft is quite a significant issue if you frame it in that context. The controller should have given you warnings for this before ghosting though, so if that wasn’t the case PM me and we can sort it out!
All in all, 7 days is only from one server. There are still 2 others to chose from, and the idea is that in those 7 days the pilot would then utilise that time on the servers to learn from the mistake and try to rectify it for the future. How much that happens I am unsure, but that is the logic chain for us.
Hope this all helps!
Misha
@MishaCamp So the controller always must send a warning before ghosting?
Before ghosting,a controller will give a warning stating ‘Please follow instructions or you will be ghosted.’
Cheers!
If the controller didn’t warn and straightaway ghost, will it be invalid?
No, in some serious case the controller can ghost you without warning. They “should” warn you, they do not “must” warn you. So it will it will be valid without warning. Its up to you to argue in a private message to the controller why the ghosting is unfair. That he should have warned you wouldn’t be an argument…
Hi I flown a flight on expert servers and i got reported for not using ATIS but he didnt gave me a warning first
@Jonas05 contact controller for more explication
He’s says “please follow instructions or you will be ghosted” this is the last warning before you do take the ghost
but he didnt say that. I remember that very well because the flight was 15 minutes
Thanks so much Musharraf! I was certainly looking for this type of explanation and appreciate the insight and severity. I’m not sure the extent to which the severity of a seven day suspension from the expert server actually curbs behaviors. Why not have a two step so you only drop a single level at first?
Is there a place to review engagements? As soon as I was reported I dropped from the server and flight and can’t recall what happened. Mostly I was demoralized from engaging with a community from which I’ve been energized.
If you’re wondering about why you were ghosted, you should feel free to contact the controller that ghosted you! They’ll have a screenshot of the situation and can explain why they ghosted you. I’d highly recommend you do this, because it’s a great learning experience that leads to you becoming a better pilot!
You can find the name of the controller that ghosted you by going to the Logbook in Infinite Flight. You should then send them a PM (private message) here on the IFC asking them about it. If you have any questions or issues, just let me know :)
@Jonas05 You said the flight was 15 minutes. What flight were you doing?
I flew from LFPO TO LFPG
When did you fly that flight? @Jonas05
If it was on FNF on Friday it’s clearly stated by Misha
Right ok during last Friday’s FNF there was a section in Misha’s post saying that you will be ghosted without warning if you flew between those two airports!
It was also highlighted in the NOTAM before u were able to continue into the game that you are not allowed to fly between these two airports unless u wanna be ghosted without warning
Another great example of the severity of violations…
Was just reported for a violation on the expert server for taxiing without authorization, though no ground frequency existed, only ATIS and Unicom. I’ve contacted the reporter, but I’m off the server again for no good reason.
Would love to see some type of adjudication process for these.
Eric
It’s highly likely that you just couldn’t see the frequency, even though it was online, it’s a known bug. The controller should remove it once you explain, and I’m sure you can see how from their view you were in the wrong. For future reference there will never be ATIS online without tower/ground. If you see that you should leave and restart the app.