I'm a serious pilot, both as a real one and as a simulation one.

I have been flying via VATSIM US for about 8 months now, EVERY night after work, and find the ATC experience fun, informative, instructive and consider it a TRUE addiction.

The x737 (x-plane) is the A/C of choice and I fly IFR/ILS exclusively.  I purposely seek really lousy WX, so I go to the governments METAR page and find a bunch of lousy weather.  Then I find the appropriate ARTCC and hope to find someone controlling.

Now here is another consideration, lousy weather is no fun if you can't see it, so I try to find daylight.  The US is getting darker, so as an east coaster, I head to the western part of the US  @ plus 4 hrs.

So now the ISSUE.  I find, when I check out the ARTCC's, the following:  "No Controller On-Line"  Granted, I can sometimes find an ARTCC with controllers, but when I get there, they often go off-line too often and too soon.  Some nights I get lucky, others not.

I'm experienced enough that I can land without them, but it's more fun with them.  We guys and girls yack on 122.80 and help each other out, but that's not real world.

And that's the point... is VATSIM real world, and when and how long?

We pilots appreciate the great work of volunteer's doing this and wonder why there are not more of them.

Thanks for listening,

Greg

I have posted on the VATSIM forums about this exact problem with the network. I have proposed having a centralised contoller time booking system whereby pilots can see what the approximate time slots the controllers are going to be working and at what facility. If this is diligently enforced we could be in an era of a step change in traffic levels and increased controller interest.

Shez