Violation vs cost vs fun

This goes back to the point that from a communication perspective, we are fairly limited. We essentially have a long list of preset commands which have little to no flexibility in their wording. Ultimately we have to be “fair” - we don’t look at a pilots stats when issuing a violation. We are just as likely to report an experienced Grade 5 player as we are a new Grade 3 player.

I fully realise that for a new pilot on Expert Server, it can be a bit daunting and I tend to give a soft warning about flying into the hub as a new user, as it can lead to confusion and potentially being issued a violation. I am aware that lots of the playerbase want to fly into a busy airport with lots of traffic because it’s “more fun” but if one is a new user, finding a quieter airport with ATC where mistakes are likely viewed a bit more leniently, might be beneficial.

There’s also a dedicated ATC communication of the Flying Guide which goes through absolutely everything and explains it.


The Appeals Team do sometimes remove violations as a “one-time courtesy” - but this is often hingent on a few factors. Looking at the appeals data for May, we can see that 36 violations were removed on that basis.