makyoch

I hope I'm correct in assuming POSCON will allow the same freedoms in this regard (fly whatever, wherever, whenever) as all networks before it. In that circumstance, I'm with you here, and I'll be spending plenty of time trucking my C206 around to places that may-or-may-not have an airport code!

Yeah I seewhere you're coming from. But I suppose what makes the TMA environment more appealing to me is that everything is always moving (through the air, not rolling down pavement), no matter what... unless the adjacent aerodrome & area controllers are being unduly kind!

Hi all! You can call me Matt or Makyoch (I use the latter as my display name nearly everywhere). I'm from near NZCH and now stay near YPPH. By ways of simming, I love travelling off the beaten track - so to speak. I suppose then it comes as no surprise that I spend most of my time in Africa. My favourite thing is really anything unconventional. Such as trucking my New Zealand-registered C206 around Africa, or bringing a Kenya Airways 737 down in to some Indian Ocean island where the ATC speaks French and has never seen a radar station in his life (fly in to FMCZ some day when ATC's online, you won't regret it!). I suppose I'm happiest when I'm under pressure controlling a TMA during some ridiculously busy event...

Oops, I just realised that VMMC actually is under the ZGZU FIR. I guess I learnt something!

The problem with that is that it's nothing like CPDLC in the real world and having to get your clearance from the PMs loses a lot of your immersion in the sim. Personally I just think that it's tacky, annoying, and I cringe hard whenever I get a PM with one of those, usually departing OMDB. It's also a bit nonsensical because it assumes that all aircraft are datalink-capable - when I fly IFR in my C206, it most certainly is not... but that doesn't stop a controller from hitting the button and sending me a "datalink" clearance. Hoppie's system (www.hoppie.nl) is the best thing for datalink on VATSIM, but unfortunately it is used by so few controllers and even fewer pilots. Moreover, datalink clearances are primarily meant to reduce frequency congestion; the controller should pay just as much attention to aircraft regardless of whether the clearance is being passed by voice or datalink. Nonetheless, I'm really excited to be able to use CPDLC properly with POSCON. That being said, shortened readbacks are a bad idea and you honestly won't find such a procedure being commonplace in many places around the world. As a controller, one has to ensure that the clearance is received correctly and the only surefire way to tell that, short of waiting and seeing that the pilot is flying the wrong heading/SID, expecting the wrong runway, climbing through his cleared level, etc; is through receiving a readback of the clearance in full. That is, a readback that includes every bit of information (not necessarily every word, lol) that was included in the clearance. Otherwise, all I'll be doing is asking the pilot to "confirm X, Y and Z" until they do. /my2cents

Macau falls under Hong Kong FIR. And I have to agree with you, it's pointless as a division on its own... just the one controlled airport in the whole "country", only having Ground and Tower. Thanks for creating the Kenya Division club.

Kenya, please!