Getting Online With AirWeGo and IVAO

ON LINE FLYING WITH AIRWEGO AND IVAO

Flying on line is a great way of doing your flights and it usually provides you with the ATC 'live' and therefore you are talking to real people and they are giving you instructions as you fly along just as happens with real pilots. It brings an extra dimension to your flying so go for it and enjoy the experience!

TUTORIAL

OK there a few steps you will have to carry out to enable you to get 'on line' and fly with 'real ATC' We hope this next section will be of some use.

First of all you need to go to http://www.ivao.org/hq/ and join IVAO making sure you keep a copy of your VID number and password. (you cannot change the password so don't try!)

Getting the 'kit'

A good noise suppressing mike or better still a headset and mike. These can be purchased starting at £15 from places like Dixons/PCWorld. Do not get cheepo's as they are a waste of money and you will regret not getting a mid to top range set up.

You will need the following pieces of software from the web.

1. IvAp at: http://www.ivao.org/softdev/ and download the IvAp client. When you click to download it a new screen appears. You will also need to download the Base Package found under the heading MTL Downloads. This base package consists of a number of aircraft that is required by IVAO so you can see them whilst on line. The other packages are for more aircraft and liveries. These files are exe files so they install the software automatically. Just follow the prompts!

2. ServInfo at: http://www.avsim.com/hangar/utils/servinfo/ This software enables you to see who is on line and test connections and a lot more besides.

3. Teamspeak at: http://www.goteamspeak.com/downloads.php You will need to download the client not the server software. This software is the voice connection you will require so you can speak to others on line.

Connection

ServInfo acts as a stand alone program so you can use it anytime you are connected to the internet.

Start up Flight Simulator. Once running you will see IVAO has appeared on the top menu bar.

Before connecting to IVAO you must choose your aircraft and departure airport. Please ensure that your aircraft is at a gate or parking area. Never connect to IVAO when on the runway.

It is best to choose a panel to suit the aircraft you will be flying and that you are familiar with as there is nothing worse than being given vectors and you have to start searching for the required gauges!

Click on IVAO on the menu bar at the top. A new choice appears underneath saying Start. Click on this. A small sequence of events now takes place. First of all a box appears.

fig 1

fig 2

and then it tells you that Flight simulator is connecting to a multiplayer situation. OK now you click on the 'conn' button in the box and this connects you to the live session on IVAO and the orange word changes from 'OFFLINE' to 'ONLINE'. A new box appears. Complete the boxes as required and press OK. You will notice near the bottom there is box called 'Server'. This is a box with a drop down menu and should give you a list of servers that are available. Never choose IVANBR as it is a very poor connection from Brazil.

fig 3

Your next task is to click on the button on the right hand side next to the word 'MAIN'. This then changes what is inside of the black box. Main disappears and up the top right hand corner you will see the word 'ACARS'

fig 4

fig 5

You will notice in the picture below that there are now several choices you can make. All are self explanatory but if you are not sure then try it and see what it might or might not do. A good way to learn I think!

fig 6

In fig 6 you will see a choice on the right hand side called 'send flightplan' Click on the button next to it. Click on 'Send Flightplan' The main flight plan box appears, fig 6a, and you need to fill in the boxes as required. Once the plan is filled out and sent then the ATC controllers are aware of your intentions as they can see your plan.

fig 6a

Fig 7 is to show you two choices that you need to make once your flightplan is sent and you are nearly ready to fly. Push back is self explanitory. The squawk mode is used when you are told to 'squawk mode charlie' ( this normally happens when you are instructed to enter the runway and line up) Once told to squawk mode charlie then you need to click on the area to the right called IDENT. This flashes your code to the controller. It needs to be done once only. Where you see the number 1200, that is where your squawk code will be that you enter on your panel.

fig 7

To send a message to another pilot then you go to the text box at the bottom and type in .msg <pilot number><message> <return>

To use teamspeak with IVAP, go to an airport that has ATC, in the ivap module RIGHT-click on the active freq (top left button), select the ATC by LEFT-clicking, and you will join that frequency. (See fig 4). Teamspeak should automatically connect you to the atc also...voila..thats all you really need to know about the ivap module, there is more but you can read the manual at the www.ivao.org site, it should be under departments/software development/pilot clients/ the manual should be downloadable.

If its not there then go to the departments/training section, it should be in there!

For general info on what to say and do on line then have a look at this site:- http://www.homepages.mcb.net/bones/04fs/MP/ATC1.htm