Evan Reiter

Problem is that we HAVE attempted it. We've been to Asia, we've been to Europe...and most of the time the traffic hasn't been there and it's been difficult to find controllers, charts, etc. Why don't we say that if you can get 20 pilots to post their support and at least 7 controllers (typical Rc staffing level), then we'll do it?

From FlightAware, here's the link to the recording of the last-ever COA flight arriving at KEWR: http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcaviati ... ds-at-ewr/

30 Hours of ATC now Underway! We've officially launched 30 Hours of ATC a little earlier than we thought; BOS_A, BDL_A, and ZBW_C are currently online. Our FSX Blue Angels flyover originally scheduled for 6pm ET this evening has been postponed due to darkness and weather, so there will be no flight restrictions around the KBOS area this evening. The flyover has been rescheduled for 1500 ET (3pm) Saturday.

Day 5 Domestic Journey The formal portion of BVA's High Five concluded this evening with a very successful Domestic Journey between KDCA and KBOS. We had more Boeing 747's than KDCA has ever seen in its history night but even still, almost every aircraft flew the NATNL1 departure perfectly, successfully avoiding restricted airspace over the White House. We had a nice line of aircraft enroute as well. Tomorrow we begin the (+30); we'll be staffing Boston Center continuously from 6pm ET until midnight on Saturday. So fly anytime you want and expect to see at least ZBW (along with several other controllers) along with several other pilots. I know the early AM shift I controlled last time (3-6am on Saturday morning) had more traffic than I've seen in the evenings, and the rest of the event was jam packed. I expect nothing less for this round! You can see staffing details at: http://www.bostonvirtualatc.com/dnn/Hig ... ffing.aspx.

Given the difficulty we've had adjusting to procedures in Europe, do you think such a Getaway would be successful?

Cape Cod on Day 4 We fought through some communication problems last night (caused by one of the aircraft on the "no fly" list for multiplayer sessions) but nevertheless managed to have quite a bit of fun on Cape Cod. We had lots of general aviation traffic doing circuits, VFR flights, practice approaches, and a few IFR aircraft as well. The weather cooperated nicely with the rain of previous events subsiding long enough to allow pilots ample visibility during VFR flights. We continue with our final scheduled event (the Domestic Journey between KDCA and KBOS) and then move on to 30 Hours of ATC starting Friday. The FSX Blue Angels will also be back to kick off 30 Hours of ATC live in our server with a flyover of KBOS at 6pm ET on Friday evening.

What a Day 3! Today, we had one of the busiest Regional Circuit events in recent memory. The peak number of flight plans (41) and the images below say more than I ever could: I'd say those define "awesome" quite effectively. I told you that if you were only going to attend one Regional Circuit, this should have been it! Now let's do it all again tomorrow night when we jam the second-busiest airport in Mass. (Nantucket) in Wednesday evening's General Aviation Fly-In from 8-11pm ET.

We Packed the Pattern during Day 2 of the HF (+30) BVA's High Five event continued this evening with a successful Pack the Pattern event at KBOS. We had plenty of aircraft flying into, out of, and around Boston all night, including a line of six arrivals on Runway 22L at one point! Both of our Tower and Approach controllers worked hard to make sure the experience was enjoyable for everyone. Meanwhile, I listening to people nail the "cross Runway 15R, hold short Runway 15L" instruction all night. That's more than can be said for a few of the real-world operators that come into and out of Boston! We continue the event tomrrow night with the Regional Circuit between our favorite citypair, KBOS & KJFK. If you're only going to fly in one Regional Circuit event this year, this should be it. I'm looking forward to some more fun work at KBOS as BOS_T during the event...and seeing everyone there!

The Milviz F15 aircraft causes communication lag in our server in all versions not designed for multiplaer. However, there is a multiplayer version (paint) of the aircraft designed for sessions like ours that works. All other versions are NOT for multiplayer use and should not be flown online. Please be sure you are using the correct (multiplayer) version of the aircraft when operating on our server to avoid communication lag and the possibility of ejection.

HF (+30) Day 1 in the Books! The FSX Blue Angels kicked off our week-long birthday celebration beautifully during tonight's performance live on our website. The team showed us just why they are some of the best formation fliers on FSX. Think about the frames and lag you get flying one aircraft into KBOS...and now imagine trying to do that with 4 or more other aircraft right beside you! The FSX Blue Angels are always proud to be part of our birthday celebration and we're proud to have them here. I know the members I spoke to were very impressed by what the group was able to do. We have a great lineup of controllers set up for tomorrow's Pack the Pattern at KBOS, which we're hoping will be one of the most thrilling events of the week. We have a delay program prepared in case our controllers get overworked and backup controllers ready to help out at a moment's notice. Get out there and let's see what our controllers can do!

I recall the thread very well and was an active poster in it. Whether anything official or not I think some intercept practice would be good fun for the fighter jocks and for some of us interested in experiencing it. Hoping to get a couple hours logged over the next few days and would love to have some interaction with a military aircraft. If you see "Archer91" online, shoot him a PM -- I'm sure he'd be more than happy to practice an intercept.

The thread Matt was referring to: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1856.

We've managed to get FD back online temporarily. We'll do some more debugging to find and hopefully permanently fix the issue after tonight's session. For the remainder of the evening you can login to FlightDesk to file your flight plans, send messages, and view controllers as usual. Expect a few reboots later (after midnight) while we complete some debugging when traffic has died down.

As of 1300Z today, FlightDesk is unavailable (users will receive a "validating credentials..." error but will never be able to login). This is a temporary issue affecting FlightDesk only that we hope we will be able to resolve shortly. Another message will be posted here when the issue has been resolved. FSX is not affected by the outage; users are able to access the server as pilots and controllers. Please file flight plans through FSX's chat box until FlightDesk is restored.

Thanks for doing that! I think that's a great cue from others as well -- please take a few minutes to send the link on to family, friends, colleagues, and anyone else you know that is interested in aviation. We need to keep that 2,800 number growing!

As you can see on our home page this evening, we've released our promotional video for our upcoming High Five (+30) Event, our extended 5-year anniversary celebration which runs from November 27 - December 3. The video is also available on YouTube: [youtube:csy8j8ix] [/youtube:csy8j8ix] You can find out more about our High Five (+30) Event at: http://bostonvirtualatc.com/dnn/HighFive.aspx. Thanks again to everyone who participated in the filming of the video -- pilots and controllers -- along with Cameron who worked both to ensure the filming event went smoothly and the final product looked as good as it does. But the real force behind the video was Brandon who not only filmed the majority of the event but also cut together the final product and recorded several audio clips independently. Great work everyone! Next on the agenda is our official promotional video which we intend to cut together from a lot of the same footage (so if your flight didn't make it into this video, don't worry!)

Our ISP has advised that we are to expect a full outage of both the website and forum this evening beginning at 10pm ET. Our FSX and FlightDesk servers will not be affected this evening. Updates will be posted on our Facebook and Twitter profiles as to the status of the outage.

Some of those will definitely be featured during the Norcal Getaway.

True -- and agreed -- but how do you manage the taxi instructions when we don't have an airport diagram (that everyone has) to work from?

The last Alaska Getaway we did was: PANC, PAFA, PADQ, and PAVD. The problem with some of the ones you've mentioned (going from memory here) are that they're uncontrolled...right?

The final release version of KBOS 4.3 is now available! This update completes the construction on Taxiway "M" and adds the extension of Taxiway "D" to the airport, and improves frame rates on the airport compared with both the full and lite versions of 4.2. As a result, only one version is necessary. A full list of changes and additional information is available in the package. All members should download and install this new update, even those who were participating in public beta testing. Installation is simple and instructions are provided for you at: http://bostonvirtualatc.com/dnn/portals/0/scenery/. You will be prompted to download all of the files you need. As of today, controllers will begin issuing taxi instructions that will require this updated version of the scenery, so please make sure to install it as soon as practical. NOTE for PUBLIC BETA TESTERS ONLY. The easiest way to install the scenery is to locate the BVATC_KBOS download from http://www.bostonvirtualatc.com/dnn/KBO ... ation.aspx and replace your FSX Root/Addon Scenery/BVATC_KBOS folder with the downloaded copy.

REMINDER: Our server will be shut down at 2pm ET on Saturday, October 15 and will be unavailable to members until 7:30pm ET. The server is being shut down so it can be used to film our promotional video. Those involved with the video will be provided with alternate connection instructions. If you are interested in participating in the video, please send an e-mail to [email protected] to confirm your availability and receive additional details.

Those who signed up have been contacted via e-mail with additional information, and will need to RSVP for the event. If you did not receive a message and think you should have, please let us know. Additionally, the decision has been made to host the event in our server, which will mean that the server will be unavailable from 2-7:30pm ET on Saturday, October 15 to those not participating in the video event. A server re-start will be performed at 2pm ET on Saturday, so please ensure to time any flights so as not to be impacted by the restart and password change. At the end of the event, the server password will be reset so regular members can use the server once again. If you wish to participate in the event, it's not too late; send a message to [email protected] confirming your availability from 3:30-7pm ET on Saturday, and list the aircraft type that you'd prefer to fly (we can't guarantee you will be given your first choice but will do our best to accomodate requests).

The Boston area will be closed to aircraft starting at 2pm ET on October 15 and continuing until 7:30pm ET for filming our promotional video (http://www.bostonvirtualatc.com/dnn/Pac ... nFilm.aspx). Only those who have been asked to participate in the video will be able to take part in the event; other pilots will be asked to remain clear of a 40nm ring of KBOS unless they are flying an aircraft that is compatible with our cameras. Additional information about the event/TFR will appear later this week.

That we can do.