JHB Online at IVAO

Flying with active ATC in IVAO  

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IVAO UK Website

IVAO - Current UK Activity

UK ATC

HC Activity

Flying online with IVAO

To fly online with IVAO you need to install IVAp, the IVAO Virtual Pilot Client software. Assuming you have installed the software and have run through the correct set up procedures here is a guide as to what happens.

Before connecting

There are just two things that you MUST do before the temptation to hit the CONNECT button overcomes you.

Make sure you are not sitting on a runway - you must be sitting at a gate or somewhere well clear of the runways and taxiways. It's obvious really - as soon as you connect your aircraft would appear on radar screens (and to other pilots) sitting on the runway. If the airport is busy it would spoil their day a bit. Be considerate and park somewhere safe.

Fill in the Flight Plan boxes to inform other users of your intentions. This may be new to you but most of the boxes are self explanatory. If it is just for a test then type "Testing only" in the remarks box. That way you can go online and play with the various settings without being disturbed by others. You may see other aircraft moving around but no one should pay you any attention.

What do you see when you connect? 

Your AI aircraft will be gone but if you see other aircraft moving around they will be other online users instead of artificial traffic. It will probably be very quiet until you tune your radio to the correct airport frequency. Just like the real world the radio is divided up into frequencies and so it will not spring into life until you tune to an active ATC frequency. You can therefore take things nice and slowly and get used to the functions of the software. Do not taxi though - either disconnect or you will have to ask ATC for permission.

Where is ATC?

As soon as you hit the Connect button don't expect to be inundated with radio chat and controllers barking at you!.

To listen to ATC you first have to tune into the correct frequency. The ATC panel will actually show you any ATC units that are active so you always know just how much ATC is available. There may be a few UK airports active or there could be none at all - it depends very much on the time of day you connect. Generally it is quieter during the day and busy in evenings and at weekends.

Some useful rules

There are a few rules for online ATC but most are simple common sense. I've already mentioned the prime one of not starting up on a possible active runway. Others are:

Don't be worried by ATC. We all do this for fun and ATC are well aware that there are a lot of beginners around - which applies to ATC too!

If you don't understand what ATC have said then do not be afraid to ask him to repeat a message. "Say again" is a well used phrase!

Keep all calls to ATC short. If you talk a lot it can spoil the fun for other pilots because you stop everyone else from passing messages. Apart from that it is all too easy to get tongue tied if you try to say a lot in one go.

IVAO automatically puts real world weather into FS as soon as you connect. Whilst this is a good thing do accept that some evening you log on the weather may be outside your capabilities! The only solution here is to move somewhere the weather is better.

Choose flights carefully. By this I mean relative to your knowledge of the procedures that would be required for that flight in an ATC environment. VFR flights should be no problem but, conversely, if you elect to fly an Airbus IFR into Hamburg be aware that you could possibly be asked to conform to the procedures the real flight might expect. If you can fly SID's and STAR's you'll do just fine..

Pick up the radio "patter" by listening to what others do or by listening to the ATC instructions more carefully in the default ATC. This patter is quite rigid so it does not take long to build up an adequate list of phrases for most of your flights.

Installing IVAO on a LAN (courtesy of Peter Dodds)

Assuming you have installed IVap and MTL on both PCs, and do not have fixed IP addresses on your network, the startup sequence is a bit odd, but I sussed it tonight and checked that it works every time, which it does.

1) Obtain IP addresses of FS PC

2) Obtain IP address of Remote PC

3) Open Ivap Configuration application on FS PC

4) Select Network & Multi PC tab

5) Untick Single PC Setup, if ticked

6) Set up Ivap Configuration on FS PC with the network addresses as follows: -

	The IP of Flight Simulator PC should be set to 127.0.0.1
	The IP of Network Interface PC should be set to 127.0.0.1
	The IP of User Interface PC should be set to that obtained in 2) above

7) Open Ivap Configuration application on remote PC

8) Select Network & Multi PC tab

9) Untick Single PC Setup, if ticked

10) Set up Ivap Configuration on remote PC with the network addresses as follows: -

	The IP of Flight Simulator PC should be set to that obtained in 1) above
	The IP of Network Interface PC should be set to that obtained in 1) above
	The IP of User Interface PC should be set to 127.0.0.1

11) On FS PC start Ivap - Network Interface application from the Start/All Programs list.

12) On Remote PC start Ivap - User Interface application from the Start/All Programs list

13) Start FS

14) Start Ivap from the FS IVAO menu (The Ivap panel will NOT appear on the FS PC if you have done things correctly up to now)

15) Connect to IVAO on the remote PC IVap User Interface panel

Note that it is important to start FS only as the antepenultimate step, not first as in Vatsim and PCI.

An improvement I have made since is to give each of my networked PCs fixed internal IP addresses. 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.3 etc. This means that after the initial setup, only steps 11 onwards are necessary.

Firewall Settings

To see other aircraft online (and for other users to see you) it is necessary to have certain data ports open. Most antivirus software will block all ports unless you specifically set it to open them.

The following list shows the ports required to be open with the various FS programs:

JHB Chat Channel

IVAO have provided JHB with a discreet JHB_CC channel for private voice coms.

To connect to the JHB_CC channel you need to do the following:

Open Teamspeak.
Click Connection and then Connect.
This should bring up your local address book.
Fill in the following boxes only:
Label: JHB_CC Server
Address: cc.ts.ivao.aero
Nickname: Your JHB Pilot ID (e.g JHB123)
Login Name: Your IVAO VID (e.g. 137512)
User Password: Your password
Default Channel: JHB_CC

When finished click on Connect and you should automatically log in to the VA server and should also go directly to the JHB_CC channel.

Whilst on JHB_CC you still have the ability to text on the Unicom channel.

Do not try to manually switch to JHB_CC whilst an active ATC frequency is still set in COM1 as it may lock FS up - always tune your COM1 to 122.800 first, then change channel in Teamspeak.

John Woodside HC JHB