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Virtual Sky - February 2012
The Hungarian Division of IVAO celebrated its 7th birthday this year. The STAFF of the division celebrates the anniversary with a 24-hours event year by year. In these events the connected pilots can fly according to a real timetable at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport. Of course, besides the daily traffic everybody can fly anywhere or according to the timetable of their virtual airlines. Two years ago Budapest Airport ZRT, (last year a secondary school in Székesfehérvár, and this year Hungarocontrol ZRT) provided a very good location for the fans and friends of virtual and real ATCs. People could fly in LHCC FIR with full ATC service from Saturday morning (12.11.2011) until Sunday morning (13.11.2011). However, this current event was really special for the participants because the visitors could coordinate the virtual pilots in that building where the ATCs do their daily job. The excitement of the event and personal meetings were increased by the atmosphere of the site. The people on duty connected to the server were really well-prepared and their work was supported by maps, manuals, handy sheets and experienced mates and a supervisor (exactly as in real life). The fantastic atmosphere was even hotter knowing that IVAO members could observe the work of real controllers – thanks to Hungarocontrol Zrt. and the management of Budapest Airport Zrt. They could check where real Air Traffic Controllers work and how they do their job and under what kind of circumstances. They could ask a lot of questions from professionals who answered all of them Erika Sági, the communication manager of Hungarocontrol Zrt who showed them around in the huge – Many of us felt that our childhood dream came true thanks to the management of air traffic controllers centre. The fantastic relationship between the members of the Hungarian Division of IVAO and colleagues of Hungarocontrol Zrt. was reflected by Erika Sági’s message, which was sent to the STAFF of the division after the event:
A little statistics about the event: 294 pilots completed 319 flights!
“It is a great honour for me I could be the honorary member of a team which feels deep commitment towards air traffic controlling. I am sure your commitment has become stronger after this weekend and you had a really wonderful time here.
During the event the following positions helped the pilots : - Budapest Tower - Director - Approach - West-Control Virtual sky - November 2011 - East-Control - Ground - Balatoninfo - Debrecen
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
Thanks for your kind words on behalf of my colleagues! See you next time… Kind Regards: Erika” Vulkán Farkas, who is an air traffic controller in real life and he is a Duty Supervisor at Hungarocontrol Zrt. and he had a great role in creating the official phonetic curriculum as well, said the following about the event: “I confess frankly I had not had much experience about the virtual world until now. Of course I was aware of its existence but I thought it was a clever computer game for some infantile adults. Although I knew some of those pendants personally for me it was rather a toy than a serious thing. However the time spent with them showed the opposite. Hey, this is not an easy game at all! What more it is bloody serious! What the virtual controllers – without sparing their energy, time and money – do is certainly respectable. And they do it voluntarily. They do every effort to meet the standards, rules and regulations of the real world. They also follow our procedures. Without the support of those experts we had in the real world being up-to-date and prepared in the virtual life is a really hard nut. The real controllers receive a lot of help from colleagues working in adjacent fields. They design the airspace for us, some construct the rules we should comply with, some others indict the technology by which we have to work, and they take care of our equipment or organize our trainings and assessments which ensures our competence. Our virtual fellows must create all these stuff by themselves. The Hungarian Division recently bestowed to me the highest level of recognition the Spirit of IVAO award which I am very proud about. And therefore all my respect go the shadow factory workers. I wish you a lifetime of perseverance for your virtual profession. All the best to you guys, Vulkan Farkas Air Traffic Controller from the real side” However, we were not the only people who were curious how the real guys work. Even the real air traffic controllers spending their free time watched how volunteers did it. Moreover, there was a real controller who tried himself on the Network, as well. There was a big contrast between the two workrooms. While the workplace of the guards of the real air space was quiet and peaceful, the virtual air traffic control centre was bustling. The Hungarian division of IVAO has a member who started his real air traffic controller career as a virtual one. There was another member at this busy weekend that came home from London, just to take part in this event. Even an EasyJet pilot, Splendor Bouman visited this event, who is an IVAO member and he used to be the leader of the UK division of IVAO.
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
What did this event mean to people? It was a fantastic experience for the fans of virtual air traffic controlling, their dreams came true, they could work there (where the real professionals). The members could feel the joy of personal meetings and those who were flying during the event got 24-hours covered air space and they could enjoy the happiness of flying in a controlled space. Hungarocontrol Zrt. And Budapest Airport Zrt got a confirmation they could provide huge help for the professional entertainment of well-prepared and enthusiastic volunteers. It was a historical moment because it was the first such kind of event taken place in a real air traffic control centre all over the world. The Division, Hungarocontrol and Budapest Airport went down in history in those 24 hours not just virtually but in real life also. As a conclusion, let we write a few personal thoughts. We our self never believed we could ever get to a venue like this. We have always admired the air traffic controllers’ incredibly responsible work. We were wondering whether we dared to do this job if we could choose it as a career. However, after we had registered the IVAO website and we could experience high quality training and helpful division members who helped us any time we asked for. Honestly, we think we fell in love with this profession. Although our possibilities are limited nowadays, we cannot wait to sit back to our virtual air traffic control tower and to help those who come to IVAO to fly. It is not just a game for us. As we could see it on the event, preparedness and the spirit of “as real as it gets” are also important for our virtual colleagues and pilot-mates. We think this unique spot gave something extra to everybody to do an even better job on the Network.
Thank you, Hungarocontrol Zrt. Thank you, Budapest Airport Zrt. Thank you, Hungarian Division of IVAO. We all had wonderful, memorable experience again. Maya Juraszik & Balázs Tassonyi
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
There are many members who have seen the “IVAO Spirit” badge, both in the list of awards at ivao.aero and in other members’ public profiles. The badge might look impressive, and you might have been wondering what they stand for, why they exist and why some, very few, members have them printed forever in their profile while others have not. The answer is not very easy, and differs from person to person. In the case of the badges in a member profile, you will always find an explanation from the one who issued the badge to the member in question. But what does that explanation tells you, and is it enough? In order to understand the spirit of IVAO, you must go down deeper than just the profile of a member with a shiny badge in his or her profile. In order to understand, you must most probably have been a member of the network for quite some time so that you have been able to discover the people behind the network. Those people are all members in the organization which is built up by some of us in order to provide an environment where all of us can share our passion, no matter on what level of interest or knowledge we are. Eric Olson, a dedicated member from the United States says the following in an IVAO presentation on YouTube (search “IVAO 10 years”): How many other organizations can you name where you can talk to somebody from Japan, somebody from France, somebody from India, somebody from Brazil - all in one day? Eric hits one of the main features with IVAO; the fact that we are built up by people from all over the world, with different cultures, religions, traditions and a different view on aviation. It is when all these people are combined that things are starting to get really interesting. I am personally a staff member at IVAO, not only as a content writer for the magazine which you are currently reading, but also as the training and flight operations coordinator in the Swedish division. I have contact every day with people who have different tasks behind the scenes of IVAO and they are all eager to do their best in order to provide and improve the network that they once fell in love with. I can answer to Eric’s question by; no, I can not name any other organization where I can talk with people all over the world and where I get the chance to work together with many of them. There are not many things that are as entertaining, motivating, interesting and exciting as IVAO is when you combine the right people with each other.
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
I have been a member for several years, and I have asked myself many times why I am still an active member. Most of the members in the Swedish division who joined IVAO the same year as I did have not logged a single hour for the last two or three years. I have in some why reached a conclusion; and that is mainly that I still find it really pleasuring to start off with a flight in Stockholm and greet the controller with a “God kväll!”, fly down through Germany with a “Guten Abend!”, pass Netherlands with a “Goedenavond!” and finally land in Paris and say “Bonsoir!” to the controllers there. It is even more pleasuring to on every frequency hear 5-10 different dialects of members from different countries and to hear that we are all able to communicate with each other on the frequency with the phraseology that we have spent many hours to study. Another very good example that I would like to share with you that may be one of the best examples to illustrate the spirit of IVAO, is a situation that appear for some members every now and then. As you all know, IVAO is not the only community available for flight simmers that would like to connect to an online network. Sometimes there might be situations where a member wants to try something new, and this is where these other networks come into the picture. I am one of those members and I have heard several members tell about the very same feeling that I had once they had tried another network: they simply feel that there is something missing when they are spending online flight time outside IVAO. There is something missing that takes away the fun of flying, the experience that makes it worth spending the time in front of a computer, watching the screen for several hours. That is also why they came back to IVAO quite quickly – they say that they need that last piece in order to make the puzzle complete. Once they are back, they feel that the experience is complete again, even though they cannot always really tell what changed. The spirit of IVAO is like the sun and the moon; it is always there – sometimes it is in the background and you do not really notice, while other times it is really visible and clear. I believe that you must take off your sun glasses when it is as it brightest moments and only then will you understand what the spirit of IVAO really is.
The description of the award is “Given to anyone showing the real spirit of IVAO. Proposed by DIR/ADIR of Div, to Executive”.
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
INTERVIEW TO
CRISTINA ANTÓN A P P R O A C H C O N T R O L L E R I N PA L M A D E M A L L O R C A
I started working as a controller in the year ninety-seven, after working in everything you can imagine, because I wanted to have a stable job that allows me to organize a little my life. In those years, a university degree was needed, or a half of an university degree, I do not remember because I had a complete one, a high English level and pass the selection process ( in my case there were about seven thousand people for just a hundred of vacated places) I remember that I signed up in an academy for six months to prepare the exams, I did it and I succeeded. Of course, it is wrong that I say that but… I did it brilliantly. My experience has been fantastic for twelve years and quite painful until the decree-law of the 5th of February of 2010.
Could you imagine how this world is before you joined as an air traffic controller? It is interesting, varied, stimulating, fun and very rewarding because you can see immediately the result of what you do. Before entering in the world of air traffic control I visited Torrejón ... and I went back home crying, convinced that the people who selected me were wrong because I thought that I would not be able to do it. It was very difficult.
What do we need to become an Air Traffic Controller? What requirements are needed to become an air traffic controller? Nowadays we need to pay about forty-five thousand euros to study in one of the certified schools and pray for someone to hire you because the license that you obtain is nothing without a clearance. I think that basically you need a quick mind and be able to process and perform many tasks simultaneously. You also need a considerable stress resistance and good spatial vision.
How are your work turns and work hours, for example, in your approach position of Palma de Mallorca? Do you suffer stress in this work as it is believed? In Palma we divide the turns in mornings, afternoons and evenings, every day a different turn order and we have about six different schedules. I could tell you the turns if they would follow
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
a logical order, but since the decree they have no order. In summer you work around two hundred hours per month and in winter a little less because Palma is seasonal. Only the scheduling is causing considerable stress and tiredness, especially nowadays because they cut back a lot the breaks. The work is also hard because you are constantly making decisions in real time with the constant stress of not making mistakes, or to solve them quickly in case of making them, and the planes do not always reply, sometimes the weather conditions are horrible or maybe it is not your best day, so you have to work harder to maintain the concentration. And presently there is also the problem of the procedures and sectors that have been invented without having tested them and they are not the best.
Changing radically the subject and entering in aviation issues, What is the sector of Palma Approach in which you are usually controlling? And explain us in detail how you coordinate between adjacent sectors. In Palma there are five approach sectors: feeder one and feeder two, which are the two sectors that provide traffic to Palma (Departures and Final) and Ibiza. Normally you are switching between the different sectors or maybe you work a full turn on it. To coordinate we use dedicated lines, also called hot lines for the sectors that are in the same location and with the tower, and telephone lines for the adjacent sectors.
What tools would you highlight in the Automatic Air Traffic Control System that you have in Spain, the SACTA? Do you think it could be better? SACTA is a very good tool but is not very easy to use when you get out a little of that you do frequently. The visual treatment is a pain, and some flight plan changes are too complicated.
Explain us the differences between the radar assistance in an approach dependency, with another that has radar support and other that have no radar regarding the procedures, phraseology and what the controller can and cannot see, etc. The radar support only is used to know where is the traffic and to measure distances if it is needed, but you cannot use it to separate or to give vectors, so there are really two different types of approaches: conventional and radar. In conventional, having or not raster, you must separate the aircrafts in different levels/ altitudes, distances and waypoints that must be notified by the aircraft, and we apply the separations that you have in the RCA. It is not is a very flexible system and you can work with few traffic, because the planes must be separated due to security reasons. With a radar you can do whatever you want because you know where the aircraft is and you can place it exactly where you want providing vectors. Its flexibility is limited only by the
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
characteristics of the sector. This system supports a higher amount of aircrafts than the other one. In conventional with four aircrafts at the same time you have problems. With a radar you can handle twenty in the same airspace.
Tell us what the SLOT, the EOBT and the CTOT are and for what they are used and some other types of periods that presently exist and what effects they have on the organization of the air traffic. The EOBT is the estimated off-block time and is when the plane calls completely ready to start up and pushback if necessary. They can call a little earlier or later, with a margin of more or less fifteen minutes. Once the start up and the pushback (if needed) are completed, the captain has three minutes to taxi. If you exceed this period you should update the flight plan, but it is something that rarely occurs. CTOT is the calculated take-off time and it is the result of adding the estimated off-block time (EOBT) and the taxi period, but really it is not used because once the plane is taxiing, it is going to depart without taking care about the hour. SLOT is a take-off time assigned to a plane if it is affected by any regulation and should be strictly performed with a margin of five minutes before or at most ten minutes after from the CTOT. In theory, the aircraft must be ready at the holding point at the time of the slot. The following ten minutes are for the controller to incorporate it to the departure sequence. If, when the plane is in the parking, they are not going complying with the slot, the controller will request a new one. If the aircraft is going to lose it at the holding point, normally the controller will call to Brussels to request an exemption. This happens for example in case of storms or track changes an exception cannot be made unless you have a good reason. The slots are great to organize the aircrafts when they are on ground because normally you cannot face any problem when they are on ground. Basically it avoids overloads in other sectors and also it avoid overloads when the planes are flying, which are more difficult to handle.
Talking about the emergencies, how do you organize, coordinate and manage an airplane until it reaches the airport and what happens with the other aircrafts, for example, in a moment of huge traffic? When an aircraft declares an emergency you must guide it to the airport with the shortest way possible and it must be away from other aircrafts. You must provide only the necessary instructions to not overwhelm the pilot, and request the information needed for a correctly landing: fire trucks, ambulances, trailers, etc.
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Virtual Virtualsky Sky- -February February2012 2012
Each emergency is different, but if we have too much aircrafts, it is possible to assign a frequency and a controller only for the emergency traffic.
How does the weather disturb the air traffic control? Are there special control procedures in the case of bad weather or all is continuing as usual? The control becomes very bad with bad weather. There are no possible procedures and the procedures that we have disappear. Each aircraft fly where they are able to dodge the storms. Usually the controller allows the aircrafts to proceed where they can and maintain the aircrafts separated, basically by levels, because the aircraft can change the heading in every moment to avoid the cumulonimbus. To give you an idea, I have seen in Barcelona ACC eight persons monitoring an area in which normally only work two and also aircraft flying to France by Algiers because of the storms in the Pyrenees.
Well, we are done with the questions, thank you for your time you dedicated to answer all our questions. The magazine team of Virtual Sky and IVAO thanks you for your willingness and cooperation that you have provided. Always is a pleasure speaking with you, thank you for giving me this opportunity
Finally if you have anything more to say or add to all members of IVAO, go ahead, you can. To be honest, until recently, I did not know about the existence of the virtual pilots and controllers that simulates reality faithfully, and there are people from all countries! But when I knew more about your world, I was surprised greatly about the level of realism you have achieved and your knowledge about aviation. I am happy knowing that there are people like you, especially in these times when controllers and pilots are not at our best, because seeing you enjoying with these jobs encourage me to continue fighting doing the aviation exciting.
Once again, thank you Cristina and good luck in your amazing job. See you next time!
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
SAN FRANCISCO JUST FOR VFR...
VERO is a company dedicated to make photorealistic sceneries for FSX and Prepar3D, espe-
cially indicated to make VFR flights, and these sceneries are perfect to make VFR trainings or flights in the simulator. However, although it is intended to VFR trainings, theses sceneries can work perfectly in a personal computer at any home. You can enjoy in your home one of the best photorealistic sceneries, closely based on the details of reality.
Especially, this photorealistic scenery is based in the San Francisco area, and you can enjoy the
views of the grand bay of San Francisco, in California, in your VFR or IFR flights. This San Francisco Bay scenery covers an area of thirty-eight thousand one hundred fifty three square kilometers with an excellent optimization technique developed by VERO. You can find it for an incredible price for the quality and the area coverage that VERO and this scenery offers you.
REAL
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FSX
Virtual Sky - February 2012
San Francisco is located in the San Francisco bay. It has a big metropolitan area but the population
of San Francisco is more or less of one million people. It is one of the most important cities of California and of the United States and you can find in San Francisco an important center for aviation, especially with the connections to the Pacific Ocean, the rest of United States and Asia.
SAN AN FRANCISCO
T
The city of San Francisco is affected by the influence of two civil airports: San Francisco Internatio-
nal and Oakland International. The main airport that provides service to San Francisco city is San Francisco Intl, the biggest in the San Francisco bay, where airplanes like Boeing 747 or Airbus A380 operates with regular flights. However, the Oakland Airport is national, for flights into the USA but you can find flights to destinations around Europe and Mexico. Naturally, you can find some airfields in the area.
You can enjoy all the aviation life in your simulator with the photorealistic scenery of San Francisco
Bay developed by VERO.
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
The scenery size is approximately 12.3 Gb, however the quality of it deserves this high file size. On
it you can find detailed each and every building, airport and cities located around San Francisco. During the night, the illumination of the scenery is almost perfect and very good simulated. In addition, in the case of performing an approach during the night, you will be able to see different objects moving on the ground! Talking about military operations, it is also recommended because this scenery covers almost forty thousand squares kilometers, so you can climb to a high flight level (four hundred for example) and set your aircraft to the maximum speed to overfly the city. The resolution is also very high (around 30cm/pixel in almost all the
SAN AN FRANCISCO
areas). Moreover, you will receive more autogen for free almost every week!
To conclude, all the features included in the scenery are all excellent. The price of this amazing sce-
nery is just 11.89 EUR! It is not too much if we keep in mind the thousands of objects VERO included in the scenery. Please, buy this perfect scenery, I am completely sure that you will like it and, of course, you will enjoy the surroundings of San Francisco!
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AEROSOFT WEEZE X
Just a little airport for
«LOW COST»
Weeze X is one of the German airports made by Aerosoft. This airport is one of the most im-
portant German Ryanair bases, and it is the principal ‘low cost’ airport in the north-west of Germany, located in the small municipality of Weeze in Niederrhein. Furthermore, its location makes it a reference airport in the northern Germany and southern Netherlands, because it is located very near to the Dutch border, another similar airport is Weeze/Niederrhein which is about thirty-three kilometres of Nijmegen, a city in the east of the Netherlands.
Due to its location, some airlines like Ryanair called this airport as “Düsseldorf”, however the
city of Düsseldorf is about seventy kilometres away. This airport, actually serves to the closer cities of Venlo, Nijmegen and Arnhem (Netherlands) and Duisburg (Germany).
The ICAO code of Weeze/Niedherrein airport is EDLV and its IATA code is NRN. The Ryanair base
in this airport is very important for the development of the region and the airport. Only this airline offers national and international destinations around Europe, actually about forty-four different routes. It was a RAF military airbase, and in it began its civil operations in 2003.
The airlines which now are operating in Weeze/Niedherrein airport are Ryanair, Sky Airlines,
SunExpress, Wizz Air, Air Berlin, Transavia and XL Airways Germany. In addition, in Weeze operates SkyWings Cargo Airlines which is a cargo company. In 2008 this airport grown the eighty percent from the previous year and it provided service to 1.52 millions of passengers. In 2010, this airport was used by 2.9 millions passengers.
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
In 2008 this airport grown the eighty percent from the previous year and it provided service to
1.52 millions of passengers. In 2010, this airport was used by 2.9 millions passengers.
This scenery is a great job of the Aerosoft team, because it is combining its performance with fide-
lity to reality. It is also highly optimized for all computers, one of the reasons is because this airport is not too big and it does not require a big special terrain mesh.
It also includes the possibility to choose how many scenery animations you want to activate like
parking animations, handling, etc. It is also compatible with AES (Airport Enhancement Service) in FSX, it cost zero AES credits and you can active it with the AES version 2.09 or further versions. AES is a program that, with a compatible airport and activating it, provides you fully handling services like ramps, refuelling trucks, pushback procedures and parking assistance. AES provides much realism to the flight
AEROSOFT WEEZE X
simulation on the ground.
In this scenery, you can see the civil terminal and the little military buildings all around the airport,
on the perimeter of the runway and taxiways. In your simulator, you can use the military area, because the old military parkings are available for you, and the civil area is fully working with its animations and its parkings. Weeze has a two thousand two hundred and forty meters runway of concrete asphalt which is prepared to support heavy aircrafts.The approaches to this airport end in a NDB, and in that NDB the final approach begins. The most beautiful thing of landing in the runway 27 is that you are approaching to the Netherlands but you are going to land really in Germany. For the visual flights, the principal references are the roads, highways and towns, because there are not rivers near to the airport in the German territory, only one in Netherlands, on final approach to the runway 09.It is important to say that only the runway 27 is equipped with ILS, maybe because it is the only runway which allows to the German air traffic controllers to monitor all the approach.
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
AEROSOFT WEEZE X
It is really nice having to leave Germany for a few seconds after taking-off from the runway 27 in
all the departure procedures. This scenery is working with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and Microsoft Flight Simulator X, so you can enjoy this splendid scenery with the principal flight simulators that we have in the market.
To conclude, this airport is recommended for those who want to fly to a different place, away from the hassle of big airports and close to nature and the Dutch border without leaving Germany and its jurisdiction. Ultimately, this is one of the sceneries that you taste and finally you want for forever so, come on and try it in IVAO!
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By Alvaro Mijares (IVAO-MTAC2)
Virtual Sky - February 2012
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Virtual - July 2011 Virtual Sky -sky February 2012
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Virtual - July 2011 Virtual Sky -sky February 2012
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Virtual - July 2011 Virtual Sky -sky February 2012
RAF United Kingdom 3.Sqn – Eurofighter Typhoon FSX Aircrafts Filename: Efeedemo07_fsx.zip Author: Andreas Meyer Source: http://avsim.com The Eurofighter is a single-seat, twin-engine, agile combat aircraft which will be used in the air-to-air, air-to-ground and tactical reconnaissance roles. The design of Eurofighter Typhoon is optimised for air dominance performance with high instantaneous and sustained turn rates, and specific excess power. Special emphasis has been placed on low wing loading, high thrust to weight ratio, excellent all round vision and carefree handling.
Flight Calculator Ver 1.6.5 FS2004 and FSX Filename: Fsfc165.zip Author: Dave Westbury Source: http://avsim.com Flight Calculator is a great program to calculate approximately the arrival time (LT & UTC) depending of the aircraft you select. In addition, you are able to get the EET and the distance. Enjoy it! Los Angeles Airport Scenery FSX Scenery Filename: Klax_pr_v3.zip Author: Glenn Johnson Source: http://www.flightsim.com Do you usually fly to KLAX? You will really like this scenery! It is completely photo realistic and it contains the last updates in real life: terminal lights, trees, cars (ground vehicles), A380 parking spots‌ Enjoy it!
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United New Colors Boeing 787-9 V2 FS2004 and FSX Aircrafts Filename: 79uaco_4.zip Author: Camil Valiquette Source: http://flightsim.com The Boeing 787-900 is an excellent aircraft. Usually it is used to perform very long flights (9 hours for example). Enjoy this new freeware aircraft! Especially if you are a boeing lover!
New Orleans International Airport FSX Scenery Filename: Kmsy_pr_v3.zip Author: Glenn Johnson Source: http://flightsim.com/ This photoreal scenery is a complete redo of the default KMSY scenery using the latest version of ADE, SBuilderX scenery design tool, and Google Sketchup. The author has replaced all of the default terminal buildings, added the new 2012 Concourse D expansion, new 2013 rental car garage, added gate signs to terminals A, B, C, and D, and included several nice scenery enhancements.
Akesoft Foronda-X FS2004 and FS2004 Scenery Filename: AKESOFT FORONDA-X-FS9/FSX.exe Author: Akesoft Source: http://akesoft.ake-airlines.es/portal/LEVT-X/ Vitoria-Foronda X is an important airport in Spain. Normally it is used for cargo flights but few civil flights are performed there. Akesoft developed this great freeware scenery to let us enjoy the great approaches and the great mountains located near the airport. Enjoy!
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The human factors in Aircraft Maintenance Nowadays, air transport is considered one of the safest means of travelling in the world, but unfortunately and too often, an accident occurs which shakes our complacency , taking a look at the cause of the accident, we will say: ‘’How could such a simple error have combined to cause a catastrophe?’’ Human factors teach us, how to prevent and break the ’’chain of events’’. The chain of events is a series of human errors which take place until the accident occurs, and know and understand the human factors in aircraft maintenance is fundamental, to prevent and break it. In human factors training, we study the ‘’Dirty Dozen’’. The Dirty Dozen is a list of the 12 most common causes of human errors in maintenance. The concept was developed by Mr. Gordon Dupont. But first of all, what is an error? Generally an error is ‘’an unsafe act unintentionally committed’’. An error can be also a slip or a mistake. In other words, we don’t error on purpose! So, in the next paragraph I will explain some important factors related to the Dirty Dozen.
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Fatigue Usually we can make mistakes because we are fatigued and that is why fatigue is one of the dirty dozen. It is a potential problem for many. Fatigue can be a serious on-going ‘’chronic’’ problem or it may be ‘’acute’’ – just caused by few nights without sleeping. For example you may forget to complete a task, you may be temporarily too lazy to do the job correctly, or you may be unclear in your communication. Fatigue is a real problem, when you are fatigued, your physical strength and mental ability are impaired. Fatigue can be managed, but first you must be aware of the risk. Stress Stress is a psychological and sometimes physical condition caused by some kind of ‘’stressor’’. The stressor can be a once-only situation or it can be an ongoing one. For example a short-term stressor may be a very difficult approach, a very difficult repair that must be done quickly. Once the approach or the repair is completed the stress disappears. Stress may affect your ability, your memory but also may affect your ability to make rational decisions. In general, stress affects health. Pressure There is often pressure while doing a maintenance, which can come from many sources. Often, without realize it, you apply more pressure in yourself…you put yourself under pressure to provide a high quality performance in minimal time and this causes mental stress and fatigue. Pressure to finish the work in the deadline is the most common type of pressure in this job. But also your coworkers can also cause some pressure. They can create a sense of urgency that forces you to work faster than you are comfortable with. In our life, everyday, we have some situations which create pressure. So, pressure is one of the dirty dozen. It is a possible contributing factor to an event. The Airline Industry will always have daily pressures, but we must do our best to ensure that the pressure does not affect safety or efficiency. Complacency Complacency can contribute to a maintenance event when the mechanic is overconfident about a task. This is usually a result of performing the task repeatedly. Psychology experts say that many task become ‘’automatic’’, like driving to work. You sometimes can forget the trip. That is because you were on ‘’automatic’’. To conclude, in aviation always remember to respect and follow the regulations, the communication rules, if possible perform a teamwork work, first of performing something remember to check the level of knowledge to perform the task or procedure, and always be aware to ensure a safe procedure while working.
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Virtual Sky - February 2012
SWISS MILITARY BASTION
The international team (Thing-to-come) created a new military-vintage scenery: The Swiss Military Bastion.
In this expansion pack for Flight Simulator 2004 only, we can found three different heliports which was something that really was going on in Switzerland during the Second World War.
The Swiss Military Bastion, as its name suggests, is located in the Alps, specifically it is located in Swiss
Alps. In this pack we can found three different helipads: Zermatt Bastion (LSCB), is located at an altitude of five thousand two hundred and seventy-six feet and is located in the south-eastern Alps, very close to Sion (LSGS) in the Switzerland’s highest peaks. The village of Zermatt is almost completely surrounded by the high mountains of the Pennine Alps. From the helipad’s fortification we can see the beautiful Matterhorn peak which is nearly at fifteen thousand feet of altitude. The name ‘’Zermatt’’ derive from the alpine meadows, or ‘’matten’’ in German, in the valley. The fortification coordinates are 46°01’N 7°45’E.Julier Bastion (LSJB), is located in the western Alps at an altitude of eleven thousand feet. The coordinates of Julier are 46°29’27’N 9°45’36’E. Once situated at the helipad, you can see at the north-east side a small glacier called the Vadret Güglia. Due to its isolated location, it offers a wide view of the Engadin, where we can find a long and green valley followed by a river, the Inn river. Julier is close to Samedam (St. Moritz/LSZS). St. Moritz is the highest-elevated commercial airport of Europe with an altitude of five thousand six hundred feet.
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FREEWARE EXPANSION FOR FS2004 Virtual Sky - February 2012
Julier Bastion (LSJB), is located in the western Alps at an altitude of eleven thousand feet. The coordinates
of Julier are 46°29’27’N 9°45’36’E. Once situated at the helipad, you can see at the north-east side a small glacier called the Vadret Güglia. Due to its isolated location, it offers a wide view of the Engadin, where we can find a long and green valley followed by a river, the Inn river. Julier is close to Samedam (St. Moritz/LSZS). St. Moritz is the highest-elevated commercial airport of Europe with an altitude of five thousand six hundred feet. Furka Pass (LSFB), nowadays is called Furka pass, is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting Gletsch, Valais with Realp, Uri. The Furka Pass is one of the highest passes of Switzerland. From the heliport we can see the perpetual presence of the Rhone glacier throughout the year where the Rhone river borns and run down the valley until reaching the Lake Geneva. The fortification of Furka is situated at an altitude of eight thousand feet.
The concept, developed by Swiss general Henri Guisan, was called ‘Rèduit ‘, which means retreat, and basical-
ly it is consisted as a massive fortification of the Swiss Alps, to protect and defense the country from its vulnerable terrain: the Alpine area. The shelter capacities of the fortifications are up for six hundred thousand people, all perfectly hidden within the mountain terrain of the Alps. Forty thousand fortifications in all Swiss territory of different sizes have been built. Once installed the scenery (which comes with an installer) we find three separate fortifications, with different ICAO codes. The scenery is nice to fly under visual flight rules but you also have the possibility to perform some instrumental procedures to land safely in your preferred fortification.
You can takeoff from Furka and fly (if the weather permits) above spectacular white or green valleys, blue
lakes, beautiful peaks and plateaus. In addition, in summer and winter you can fly always with wonderful panoramic views of the Alps. Once you take-off, you will enjoy a unique landscape in the world. Come on, relax and take-off from one of the fortifications that you really like!
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Virtual Sky - February 2012