Chris, I responded also to your direct email but I'll comment here just for the benefit of anyone else who may be reading.

Yes, we do this as a hobby, but we also take our role seriously when it comes to helping pilots improve their knowledge and skill, and ability to fly realistically on the network.  After all, that's the goal of the network and not everyone comes in knowing how to do all of that on their own without some assistance.  That's why VATSIM created the pilot ratings.

The commitment that I'm looking for is a pair of two-hour blocks per week, for a total of four hours -- but at any time that you should choose, 24/7, without restriction.  You can do the same times every week, or not, at completely your own whim and discretion. The flip side of that is that you would have to commit to those two-hour blocks up to approximately 10 days in advance, so that students can select from instructors' available times to meet one-on-one.

I dispute your claim that no one over the age of 21 would be interested in doing this.  I do have two college-age instructors on staff, but the median age is probably around 30 -- and I myself, our PR person, and my senior instructor are all in our early forties.

Perhaps your perspective is a bit different because you fly for a living, but I myself am "grounded" and therefore devote a great deal of passion into this hobby.  Maybe that fuels my willingness to commit my personal time to this.  If it's not for you, that's fine -- but if you encounter anyone who you think would be a good fit and interested in helping us out, I would appreciate it greatly if you would refer them our way.

We've already spoken and set up a date to talk. I however, wanted to say this. Most professional pilots that I know, including myself, do it for the passion and have spent a great deal of time, and suffering, to commit to doing things correctly. All I meant is that I don't have as much time as someone that does this for a hobby to get, not sure how to say this, online ratings, for things that I do professionally. (that sounded worse than I intended) I want to help those that fly. While flying on Vatsim I've heard a lot of things that just aren't correct, on both sides, pilots and ATC and would like to get things moved more to the side of realism.

It should depend on the airfield you're working. Not every airfield or gate at an airfield requires a request for pushback. It would be nice if the vatsim atc guys could take a look at some Jeppessens 10-9, 10-9b to see what really happens at specific places. Also, I've never heard anyone request startup, its just taken for granted that when you pushback you're going to start your engines. I mean this in the real world. I'm retired from the mil and flying for my second airline. It would also be nice if people could use the correct taxi flows for specific airfields instead of just coming up with whatever they want. I am using vatsim while I'm on medical leave and I have to be very careful not to get in bad habits.