VATSTAR is proud to announce the unveiling of its Oceanic Training Certificate! This course covers everything you need to know to get started flying international, trans-oceanic flights on VATSIM, including basics of latitude/longitude and Great Circle routes, route creation including use of the North Atlantic OTS, tips on international procedure and terminology, filing your flightplan and obtaining your clearance, using SELCAL, announcing your position reports, and even some tips and tricks for participating in VATSIM's semi-annual Cross The Pond event!
Pilots holding the VATSIM P4 rating are eligible to enroll now by visiting us at VATSTAR.com! If you don't have the P4, you can acquire it from us through our simple process of attending a Written Exam Review, taking and passing the exam, performing a practice flight, and performing two fairly brief (~1.5hr) checkride flights, each of these steps with one of our staff Instructors. (If you prefer a self-study method of obtaining the P4, Boston Virtual ARTCC offers it through their Pilot Rating Program; their P4 consists of five short flights you can do pretty much anytime ZBW ATC is staffed. Visit
http://www.bvartcc.com/ for more details.)
The VATSTAR Oceanic certification is obtained by written exam only; there is no practical checkride to fly. Because of that, the exam IS NOT A JOKE and should only be attempted once having THOROUGHLY reviewed the study materials. A Written Exam Review session with a staff Instructor is mandatory prior to attempting the exam. The exam itself is 40 multiple-choice questions with a 60-minute time limit. There are NO "joke responses" among the choices. You have to know your stuff to achieve this certificate!
Please note that this Certificate is NOT a VATSIM Pilot Rating. The VATSIM Pilot Training Division does not currently officially recognize a rating for International and Oceanic flying, although a designation for one has been set aside for future expansion. If that changes, graduates of the VATSTAR Oceanic Certificate program will be contacted and advised what steps, if any, they must take at that point to convert their Certificate into an official VATSIM Pilot Rating. Anyone who wishes to enroll can visit us at VATSTAR.com. Questions about enrollment and access can be directed to hr@vatstar.com. Questions about the training material itself can be directed to cfi@vatstar.com. We look forward to serving your VATSIM Pilot Training needs. See you in the skies!
