ATC coverage offline hours

[marvinlbrooksjr]

Yes I would like to know what frequency do we use when we are on pilotedge when not in the ATC published hours? DO we still use the published ATC frequencies or do we use the UNICOM frequencies when no live ATC personnel are on line?

[Keith Smith]

You'd use the same frequency that you would use for real life. That would be the CTAF.

At non-towered airports, that is often the UNICOM frequency, but it's important to remember that the CTAF is what you're after. You don't want to be announcing on the UNICOM freq at towered airports. The UNICOM freq at towered airports is normally used to raise fuel services and FBOs.

[marvinlbrooksjr]

You'd use the same frequency that you would use for real life. That would be the CTAF.

At non-towered airports, that is often the UNICOM frequency, but it's important to remember that the CTAF is what you're after. You don't want to be announcing on the UNICOM freq at towered airports. The UNICOM freq at towered airports is normally used to raise fuel services and FBOs.

Thank you very much Keith. This is the reason why I now prefer to fly on Pilotedge, due to the fact that you have to use real world procedures to communicate within the system where as VATSIM is strictly sending text over the net and that is not real for me. Once again thank you Sir.

[Keith Smith]

For clarification, the CTAF is typically the tower frequency at the airport. If it's an airport with multiple tower frequencies, only one of them will be designated as the CTAF. You can see this on the sectional chart (the freq listed near the "C"), or you can check the Airport Facility Directory entry in the communications block and note the CTAF there. For example, SNA's CTAF is 126.80. Any and all announcements for SNA (including taxi) would be done there. You would NOT self-announce on the ground freq for taxi, then swap to the tower freq. It's all about the CTAF. The clearance/ground/tower freqs are only used during the network hours of operation (in the case of PE) or during the published operating hours for the facility in the case of real world ops.