Any decent ATC Sims out there
 

Hey there,

Just ben looking no Google for an ATC Sim to listen/practise a bit on before College and there were loads!! Anyone have any advice on one that is 'entry level' but bears some resemblence to the real thing.

All help gratefully received

www.londoncontrol.com

Will cost ya, there is a demo version for download though

DF

I have London Control. I downloaded the demo and was very disappointed, didn't have a clue what I was doing. Ignored it for 6 months.

Then a friend brought an amazing ATC sim to work on his laptop, absolutely brilliant and the night shift flew by. What was it? London Control... Once you know what you are doing I doubt you'll be disappointed. Once you have a read of the 'online' manual (on the disc) you'll soon get to grips with it, although not saying you'll find it easy.

I am however (at last) "qualified" on Gatwick Approach...

I had a similar experience...Once i started training, I dragged out the CD again, blew the dust off it, and now can't leave the damn thing alone! :}

Caution though.....
 

Play this 'game' and you'll get into BAD habits.

Things you'll do playing the GAME! will not be allowed in the college.

Just a friendly warning...:rolleyes:

Will bear it in mind flyboy,

What I'm really looking for is a way of practising the phraseology. I've read through CAP413 but I'd like to get used to actually speaking the phrases and words. I suppose I could just talk to myself!!!

You can get a voice addon for London Control that lets you practice the phraseology but again you will probably be getting into bad habits. Probably better getting a scanner and listening in to the real thing. Saying that probably best to igonore me as I'm not an ATCO (Yet, Aptitude test tomorrow :eek: )

Don't judge LC by the demo! Its awful but the full program, even without the voice addon is great for us non-atcos to get a taste of what you do

Simple answer, DON'T!
You will pick up bad habits that will interfere with your training. Wait until you get to Hurn. Spend your time reading, visiting ATC units, talking to your fellow students and saving up for your 9 months in Bournemouth.

Buy a scanner and listen to the R/T at your local airport.

Like not looking at your strips perhaps??? :}

www.vatsim.net might be what your looking for. Live interaction with the intent of being realistic, however as previously mentioned, be careful with picking up bad habits.

Also note that there is some testing required on the network to become an ATC, but it's possible to go from a nothing rating (Pilot/Observer is the untested rating) to a Senior Student and possibly even a Controller Initial rating in around a month. Student 1 Position can only controll Tower,Ground, Delivery type positions, but Senior Student can in many parts of the world controll every position on the network. Each location has it's own training reigime and generally you stick to one area to which you were trained for. This can be either entire country, to single ARTCC depending on local policy.

VATSIM is even worse for the bad habits:=

Be warned. NATS trains everyone at the College "By the Book", that book being MATS Pt1. If you pick up any habit or technique from anywhere prior to attending NATS training that is not the way that it is taught at CATC, you run the risk of failing and never getting the chance to validate at a real unit where you will probably find that the bad habit you picked up is common practise. If you want to play games, buy an ATC simulator. If you want to play with real controllers, stay away from the Playstation [unless it's "Tomb Raider"] until you know what you are doing.

[And I don't care what anyone at the "real" units say about "The College teaches out-of-date stuff", it's still what you get examined on.]

Thanks DwB.
I think that just about puts an end to it!!

I think this is the most realistic ATC simulator I have found...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoVPz...elated&search=

It's for your mobile phone, too.

I especially enjoy the 0 'turning circle' and the vectoring for a 1/2 mile final :D

Dances with said....The college provides students with a good, and very necessary, foundation, so no complaints from me. A foundation that can then be built upon at whatever operational unit students end up at.

Get the foundation wrong and, hey... well, you get the idea.

Best rgds
BEX