Stop bars in vatSys

1. Be online. Connect your position first - claiming while offline is refused.
2. Add your airport. Type the ICAO and click Add (or press Enter). Its ground layout draws on the map with the bars marked. Up to 6 airports at once - click an airport in the tree to switch the map to it.
3. Claim a runway. Tick it under the airport in the tree. Untick to release. Apron and taxiway bars sit under APRON (shared) - a claim several controllers can hold at the same time, and it has no THL. See APRON.
4. Set a bar. Left-click it on the map - red (hold short) or dark (dark). Only works on runways you hold.
5. Pin a bar. Ctrl + left-click toggles it and pins it (marked *) so Auto leaves it alone. A plain left-click releases the pin.
6. Remove an airport. Select it in the tree and press Delete. Every claim there is released.

Bar	Meaning
Red	Hold short - do not cross.
Dark (off)	No restriction from this bar. There is no green state.

A tick that clears itself = refused

The tree shows only your own claims and gives no error message. If a tick clears a moment later, then one of these is true:

• Your token is missing or wrong.
• Someone else already holds that runway.
• Your position is not eligible there.

One controller per runway - see who can claim what.

• The pin is local to your window. It is not sent to the server. Other controllers cannot see it. It is forgotten on restart.
• Live traffic: green dots are moving, blue dots are stationary. Each is tagged with its callsign.
• A green ring means that pilot is running XPGuard, so they see your bars.
• Navigate the map: zoom with the mouse wheel. Pan by dragging with the right or middle button.

Give it a second

A claim or a toggle takes a few seconds to show. Don’t click repeatedly.

Closing the window releases nothing

Closing the window only hides the view. Your claims stay held, the heartbeat keeps them alive, and an armed THL keeps driving the lights.

To let go, do one of these:

• Un-tick the runway (or its THL node).
• Disconnect from VATSIM.
• Close vatSys.

On a disconnect, claims drop a few seconds later - so a quick reconnect keeps them.