Evan Reiter

We're happy to announce that the rotating banner on our homepage is online again, as is the Airport Updates page. If anything on the website looks strange, please use the "F5" key to refresh the page. If you are still seeing anything that looks out of the ordinary, please let us know so that we can investigate. Thanks again for your patience during this important website update.

Last night, Jay ('JKLovelace') achieved his Center Solo Rating, one step away from the highest level of ATC certification that can be obtained on our network. This rating shows that Jay has the experience and ability needed to provide top-tier ATC to the community. Jay is one of BVA's veteran controllers. After joining the community in December 2007, Jay quickly become involved in our ATC program and has been part of ATC here for about as long as I have (and possibly even longer). In fact, our training records -- which go back to 2009 -- don't even capture Jay's Ground or Tower training, as the first training he has logged was his Class B Approach Solo Rating on August 5, 2010. We're proud to add Jay to the staff of Center controllers and look forward to expanding our coverage of the ZBW and ZNY airspaces over the next few months. Meanwhile, we are continuing to train new controllers from Class C Ground all the way up to Center, and look forward to adding 1-2 more Center controllers over the remainder of the year.

Website maintenance is now complete and the site should be stable. Again, you may need to refresh some pages to ensure they are being displayed properly. Over the next few days, the rotating homepage banner should be back online. We're also planning to finish re-building the Airport Updates page over the next few days.

While some website maintenance is still ongoing, we're happy to report that the majority of the maintenance is complete and that the website should be functioning normally. If you are missing menu pages or see anything else unusual, please click "F5" to refresh your browser as this should correct the issue. There are three outstanding items we are continuing to follow up on: 1. Airport Updates and a few other downloads are unavailable until Monday. 2. New users will be unable to apply for membership for the next few hours. We expect this to be resolved by 3am ET on Sunday. 3. The rotating banner on the homepage that shows upcoming events is currently disabled. We'll be re-enabling it once the website is stable. If you do notice anything else that seems to be out of place on the website, please let us know by posting on this thread or sending us an email. We appreciate your continued support throughout the maintenance period and look forward to returning the website to its normal stability by the end of the day tomorrow.

Scheduled website maintenance is planned to take place beginning Friday, March 21 through Sunday, March 23. The FSX server, which also hosts FlightDesk and Live ATIS, will continue to function normally. During the maintenance period, the website will be highly unstable, with intermittent periods of partial functionality. During periods of intermittent functionality, dynamic aspects of the website like the Pilot Timetable, events pages, and our ATC exams will likely not function as intended. Due to potential instability, we recommend BVA members refrain from using the website during the maintenance period, if possible. A message will be posted here when the maintenance has been completed and the website is stable. The maintenance is planned in order to upgrade the ‘back end’ of our website. We do not expect end users to see any immediate changes to the website’s functionality once maintenance has been completed. We appreciate the inconvenience this maintenance will cause and are scheduling it during an off-peak period (weekend during which there are no events scheduled) to limit the impact of the outage. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Just posted details for our next Challenge: an IFR Procedures Challenge at KBZN. As with our last IFR Procedures Challenge, ATC will be providing feedback on each segment of the flight. Is there any interest in taking that a step further and having ATC assign a rating (say, 1 to 10) based on adherence to procedure? Scores could be tallied up across the three segments by ATC and transmitted to the pilot at the end of the event. Not a requirement - just curious if it would be something people are interested in. Obviously the focus should continue to be on learning and practice. Those who aren't able or comfortable with flying each of the segments would not receive a score.

Sorry I wasn't on here to answer this any earlier. How did the weather turn out for your flight? Looked like you were airborne for a little while.

It will be intense...exactly how intense depends on how I'm feeling during the day of the event but you can assume snow, ice, and maybe even some freezing rain will keep the anti-ice equipment busy!

Thanks for letting us know Vinnie. The package actually hasn't been posted yet and so the link shouldn't have been visible. That's been corrected.

Our FSX server ISP has scheduled maintenance between 1-2am ET on February 1, 2014. During the maintenance window, one or more brief interruptions in service to FlightDesk, Live ATIS, and/or FSX may occur. The interruptions are expected to last less than 5 minutes in total. Our FSX server ISP has been incredibly reliable over the past several years and the request is extremely reasonable. We expect it to have a limited impact on our operations and thank our members for their patience.

The server restart is complete and FlightDesk and FSX are now functioning normally. Thank you for your patience.

Please note that the FSX server, including FlightDesk, will be restarted at 7:45am ET tomorrow morning (Sunday, December 29) to correct a minor technical issue. Please time your flights to ensure you are not disconnected during the restart.

Timing around other events. If people want it extended, we can do that! Can't wait!

Please note the restrictions below for Boston Virtual ATC's FSX server in support of the Cross-Community Flight (CCF). The Cross-Community Flight restrictions are in effect on BVA's FSX server on Saturday, December 14 between 1:30pm ET and 6:30pm ET. During these times: Only flights associated with the CCF will be permitted on BVA’s server. Non-participating aircraft, or pilots who spawn other aircraft types, may be ejected without warning The server feature custom weather Voice capabilities in FSX (e.g., aircraft radios) will be disabled; all Air Traffic Control communications will take place in the CCF TeamSpeak server The server will be restarted to enable custom settings before and after the event. Please time flights on Saturday to avoid being disconnected during the restart Only Beechcraft Baron 58 (default or Carenado) aircraft are permitted in the server during the CCF to reduce the possibility of flooding. BVA members planning to fly on Saturday should do so as part of the Cross-Community Flight event. Please click here to find out more about how you can participate.

The information below is the content of an email message to be sent out tomorrow afternoon. I encourage members to take an active role in the event by both participating in the discussion and flying with us from KAVK to KTUL. Back on December 8, 2012, we set a record with 90 users logged into a multiplayer session during our six-year celebration. This Saturday, you can help us set a new record for our server, and quite possibly the FSX world. From 3-6pm ET on Saturday, December 14, 2013, BVA is proud to be hosting the third Cross-Community Flight. We’re bringing together members from nine different multiplayer communities like ours in what we think will be the biggest FSX multiplayer session ever held. We need your participation to make this happen! Event Details: Date: Saturday, December 14, 2013 Time: 3-6pm ET (TeamSpeak and FSX server online from 2pm ET) Flight Plan: KAVK-KPNC-KTUL (fly uncontrolled VFR for the first two legs, ATC will be staffed at KTUL) Required Aircraft: Beechcraft Baron 58 (default or Carenado) Location: Join BVA’s Cross-Community Flights TeamSpeak Server after 2pm ET: Address: teamspeak.bostonvirtualatc.com:9991 Password: BARON58! Important Information: Only flights associated with the CCF will be permitted on BVA’s server between 1:30 – 6:30pm on Saturday The event will feature custom weather Voice capabilities in FSX (e.g., aircraft radios) will be disabled; all Air Traffic Control communications will take place in TeamSpeak The server will be restarted to enable custom settings before and after the event. Please time flights on Saturday to avoid being disconnected during the restart Only Beechcraft Baron 58 (default or Carenado) aircraft are permitted in the server during the CCF to reduce the possibility of flooding. As usual, BVA is blazing a trail into uncharted territory with an event like this. Nobody knows just how many people FSX can hold but we’re definitely going to find out this weekend. We look forward to your support then!

Boston Virtual ATC is hosting the third Cross-Community Flight on December 14 from 3-6pm ET. Additional information, including the flight plan and server access information, will be posted shortly. We are looking forward to hearty participation from the community.

Josh/Tom, wouldn't this make a nice upload for BVA's YouTube Channel?

If you missed it, please find the recording here: http://www.twitch.tv/fsthunderbirds/b/478639539!

The Flight Simulator Thunderbirds, a demonstration squadron, perform for Boston Virtual ATC tonight (Sunday, November 10), beginning at 9pm ET. The show takes place via an online stream, accessible here: http://www.twitch.tv/fsthunderbirds. You can also find the link posted under the 'Events' section of our forums. During the event, we encourage members to join us in the Pilot Meetings TeamSpeak server. At the conclusion of the performance, there will be an opportunity to speak with representatives of the FS Thunderbirds. Please connect to the TeamSpeak server using the following credentials (click here for instructions): Nickname: Username - First Name (Example: zploch - Zac) Server Address: teamspeak.bostonvirtualatc.com:9989 Password: PilotMeetings! Precision flying is a skill that takes pride, precision, and professionalism. It is that adrenaline rush that drives the performances of the FS Thunderbirds. Please join us at 9pm ET to watch the ultimate demonstration of precision flying performed by the Flight Simulator Thunderbirds.

Just a few days away...the FS Thunderbirds will be performing for us on Sunday, November 10 at 9pm ET. The show will take place via an online stream (the link will be posted here on the day of).

We're still working on final numbers (in true BVA fashion, a few pilots (myself included) were flying past the 11pm deadline and it seems unfair not to count those flight plans since the pilots did depart prior to 11pm). However, as of the 'official' end of the event: - 552 flight plans - 147 participating pilots - Over $4,000 raised (in total) We'll provide the final count and the amount of money in this month's Logan Informer.

At the conclusion of the General Aviation Fly-In, we're at 478 flight plans (just 68 shy of the record from last year). 140 pilots have participated in the event so far, with 'azreark1' leading the flight plan count (21) and 'OE1HANS' having talked most to our controllers (47 controllers). At the moment, we are on pace to exceed the $2,088 generated last year. But we haven't gotten there yet, and need a busy ZBW until 11pm EST to make it happen!

398 flight plans, 73 achieved PRP ratings, and one awesome fly-by of KACK:

379 flight plans and 127 participating pilots. 'azreark1' is still in the lead, with 16 flight plans to his name!

In our bonus hour (at what's now 1:29am EST): - 338 flight plans - 283 controlled flight hours - 118 participating pilots - 61 PRP flights passed by controllers during the event so far 'azreark1' has jumped out to the flight plan lead with 15 so far. There's still time!