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General Discussion / Re: Mode C Transponders
« on: December 10, 2018, 11:18:32 PM »VATSIM COC requires that pilot's not squawk standby.
COC A.B.4 - "Except while on the ground prior to making initial contact with ATC or upon request of ATC, a pilot should not squawk standby. A pilot should not squawk standby while flying to his destination, even when there is no appropriate Enroute air traffic control available."
If that is indeed the rule, the word "should" means that it is recommended, not required.
I seccond this.
While I fully agree with you from a policy-compliance language perspective, there are plenty of places where they've documented an interpretation otherwise, effectively creating a precedence of s/should/shall/g on matters like these. As with anywhere else, interpretive precedence often carries more weight than the letter of the law. You could go argue this to them, but the same interpretation has held fast for years, and continues to be held. About the only way you'd be able to make any meaningful change on that front is to work your way to the top.
For what it's worth, I dislike the mode-c everywhere rule (and I'd never wallop a pilot for it), and I dislike a number of the other rules that are mandated from above, but they're the rules we agreed to when we sign up. So long as they persist, we have already agreed to be bound by them. I don't even wallop non-responsive pilots unless they actually create a problem, and even then, I do my hardest to work around them. Simple mistakes don't always deserve the ban hammer, especially if they're not actively detracting the fun of the others online.