Keith Smith wrote:Funnily enough, your sample flight from a non-towered flight to a Class D airport is the 2nd flight in this new series of 11 that we're building
Haha, so now when I have been training that kind of flight on my own, I should dare to try the new VFR training program when it has been released!
I have to agree strongly with Keith's assertion that the PE solution, fantastic as it is, just would not be commercially viable if scaled up to the size of a continent. The BBC ran a documentary series recently about the inner workings of Heathrow airport, which has a landing and a take off every 90 seconds on average. They showed some interesting sequences about the training of the ATC guys in the tower. Basically they have to go through months and months of training with somebody looking over their shoulder before they are allowed to operate a position unsupervised. If you imagine the number of airports, airways,approaches, SIDs and STARs that the PE ATC staff would have to be instantly familiar with for any area significantly larger than SoCal, then you can see that either the staff training task would be gigantic or the service quality would drop through the floor. I would prefer to keep the service quality just where it is now - excellent!
I also have to disagree, but understand the position you are coming from. I think you also need to realize that Pilot Edge's primary target audience is not the simulation hobby community (which is shrinking by the way). Not to say hobby simmers don't help make Pilot Edge what it is. Pilot Edge is a commercial venture. That's what brings in the dollars to pay for this business model. As more commercial interest develops, more controllers can be hired, which means Keith can likely expand to other areas. This will take some time. I've been on Pilot Edge for about a month and have only scratched the surface of what I can do here. I would encourage you to not focus on the traffic, but focus on how Pilot Edge makes you a better pilot. I don't know what aircraft you fly, but there is a lot more to Pilot Edge than KLAS, KLAX, KSAN, and KSFO. Some of the most challenging flying is IFR into and out of non-towered airports with no DP's or challenging ODP's and VOR approaches.
Suffice it to say if it were feasible and in the best interest of Pilot Edge to expand, Keith would expand his service. I think we can do a lot for Keith by sharing our experience with others and help him grow Pilot Edge.
I come from 3 years of flying at VATSIM and can't be happier with PE. Won't lie to you, when I first came I felt alone, but then I started to realize how real this is and at the end I also realized that I was not that accompanied at VATSIM either.
Just the fact that you know that there will be a highly trained controller on the other side all day long and that you don't have to be hunting for ATC at 2 relatively close airports and hurry to start your flight knowing that it is possible that just when is time to contact approach he is no longer there, is a great advantage.
Don't get me wrong, I too would love to have more airports to fly to, but PE is in my opinion, already much better than any other network out there!
I think that the feeling of ghost town is going away when you can hear all transmissions instead of only those in your current freq (I read about this but not sure if it already lau chef for Mac)
I don't really feel the need to fly on Vatsim anymore...
Keith and all PE team, you are doing a great job! Congrats!
