Capital Christmas 2018
Featuring KDCA Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
December 8, 2018
2345-0400z (1900-2300E) (1600-2000P)

The Virtual Washington ARTCC is pleased to announce the return of Capital Christmas in 2018 featuring the Washington National Airport on Saturday, December 8. Capital Christmas represents our single largest KDCA event of the year and offers the opportunity to fly into the airport closest to the nation's capital. This comes with the challenge of close quarters for both aircraft in the air and on the ground as you navigate through the unique and cramped airspace of the Potomac Consolidated TRACON. We here at vZDC look forward to this event every year and we hope you do too. We'll see you there!


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Snowbird Migration

Featuring:
KJAX - Jacksonville International Airport
KATL - Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport
KDCA - Washington National Airport
KBWI - Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport

June 2, 2018 I 17-22E [21-02z, 14-19P]

This year has had been marked by an unusually long and cold winter which may have caused some Snowbirds to reconsider their typical April/May migration back up North. With June upon us and the official start of summer just a few weeks away it is time to bring the last of the Snowbirds Northward to begin their travels back to their summer homes.

Join the controllers of the Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Washington Virtual ARTCC's as we team up on June 2nd to bring the Southeast online for a Saturday Regional Event. We will be featuring KJAX, KATL, and KDCA/KBWI in order to allow pilots to fly the circuit between these airports bridging the gap between the south and northern parts of the country that are popular routes to connect passengers to the Northeast and beyond.

There are a variety of flights available across different airlines so we hope there is a flight available for you and hopefully the weather holds out!

Easier said than done?  Probably.  But, something to consider.

This is the gist of it. As the EC of an ARTCC that has on occasion been called out on this I can say that there is a methodology already being applied in the background.

The main problem breaks down into: a) controller retention and b) pilot satisfaction and these are at odds with each other quite often.

As an example. ZDC hosted KDCA for an event this year. We are always weary of this but it is something we get requested quite often. As luck would have it we were IMC North Ops. I mean it could be worse but not by much. We instituted holds in both the air and the ground. This was an extremely exhausting event.

I filtered among the staff and we decided that I was going to monitor aircraft entering the airspace within the event time and despite any holds we were going to give them service because, with the pilot's departure times, it was a reasonable expectation they would have made it to the airport without the holds and delays. We also cancelled the ground holds at ZNY with what I hoped was sufficient time and brought those aircraft in to the best of our knowledge.

This led to staff committing to be on with heavy traffic loads while our other controllers started falling away.  Ultimately I believe we were on around 45 minutes or so past the event time, with controllers fading away doubling down on increasing workload as coordination and airspace pickups now became an issue.

Once again, I have to reiterate, we were exhausted. I personally had not gotten out of my seat in five hours and my voice was hoarse. I was completely burnt out from controlling on VATSIM for a good while after that.

Now KDCA had a lot to do with this but we feel it is an airport worth cycling in every so often. I am glad NEC18 is next because this diversifies the traffic quite well for KDCA. What I can tell you is this background consideration of remaining on past the published event time did nothing to improve perceptions. In more than a few circles it was greeted with a lot of backlash. I think we even have our own phrase.

Could we staff controllers for after event relief? Of course. When we can we do. More controllers would be nice but it is not a reality every time. As someone who has done cleanup I can also say it is not necessarily enjoyable.

Could we have controllers agree to stay on longer than the posted event time? Yes, but I feel inevitably we'll just shorten the event time. It would be a false pretense as there is simply a limit to what we can take and often it is long past the point of enjoyment on our end. Our controllers are wanting to sign off at the end of the event time for a reason. We risk positive controller retention especially in the veteran controllers.

Anyhow just my two cents. I think I prattled on a bit here. This is a recurring discussion on our staff and I am sure other ARTCC's staff too. My thoughts on this is there just needs to be better acceptance of compromise and there is a hard limit on what we can do within the scope of a hobby before we start thinking about it as work. Most times it starts becoming like work is when the controllers leave.

Cherry Blossom Fly-In 2018
Featuring: KDCA Washington National Airport
March 31, 2018 I 1930-2300E [2330-03z, 1630-20P]

Join the controllers of the Virtual Washington ARTCC as we return to Washington National Airport for the Cherry Blossom Fly-In on March 31st. This yearly event is held during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC between the months of March and April. During this time Washington's cherry blossoms lining the National Mall are in full bloom and tourists from around the country come for the beautiful scenery and events.

The trees trace their roots back to 1912 when Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki donated them to the city of Washington DC as a sign of friendship. These trees were planted around the tidal basin off the national mall and a festival in celebration of the trees was begun in 1934.

Washington National is the preferred domestic airport for commuters and tourists alike for travel to the Washington Metro Area. The airport is only 3 miles south of the National Mall and due to this features a variety of scenic and unique approaches/departures for aircraft departing or arriving at the airport. It features a variety of flights from North American flights ranging from regional to transcontinental. We hope there is a flight for everyone and we look forward to seeing you there.

Friday Night Ops: Never Dull at Dulles 2017
Featuring: KIAD Washington Dulles International Airport
December 15, 2017 I 1830-2300E [2330-04z, 1530-20P]

vZDC's yearly flagship event, Never Dull at Dulles, returns in 2017 for VATUSA's Friday Night Operations. This year's Never Dull at Dulles will mark the occasion as its first appearance in the winter months. Pilots familiar with this event may see a new challenge in this yearly event as the typical temperate Washington DC Summer is replaced with a sometimes unforgiving and challenging December as FNO levels of traffic make their way in and out of the airport.

Dulles was originally planned by the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. The iconic terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen, remains one of the airports most recognizable features where it stood as a symbol of the airports modern construction for its time featuring high speed turn offs and instrument approaches on all of its new, long runways to accommodate the new jet era. Since then Dulles has continued to expand with new terminal construction, new runways, and more traffic as it works together with Washington National Airport and Baltimore/Washington Airport to meet the growing air travel demands of Washington DC. Today, Dulles serves as the primary international gateway for the greater Washington Metropolitan area as well as an important hub for transcontinental flights across the US where it boasted 22 million passengers in 2016.

vZDC ARTCC's controllers are pleased to be hosting Friday Night Ops for Never Dull at Dulles and we welcome pilots to enjoy any of the many domestic, international, cargo, and general aviation flights there are to choose from.

For our Christmas season event at Dulles we would like to remember that this event would not be possible without the tireless efforts of John McClane on Christmas in 1990. We'll keep the runway lights burning.

_{Edit:  Corrected date in calendar (USA1)}

Waterside Fly-In
April 2nd, 2017 17-20z (13-16E)(10-13P)

Join the controllers of the Virtual Washington ARTCC at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at Norfolk Intl Airport [KORF] for a springtime waterside event. On approach to Norfolk pilots will experience views of Virginia's eastern coastline as spring comes into full bloom with the beginning of April. With the seasonal transition, travel to the popular destinations of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and the Hampton Roads will increase the traffic at KORF as Virginia's 3rd busiest airport.

We'll be online at KORF for this Sunday fly-in from 13-16E (17-20z). There are many different types of flights to experience at Norfolk so we hope we'll see you there on April 2nd.

vZDC Washington ARTCC Presents
Never Dull at Dulles 2016
Featuring KIAD Washington Dulles Intl Airport
November 11, 2016
2345-0430z (1845-2330E) (1545-2030P)

vZDC Washington ARTCC is pleased to present our annual flagship event Never Dull at Dulles for VATUSA's Friday Night Ops. Join us on November 11th from 2345 to 0430z (1845-2330E) (1545-2030P) at Dulles International airport; Washington D.C.'s largest metropolitan airport. As such Dulles is a hub of international travel to/from the nation's capital as well as a focus point for domestic flights into and out of the Northeast and from coast to coast. Whatever flight and equipment you chose there will never be a dull moment at Dulles and we look forward to seeing you for this FNO.

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