Reader Question – Go Arounds on VATSIM
I recently received an interesting and somewhat concerning email from one of our new readers to my blog site. Here’s the email….
Hello Jerry! I’ve been reading your blog postings for a few months now and they have really helped me. I’m relatively new to flight sim. Have been flying MSFS and the PMDG 737 and Fenix A320 for about two years now. I love the immersion of flying on VATSIM and have already accumulated a few hundred hours on the network. I still consider myself somewhat of a novice and tend to avoid any large VATSIM events. However, a few evenings ago I was flying into XYZ airport. I received some late vectors from the approach controller and needless to say I didn’t feel comfortable with the stability of my aircraft and ended up having to go around. When I informed ATC of my go-around intentions they seemed a little upset and suggested I learn how to fly my aircraft before getting on the network. I really don’t believe I’m at fault, I thought it was OK to conduct a go-around procedure if the situation warranted it. Please share your thoughts on this. I’d really like to be a better virtual pilot. Thank you for all you do for the flight sim community and I look forward to your feedback. Tim
Well Tim, and anyone else who have found them in a similar situation. You did nothing wrong! Let me repeat that, YOU DID NOTHING WRONG! For the sake of transparency, I did edit Tim’s message and removed the airport identifier. But needless to say, the airport is a major US airport on the west coast. I’ve been flying on VATSIM before it was VATSIM and have thousands of hours. Even I have had some challenges with some controllers at this particular airport. But I digress….
There is absolutely nothing wrong, nor does it make you, or should cause anyone else to think of you, as a bad pilot if you feel you need to execute a go-around procedure. In the real world, pilots execute go-around procedures for any number of reasons and some of those reasons are exactly what Tim described.
I’m really not sure why Tim would have received a negative experience from the VATSIM controller. It’s possible the controller was tired or had a bad day. It’s also possible the controller had a few knuckleheads which had been causing him issues just before and felt Tim was just another problematic pilot which he just didn’t have the patience to deal with and thus made a snide remark.
I personally have executed dozens of go-around procedures while on VATSIM and under ATC control and have never been met with any negative comments towards my piloting abilities. Bottom line and as I previously stated, Tim did nothing wrong and shouldn’t have been subjected to any abuse.
In the future, if this happens again to Tim or anyone else, I recommend leaving feedback on the particular controller in question with their ATC Division website. In the US, the VATUSA website is the place where one can leave feedback regarding their overall ATC experience. I often utilize this feature. Just visit VATUSA and under the drop down menu titled Facilities, select the particular ARTCC region and that will direct you to that site and from there look for the feedback link where you can provide your feedback. While it is perfectly acceptable to leave feedback of a negative experience, always provide a constructive form of feedback when doing so. Unloading your own snide comments won’t help you. Also, I encourage everyone to also leave feedback when you’ve had a positive experience on the network. Remember, those who volunteer to provide ATC services on VATSIM are doing it in their own spare time and without ATC coverage, our experience as pilots wouldn’t be the same.
Until next time….
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry