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  • Houston and Friends Live: June 21, 2019

[21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live

Bryan Oates

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[21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live
« on: March 22, 2019, 04:50:45 PM »


It's the most wonderful time of the year...

No, it's not Christmas. It's time for Houston and Friends Live! Join ZHU, ZTL, and ZFW controllers for the most magical weekend in June. Traditionally, ZHU and ZFW controllers have controlled the FNO from a single venue. This year, ZHU, and ZTL controllers will gather in Houston, and ZFW will have an additional venue in the Dallas Fort Worth area to create additional opportunity for attendance.
 
With record numbers of nearly 50 controllers under one roof last year, we're hoping this year will be bigger and better than ever!

The fun runs from 1900-2300 Central June 21st 2019 (2359-0400z)

For more information on the Houston venue, email [email protected].  Contact details for the Fort Worth will be available soon.

Matthew Kosmoski

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Re: [21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2019, 02:05:04 PM »
All-

Quick update since I know we have folks wondering about the hotel situation:  We have a venue selection made, but I'm waiting for the final contract with the hotel to come back for signatures before sending out the details.  Block rooms will be available at the event hotel for $89/night from Thursday the 20th through Sunday the 23rd as part of the deal.

For those who are looking for approximate location, the hotel is on the Northwest side of town, along US 290, just inside of Beltway 8.

Matthew Kosmoski

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Re: [21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2019, 08:21:31 AM »
Venue information is now available: https://www.zhuartcc.org/forum/index.php?topic=50.0

Matthew Kosmoski

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Re: [21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2019, 03:19:58 PM »
We have a large number of the in-person attendees accounted for.  If anybody is in Houston and we haven't made contact, please let me know at [email protected]!

We'll be in the room in about a half hour for initial setup, and we should be ready for workstation setup at ~5PM.

Don Desfosse

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Re: [21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2019, 04:14:44 PM »
Wishing you guys a great event!
Don Desfosse
Vice President, Operations, VATSIM (VATGOV2)
Division Director Emeritus, VATUSA

Danny Moore

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Re: [21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2019, 07:38:38 AM »
Thanks for the great ATC from the folks at ZFW ARTCC on getting the traffic in and out. It was pretty busy at times. The only complaint which I heard on the channel which wasn't directed at me but to another pilot was from DFW ground. According to the charts the 747-8 is restricted to the west side and can NOT taxi over the bridges for the 17's. The pilot tried to explain this and the ground controller popped an attitude and said if he didn't like it, he could disconnect. I've been on Vatsim for almost 20 years now and this was totally uncalled for by the controller. To make matters worse it was live on twitch. And you wonder why some folks avoid Vatsim. If your going to control ground, please know the restrictions. Certain airports have clear taxi routes, DFW, SDF, etc that clearly state 747-8 approved routes. If not then why bother make this as real as possible experience.

Matthew Kosmoski

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Re: [21 JUNE 2019] Houston and Friends Live
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2019, 01:00:15 PM »
Thanks for the great ATC from the folks at ZFW ARTCC on getting the traffic in and out. It was pretty busy at times. The only complaint which I heard on the channel which wasn't directed at me but to another pilot was from DFW ground. According to the charts the 747-8 is restricted to the west side and can NOT taxi over the bridges for the 17's. The pilot tried to explain this and the ground controller popped an attitude and said if he didn't like it, he could disconnect. I've been on Vatsim for almost 20 years now and this was totally uncalled for by the controller. To make matters worse it was live on twitch. And you wonder why some folks avoid Vatsim. If your going to control ground, please know the restrictions. Certain airports have clear taxi routes, DFW, SDF, etc that clearly state 747-8 approved routes. If not then why bother make this as real as possible experience.

Depends on what you're reading.  The FAA airport remarks only state "B747-8 AND A380 OPS ONLY AUZD ON RYS 18R/36L AND 18L/36R, CONTACT ARPT OPS FOR ADDNL INFO."  The Jepp charts may say more, but not everybody has them, nor can we expect all pilots and controllers to have or use them.

That being said, do you know where the aircraft started?  I can tell you we've run in to similar where somebody spawned in a location the aircraft couldn't have gotten to with the weight restrictions, then got uppity with us when we gave them taxi instructions that were "invalid" -- but there were no alternatives unless he wanted to respawn elsewhere (and he didn't) :-)  In this case, for all we know, the scenery could have predated that remark, anyhow.  Would it still be valid, then?  We don't give people too much trouble for having outdated ORD or CLT scenery, so why would we do it here, when they're missing entire runways.

Remember, guys, sometimes there have to be compromises made for usability and to work around situations that crop up.  Not everything can exactly mirror real-world.