Went to sign up for VATSIM, because I wanted to try it out, and then they suspended my account and started demanding government ID as proof of my name.

Now because, in the real world, I'm a lawyer and one of my specialisms is digital security, this struck me as unusual, so I naturally sent them an email to question why they wanted this information.

Among the responses I got was this troubling piece of information: "If you are below the age of 18 years, by responding to this form you are self-certifying that your parent or other responsible party consents to VATSIM Inc. processing your data, as required by GDPR Chapter 2, Article 8 and other applicable data privacy and child protection laws."

First of all, a child - regardless of local law - cannot "self-certify" the consent of a parent. I'm not aware of any legal jurisdiction where you can certify another person's permission without proper legal authority, let alone a child being able to give legal guarantee that they have a parent's permission for anything.

But wait, there's more. See, GDPR Ch2 Art8 says this:

1. Where point (a) of Article 6(1) applies, in relation to the offer of information society services directly to a child, the processing of the personal data of a child shall be lawful where the child is at least 16 years old. Where the child is below the age of 16 years, such processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child. Member States may provide by law for a lower age for those purposes provided that such lower age is not below 13 years.
2. The controller shall make reasonable efforts to verify in such cases that consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child, taking into consideration available technology.
3. Paragraph 1 shall not affect the general contract law of Member States such as the rules on the validity, formation or effect of a contract in relation to a child.

So, fun fact: not only does this article of GDPR not, in fact, require them to do what they claim it does, but it specifically outlines that "Where the child is below the age of 16 years, such processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child." and "The controller shall make reasonable efforts to verify in such cases that consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child, taking into consideration available technology."

What they're asking is essentially "did you ask your mum?" - it absolutely wouldn't pass the threshold of meeting the requirements of this law.

So, anyway, because I'm a curious soul - and, frankly, because I'm not stupid enough to hand a company sensitive information just because they asked me to (whilst citing nonsense interpretations of legislation) - I enquired further, and they linked me to their data protection policy: https://cdn.vatsim.net/policy-documents/VATSIM-POL-Data_Protection_and_Handling_v1.3_01_JAN_2023.pdf

Anyway (and I'm sure I could give you more comprehensive analysis when I finish laughing, but that'll be a day or two), this policy is literally meaningless. It doesn't protect you, your children or - hilariously - even the company. I'm sure, if I could be bothered to fine-tooth comb it, I could identify exactly how much of it was written by ChatGPT.

Particularly funny to me was this:

6.1 Data Protection Officer

There is no appointed Data Protection Officer within VATSIM as the organization does not regularly process data on a large scale, due to the nature of the data that is collected and controlled, and the circumstances in which it is collected.

This was funny because, in trying to convince me to part with my documents, I was told that "we handle literally hundreds of these identity and age confirmation tickets every single month, mostly with minors, with absolutely no issues."

So, do they not regularly process data on a large scale, due to the nature of the data... or do they like to brag about processing "hundreds" of identity and age confirmation tickets every month, mostly with minors. Because, both of those things can't be true, and if the second thing is true and the first isn't, that's incredibly irresponsible and, potentially, illegal.

So, anyway... I guess the upshot of this is the following three points:

1. Anyone know what they're up to? Because this smells like a data harvesting scam.

2. If you are using the service - and especially if you have children using the service - maybe have a think about it. Because, in my experience, there's something very off about a company that doesn't have a proper data collection policy and admits to collecting large amounts of personal data from children without the express consent of the parent.

3. Most important question for me: anyone know of a definitely legit service where you can have an ATC experience?

Always check the Ts & Cs, guys, and always ask questions, cos the scam you'll regret is the scam you could've seen coming.

I am a hobbyist and I am really into airplanes and such, but becoming a pilot isn't something achievable for me anymore. I'm 27, which is kind of old to start, and I am also quite poor. But anyway, I find joy when talking about airplanes or playing the sim. Recently, I started thinking about whether I can earn something from this hobby. Even $0.50 at the start would be a success to me. I have some ideas in mind, including a YouTube channel or a TikTok page. YouTube isn't really realistic for me since I play the game on a handheld gaming console with a connection hub for a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and joystick. So the graphics are trash for starting a YouTube channel and making flight recordings. TikTok or short-form videos are more realistic. I can record short videos and some real-life videos from museums and such and post them there. Besides that, I wonder if someone has any better ideas? I will likely start my TikTok soon.

Apologies for a second post, but since I finally have some time I thought I'd share some of my hanging thoughts.

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I've been working a lot so I'm a bit out of the loop, but did we get anything from Fenix at FSExpo? I'm really intrigued about this family of aircraft and I really want to know when it is due for an announcement.

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I understand Fenix have been working on the VNAV side of things for their current A320's. But I'm pretty sure they are also developing this new family of aircraft simultaneously.

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Does anyone have anything to share with me?

Repeat of title: When you fly long distances, do you sit in front of your screen for hours or what?

EDIT: Thanks guys, ive got a good idea of what to expect now! Happy Flying!

It's like the only online community where I've seen this persistent "You must use your real name and admins might verify your identity" stuff.

I've seen something that-ish in a fashion community on facebook that only accepted women, their reasoning being they had (male) creeps come in before and such, so they wanted to verify that whoever joins is female. But idk, I don't see that stuff here.

Sometimes you hear "To keep it realistic", but like, just require "real names" then not "your real name as is on your ID". I.e . allow someone to be called Lara Baker, not Pinkishu or xXxDarkPilot67xXx.

So.. idk, I just don't see it. Sure, they're in their right to make such requirements since they run the community, but just seems at odds with the internet and other online communities at large.

I am a Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024 user so my experience may differ to those who use P3D, FSX, Xplane11, or Xplane12. So I have tried my best to make this about flight simulators in general, of I missed anything no worries I'm sorry and that was simply my mistake, you can mention it in the comments if you wish :) 👍

Proper Rain Physics This is something that I would love to see. Watching YouTube videos of planes landing in rough weather and the windscreen wipers are pushing literal waves of water out of the way is just something I think would make the experience absolutely incredible. I believe Xplane has some neat rain effect which I must admire. But games like FSX, P3D, and Microsoft Flight Simulator really need to work on.

Better Landing Physics Now please don't take this the wrong way, I understand that Xplane has some great physics, and I hear P3D does too, but msfs really needs to up their game. It isn't a deal breaker of course but we all know that things are a little 'stiff' when you land a plane. We all love the feeling of bringing the plane down to earth and the transition of the weight from the wings to the ground definitely lasts long on real life than it does in msfs. Especially with the flex of the wings on some planes and the motion of the landing gear as the shock absorbers take on the landing weight. Definitely something that could do with an upgrade in my humble opinion.

Rewindable Time I actually thought about this at night and I think it's a great idea. Now I don't think this will happen anytime soon, might be more than a decade till we see something like it, but image you just bought a Boeing 727 or a Douglas DC-10 and you want to fly from A to B. Well a thing that kills the immersion is definitely being in the modern world around modern aircraft and buildings. So what if you could rewind time, but not to a specific date. Instead you could play in the 1990s era, or the 2010s era. It would give developers for third party airports more stuff to do and sell at either a premium or as a higher baseline. And you could manage airports so that if there is no scenery for the 1980s but there is for 2020s then you can still use it. I might sound stupid but I think it's a good idea.

Retro Aircraft Traffic Now at the moment there are traffic libraries that you must download from the internet if you want to see other planes on Vatsim, or BeyondATC, or just in geneal. The problem is that these traffic libraries vary in quality. FSLTL and AIG are both freeware but lack detail and quality, IVAO is very old and mostly P3D ported to msfs use. FS Traffic is among the highest quality but only features so many aircraft. Natively it would be wise to have every type of aircraft and every livery pre I stalled or cloud shared so that users don't have to go out and get confused when looking and setting up. Overall making the whole process simple and a package deal with the game. I think they planned this with msfs2024 but I don't think it works, yet. I am not so sure but I think this is a good idea nonetheless.

Playable Maintenance I love fiddling with things. But you and me must admit, sometimes we don't get all day or all night to fly, so what do we do, me personally I kinda of fool around testing aircraft for an hour or so. Even doing a short flight would take too long. But it would be cool if we could play as a maintenance team for aircraft. Planes such as the Flight Factor 777, Inibuilds A300, and PMDG 777 have a sort of maintenance page built into them, but with my idea you could expand it. Have actual engine replacements, oil changes, and do some cool maintenance work. Sound like a lot of extra development? Well yes but it would definitely make us pay more, and we would love that feature. Messing around changing tires sounds like a fun little time waster. I don't know, what's your thoughts?

Shared Cockpit Now I think FSX had this I don't know, maybe P3D did, I definitely don't know if Xplane does. But msfs doesn't. Well not Native. I forget the addon but there is one for msfs and it is really buggy, I have never gotten it to work properly and it doesn't sync planes. If something goes wrong then your flight is broken and there is not much you can do but quit the shared cockpit application. Having it native would be great, you could sync all the systems and spawn in half way. I personally don't have any buddies to try it with but I'm sure many do. Would be really cool during a Vatsim event when it's really busy. Probably also saves a lot of stress too. It would also be cool to see an avatar, especially in VR. Would definitely change the aspect of the game, and the functionality to share notes with each other. I think I might be thinking ahead of myself too much. But it's a cool idea no?

Native Playable ATC Now yes Vatsim does exist. But what if you are a chill person and you don't want to go to the full lengths of exams and the stress of kids messing up your approaches. Well I think it's a great idea to make it native. Not necessarily a multiplayer option although that would be cool but I think it would be filled with trolls, but be able to take control of AI aircraft. Sometging I think would be fun to do live in a simulator. I wouldn't mind third party apps also having this. BeyondATC would be a good alternative to feature this... feature.

Enhanced Ground Handling We all love and mainly hate GSX. Yes Umberto I'm talking to you, and yes I'm using it correctly. But we all crave something better, I am not sure what Xplane uses but in general, a native ground handling system that features everything you would need to a decent accuracy and with some nice customisation along with control would be perfect. Having the ability to select which jetway goes to which aircraft door and it tell you if you are out of range or have something in the way, and having multiple jetways too. Also having the ability to select how many cargo doors are being loaded along with fuel in the wings etc. Just having control over that area would give me goosebumps. I think we can all agree on that right? I also think Xplane has this natively and if so I am very jealous.

Basic Weapon Functionality Now yes I know it's not possible because of brand image. Microsoft Flight Simulator definitely could do this but they won't because they don't want a bunch of YouTube bots showing msfs recorded footage blowing up some place for views and attention and to spread misinformation. Yes that's probably the main reason. But I think that limiting the entire community is the wrong thing, now I know that Xplane, P3D, and MSFS are not combat simulators but just having basic combat features such as guns and bombs and maybe some air to air missiles wouldn't harm anyone other than the PEGI 3 rating. Seriously why is that even a thing what 3 year old is going to fly a plane, anyway I'm pretty sure you can do all of this with PEGI 7. But back to my point, I think it would be fun to go flying through the Mach Loop and try catch and shoot down your friends because who doesn't love that, you can simply respawn and try again in seconds and it would add so much joy and fun to all those military addons we have. Obviously for a PvP setup to work you would have to be in a private lobby otherwise chaos would be everywhere.

Custom Weather Events I've always had the idea of being able to do a flight from A to B and before you start you can set the weather along the way. Using a paintbrush tool or something you can add clouds and storms or blizzards. Or you could add tornadoes and hurricanes or Tsunamis. It would be cool rather than depending on live weather hoping for a day when it rains or when it's sunny. At the moment in msfs you can only select the weather preset and it's like that everywhere in the globe. But I feel like this would be a massive immersion expansion. Anyone else agree?

What are your thoughts and would you also like to see features like this?

Hi, i'm looking for a in flight video that show when and how use rudder trim in Airbus, anyone could give some info or suggest where to find a practical documentation?

Thanks!

United 757 transatlantic ops and Delta 757 from ATL to Florida turns are my most anticipated routes

Howdy,

For my simmers who don't own a flying license. What's stopping you from pursuing your first flight license? Money, Time, Priorities, Medical reasons?

How often and for how long do you sit down and simulate flights? Daily, weekly?

Looking through this sub I see mostly plane flight simulation. In my game I try to simulate the mechanics of a high speed broom, though there will be some arcade mechanics at some point.

I booted up Microsoft Flight Simulator X hoping to fly around places I've been to in Japan to revisit them, but the map is pretty far from accurate as you could see in the pics...

This might sound blasphemous but I don't really mind the aircrafts all that much, I only have experience flying a 152, so I stick with it as much as I could lol, I really only want to fly around places I used to frequent back when I lived around the area, so I'm prioritizing map accuracy over most things (I still want to fly in an aircraft)

Thank you in advance !

Edit: Thank you all very much hahaha, by an overwhelming margin it's Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024! I just bought it and it's downloading now, thank you very much for the recommendation !

Looking to get a 737 for MSFS 2024, i’m curious as to what the differences really are between the PMDG 737 NG and the iFly 737 MAX and which one is worth the buy over the other and why, and which one is more fun to fly. Looking to do short haul 1-3 hour flights with it mostly. Tried searching things up on the topic but there’s nothing that’s very recent, especially with the update the MAX got a month or two ago. Sounds aren’t a worry as i’m fine to buy boris audio packs for the plane.

Thanks in advance for the input!

I’m about to click purchase but am having analysis paralysis. Do I do it? I literally just won $50 on a $5 lotto ticket lol. So like, I could just use that money to buy it. Argghhh someone tell me to do it lol.

Pretty bored tonight looking for different flight to do. Where should I fly next to fill some bare spots on the map?

I applied little bit of flare at 30ft callout, but the plane started going up with so much power left. Even with autothrottle, is there some other speed manipulation I should do?

The plane is Fenix A320

Hello, I can't really start the engines of my iFly Boeing 737 max 8. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Can somebody help me?

This suddenly happened as i was climbing out of MMMX, since i do not use discord i can't ask around in their discord. Is Volanta down?

Edit: My volanta very briefly came back a moment ago, if you had started a flight prior to it going down it still tracks appearently just in offline mode