[19 August 2017 1200-1900 ET (1600-2300z)] 18th Annual Boston Tea Party

[Krikor Hajian]

 

We are just two months out from the 18th annual Boston Tea Party. For seven hours on August 19th, controllers from BVA will come together in Nashua, NH for a day of fun for controllers and pilots alike. Not only will Boston Logan staffed to the hilt, but we also plan to staff many of our smaller airports, such as Hartford-Bradley, Providence, Albany, and the variety of airports on the Cape. All airports in the ZBW airspace will have at least center coverage.

 

During Tea Party, you'll be able to share the fun with many pilots and compete for some fantastic prizes in Tea Party Poker. Last year, virtual Boston had more traffic than real Boston did during the same time span, and numbers were comparable at Bradley International. Where ever you choose to fly during Tea Party rest assured you will not be alone.

 

The 18th Annual Boston Tea Party website page is online here, and check out our article in the July Logan Informer!

 

CONTROLLERS:  Visit the Tea Party 2017 Board for rostering and event information.

[Scott Robertson]

FYI - the header on the front page image says August 9 for the Tea Party (on the Save the Date line).

[Camden Bruno]

FYI - the header on the front page image says August 9 for the Tea Party (on the Save the Date line).

 

Thanks, Scott. We'll get that fixed ASAP.

[Camden Bruno]

Although the annual Boston Tea Party event is a BVA air traffic controller event, we may invite members of our pilot community if we have enough space at the venue. If we do end up having available space, pilot members will be invited on a first come, first serve basis.

 

If you are a pilot member and are interested in attending, please email [email protected]. This is in no way a commitment on your part if you choose to email at this point, but as a matter of respect for your fellow community members, be serious if you decide to email. It may have an impact on how many people we can accept, and in years past we have come close to turning some pilots away due to space restrictions only to have others be no-call/no-shows.

 

Once we have final controller attendee numbers, we will know how much space is available for pilot members. If there is space, we will reach out to pilot members who expressed interest in the order we received their emails.

 

Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

 

Thanks,

[Krikor Hajian]

The 18th Annual Boston Tea Party website is now online! It can be viewed here, and contains important information about Tea Party Poker, giveaways, and participating in the event. Our sponsors include HiFi Simulations, TFDi Designs, ORBX Simulations, Plantronics and FlyTampa! Visit the 18th Annual Boston Tea Party website RIGHT NOW to find out how you can win these amazing prizes! Get hyped! We're just over a month our from the Northeast's biggest and greatest live event!

[Camden Bruno]

We're about a week and half away from The 18th Annual Boston Tea Party and are happy to announce that we've added not one, not two, but THREE licenses of the recently-released Aerosoft Digital Aviation CRJ700/900X to our list of Tea Party Poker prizes! This brings our total amount of prizes being gievn away to 15! To recap, the total list of prizes that YOU could win are;

 

One of 3 Licenses to a Aerosoft CRJ 700/900 X

One License to any FlyTampa Scenery Product, including the soon-to-be-released KBOS V4

One of 5 Licenses to a HiFi Simulation Technologies product

One of 3 Licenses to an Orbx Simulation Systems Product

One Plantronics Gaming RIG400HX Headset

One of 2 Licenses to a TFDi Design Boeing 717

 

We're strongly encouraging pilots to also fly into other airports within ZBW airspace other than Boston. As of this posting, we have full coverage planned for Bradley (BDL), Providence (PVD) and Nantucket (ACK), as well as many other TRACONs and minor airports will additional staffing.

 

For more information, visit the Boston Tea Party 2017 webpage, including full rules for Tea Party Poker and general information about this event. We'll see you all on the 19th!

[Dace Nicmane]

Will it be possible to take PRP exams?

[Camden Bruno]

Will it be possible to take PRP exams?

As always, it depends on the specific PRP flight (where you're going, what it entails), timing, workload, etc. On the day of, spawn up and ask the controller if we can accommodate. Given the amount of controllers that will be online, I do not see PRP flights being a problem (in fact, this is a perfect time to do them), but if you request it when workload happens to be at it's highest for the controllers, they may deny it and ask you to wait a certain length of time.

[Camden Bruno]

Less than 48 hours until controllers begin arriving in Nashua, NH for the 18th annual Boston Tea Party! Interested in winning 1 of 15 fantastic prizes? Visit the Boston Tea Party 2017 webpage to learn how. Before flying, please read this post for very important information.

 

We'll see you this weekend!

[Jonathan Halverson]

Is there a resource available for which position is covering what (like for satellite coverage and so on) and a list of frequencies in use? Especially with Xsquawkbox it can be a pain to sort through controller ATIS and manage the massive "Who's online" list.

[Camden Bruno]

Is there a resource available for which position is covering what (like for satellite coverage and so on) and a list of frequencies in use? Especially with Xsquawkbox it can be a pain to sort through controller ATIS and manage the massive "Who's online" list.

Your best bet is to use a program like VATSpy or Vattastic

[Evan Reiter]

Is there a resource available for which position is covering what (like for satellite coverage and so on) and a list of frequencies in use? Especially with Xsquawkbox it can be a pain to sort through controller ATIS and manage the massive "Who's online" list.

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.

[Don Desfosse]

Imagine that... ;)

[Camden Bruno]

Tomorrow is National Aviation Day in the United States. What better way to celebrate than by joining Boston Virtual ARTCC's biggest event of the year?

 

Starting at 12pm ET tomorrow, BVA's controllers will be staffing up our entire airspace for 7 straight hours of air traffic control, most of which will be provided live! Tea Party is usually the busiest event of the year, and more than 30 controllers will be coming together in person to support it.

 

As you know, pilots participating in Tea Party are eligible to win great prizes just by flying our airspace! For each landing within ZBW, pilots can private message Burlington Approach (type ".msg BTV_APP" in your pilot client) to request a card. The more flights you do, the better your chances. To be eligible, flights must terminate in ZBW airspace, and internal flights that start with one Approach facility (e.g., Boston Approach) would need to land within another approach's airspace (e.g., Bradley Approach) to qualify. For all of the details, rules, and a list of the great prizes available to be won, visit the Boston Tea Party page of our website.

 

While our main airport (KBOS) is always a popular draw, we encourage pilots to visit ZBW's many other regional airports. We are planning to have full, top-down coverage at Bradley (KBDL), Providence (KPVD), and Nantucket (KACK), and will have staffing at several other airports across the ARTCC.

 

Join us online beginning at 12pm ET tomorrow.

[Camden Bruno]

The 18th annual Boston Tea Party LIVE event is about to begin! Follow us on Twitter (@BVARTCC) for live updates. View this post prior to your flight(s) for important information.

[Camden Bruno]

The controllers and administration at Boston Virtual ARTCC want to thank all of the pilots who supported the 18th annual Boston Tea Party.

 

We are excited to announce that we reached over 230 operations at Boston Logan International (BOS) in the 7 hours that we were staffed - this number does not include the dozens of other airports that had coverage. This number also matches the real-world traffic numbers that real-world Boston Logan controllers were handling during the same time period.

 

Please stay tuned for more information regarding the results of the Tea Party Airport Poker competition. We had over 40 participants, and will reach out to the winners via email within the next few days.

 

Without your support, we could not accomplish such a spectacular event for 18 consecutive years. Thank you, and we hope you enjoyed as much as we did!