Evan Reiter

We're excited to share a brand new Wings Over New England (WINGS) program with the BVA community! (For those who haven't participated before, WINGS is BVA's free pilot training program, designed to teach the safe operation of virtual aircraft within the online ATC environment that VATSIM provides. You can learn more about how to get involved here.) Over the past several months, we've been working with airline pilots, CFIs, and experienced VATSIM pilots to review and update each flight in the program. In some cases, we made only editorial changes like adding headers, updating language, and fixing links. In other cases, we've moved content, introduced new concepts, and removed material so the program better reflects modern equipment navigation and techniques while removing dependencies on outdated approaches. There's also an all-new IFR 17 that introduces some of the lesser-known airliner operations elements to the WINGS program, including maintenance test flights, CAT II/III approaches, sidestep procedures, and more. Over the next few weeks, we'll look forward to hearing your feedback, input, and suggestions regarding these new flights. From there, we'll plan a bigger launch event in the coming weeks. At that time, we also anticipate that VATSIM will recognize WINGS completion with network-wide Achievement Badges alongside those we offer in our own TeamSpeak and Discord. Check out the new program here. Have you already started the WINGS program? The new Wings Over New England program went live on July 6, 2026. If you were in the process of flying the WINGS program at the time, please see below for our recommendations: All previous WINGS ratings have been retained. If you wish to re-do one or more flights, you're welcome to do so. If you are a WINGS graduate, we invite you to fly the new WINGS IFR 17. This new flight introduces concepts you won't have seen in the previous edition of the program. If you're partway through the VFR portion of the WINGS program, continue on. Changes made to the VFR portion are mostly editorial in nature. If you're partway through the IFR portion of the WINGS program, we recommend re-starting at WINGS IFR 1, as the procedures and structure of the flights have changed. You'll get the most by completing the flights in order, starting with IFR 1.

Read more about Boston Tea Party, BVA's SpecOps Training Session, FlightSimExpo, and see our Pilot Tip of the Month in the June Logan Informer.

Read more about CTP, FSExpo, closure of KPVD's Runway 5-23, and more in the May Logan Informer.

Read more about our Iron Mic success in the April Logan Informer. Other articles include: Trouble Sleeping? Try BVA's Clinically-Proven Sleep System Introducing the Community Recognition Program Pilot Tip of the Month: STARs and Approaching Airports

Read more about our Iron Mic success in the March Logan Informer. Other articles include: Upcoming March Events Refreshing our Wings Over New England Training Pilot Tip of the Month: Hold Short!

Read more about our Iron Mic success in the February Logan Informer. Other articles include: Upcoming February Events Web Services to be Run by AI BVA Wins VATUSA's Golden Mic Award for Boston Ground Pilot Tip of the Month: Missed Approach Points

Read more about BVA's 2025 in the January Logan Informer. Other articles include: Upcoming Events 60 Hours of ATC FlightSimExpo 2026 Pilot Tip of the Month: Listen Before Speaking

Read more about 60 Hours of ATC, our Cold Start FNO, the End of Year Member Meeting, and more in the December Logan Informer.

Read about the upcoming WAFFLE event, 60 Hours of ATC, our Winter Merch Line, and a whole lot more in the November Logan Informer.

Read more about 60 Hours, our revised ABG, CTP, and more in the October Logan Informer.

Read more about last month's event and Tea Party Poker winners in the September Logan Informer.

Find more details, contest info for Tea Party, and more in the August Logan Informer.

Read more about FlightSimExpo in our July Logan Informer.

We share more details on our planned participation at the show, plus the announcement of our new FE, in the June Logan Informer.

We cover 2024 Member Survey Results, CTP, FlightSim Survey Results, FSExpo news, and more in the May Logan Informer.