46
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47
Events / Events: Tell us your thoughts!
« on: September 13, 2018, 07:23:41 AM »
Good Morning from the VATUSA Events Department!
A lot of event work gets done behind the scenes between my office and the ARTCC's. Sometimes I forget that there is the rest of you all out there! I am reaching out to hear your comments/opinions/suggestions for VATUSA events.
Are the events monthly adequate to what you would like to see?
FNOs: Are the times working out so there is ATC online when you want to get in? or take off?
Is there certain types of events you would like to see more?
These above are just some quick questions I thought of, please ask ANYTHING you would like. I look forward to what the community has to say!
A lot of event work gets done behind the scenes between my office and the ARTCC's. Sometimes I forget that there is the rest of you all out there! I am reaching out to hear your comments/opinions/suggestions for VATUSA events.
Are the events monthly adequate to what you would like to see?
FNOs: Are the times working out so there is ATC online when you want to get in? or take off?
Is there certain types of events you would like to see more?
These above are just some quick questions I thought of, please ask ANYTHING you would like. I look forward to what the community has to say!
48
The Control Room Floor / Re: ARTCC Requests
« on: September 08, 2018, 10:28:32 AM »Good mroning,
I am currently flying from Dallas Love (KDAL) to Atlanta (KATL). Memphis center logged on and sent me a contact-me. My flied cruise altitude is FL390. I am over 200 miles from my top of descent (T/D) and the center controller instructed me to descend and maintain FL330. Upon questioning him on why I needed to descend to FL330. His response was "Per Atlanta Centers request". Now keep in mind, Atlanta Center is currently offline. I am looking at the real flight I am following and they have just started there descent, but they are also about 30 mins ahead of me. I responded back to center informing him that I would not be able to descend to FL330 due to the fact that I would be using my reserve fuel into Atlanta.So now I am cruising at FL370. Is there any reason why I would be instructed to descend so early? I do understand that there are certain LOAs, and SOPs. But this is a first.
As a good rule of thumb you should always plan for 45 minutes of reserve fuel plus contingency fuel (usually about 15-30 minutes extra). Descending from FL390 to FL330 should not cause a big difference in fuel burn for the remainder of the flight, sounds like you were a little low of fuel to begin with. Also when ATC issues a early descent its a good rule of thumb to "re-cruise" the FMC so go to CRZ page and put in FL330. This will change your TOD as well as your fuel burn for arrival, if this is not done this may cause errors in fuel burn for destination.
49
General Discussion / Re: Why flying your airplane well is the most important part of a successful FNO
« on: September 08, 2018, 07:53:59 AM »
What you guys all seem to be asking for -- discussion about communication, how to fly SIDs / STARs / Approaches, how to pilot a plane rather than program an FMC -- we have all of that on our site already. It's called the P4 rating. What we don't have is any compulsory reason anyone should take the P4. We could try to include it in the P1 course but why would we duplicate? Holding a P1 basically says you know (or have acknowledged, at least) how to connect to the network, that you aren't supposed to spawn on runways or taxiways, that you know how to figure out which controller you should be talking to, you have some idea how to handle it when your weather and/or scenery doesn't match everyone else's, and that you know you're not supposed to be chasing airliners with fighter jets. We can re-design our P1 to include the full gamut of IFR communication and procedure but then what purpose would the P4 serve?
What we lack -- and what has been discussed on this forum and VATSIM forums endlessly and without any change in status for at least eight years now -- is the ability to hold pilots accountable for any competency standards. What use is a P4 if no one takes it? Forget about VATSTAR -- look at the WORLDWIDE stats for the Pilot Training Division (http://ptd.vatsim.net/statistics). 387 pilots WORLDWIDE have a P4 rating. Even in the EXTREMELY optiistic hope that they are a subset of the 80,000 members who have been active in the last six months, that's less than half of one percent. If half of P4 holders are no longer active, then less than a QUARTER of a percent of active members have taken it.
Even for the P1, we're fighting a losing battle. PTD as a whole issued its 10,000th rating in February of 2017. We're now at 11,186. That's about 60 ratings per month. Based on the rate that new CID numbers are climbing, VATSIM gets around 2,500 new member registrations per month. That would mean less than three percent of new members enroll in a Pilot Rating. That assumes CID numbers are sequential; even if they're not, let's say the last digit is a checksum -- I have no idea. That's still 250 new registered members a month and 75% of them are not taking a Pilot Rating course.
We can do everything possible as far as outreach with our programs -- which as you all know, I passionately believe in, even if some of you think you could do it better. And if you can, then please, have at it -- I'm not in a competition. The more resources we have to improve pilot education on the network, the better -- and if someone comes up with better methods than ours, I'll certainly take note. But we are fighting a losing battle as long as it's completely voluntary. Until / unless VATSIM can come up with a plan to hold pilots accountable for a basic level of competency, this is what we will face at every FNO.And I'm still a bit sour following the whole attempted vatstar "premium" subscription model, personally. The fact that those words are still on the site at all is potentially misleading to unknowing students.For what it's worth, I agree with you. But at this point (seven months later), every reference to premium subscriptions SHOULD be gone off our website. If you see any I'm not seeing, by all means, email me screenshots, as I am as anxious as you to put that escapade behind us.
Robert,
I can tell you have the enthusiasm and dedication to help out pilots as a whole on the network, not that many people hold that trait so thank you in advance.
Unless something drastically changes up top in VATSIM where they require every new member to go through a P1 course, the voluntary participation will most likely be the same. So it got me thinking what can we do to get people interested in taking the course and bringing the numbers up?
I was browsing around your website and I saw this:
It looks like you have to go through P1, P2, P3 and so forth in that order right? I was looking around VATSIMs PTD website and see no mention of having to get their pilot ratings in that particular order. Why not allow students to pick what course suits them best? Some people come to VATSIM and only want to fly airliners, well then the IMHO P4 and P5 cater much more towards that realm. If I was a pilot who loved to fly VFR with the occasional IFR in my prop, then P2-P4 might be what I want. I know the pilot ratings were meant to be a little vague in what they cover because at the end of the day we do not know what a pilot is going to fly.
Also what I think would be cool to see is aircraft specific courses to some of the most popular add-ons available. This could have even a better benefit. Single pilot, in a airliner, using advanced RNAV procedures while trying to deal with ATC is no easy task. If there were courses available that taught how to fly a PMDG 737 into a FNO as a example the pilot probably would have a lot more time to focus on ATC and his charts while flying the airplane. I think pilots would get a kick out of flying around and showing off that they have a VATSIM officially issued B737 Type Rating.
Just some thoughts to think about!
Edit: Grammar
50
General Discussion / Re: Why flying your airplane well is the most important part of a successful FNO
« on: September 07, 2018, 06:21:00 AM »Ira,
I agree. I almost wonder if it would be worth while for VATUSA to open its own ATO. I know VATSTAR is out there, and they do a good job, but what if we had our own? Let the ARTCC's design a program, they know the airspace better than anybody. I tried to get ZOA setup with VATSTAR but it fell apart because we don't meet some of the requirements they've set for a few check rides. That's a shame because we offer some great airspace for learning. Our airports have advanced a little too far along the nextgen pipeline and decommissioned some of the legacy procedures they require, and I assume that is why I have not heard back.
Ryan,
I think you have a great idea of creating a in-house ATO at ZOA. Your absolutely right that your ARTCC's local knowledge of airspace, next gen procedures, would create a unique training environment. To be honest the training pilots would receive locally would trickle down to the rest of the ARTCCs. Most pilots don't only fly in one particular area, they might want to fly in or out of SFO as a example but they will touch other airports not in your ARTCC, this would be a win-win for everyone.
51
General Discussion / Re: Why flying your airplane well is the most important part of a successful FNO
« on: September 06, 2018, 11:37:39 AM »
I want to address a few things in this thread because from my perspective people are jumping to conclusions.
I believe Shane made this post to highlight the importance of aviate, navigate, communicate in terms of joining a localizer during a high traffic event such as a FNO. Maybe some of you took this as not a learning post, but a bitch post. Take a step back and realize we are all in this hobby to have fun and better enjoy ourselves with others. Maybe this is just a classic example of trying to visualize a person saying what is written, very hard to do and most of the time misread.
The point that Luke and Matt are making is that there has to be a certain level of expectation (or lack thereof) of a VATSIM pilot. I do not believe they are trying to say bad pilots are acceptable, no one wants bad pilots, but I do think they realize they have to extremely flexible when controlling. Does this mean going against FAA procedures such as airspace or SIDs/STARs to accomplish this? Yes if it gets the job done. Are they telling everyone else to do it that way, I don't think they are. All I think they are trying to is point out a realistic level of expectation of pilots on the network.
Pilot training is one of the current "hot topics" within the division. There are lots of ideas of floating around on how to accomplish this but it is a tremendous task, with so many varying ideas/concepts/executions. Maybe one day it will come to fruition, maybe not, for now we must be able to remain flexible with our membership. Every time I hop on the scope I follow RW procedures as the best of my ability and hope a pilot will have the knowledge, skill, airplane, sim to do the same. However I do not expect them to have any of that, this makes it extremely easier for me to not only enjoy my controlling session but I believe the pilot has a better experience that way as well. If I have time to help and educate that pilot I do that.
One thing I am going around to ARTCC's and offering is a way to have a dedicated room/channel in their TS or Discord for pilots who are flying in/out of that airspace to ask questions. If a controller online (or offline for that matter) has the time or wants to answer some questions what better way to engage the community then that? It is in real time, its your airspace, and both parties benefit from that. So I urge everyone to think outside the box a little to include their pilots who fly in their airspace often in some pilot/controller relations.
I believe Shane made this post to highlight the importance of aviate, navigate, communicate in terms of joining a localizer during a high traffic event such as a FNO. Maybe some of you took this as not a learning post, but a bitch post. Take a step back and realize we are all in this hobby to have fun and better enjoy ourselves with others. Maybe this is just a classic example of trying to visualize a person saying what is written, very hard to do and most of the time misread.
The point that Luke and Matt are making is that there has to be a certain level of expectation (or lack thereof) of a VATSIM pilot. I do not believe they are trying to say bad pilots are acceptable, no one wants bad pilots, but I do think they realize they have to extremely flexible when controlling. Does this mean going against FAA procedures such as airspace or SIDs/STARs to accomplish this? Yes if it gets the job done. Are they telling everyone else to do it that way, I don't think they are. All I think they are trying to is point out a realistic level of expectation of pilots on the network.
Pilot training is one of the current "hot topics" within the division. There are lots of ideas of floating around on how to accomplish this but it is a tremendous task, with so many varying ideas/concepts/executions. Maybe one day it will come to fruition, maybe not, for now we must be able to remain flexible with our membership. Every time I hop on the scope I follow RW procedures as the best of my ability and hope a pilot will have the knowledge, skill, airplane, sim to do the same. However I do not expect them to have any of that, this makes it extremely easier for me to not only enjoy my controlling session but I believe the pilot has a better experience that way as well. If I have time to help and educate that pilot I do that.
One thing I am going around to ARTCC's and offering is a way to have a dedicated room/channel in their TS or Discord for pilots who are flying in/out of that airspace to ask questions. If a controller online (or offline for that matter) has the time or wants to answer some questions what better way to engage the community then that? It is in real time, its your airspace, and both parties benefit from that. So I urge everyone to think outside the box a little to include their pilots who fly in their airspace often in some pilot/controller relations.
52
General Discussion / Re: Why flying your airplane well is the most important part of a successful FNO
« on: September 05, 2018, 07:09:06 AM »
Shane,
Very interesting to watch this video thanks for posting...I actually slowed it to 0.5x to try and study it more. I actually noticed something that seems to happen almost EVERY major VATSIM event. Reference 1:30 onward...
I do not know what splits you had going on, but it looks like it goes from controller H (bottom SW corner) and sometimes they keep them but others go to S (assuming south final). After the 1:30 mark the controller started having some pilots that you can tell were having a hard time. The final controller was starting to get overwhelmed either through bad pilots, voice lag issues, or just to many airplanes. However the airplanes still keep flooding in from feeder, you can even see some pilots were taken way outside the final box to the south to get re-sequenced. This is why inter-facility communication is crucial, I know many of us have the "gotta complete the mission" type of mentality and want to get everyone on the ground as quickly/safely as possible. This is a common problem across the network that the feeder controllers don't communicate that much with the final controller and leads to problems arising such as this. Wouldn't you agree that even with localizer overhsoots, failed approaches and go arounds that it would be much easier if at some point they held the handoffs just for a few minutes to fix the problems?
I have never worked up in ZMP so again I don't know your airspace and I completely understand why airspace is designed a certain way. When I watch this video I see a whole bunch of "black" areas where no aircraft ever goes, why not utilize this space? I know it is most likely because it is Departure or Satellite airspace and you all want to follow the procedures for realism. I think in this situation if you just bent the rules a little and used that space to give your final approach controllers a little more room this could of all been avoided.
I am in no way telling you guys how to control your airspace, you know it not me. What I am merely trying to do is give you all a different perspective when it comes to events. All of us controllers strive for realism and sometimes I think we expect to much sometimes and don't realize were dealing with people flying complex airplanes, by themselves, aging from 13 to ?? all with different varying levels of knowledge. At the end of the day whether your a pilot or controller on the network it is to have fun! It sounds like you had fun from this event which is great! Just don't lose sight that there will always be new people, there will always be challenges, and at the end of the day this is all a hobby that we have all come to love so lets just have fun!
Very interesting to watch this video thanks for posting...I actually slowed it to 0.5x to try and study it more. I actually noticed something that seems to happen almost EVERY major VATSIM event. Reference 1:30 onward...
I do not know what splits you had going on, but it looks like it goes from controller H (bottom SW corner) and sometimes they keep them but others go to S (assuming south final). After the 1:30 mark the controller started having some pilots that you can tell were having a hard time. The final controller was starting to get overwhelmed either through bad pilots, voice lag issues, or just to many airplanes. However the airplanes still keep flooding in from feeder, you can even see some pilots were taken way outside the final box to the south to get re-sequenced. This is why inter-facility communication is crucial, I know many of us have the "gotta complete the mission" type of mentality and want to get everyone on the ground as quickly/safely as possible. This is a common problem across the network that the feeder controllers don't communicate that much with the final controller and leads to problems arising such as this. Wouldn't you agree that even with localizer overhsoots, failed approaches and go arounds that it would be much easier if at some point they held the handoffs just for a few minutes to fix the problems?
I have never worked up in ZMP so again I don't know your airspace and I completely understand why airspace is designed a certain way. When I watch this video I see a whole bunch of "black" areas where no aircraft ever goes, why not utilize this space? I know it is most likely because it is Departure or Satellite airspace and you all want to follow the procedures for realism. I think in this situation if you just bent the rules a little and used that space to give your final approach controllers a little more room this could of all been avoided.
I am in no way telling you guys how to control your airspace, you know it not me. What I am merely trying to do is give you all a different perspective when it comes to events. All of us controllers strive for realism and sometimes I think we expect to much sometimes and don't realize were dealing with people flying complex airplanes, by themselves, aging from 13 to ?? all with different varying levels of knowledge. At the end of the day whether your a pilot or controller on the network it is to have fun! It sounds like you had fun from this event which is great! Just don't lose sight that there will always be new people, there will always be challenges, and at the end of the day this is all a hobby that we have all come to love so lets just have fun!
53
General Discussion / Re: Descent on STARs
« on: September 01, 2018, 09:30:57 PM »
Just another tip also - while your not cleared to descend without ATC clearance, you MUST comply with published speeds unless told otherwise.
All the RNAV arrivals into MSP have a note attached to the plate that reads:
TURBOJET AIRCRAFT DESCEND VIA MACH NUMBER UNTIL INTERCEPTING 280KT
MAINTAIN 280KT UNTIL SLOWED BY THE STAR
OR ASSIGNED BY ATC
Keep a close eye out for those notes on the charts no matter where you go.
Like others have said if in doubt, just ask!
All the RNAV arrivals into MSP have a note attached to the plate that reads:
TURBOJET AIRCRAFT DESCEND VIA MACH NUMBER UNTIL INTERCEPTING 280KT
MAINTAIN 280KT UNTIL SLOWED BY THE STAR
OR ASSIGNED BY ATC
Keep a close eye out for those notes on the charts no matter where you go.
Like others have said if in doubt, just ask!
54
News / Re: New York has a new EC!
« on: August 27, 2018, 08:04:07 AM »
Congrats! Anything you need let me know!
55
News / Re: Kansas City has a new Events Coordinator
« on: August 19, 2018, 07:26:35 PM »
Welcome to the crazy world of events! Anything you need let me know 
56
Come Fly With Me / Need ARTCC Support? Read here first!
« on: July 31, 2018, 10:58:56 AM »
Looking for ARTCC support for your group flight? Or for your Virtual Airline? We have a easy simple to use solution for you! Instead of trying to find ARTCC websites, staff emails, etc...Here at VATUSA we have a system that will make your job easier!
If you would like to get in contact with ARTCC staff the easiest/quickest way will be using the Support Ticket System on VATUSA.net
Here is a quick guide:
1. Go to VATUSA.net
2. Click on Support - Open New Ticket
3. From the pull down menu select ARTCC
4. Select EC from the staff menu
5. If no EC is in position select other staff or Unassigned to send to all staff
6. Write message
If anyone has any questions or concerns feel free to contact me directly at vatusa5@vatusa.net or reply to this thread.
Thank you!!
If you would like to get in contact with ARTCC staff the easiest/quickest way will be using the Support Ticket System on VATUSA.net
Here is a quick guide:
1. Go to VATUSA.net
2. Click on Support - Open New Ticket
3. From the pull down menu select ARTCC
4. Select EC from the staff menu
5. If no EC is in position select other staff or Unassigned to send to all staff
6. Write message
If anyone has any questions or concerns feel free to contact me directly at vatusa5@vatusa.net or reply to this thread.
Thank you!!
57
News / Re: ZLA's New Event Coordinator - Rory Hennessy
« on: July 15, 2018, 09:23:44 PM »
Congrats!!
58
News / Re: New Data Services Manager for VATUSA
« on: July 11, 2018, 09:12:33 AM »
Congrats! Welcome aboard
60
The Classroom (Controller Tips) / Re: Creating Sweatboxes!
« on: June 25, 2018, 07:12:01 AM »
Awesome post like always Derek!
Derek's sweatbox files are great!! And I see other ARTCC's do similar stuff which is great!
One big thing we tried one time on ZTL was we had Derek run a file at BHM and we had about 4 S3's in training join us in the room. We did more of a group session then a traditional 1 on 1 session, the feedback we got was excellent. Now I know this won't work for every situation as some 1 on 1 training is needed, but if ARTCC's started doing this more wouldn't it relieve a lot of resources off your training staff? It would be better to train 4 people at once at times thus increasing efficiency. Just something to think about, or maybe you are already doing it!
Derek's sweatbox files are great!! And I see other ARTCC's do similar stuff which is great!
One big thing we tried one time on ZTL was we had Derek run a file at BHM and we had about 4 S3's in training join us in the room. We did more of a group session then a traditional 1 on 1 session, the feedback we got was excellent. Now I know this won't work for every situation as some 1 on 1 training is needed, but if ARTCC's started doing this more wouldn't it relieve a lot of resources off your training staff? It would be better to train 4 people at once at times thus increasing efficiency. Just something to think about, or maybe you are already doing it!