Evan Reiter

Justin Mayer (MY) is our newest Class C Ground controller, completing his OTS with me just a few minutes ago (and his S1 even more recently). He's looking to get on the network tonight, last I checked, so hopefully we can give him a warm welcome to the ARTCC during his first time on frequency!

One of the last items we were hoping to accomplish as an Administration Team was to share the story of Project Vector with the flight simulation community. What we achieved together is historic in the flight simulation world. It's certainly the largest merger of its type that I'm familiar with. The Administration Team is proud to share our story with the community through this recent article published on FlightSim.Com: http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?16379-Project-Vector-Boston-Virtual-ARTCC Thanks to all of the people who helped contribute to this article through quotes, revisions, and suggestions.

Ground School resumes tomorrow night with a session on IFR Clearances at a new time, 6-7pm ET. We hope to see you there!

This was mentioned in one of the ATC-specific forum sections but since that area isn't available to everyone, I wanted to recognize it here as well. Fredrik Alstromer (currently a controller in training) saw an opportunity to help out and rose to the challenge. As some of you in the PRP may know, it's been easy for controllers to accidentally mis-type the name of a pilot who's recently passed a rating, creating a duplicate entry. In response, Fredrik volunteered to create a new version of the entry form that automatically checks the database of existing pilots and 'pre-fills' the form with that information. We hope this will help reduce the number of instances when a pilot's name or rating are entered incorrectly. Little projects like this to improve our day-to-day operations are easy to miss, so I wanted to make sure the community was aware of the help Fredrik was able to provide. Thanks again!

Our ARTCC is in a unique scenario at the moment in that we have a patchwork of a few different systems (archived website, bvartcc.com website, and these forums) that currently aren't interconnected. We also don't currently have a member of the staff with the availability or technical expertise to create a unifying website that will either bring all of those elements together, or create a new interconnected website and forums that meet our needs. We are exploring two possibilities, the first being finding a Webmaster who has the availability and commitment to build us a new website. The website would need to be CMS-based with several custom applications including training/roster administration, PRP ratings, events sign-up, and an integrated VATSIM SSO sign-in system. A second option would be finding and paying a professional web developer to create a website for us, in which case the role of a new Webmaster would be to oversee the contract and development of this website, and to know enough about it to maintain the website moving forward. Potential applicants for the webmaster role should clearly identify in their application which of the two options above they are intending to pursue if selected to the position. Boston Virtual ARTCC is one of the only integrated ATC and pilot communities on the VATSIM network. As a result, we have one of the busiest, realistic, and professional on-frequency experiences available. Controllers in our ARTCC have the benefit of talking primarily to member pilots who know the airspace, train through the Pilot Ratings Program, and are available in TeamSpeak to help others. A webmaster will join our experienced Administration Team and will also have the ability to join our ATC roster through an abbreviated process skipping the majority of the requirements for regular visitors or transfers (if that is of interest and if the candidate is already a controller with another facility). The official position posting is listed below. The posting will remain open until a candidate is selected. Depending on the interest we receive from the community, we'll open the application to VATUSA in the near future. ----- Position Posting - Webmaster Purpose Boston Virtual ARTCC (BVA) is currently seeking a Data Services Manager / Webmaster who will provide effective management and leadership of the ARTCCs data services, including but not limited to web content and delivery, web services, email systems, and data storage systems. Key Accountabilities • Report to BVA Air Traffic Manager • Manages and oversees the ARTCCs data services including web content and delivery, web services, email systems, data storage systems, etc. • Must respond quickly to web site and data systems needs • Develops and implements policies and procedures for operation and maintenance of the ARTCC web and data systems • Maintain a high online presence • Other duties as assigned by ATM/DATM/TA • Functions as an Administrator attends bi-monthly meetings • Functions as a staff member and attends periodic meetings as necessary Requirements • Must be an active member of the network in good standing with a clean history and no previous incidence of misuse of technology (hacking, cracking, etc.) • Capable of working well in team-oriented environment • Must be proficient with modern web programming languages and techniques, including PHP Object Oriented Programming, HTML, PHP/MySQL, CSS • Must have excellent written and oral communication skills Preferred Skills • Demonstrated custom web programming with PHP/MySQL in a production environment, Commercial/Enterprise class experience • AJAX/Javascript • RSS/XML and DOM • Familiarity with APIs for other applications (Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) • Leadership, managerial, or supervisory experience How to Apply Applicant must provide letter of application, including resume to include examples of previous work. Letter of application should summarize the applicant's reasons for wanting to join the BVA Administration Team, compelling evidence to show how the position requirements are met, and how the function will thrive under the applicant's leadership. Applications should be submitted to Camden Bruno, Air Traffic Manager ([email protected]). This is an ongoing posting with no immediate closing date. Successful candidates will be contacted for an interview.

It is my pleasure to formally welcome Brandon Bergna (BG) and Krikor Hajian (HI) to the ATC Training Staff. Brandon and Krikor join our team of 14 Mentors and Instructors who have the responsibility of providing training to the over 100 air traffic controllers here in ZBW. Brandon joined our ATC program less than a year ago and completed his first training session on February 16, 2015 with current Mentor Andrew Miller (AM). Since then, he has climbed the ladder quickly and recently achieved the S3 rating (required to work Approach). During his most recent training sessions, his performance and knowledge were both noted as being above average for someone of his level and experience. Brandon is also an active pilot and community member, and has shown -- especially recently -- that he has the 'maturity beyond his years' attitude needed to be part of our air traffic control training staff. Brandon has logged a total of 170 controlling hours. Krikor began his ATC training this summer, completing his first session on June 23, 2015 with Mike Willey. In one of the first sessions he had, the Instructor working with him commented that he had "A LOT of work-on that need to be improved" and gave him the lowest grade he would ever receive. Typical of HI, however, he bounced back. Krikor has always been someone who takes pride in his work and treats a less-than-ideal scenario as an opportunity for improvement. He's worked hard to prove he is one of our top controllers in both knowledge and practical scenarios. Better yet, he's effectively already been mentoring students and even new members to the community. Nobody is more welcoming, friendly, and happy to help in our TeamSpeak server than HI. And, in less than a year, he's spent more than 360 hours of network ATC time refining his craft. I want to thank everyone who took the time to apply through our recent application process. We won't always post formally for Mentors or Instructors but are always on the look out for people who demonstrate the interest, passion, and dedication required to take on this important role within our community.

Today, we received 5 new member applications; normally, I get 1-2. I'm sure many more people attempted but didn't pass the entrance exam. Hopefully more to come! Great idea! I'll reach out to the Cape Air Virtual administration to see if they are interested in offering the P2 rating as part of BVA.

Here's a link to the official announcement on the VATSIM forums: https://forums.vatsim.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70052

Boston Virtual ARTCC's Pilot Ratings Program (PRP) has just been certified as a VATSIM Authorized Training Organization, or ATO. This certification enables Boston Virtual ARTCC to grant VATSIM Pilot Ratings P3, P4, and P5. We are one of two organizations in North America authorized to issue the P5 rating, and one of only 5 ATOs across VATSIM eligible to issue it. BVA's Pilot Ratings Program is still available to all members as a self-study training program. Pilots who participate in our PRP review the material for the relevant rating online and then attempt it when ATC is available. There is no requirement to sign up or schedule a flight. Just find a night with ATC available, and ask the controller to monitor your flight. If you meet the test standards associated with the PRP flight, you'll pass the rating. Once BVA's members complete PRP VFR 1-6, they become eligible for the P3 rating from VATSIM. You can obtain the P4 rating by completing PRP IFR 1-5, and P5 by completing the entire program. There is no requirement to obtain VATSIM pilot ratings and you can still complete the PRP in its entirety without ever getting a VATSIM rating. However, members may wish to obtain the VATSIM ratings alongside our own. For any rating to be issued, a member must first obtain VATSIM's P1 rating. You can achieve this rating by completing the P1 course on the VATSIM Pilot Academy. Members who have already completed our PRP (or parts of it) and who wish to obtain the corresponding VATSIM ratings should first obtain the P1 rating through the VATSIM Pilot Academy, or from another ATO. Then, they can email [email protected] with a request to be certified for the relevant VATSIM rating. Becoming certified as one of just a few ATOs is an impressive accomplishment for our organization. We are also one of the only ATOs to offer pilot ratings with no requirement for direct pilot-instructor interaction (although that is always available through the Virtual FBO). For more information about VATSIM's Pilot Training Department, visit https://ptd.vatsim.net/. By the way, since its inception, 289 members have passed just under 1,950 total PRP ratings. Only halfway through this month, we've already issued 27 new PRP ratings. In all, there are 26 members who have the distinction of completing all 20 flights in the program: Cameron Laramee Christopher Olmstead Richard Wang Andrew Miller Mark Lemire Josh Bullen Evan Reiter Mariano Hernandez Jeremy Sizemore Dan Perrone Jeremy Valentine Nathan Brothers Chris Raabe Jamsheed Lovelace Daniel Troxel Mark Emery Bobby Watkins Cody Outten Harry Murphine Richard Irsik Robert May Jonathan Ezell Ernesto Muniz-Samalot Lou B. Jonathan Young Gabriel Ameh

It has been a pleasure working with DB over the past few months. His leadership, guidance, and particularly GRP knowledge has helped lead our organization through some challenging yet exciting changes. He contributed well beyond expectations to that project and many others, helping us become the organization we are today. I'm very glad to see that DB has agreed to continue to be part of our administration, attend our meetings, and help us plan big events like CTP. I am looking forward to working closely with BN as our organization's newest ATM. BN brings a wealth of experience with the organization and VATSIM to the role. He's an active controller and very active participant of the VATUSA and VATSIM forums. In addition to being "tapped in" to the world of VATSIM, he has proven his maturity and creativity over the past few months acting as our Training Supervisor, managing the training program and ensuring students and mentors are working well together. I believe BN as the leadership, professionalism, and maturity to continue to lead the ATC side of our organization, and to act as a member of the leadership team for the community as a whole. I look forward to working with him as we continue to build one of VATSIM's best ARTCC's here at BVA.

...and JV is now our (newest?) Instructor; we just processed his I1 tonight. Welcome back to the ranks, JV!

No surprises there...well done! MD's ready to get OTS'd next...

Ah, yes, I see what you mean. I actually found it very handy too for controlling ZBW, although I've found VRC to work just as well. Despite its usefulness, there were just a handful of people connecting to it and running Live ATIS alone doesn't justify the associated server costs.

Well done! Welcome to the team.

Well done! I'm sure BN put you through the paces so you should feel very proud to have accomplished this so quickly. Looking forward to working with you on BOS_GND.

Live ATIS has been decommissioned as a result of the merger. There's really no reason for us to use it as it wouldn't have worked with anything other than FSX. Controllers have other tools to check weather and create ATIS information. What do you use it for?

And just a friendly reminder, please do not share the TeamSpeak information (server address or password) with anyone. Members can access this information on the Member TeamSpeak page of the website, once logged in. Please note that the TeamSpeak password has just been changed.

Thanks for the post BN! As you guys may or may not know, BN and Steve worked together to re-create the new TeamSpeak server, ensuring it looks and works just like the old one. Well done! For most members, teamspeak.bvartcc.com will point to the new server before the end of the night. I would encourage everyone to check their TeamSpeak bookmarks now to ensure that you're connecting to 'teamspeak.bvartcc.com' and not any of the old information.

Surprisingly, they've been around since 2003.

For those who aren't familiar, Friday Night Operations, or FNO, is a weekly event held by VATUSA. Twice a year, each ARTCC has the opportunity to host the event in their airspace. It's typically one of the busiest events that we see outside of Cross The Pond or Tea Party. We hope members will think of this event like a KACK/KMVY and KBOS Regional Circuit. The idea is that we'll get many of our local Cape Air and N-number member pilots flying between Boston and the Cape, mixed in with the VATSIM traffic flying airliners into KBOS. Should be a great event!

As promised, I have been following up with our ISP regarding the numerous recent outages of the forums and website that were well beyond our control. Here's the reply: They have also credited our account for 3 months' service ($18) per their uptime guarantee.

The Logan Informer is Boston Virtual ARTCC's monthly newsletter. The newsletter, released on the 1st of each month, contains news, events, and updates from the community. Historically, the Informer has been delivered to members via a .pdf attachment in an email. Previous versions of the Logan Informer are posted on our website. As a result of Project Vector, fewer than normal issues of the Logan Informer have been available this year. However, as things return to normal, we'd like to re-initiate the newsletter starting on December 1. At this time, we'll also be switching to a new format, using a web-based email with links to forum posts instead of the static .pdf that has been sent out in the past. In support of re-launching the Logan Informer, the administration team is seeking a volunteer to help with some content generation as well as the distribution of the newsletter. The job would involve: Reaching out to individuals around the middle of the month to request content Editing all content received Developing a maximum of 1 article per month (some months will not require any) "from the administration" Combining all articles together into the email template for release I would estimate the time commitment to be approximately 3-5 hours per month, with most of those hours falling toward the end of each month, and with the occasional month requiring a bit of extra effort (e.g., large events, special updates, etc.). If you are interested in volunteering your time with the community, have strong attention to detail, write well, and ideally have access to web-based photo and editing tools (not required), please apply to [email protected], or find me in person.

Today, we completed Jay's OTS to fully certify him for On-Peak Center! Jay has been working hard over the past several weeks, putting in the many hours required to gain the proficiency with VRC to run something like this. Now...buy a desk!

For the past few days, there have been intermittent issues with users being unable to login to the website (www.bvartcc.com). I think I've found the cause of the issue and resolved it, but I may be wrong. Remember, to save cash, we host this website on a shared server that really isn't meant to host a site of this complexity/size. As far as I know, the issue is being caused by our shared MS SQL server running out of space, likely because the ISP has tried to cram too many other databases onto one server. I just reduced the size of our database, which will help, but ultimately they are going to have to get some of their other customers to do the same. While we wait for that, two things: Firstly, if you haven't already, you can choose the "Remember login" option and you won't have to enter your password or login ever again. It will totally bypass this issue for you: And if you prefer to login each time, and to help me troubleshoot the issue, could you please make a post on this thread if you try to login and aren't able to? I have the website set to remember my login so I don't actually notice this issue until someone reports it.

Boston is one of the featured departure airports for the 2015 Cross The Pond Eastbound event! VATSIM's biggest and most challenging event takes place on Saturday, October 24 from 6:15am-5pm ET. Pilots flying the event book departure slots for Cross The Pond. Slots are limited, and they typically book very quickly. Bookings and more information at: http://ctp.vatsim-uk.co.uk/. This is a serious event and pilots who are planning to book or fly transatlantic should be flying an add-on jetliner with FMS/routing capability as well as familiarity with oceanic procedures. Departure Airports: Newark/Kennedy - KEWR/KJFK Miami - KMIA Washington Dulles - KIAD Boston - KBOS Atlanta - KATL Arrival Airports: Manchester - EGCC Amsterdam Airport Schiphol - EHAM Paris CDG - LFPG Berlin Tegel - EDDT Vienna - LOWW