PilotEdge

[JustinWheat]

Does the electronic flight bag work with the pilotedge.net server?

[wycliffe]

Just did a search for pilopt edge which looks like an online network.

 

First, no EFB is a VATSIM/IVAO related package and works only with them getting online data from the VATSIM or IVAO servers.

 

Second, both VATSIM and IVAO are free to end user online communities. I can't say for IVAO as I am a staff member in VATSIM but VATSIM will never ask a amember for any money.

 

http://www.vatsim.net

 

 

Wycliffe

[Andydigital]

Wycliffe if you are going to call somebody a liar please at least qualify what you are on about, its only fair, I doubt anyone here has a clue what you are talking about, I know I dont.

[wycliffe]

Its the bit about there being no where to simulate online flight with ATC. I just got a little annoyed about the fact that they are targetting flight simulation enthusiasts and charging 19.95 for something that can be achieved for free.

 

I have since found out that their main traget group is real world flight students, and that perhaps their ATC is a step or two above VATSIM or IVAO. It's a little like all the companies in the UK at the moment saying they can get you your PPI payments back for you witha free service. Its not free they take their cut if your awarded compensation. I did mine for nothing and got back 11 grand. All for the cost of a stamp.

 

Wycliffe

[Andydigital]

Thanks for that, we all learned something new today then.

[Guest William]

It's a little like all the companies in the UK at the moment saying they can get you your PPI payments back for you witha free service. Its not free they take their cut if your awarded compensation. I did mine for nothing and got back 11 grand. All for the cost of a stamp.

Excellent!!

 

And how they do charge !! The ones I looked at, purely as a matter of interest, were around the 30% mark. I helped my wife gets hers back about 18 months ago from LloydsTSB with the stock letter from Martins Moneypage.

 

To get back on track how do they get to use Vataware software for their flight summaries? Saying there is 'nowhere to simulate online flight with ATC' seems rather two-faced. And at least Vatsim and IVAO are available 24/7 and with a slightly wider coverage than LA and Oakland.

[KeithSmith]

Disclaimer: I'm the Founder of PilotEdge.

 

A lot of people get riled up by that one comment in the video interview. It was in reference to the fact that there isn't anything in the market that has what we offer. It was not meant to imply that we are the only outfit providing online ATC service. In fact, we acknowledge that other networks exist directly on our site on this comparison page:

http://www.pilotedge.net/pages/comparis ... r-networks (linked from the "About" section of the site)

 

It's pretty simple, we offer guaranteed ATC presence and quality, 15hrs/day, 7 days/week. Providing that service costs money...a lot of it, in fact. That is why we charge for the service.

 

The service is different to VATSIM/IVAO. The mix of traffic is different, we have 500+ recorded aircraft flying around 24/7 in Class E/G airspace that cause traffic conflicts that simply don't occur on VATSIM. When was the last time you heard, "traffic 12 o'clock 3 miles, westbound, altitude indicates 4500, VFR, type unknown?" I hear something like that literally every time I fly in real airspace, and I never heard it in 1500 hours of flying on VATSIM, and I never issued such a call in more than 4000 hours of controlling there.

 

We offer something different to VATSIM/IVAO/BVATC. Those networks, in turn, offer certain things that we don't (such as the possibility of receiving coverage almost anywhere in the world....we don't do that).

 

If you're a working professional with limited time, and you need your sim sessions to "count" every single time you fly, that's where our network shines. If you want a radio system that mirrors the usage of a real radio (no controller list, and voice CTAF support), our network shines. If you operate a flight school and you want to add ATC to your sim sessions, PE is the only choice that is going to provide the same experience, day in, day out. It's likely the only one that permits commercial operations in the Terms of Service for that matter (I know that's the case for VATSIM, not sure about the others).

 

If you want to be able to do long haul flights, or flights all over the world with a chance of getting some kind of ATC...then VATSIM/IVAO is the right choice for you. If ATC is simply not worth paying for, regardless of the promise of predictable availability/quality (ie, ATC is a 'nice to have' not a 'must have'), then VATSIM/IVAO are the way to go.

 

Isn't choice a wonderful thing? Online flying with ATC can save real world pilots money on their training and proficiency regimens, it's that simple. We offer something that will appeal to that market, as well as hardcore sim enthusiasts who value what we offer. There's plenty of room for all of us.

 

I get the initial "but VATSIM is free!!" reaction. I've seen it many times. It usually calms down once people dig into the service and realize, "oh, it's...completely different." They also tend to calm down when they find out that the controllers get paid to be there, hence, the reason we charge individuals and companies to use it, as opposed to it simply being a cash cow for the Founder. It is far....far from being a cash cow. It's more of a place that my cash goes to die, for now at least!

 

Hopefully this helps sheds some light on the differences between what the services offer.

 

If there are any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

[KeithSmith]

Oh, and to the original question of whether the EFB will work on PilotEdge, if the EFB software is displaying the status of aircraft that are in the multiplayer session, it should work fine. If it's relying on a FSD data feed, then that can work, too. Our server does output a compatible feed, but you'd have to be able to tell it the URL of that feed.

[jackharpenden]

Hi Keith,

 

It's nice to see the creator of the network here to accurately answer questions.

 

Looking at your VATSIM stats, you've been quite an active member in the past and you're still active on the Vatsim Forums, which is nice to see.

 

Just something to ask, as from what you've said I'm quite interested in PilotEdge. I've always felt that there's really not enough VFR/GA flying on Vatsim, which is a real shame, but at the same time I'm guilty myself of mostly flying "big-tin".

 

Does/will PilotEdge only every cover parts of the United States? As a progressing PPL trainee in the UK, the procedures are somewhat different over the pond, and what I'd love to be able to practice is the UK VFR procedures, where all parties know properly what they're doing.

 

Thanks,

Jack

[KeithSmith]

Hi Jack,

 

Thanks for the open-minded reply. We are interested in eventually having European coverage, it's a simple matter of recruiting the controllers and launching the operation over there.

 

You're quite right, the procedures and phraseology are a bit different there. I've done a limited amount of pattern/circuit VFR work in the UK and was able to get used to the differences fairly quickly. The only long distance flying I did, though, was IFR, so I can't speak to the differences for longer range IFR flights.

 

I wish I had better news, but in the short term, we won't have UK coverage any time soon. It is a longer term goal, though. There is a commercial customer that is very much interested in getting UK coverage, so they might move things along If they commit to a contract with us, I'll let you know

[jackharpenden]

When I've got some decent time on my hands to thoroughly understand and learn the US procedures I might try some VFR on Vatsim state side, and eventually may then give PilotEdge a go.

 

Thanks for the response!

Jack

[KeithSmith]

Sounds good. Free charts are available in many places, but skyvector.com is hard to beat for VFR sectional charts. If you'd like a simple "first flight", we just published this today: http://www.pilotedge.net/pages/first-flight

 

There's a video at the bottom there (submitted by one of our users) which gives you a handy example of what to do/say.

 

Feel free to conduct that on PilotEdge or VATSIM. If you conduct it on VATSIM, you'll need to use text on 122.80 to announce intentions. You'll also need to see who is online on the ATC side and work your way up the tree to find the controller who's handling the towered airport. It could be a tower controller, it could be an approach controller or it could be a center controller.

 

On PilotEdge, you use whatever freqs are published on the charts, staffing configuration be damned That's what I mean about replicating the radio system as closely as possible. If you're already familiar with VATSIM, though, then it will be a nice, easy flight either way.

 

Edit: There's also the ZLA Pilot Cert program (I originally launched this on VATSIM and have since made it available on PE):

- http://pilotcerts.laartcc.org (VATSIM)

- http://training.pilotedge.net (PE)

 

It's a series of 3 VFR flights and 11 IFR flights that step you through increasingly complex operations on the network. Each flight has the charts, an intro video, reference material and most importantly, ATC transcripts to give you an idea of what to say. You might find them to be very helpful even if you don't conduct the flights yourself.

 

If you have any questions about US airspace procedure (regardless of the network you use), I'm happy to help. I fly r/w VFR/IFR in a GA single through some interesting airspace here in the northeast, and I fly extensively in the sim.

 

Keith

[wycliffe]

Hi All

 

As the OP I feel a certain responsibility in this thread. I have written to Kieth and apologised for my original comments. Having looked a little deeper into Pilotedge I can see why it is a commercial operation and clearly it works with trainee pilots offeringa level of realism that might be missing from VATSIM/IVAO.

 

@Jack, you comment that there is not enough VFR flying on VATSIM in the UK. May I suggest you try VFR Tuesday out of Gloucster towards Bristol or Cardiff or even both I think you will find the standard of VFR control very much in your favour.

 

The South West region does pride itself on the training of ATC in ATSOCAS procedures it is a tradition that we continue to follow as more and more ATC students come and join us in the South West. You never know one day Jack you might like to take the plunge and join us on the dark side.

 

All the best

 

Wycliffe

[KeithSmith]

Thanks Wycliffe, that's appreciated.

 

I concur with Wycliffe, you can find pockets of VFR traffic on VATSIM, but you have to know where/when to look for it. Generally speaking, VATSIM tends to attract volumes of IFR traffic in and out of the major airports.

 

There have been times, however, where controllers have made efforts to staff smaller, GA airports and the GA traffic has eventually come out of the woodwork to visit those fields.

 

Wycliffe is a VATSIM veteran and knows the traffic/staffing patterns of his area. If you're going to be flying in the UK, I would give his suggestions a try!

[oskrypuch]

I enjoy VATSIM, and been flying it for a long time. PE is definitely different. Guaranteed ATC (although in a smaller area) is a big plus for. The ATC on PE is at a little higher level, than the already quite good VATSIM ATC. The focus is somewhat different as well.

 

To me, PE is well worth the monthly fee.

 

And yes, the EFB works just fine with PE, traffic shows up when online as well. There is not a way to preview traffic, when still offline, like there is for VATSIM and IVAO, but that is not a biggie.

 

* Orest