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VATSIM S1/S2 practice between mentored sessions

July 17, 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026 · Independent practice guide · US/FAA-flavored examples

TL;DR — THE SHORT VERSION

S1 practice: Delivery and Ground clearances, taxi routes, hold-shorts and readbacks.
S2 practice: Tower decisions, runway occupancy, departure and arrival order, and go-arounds.
Your division decides which positions you may control and how you train. Use these solo drills to repeat the basics between its official sessions.

VATSIM's controller guide describes S1 as the first rating for locally defined aerodrome positions and S2 as the rating for the full aerodrome service. Your division's syllabus and local procedures are the authority. ProjectATC offers repeatable solo exercises; it does not grant a VATSIM rating or replace mentored training.

S1: Delivery and Ground fluency

Delivery and Ground combine procedure with listening under load. Practise one clearance at a time until you can issue it completely and check the readback before moving to the next aircraft. Focus on:

The full IFR clearance, in order, without dead air — the CRAFT structure — including the altitude form the chart demands: climb via SID, except maintain, or plain maintain. Saying the wrong one is the classic written-test and frequency error.
Taxi routing with explicit hold-shorts — and knowing that every runway crossing needs its own clearance.
Catching bad readbacks. This is the skill that separates trainees: the pilot may read back the wrong squawk or omit a hold-short. Catch the difference and correct it before the aircraft moves.

WHAT A CLEAN S1 EXCHANGE SOUNDS LIKE “Delta two thirty-one, cleared to Atlanta, ZZOOO Four departure, Gila Bend transition, then as filed. Climb via SID. Departure frequency one one niner point six, squawk four seven zero one.” — and when the pilot reads back “squawk four seven one zero”: “Delta two thirty-one, negative, squawk four seven zero one.”

S2: runway separation and sequencing

At Tower, arrivals and departures share the runway. Practise runway separation, line up and wait, and go-arounds while checking where each aircraft is and how long the runway remains occupied. A five-mile final is not an automatic departure window: speed, runway occupancy and the departure's readiness decide whether the gap is usable. When unsure, hold the departure and protect the arrival.

Solo drills by skill

Rating skill	How to drill it solo
IFR clearances, all three altitude forms	Read real charts, say the clearance out loud, against a timer. Guide: climb via SID.
Taxi + hold short + crossings	Airport diagram open, pick gate → runway, speak the route. Guide: taxi instructions.
Readback error detection	Use a study partner or a simulator with spoken readbacks, including occasional errors.
Sequencing, LUAW, go-arounds	Single-runway airport, moderate traffic, refuse bad gaps. Guides: Tower 101, KSAN primer.
ATIS discipline	Take a real METAR, write the broadcast, check every element. Guide: write an ATIS.

For a short KSAN practice block, begin with Guided Aerodrome to learn the controls. Then run a low-traffic Delivery or Ground shift and check each readback. Finish with Tower: hold a departure while an arrival lands, then compare your decisions with the debrief. Repeat one weak step before increasing traffic.

Preparation before a mentored session

Speak out loud when you practice. Phraseology lives in the mouth, not the eyes — everyone discovers this on their first live frequency.
Readback errors are yours to catch. Treat every pilot readback as a checksum, not a formality. On the network, human pilots get it wrong constantly.
Say the whole instruction or don't key up. Half-transmissions (“Delta two thirty-one… uh, standby”) read as being behind the aircraft.
Know your airport before the session — the SIDs and their clearance forms, the taxiway names, which exits arrivals actually take. Mentors notice preparation in the first two minutes.
Don't fear the go-around. Sending one around because the gap collapsed is a correct decision, and examiners grade it as one. Hesitating is the error.

Common mistakes

Studying the written material but never speaking — then spending three mentor sessions building basic fluency, which leaves less time for position-specific work.
“Climb via SID” on a chart with no published restrictions (or “maintain” on one with a published top altitude) — the classic clearance-altitude mix-up.
Issuing a crossing implicitly. “Taxi to the ramp via Bravo” across a runway is an incursion waiting to happen; the crossing is its own clearance.
LUAW as a reflex instead of a plan. Line up and wait needs an exit strategy — what departs, behind what, before which arrival.

Not affiliated with VATSIM. Divisions and facilities differ — your local syllabus, policies and phraseology standards (FAA, CAA, ICAO…) always win over anything written here. Examples above are US/FAA-flavored.

Moving on to terminal radar? Use the ILS vectoring guide to practise the final vector, until-established altitude and Tower handoff.

Use KSAN for additional practice

ProjectATC lets you practise Delivery, Ground and Tower at KSAN with spoken pilot readbacks and a session debrief. Create a free account, then choose Guided Aerodrome or a position to work on. No install or payment card is required.

PRACTISE AT KSAN FREE