Evan Reiter

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.

Hi MRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

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.

Great! Thanks for the update. Glad to see both the P3D and FSX files seem to be working well.

The WOAI files are for FSX. We looked at the originally but for whatever reason never had success with it. I haven't reviewed it recently because we haven't had the need to. We've already created the file, and (if we decide to expand it) would just need someone to add a few more rules for airlines like AFR, BAW, etc. I did some testing in FSX:SE with and without the vPilot model database (i.e., running our custom file vs. the vPilot files); admittedly, it wasn't particularly extensive. However, I found a few examples of places where BVA's VMR file helped. One was an aircraft (AFR7) filed an incorrect B772 type code. We have rules in place for this scenario. With our VMR file, he showed up as a UAL B77L, which is the livery we have used as the default aircraft. Without the VMR file, he showed up as a default, white A320. The same thing is in place for people who incorrectly use E175, E75S, etc. We've also developed model matching for helicopters (not sure if the new vPilot model matching works for that) and an extensive list for general aviation aircraft that takes things like a BE60 and turns them into a BE58, if the pilot doesn't have a BE60 in its library. Similar story for military aircraft. How does vPilot's automated model matching deal with "similar" aircraft substitutions? Having done 0 flying with vPilot 2.0, I don't really know how the model matching works outside of the very minimal testing I've done. Has it got those model matching rules in it too? If so, perhaps we need to think about shortening our VMR library or merging it with what vPilot already has. For example, I would think that the B772 logic I described above would be beneficial to the general vPilot public too. As always, I'm more than willing to share, Ross.

That should be where you'll find them. They all have a prefix like WOA_ or WOAI_ (something like that). Awesome! Let me know how the install goes and once you have it, I could get together with you for a few minutes. It's a very easy process and 30-45 minutes of copying and pasting would get us a long way.

For several months, I have been meaning to overhaul the Model Matching instructions in our Getting Started Guide. Historically, we had instructions for people to use the WOAI Downloader/Installer to get the World of AI static aircraft library. Trouble is, the WOAI Installer, though quite smart in its execution, was made several years ago and doesn't play well with FSX:SE or P3D. We have now included all of our model matching aircraft and liveries in a single installer. Configuring BVA Model Matching is now as easy as running the installer, downloading our .vmr file, and adding it to vPilot. In addition, I've updated the instructions to reflect the layout in vPilot 2.0. From what I can tell, there's no longer an option to run a model matching test in vPilot, so I can't check the model matching rules for sure. However, I did test extensively at places like EGLL and KJFK and wasn't able to find any errors. What would be very helpful is if someone who has P3D could download the new model matching aircraft for P3D (either the .exe or the .zip) and install it for testing. I did this with FSX:SE but don't have the capability to test it in P3D right now. If you have the old World of AI packages installed, please delete them before running the installer. What I'd like to see is whether there are any SimObjects errors when running P3D, or if the model matching does anything unexpected. There's a good chance that we'll have a duplicate or missing model in there somewhere, but I can't check that myself. For the .exe, click here. Note: our .vmr file currently has rules that set any "unknown" aircraft to a U.S. model. For example, an Air France B772 will show up as a United B772 because the .vmr file was written when we only had U.S. liveries. If someone wanted to volunteer to add some rules, we can resolve the issue. Otherwise, I'll have it on my list for a future update. It's not a large amount of work and it's an easy re-upload so when the next one is ready, I'll let everyone know. Anyone else who has some spare time to look through the new Getting Started Guide for something that seems to be missing: www.bvartcc.com/gettingstarted. Please let me know if you see anything that needs to be updated!

All - please note the coupon will be valid until January 16. If you are thinking about purchasing the scenery and haven't yet, act now to take advantage of the 20% discount.

Just in time for tonight's Cape Cod General Aviation Fly-In (KACK, KHYA, and KMVY from 8-11pm ET), we have a special announcement! BVA is proud to have secured a 20% discount for our members on a newly-released scenery package for Nantucket (KACK) by acclaimed scenery designer Bill Womack of iBlueYonder. As you can see from the screenshot above, the new scenery, which features the airport and surrounding island, looks fantastic! More screenshots and details are available on the iBlueYonder website. BVA members are eligible for a special 20% discount on the scenery by using a special code that was sent out in an email today, but only for purchases made directly on the iBlueYonder website. When you purchase the scenery, enter the code found in your email when you checkout so the total price is just under US$20. We encourage any members thinking of purchasing the scenery to use the code, so we can continue to secure great discounts like this in the future. If you have not yet received the code via email, you can find it in this forum post: http://forums.bvartcc.com/index.php?topic=13533.0. In celebration of the release, and member discount, we're staffing up Nantucket, Hyannis, and Martha's Vineyard tonight, beginning at 8pm ET. We would like to thank Bill Womack for generously donating this discount to our members, and hope our community appreciates the opportunity to get a great deal on a fantastic scenery release for an airport in our home airspace. See you at Nantucket tonight!

Thank you very much to the 40+ members who took the time out of a busy holiday schedule to attend tonight's All-Member Meeting. We had a great discussion about topics members brought to the table. We discussed a wide variety of topics; I've included some of the highlights below. In addition to this list, I have several other "to do" items for our team to discuss at our first meeting back after the holidays. For anyone who wasn't able to attend the session, please feel free to share any thoughts, questions, or comments on this thread. Pilot Timetable We discussed several ideas for improving the visibility and use of the Pilot Timetable. More on that in the new year. vPilot 2.0 vPilot 2.0 has been released to the VATSIM community. The current version, as well as Version 2, will both work. At the moment, our Getting Started Guide references the older version of vPilot. However, an update is underway for the Getting Started Guide, including updating the vPilot screenshots to the newest versions. If you use the BVA Model Matching Rules in vPilot, they are compatible with either version. Events We had a wide-ranging discussion about events, including several ideas for us to think about moving into the new year. Donations A big thanks to the many people who have donated to make the community a reality over the past year. As a registered 501©(3) non-profit organization, we rely on the generosity of our members to run! Happy Holidays to all!

It's a LNdmark day! Congratulations and well done.

This event is about to begin! To participate, join TeamSpeak: xmas.maldair.com. Then, follow the instructions to connect as a pilot, posted here: http://roo.servebeer.com/cccgf.html. Looks like we will have a few controllers involved in the event once the ATC portion begins (in just over an hour).

Well done! Congratulations. I guess my attempts to screw you over by giving you inaccurate information and crappy feedback were unsuccessful.

Boston Virtual ARTCC welcomes our members to participate in a Christmas Cross-Community Flight. This flight, which welcomes members from all online aviation communities, is an opportunity to say hello to like-minded flight simmers from around the world. Everyone is welcome; there will be members from multiplayer, VATSIM, and IVAO communities at the event. The event will begin with a non-ATC group flight from EFRO to EFOU (airports around the Lapland area). Following that, there will be ATC provided at a number of airports in the area. BVA's air traffic controllers will be part of the event, and will work with controllers from different communities and from around the world to provide coverage in the area. Members are welcome to join the Cross-Community Flight TeamSpeak server beginning at 1pm ET before the flight. All of the information about the flight, including the TeamSpeak server information, will be published on the day of, at: http://roo.servebeer.com/cccgf.html. The initial flight will depart EFRO at 3:15PM et (2015z). Members can join the event using any of: FSX (boxed or Steam) Prepar3D To join, you'll need to use the 'JOINFS' client. More information about how to connect and use the client is posted at: http://roo.servebeer.com/cccgf.html. Even if you choose not to fly, you are welcome to join members of the global online aviation community this December!

Congratulations to Benjamin Dudley (DL) for passing his Class B Ground OTS tonight. On to Tower!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of certifying Krikor Hajian (HI) for the full on-peak Boston Center during a busy feeder session for New York's "Night In EWR II". Krikor approached a busy, challenging, complex traffic picture with the positive, energetic attitude he brings to every facet of Boston Virtual ARTCC. Krikor joined the community during the summer of 2015, and his first training session took place on June 23, 2015. We don't keep track of many records but I'm sure that's up there with one of the fastest times to go from Class C Ground all the way to an on-peak CTR certification. It's been a pleasure to work with HI for the past few months and I look forward to seeing his learning continue in the on-peak environment. Well done!

Update -- on the advice of the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, we have contacted the Office of the Attorney General for the State of New York. We have submitted the complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau as well as our conversations with GalaxyVisions (our provider) as evidence that we are owed almost $3,000 in payment made for services that were never provided.