Dan Perrone

Very true, abc, but not the topic at hand. TEX and GUC are nice airport,s but they are uncontrolled. The point of featured airports is to advertise what will be available as controlled. This is not preventing pilots from flying to these other fields, I saw plenty do it earlier this year.

I would like at least a month's notice for an RC event addition. I've got school coming up and with trying to find a job being my only full-time occupation at the moment, I'm not exactly a couch potato with tons of free time.

We would definitely welcome that. I haven't got any other SOP books ready yet, specifically some documents I am working up for places like New York and Washington Centers, but the general check on our controlling would be nice. We do train to the 7110.65T, and while we do make some exceptions to allow for limitations in the simulator, it should all sound legal. Having some knowing ears to pick out what's still off would be of great help. There are still just some things that can only be learned through proper experience in real life, of that I am convinced.

That sounds good to me as well. I'll put it forward in the next ATC meeting I have this Sunday and we'll get something going. And if your Dad wishes to join as regular ATC, we'll be glad for the help and experience he will bring to the table! Even further, I'd be grateful for any true life help in making our calls and SOPs as realistic as possible. I'll keep this filed in the back of my mind for some other ideas we are working on, definitely!

I was unable to join in on the first ET, but I had a blast today flying from Manchester to Heathrow. The new procedures and vastly different phraseology definitely are the biggest draws for me. I am always looking to challenge myself and my aircraft, and Europe is allowing me to do so with the added bonus of different scenery. I can't wait for the next one, even if I must admit I'd likely be a controller then :)

I've heard this before. Usually means "There's nothing really WRONG, just that our guys are bored and we want them to work for their pay." Either that, or it needs a defrag.

We did an event involving Van Nuys and Santa Monica some time back. I'm sure we'll be going back there again. The scenery is over a year old, and can probably use some updating, but that's what my team and I are here for.

Traffic will be moved to an adjacent facility, sometimes Center, and sometimes a neighboring TRACON. Each TRACON has some ability to control its neighbors in the event of an emergency, this was built into the system. It all depends on the needs of the air traffic system at the time. They also have the option of simply closing the airspace, but we've all seen what happens when we do that.

I've closed airports in the Cape area before when weather went below minimums for the airports. Something is already done about random airport closures on my end, though some others would argue that because FSX does not accurately simulate the weather, we should not be closing airports because of that factor. I personally believe it adds a level of believable realism.

We go to Denver every winter, and one of the events has a fully staffed Denver International. As for the 300nm trip, we have what is called the Domestic Journey for that purpose.

He flew near the end of the evening. I think I had three other aircraft online with him.

I willfully admit that I was your final vectors controller last evening, and the one you likely talked to during these fast and tight turns. Unfortunately, and this is something I do not think many learned last night, the Expressway Visual is best flown by hand, and that means turning that autopilot off and putting your hands on the controls themselves. I could tell last night who was flying pure autopilot, and who was flying by hand. Those with the autopilot, like yourself, took twice as long to execute any of my instructions. I appreciate the difficulty in this, but it also behooves you as a pilot to realize I'm not going to offer leisurely turns and descents fore anyone flying the autopilot. Anyone who is flying tight patterns like those at LGA needs to be able to at least assume basic hands on control. They also need to be able to look at the approach chart, and realize what difficulty would be involved and plan ahead. On that note, I didn't give anything too hard to follow. I usually gave you a descent to 2500 first, and then one turn to the radial, in two separate instructions. So really one knob at a time. I'll keep that in mind for the next event, but I also ask that pilots don't expect me or any other approach controller to simply slow things down for pilots left and right. The purpose of the PtP last night at LGA was to simulate that tight turn environment and packed arrival atmosphere. We achieved that in spades, and those pilots who were unable to make that last turn on time or those who still thought 250 knots at 2500 feet in the turn to intercept the radial was ok, got taken out of the loop and put back into the sequence. Let me know if none of this really jives with what is acceptable. New York is one of my favorite airspaces because of the congested atmosphere and the resulting traffic flows. I have studied the airspace flows for months on end, and seek to provide the most realistic handling to pilots in that area. Each turn and descent I gave last night was in according to real world established procedures and handling. The biggest factor contributing to he issues last night was speed. The maximum speed below 10,000 feet may be 250 knots, but this doesn't mean it is smart to be going that fast at all times below 10,000. Also,m pilots should strive to increase their situational awareness. Anyone that's on an 8 mile left downwind for the approach course should be slowing and planning ahead accordingly. Don't look like the turns and descents we give you are a surprise! You knew about what would happen, or at least you knew which directions you'd be flying for the final approach course. Situational awareness and proper speed control would have contributed greatly to increased success in the patterns last night. --- I want to take a moment to address the VFR Cessna question. Just so happens I was also the tower controller for the PtP event at SFO before as well. I certainly welcome VFR light aircraft to the sequence all the time! It makes my job challenging and fun. But pilots who fly these aircraft need to expect that they are not the only pilots, nor do they have priority. You can expect to be in the air longer as we make holes to sequence you into the conga line. I am always up for suggestions, and always appreciate pilots who an offer to help make things easier for me as they are in light aircraft. If you have an honest, serious suggestion that migth help me, such as being able to maintain visual from another aircraft, that you notice is getting closer, or can accept an altered entry to the pattern for another runway/alternate way to the same jet runway, speak up! Chances are if it's a sound idea, and won't screw up sequencing, you'll get it approved and be on your touch and go sooner.

If it's not the FFTF, it's something else big. Why does BVA always schedule this stuff when I have concrete plans made and deposits paid for hotel rooms?

Expressway Visual 31 is by no means an easy approach. I have seen my fair share of pilots stall, crash, turn tight, turn shallow, or simply not fly the procedure as published at all. And I have also seen some pilots get the approach right. It takes a lot of practice, because if you fly the approach correctly, you'll fly a tightrope edge between LGA and JFK tower airspace, and it's quite thrilling. Practice, practice, practice, and rest assured, when I control New York and as long as the wind behaves, those Expressway Visual 31s are in use. Here's a neat vid of the approach from the ground, with the old Shea Stadium as the reference:

Hooo, boy. This'll be interesting to say the least.

Hush, child. "Adults" are talking |) See Evan's posts in another thread (Xmas morning, can't be bothered to get the link) on bad weather events. There's a whole slew of problems to consider, and logistics to work out.

It's not always the airport name which denotes a supposed "popular" SID. i.e. Newark-Liberty International has the standard Liberty 1. The Newark 8 is somewhat more complicated for pilots to fly.

Tom's "hood..."

I've got another radar return to add to this growing collection here. Let me dig it out....there... picked this one out right after the PHX rush ended. Planes stacked four or 5 deep for departure, tower too busy to answer requests for runway crossings, ground getting called every 5 seconds, clearance on his toes... good times!

I plan to be on tonight to do some ground controlling, and if not some flying, between 7 pm and 11 pm EST. If you're on and want more help and someone to talk to in order to clarify things, I'll be open to talk with ya. My GameSpy ID in FlightDesk will be SoloWingDemon, so look me up.

Ah, but history is one of the most important (and more interesting) subjects. Tower and Approach definitely. You assume I am unaware? My two majors are History and Education, I will be a fully certified teacher in CT in just over a year's time. :) It's just that this class was the only one left open, and lecture halls (120+ people) are NOT my thing. I go home and read the book, hence I have the class period to sit in back with my laptop and screw around. When I said my teacher drones, it is because he has little choice but to teach in a very rigid style there. In small classes (20-30 people) it's easy to get passionate on the subject, and share theories and stories, which are the types of classes that I love the most.

I like to lurk during history class. Teacher tends to drone...

It would have to be Center, they would be the only controllers above Approach that are certified to handle such. I suppose IF a tower controller was also a certified approach controller, this would be acceptable, and an approach controller could tell aircraft to remain with him for taxi, but then that puts the stress of three positions on one guy, and with an event like the HTC, that can get very hairy, very quickly. I say have Tower controllers handle ground ops too, and have a tower/approach control setup going for the HTC.

I see that testing has begun on the update manager program for BVA scenery. How does it fair so far?

Knowing this will help, I will begin listing the major updates with any revision we release, so you can tell at a glance. You will, however, need to refer to the included ReadMe for a full list of changes that were made. :) Another thought we may ponder on: Would it be more prudent to release scenery bundled? For instance, the upcoming Regional Circuit between KHLN and KGPI. Should I make ONE release with both airports in it, or release both airports as their own file? While doing this would reduce the number of downloads needed, it also isn't as inclusive as say, the Alaskan Airport Update was.