Evan Reiter

Please help support flight simulation developers by participating in Navigraph's 2020 FlightSim Community Survey. The survey is open until November 23. The largest of its kind, the survey aims to gauge the prevailing flight simulation trends and users' requests for the future. Last year, 17,000 simmers participated. As a proud partner of FlightSimExpo and a member of the global simulation industry, BVA is pleased to share the survey link with our members, as we did last year. As with previous editions, this year's survey has an emphasis on the major flight simulators and also includes questions about mobile devices, combat, and helicopters. The survey should take 15-30 minutes to complete and is entirely optional.

Welcome! I wish you the best of luck in making a name for yourself here...

Nice to see you back!

Stop stealing all the puns! Now we have nothing to write when he passes the next OTS. Er...I mean...welcome Kyle!

All pilots flying Cross the Pond: please review our Pilot Brief prior to departure. The brief is attached to this post. New this year, VATSIM has asked pilots who were not issued a booking/slot to avoid flying transatlantic. We welcome pilots to fly domestic routes into and out of Boston. We also expect coverage at our satellite airports like Bradley (KBDL) and Providence (KPVD). If you were not given a booking, please consider domestic routes to and from any airport that is staffed within Boston Center! You can access this page and the brief using the URL: www.bvartcc.com/ctp. CTP East 2020 Pilot Brief.pdf

Read more about our Cross the Pond and other community news in the November Logan Informer.

Well done! Welcome back to the ATC team.

Awesome job buddy!

Welcome back!

Welcome aboard!

Nice job Case!

Welcome aboard!

Ah, that explains why you're on BDL_TWR this morning! Nice job.

Welcome!

Great news James!

Well done!

Read more about our upcoming Bradley Bash event and other community news in the October Logan Informer.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Read more about WINGS and other community news in the September Logan Informer.

The winners of Tea Party Poker 2020 are: Honeycomb Yoke & Throttle: Timothy L. (Full House) TFDi Design 717 & PACX: Cameron P. Thrustmaster A320 Officers Pack: Kevin M. Orbx Product: Jeffory B. (Flush) Just Flight Product: Matthew G. (Flush) LatinVFR Scenery: Nicolas L. (Straight) FlightBeam Gift Card: Philip M. (Straight) 12-month smartCARS Subscription from TFDi Design: Kyle Webber (Two Pair) 12-month smartCARS Subscription from TFDi Design: Seth Katz (Two Pair) I've been in touch with each of the winners via email. Timothy also reached out to let me know he's already received his Honeycomb yoke and is really happy with it, which is always nice to hear. I wanted to express my thanks to the many pilots who participated in poker this year! We saw a tremendous increase in the number of people flying to our satellite airports, which is what Tea Party Poker is all about. For context, last year (2019) we had 28 participants who collectively drew 192 cards. This year, we had 59 participants draw 449 cards. I know there were some delays at the beginning of the event for obtaining poker cards and we've worked on several ways to improve that next year.

We are excited to announce that Wings Over New England (WINGS), Boston Virtual ARTCC's self-paced pilot training program, is now live! WINGS is designed to help teach pilots fundamental skills about operating their aircraft within the air traffic system. From VFR closed traffic at Nantucket to a back course instrument approach at New Bedford to RNAV approaches in the Adirondack Mountains, WINGS will take pilots across the New England airspace while offering engaging, self-paced learning. WINGS is the next chapter for our Pilot Ratings Program, which has seen more than 500 pilots complete at least one flight in its 6-year history. WINGS is not affiliated with the VATSIM Pilot Training Department and will not qualify pilots for VATSIM's P-ratings. As part of the release, BVA has: Reviewed and significantly re-written every existing PRP flight, adding new images, links to resources, and videos. Re-branded and re-designed the pages, making the training material significantly easier to read. Designed the flights to take advantage of add-on scenery products to provide users of add-on scenery with a great visual experience. Added specific "tracks" for pilots who may not want to complete the entire program; now, you can fly specific series of targeted flights for VFR Flying, Airline Flying, Complex IFR Procedures, and RNAV. Moved three of the existing flights to new airports, removing DME arcs and NDB-based navigation from the program in favor of current/real-world procedures and more true-to-life complex IFR scenarios. Significantly improved the descriptions for complex IFR procedures like holds, procedure turns, and ODPs. In the four new IFR flights, introduced concepts including along-track waypoint creation, weather deviations, simulated failures, special use airspace, FBO locations, EFBs, PIREPs, and contact approaches to the training materials. An entirely free program, WINGS helps teach members skills that can be used for online flying in VFR and IFR environments, making the most of what an at-home flight simulator can teach you. It includes structured, self-guided training lessons that do not rely directly on an instructor or mentor, allowing pilots to learn at their own pace and in a comfortable environment. The program is comprised of 30 flights, each of which contain a series of tasks. Each flight is flown under the watchful eyes of BVA's air traffic controllers, who monitor your progress to ensure each of the tasks for that flight is completed correctly. If the controller determines you successfully meet the criteria for a flight, you achieve that rating. Any BVA member can take part in the program and achieve the corresponding ratings while ATC is online. If you have previously flown our Pilot Ratings Program, find out what's changed. If you are new to WINGS and want to learn more about the program, visit www.bvartcc.com/wings! Over the past several hours, we have been busy updating our many website pages that referenced the Pilot Ratings Program. If you find any outdated references to PRP on website pages, broken links, or identify any content errors in the new program, please use this thread to report them. BVA is extremely grateful to the members who volunteered their time to help make this release possible. This included: Creation of the "WINGS" logo and branding: Jeff Vlahos Content reviewers: Joel Kraft Jonathan Halverson Mark Rehnborg Sharath Mahadevan Screenshot contributors: Bradley Clinton John Canavan Mark Emery Mateo Rodriguez Matthew Medeiros Riley Shannon Wil Tucker Members who provided feedback as the program was being developed (The danger with making a list like this is someone can get missed. Please, please, if I've forgotten your name, reach out to me so I can edit this post!) Members are welcome to begin operating WINGS flights immediately. We hope you find the program to be a great addition to your online flying and welcome any feedback you have as you begin a journey throughout the beautiful New England region.

Way to represent Canada!

I was debating a Robb Stark / Game of Thrones reference in the title but I decided now that the series is over—with a terrible ending, I might add—we needed something else. Community, join me in welcoming Rob Stark (SR) as BVA's newest Center controller! After managing everything the network could throw at him on Tuesday night (including a Cape Air Virtual group flight and a congaline of three jets into KORH...no, you can't make this stuff up), I decided it was time for him to sweat a little more. Today, we worked through a simulator scenario cleaning up some OOSHN arrival stacks to make sure he'll be ready the next time Cross the Pond rolls around (or he has to take over Center from me). Achieving a Boston Center certification is the culmination of a controller's journey here at BVA and the start of a new phase of self-monitored training (read: he only has to deal with me again if he really screws something up!). It almost always reflects years of hard work, self-study, commitment to the community, and passionate dedication to this hobby we all love. Rob joined the community on April 11, 2011...so long ago that we don't even have copies of his original training records anymore! In addition to serving as a controller for most of the last 9 years, Rob has also held various staff roles in our organization including as the head of a training airline (who remembers United Regional?) and currently as an Air Traffic Control Mentor. He completed his Class B Approach training with TA Jay on April 4, 2019 and has been pestering me for training sessions on Center since we began this journey a couple of months ago. When I certify students for Center, given the extent of the occasion, I usually try to find something in a past training report or share a little history about their experience. Since Rob has been with us for so long, a lot of the original Class C Ground and Tower training reports aren't available now. However, I did manage to find a few lovely pictures from an April 2013 event featuring the one and only Rob Stark: (I bet@Nathan Rankin is super happy I wasn't the one to certify him for CTR right about now!) Well prepared, eager, positive, and offering a nice touch of humor on frequency (not always intentionally), Rob was a pleasure to train. I hope he enjoyed the journey as much as I did. And, member pilots, when you next hear Rob's voice on 134.70...just remember to "report the Portland weather in sight". That way, he doesn't have to worry about reading out the METAR for you!

Members, Be advised that the BVA forums and portions of the website will be unavailable on Sunday, August 16 between 8-10am ET (1200-1400z) for scheduled maintenance. During and after this time, we'll also be updating website content frequently for the release of Wings Over New England. The ATC Hub, Discord, and TeamSpeak will not be affected, and of course you'll still be able to connect to VATSIM without issue. However, please plan accordingly if you need to use any of our resources located on the forums and/or website on Sunday morning.