Evan Reiter

...and we've now completed the Class B Approach OTS. Bring on Center (on the network, over the next few weeks).

Mark your calendars, stock up on munchies, and tell the family to head out of town for the weekend: October 13-15, 2017 will be the biggest weekend of events in BVA's history! It all starts at 11am ET on Friday, October 13 when we launch 60 Hours of ATC, 60 straight hours of Boston Center coverage. Any time you wish to fly in ZBW, day or night, you will find coverage online. Starting at 7pm ET, we host VATUSA's Friday Night Operations event. There will be a full staff of controllers online at Boston Logan International (KBOS), and staffing at other local airports. The event runs until 11pm ET, but ZBW will remain online overnight and for the rest of the weekend. Then, we kick off Saturday morning early! At 6am, the first departures for Cross the Pond Eastbound 2017 will be connecting to the network. Cross the Pond takes place twice a year (westbound in March, eastbound in October) and is one of the busiest and most sought after events in the VATSIM calendar. It is a mass crossing of the North Atlantic with full ATC offered the whole way, with heavy traffic levels guaranteed for your whole flight. As a departure airport, KBOS will be fully-staffed, and there will be multiple Approach and Center controllers online across ZBW. Whether you're flying across the Atlantic for the event or are just looking for a great chance to fly in a lit up airspace, join us all day on Saturday, October 14. Looking for information on flying this event? Check out our , hosted by Air Traffic Manager Camden Bruno. 60 Hours of ATC continues throughout the day on October 15, and ends at 11:00pm on Sunday, wrapping up what is likely the busiest event weekend our community has ever participated in!

Looking for information on flying this event? Check out our , hosted by Air Traffic Manager Camden Bruno.

Matt Dupree (MD) just aced his Class B Tower OTS, and we'll be working on Class B Approach as early as tomorrow. We're excited to welcome Matt back into the fold and look forward to seeing him on Center again soon.

My mind has been running in CIRcles trying to find a pun on RQ, but that doesn't nULLIfy the excellent work Austin has been doing on Class C Tower training. That culminated today in a successful OTS on Class C Tower at PWM. We threw everything we could at him: VFR, IFR, SVFR, missed approaches, practice approaches, some interestingly-timed VFR closed traffic requests...and he handled it all like a pro. No need for the goal horn or anything. After yet another 100% score on an exam (this time, the VATUSA S2), RQ has been promoted to the ranks of the S2's, and will be looking forward to the next BDL Tuesday to get some Class C Tower time in. Watch out PI!

Welcome Dale Gensler (GR) to the team! GR is a clearance delivery expert now, having seen just about every single mistake possible in our series of training sessions at PWM. Now that you're used to correcting something in at least every flight plan, you're ready for the network! Welcome aboard...I look forward to working with you soon.

Your best bet is to use a program like VATSpy or Vattastic Like Cam said, the list is probably too large (and too dynamic) to be able to provide in advance. In general, I can tell you that we'll have a fully-staffed Boston, several sectors of Center, and then coverage at almost all of the satellite airports. In general, we're always using real-world frequencies, so that can provide something of a guide. But, of course, you don't always know what is and isn't staffed.

Correct, if you're using the BVA scenery updates from the "Required Downloads" section of the website -- and you have KBOS installed -- then you don't need to take any other action. I'm not sure what those conflicts are about. I've never seen that...is the message coming from the FMC that you have? Did you only start getting them after installing the navdata updates or were they there previously? From what I can tell, it looks like the conflicts are referencing the scenery files, not the navdata.

The Boston and New York ARTCC's are teaming up for the annual Northeastern Corridor event on 30 June! Join us for four hours of non-stop traffic at Boston Logan airport (KBOS) and New York Newark airport (KEWR), from 1900-2300 Eastern (2300-0300 zulu). All aircraft types and routes are welcome to join us in one of the busiest and most congested air corridors in the world!

Good find! Fixed. Thanks a lot. If there was an award for finding these, you would be in serious contention. Have you considered applying to work as a web crawler for Google? :P

That's so cool! I like the part when they start talking about me...and now I know why there was that awkward silence after I asked D'Andre a question.

Thanks a lot! I've made these updates and released Version S of the General SOP. Thanks! I have passed these on to Phil to review.

The NAV CANADA implementation of "climb via" and "descend via" -- at least where I was -- was a mess. 2 out of the 5 airports I fly to daily were using "climb via", and the others weren't. In one case (Abbotsford), the Tower would use it, but the FSS that provides after-hours service wouldn't. Meanwhile, they also decided that (in Canada), "descend via" wouldn't include speeds (i.e., a previously-assigned speed restriction still applies) whereas in the U.S., "descend via" cancels the assigned speed and returns you to what's published. The inconsistency there likely created a lot of the confusion that led to the suspension.

The old 'bostonvirtualatc.com' domain name has been decommissioned. We no longer use the domain given our new name, and releasing it allows us to save a little bit of money each year in ISP/domain fees. Over the past several months, we have tried to remove all of the references and links we could with old 'bostonvirtualatc.com' domains in them. However, we may have missed a few. If you notice a link that isn't working, please point it out so we can get that corrected. In addition, please ensure you update your contacts. Previously, '@bostonvirtualatc.com' email addresses were being forwarded to the correct recipient. Now, those addresses will bounce. BVA staff members have '@bvartcc.com' email addresses, and the full list is located on the Administration page.

The FAA recently amended its guidance on the use of the phrase "climb via SID". On both the network as well as in real life, pilots can expect air traffic control to issue "climb via SID" on SIDs that: [*]Are pilot navigation [*]Include published crossing restrictions In the event that a SID top altitude needs to be amended, or there is no top altitude, then ATC will use the phrase "climb via SID except", and then issue the top altitude. When the phrase "climb via SID" is used, pilots should initially climb to the SID top altitude, complying with any altitude restrictions. The top altitude will be published on the chart. If the pilot is vectored off of the departure, ATC will clarify the new altitude to maintain. The phrase "climb and maintain" will automatically remove any charted SID restrictions and at that point the pilot may climb unrestricted to the new altitude. Example: ATC will issue "climb via SID" for RNAV departures from KBOS. Cleared to the Kennedy Airport via the SSOXS4 departure, then as filed. Climb via SID. Squawk 1301. For any SID that is vectored, has a radar vectored segment before a pilot nav component (even if the pilot nav portion includes crossing restrictions), or is entirely pilot navigation but does not include published crossing restrictions, ATC will use the word "maintain" and state initial altitude to maintain. If the information about when to expect higher is the same as on the SID, then ATC will not re-state it. Example: ATC will not issue "climb via SID" for any other SID within ZBW airspace, as all of the other SIDs in our airspace are either vectored SIDs, or SIDs that do not include published crossing restrictions. Cleared to the Kennedy Airport via the PWM4 departure, radar vectors ENE, then as filed. Maintain 3,000. Squawk 2001. When there is no SID, ATC will use the phrase "climb and maintain", and, if the altitude issued is below your filed cruise altitude, will advise when the cruise altitude may be expected. Example: Cleared to the Kennedy Airport as filed. Climb and maintain 5,000. Expect FL200 10 minutes after departure. Departure on this frequency. Squawk 4701. The top altitude that pilots are initially cleared to is extremely important. Pilots should understand that leveling off at the top altitude, unless otherwise cleared, is a requirement. ATC predicates traffic separation on the expectation that pilots are aware of, and will level off at, the assigned top altitude until a new clearance is received. As always, if there are any questions about what altitude you should be climbing to, please clarify with the appropriate controller.

Join me in welcoming Nathan Frost back to the ARTCC! FT was a former real-world Tower controller, and also has a C1 here at VATSIM. He's just completed his Class C Ground/Tower checkout and is looking forward to some time hearing voices that aren't mine (he'll have to deal with the ones in his head on his own). Looking forward to seeing you on the network soon!

Looking forward to working with you again! If you passed an OTS with Cam, you must have really known your stuff. He has a reputation for "BN" tough.

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At least mine don't always start with the same sentence...please join me in leaving my posts alone.

Congratulate fully-certified Brandon Bergna (BG) on his Class B Approach On Peak!

Join us on Friday, 7 April from 7-11pm for our Spring Friday Night Ops: Three Up, Three Down! With opening day at historic Fenway Park just around the corner, we celebrate Boston's rich baseball heritage. Our controllers may even throw you a few curve balls!

Welcome!

We are pleased to announce that the Office of the Attorney General for the State of New York accepted our claim and followed up with GalaxyVisions. Thanks to the help of the Attorney General, BVA has just received the refund check for the $2,879.52 that we were owed. We will be putting this money to use on our existing expenses (covering our current server costs).

Ross, does vPilot 2.0 have a testing capability for model matching rules?

Yeah, there's some user preference there. From my side, I'd rather at least see a Triple 7, which is correct for wake turbulence and type, than a white A321. That being said, one of the reasons I'd like to see the extra rules added to our VMR file is so that we reduce the number of those instances. That I wouldn't know about at this stage, as I haven't done that kind of testing. I was just using that as an example. I didn't run into that situation specifically. --- Perhaps the best way to proceed will be for BVA to rely on vPilot's model matching for the majority of our stuff, but then to add in the custom lines that type code an "unknown" B772 to a default livery, as we've done in the past. It seems to me that matching a DAL B737 to a DAL B737 is covered well in vPilot 2.0 already, so there may no longer be a need to have those rules in place.