Virtual Sky - Volume 9 Edition 3

Vol 9: Issue 3

VIRTUAL SKY

MAGAZINE FOR THE ONLINE FLIGHT SIMULATION COMMUNITY

DevOps An insight into the complexities and work carried out by the team

A Pilot’s Story Never give up on your dreams!

I VAO NE E D S Y O U R S U P P O R T IVAO is, and will always be, free of charge for its members; however, to continue with our expansion plans we need your help with donations.

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

Editorial After a short recess from publication, “Virtual Sky” is back with this slightly

Contents

delayed Autumn

Meet The Staff

4

Manager - Louis Verdeau

IVAO Poland RFE Weekend

5

With each new management

DevOps: A Brief Q&A Interview

9

edition brought to you by our new Magazine Team Assistant

team the format of the magazine

IVAO Belux Region - An Introduction

14

edition is no exception.

The Life Of A Passenger Service Agent

18

The aim of this new design is

What did they say? Doing it the FAA way!

26

From AE to XG

28

TVS Virtual

32

Demistifying Special Operations

36

Story of an Airline Pilot

39

The Senegalese Division

42

The Continental Online Day

44

changes as new ideas are explored and developed; this

to create a more corporate image that can be presented to industry and commerce and extend circulation outside of the IVAO membership.

I hope you enjoy the new look and feel of the magazine as well as some of the new features we have added.

“Virtual Sky” has always been supported by, and produced for, our members and we can only survive with your article contributions.

We look forward to receiving your amazing stories and thank you all for sharing!

Virtual Sky is published by: The International Virtual Aviation Organisation - www.ivao.aero Please send all article submissions via email to the magazine team: magazine@ivao.aero Editor-in-chief: Stephen Howarth prd@ivao.aero Editor: Louis Verdeau mtam@ivao.aero

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

Editorial Assistants: Henk Wolsink, Robert Pepio, Stanislas Chareyre, Mohammed Almuqbel, Achilleas Moraitis Contributors: Stephen Howarth, Ken Andries, Filip Jonckers, Jessy Stas, Luc Schweizer, Tom Gilmore, Jan Podlipský, Fabian de Jong, Olivier Monnot, Lamine Badji, Marco Frosio, Giorgio La Pira, Balint Takacs, Shaun Sullivan, Adam Offra, Joshua Rees

3

Meet The Staff

Meet The Staff Stephen Howarth (PRD)

by Stephen Howarth, Public Relations Director

After some considerable

I often find in life that if I meet someone or

investigation and a hint

know a little about them, communicating

of

and working with them is much more

online flight simulation, I

productive and friendly than if they

joined IVAO in May 2009

remain just a name or title. That is why in

along

this issue I am introducing the “Meet The

While I concentrated on

Staff” sections.

trepidation

with

regarding

my

father.

my piloting skills my father had his sights firmly set on a virtual ATC career. IVAO offered such an

I contacted over 600 IVAO staff members

amazing and realistic environment that I never knew

and invited them to provide a picture and

was possible, I felt that I needed to give something

short introduction so that everyone would

back to the community. I therefore joined IVAO as

be able to identify and connect with them

a staff member in 2011 as the GB-MAC and was

better – a few of them replied.

immediately hooked on helping members, what a great feeling, maybe I could achieve more? As luck

I did not wish to have a dedicated page

would have it, a rapid promotion in 2012 put me in

for this section where all the profiles were

charge of the GB division as GB-DIR. This role was

together, I wanted readers to ‘find’ them

not only very challenging and demanding on my time

as they read through the magazine.

but invaluable in exposing me to the organisational structure and responsibilities of running a division.

I have scattered just a few staff profiles

A year later and I joined the senior staff team as

around in this issue with more to follow.

PRA2 where I found my vocation, somewhere I felt I could make a real contribution to IVAO. Within a

If you are a staff member then send over

year I found myself in the privileged position of PRD

a profile; I am sure our readers will be

where I continue to do my best to promote IVAO and

interested to read about your IVAO history

its divisions on the global stage.

and your goals.

IVAO staff are here to serve the community, I hope these small insights into some of your staff members helps to strengthen

YouTube‘s most diverse airtravel blog.

Subscribe for new flight reviews every week.

SIMPLY AVIATION

that community spirit. www.simply-aviation.com

I will start the ball rolling with a short profile for myself; keep an eye open for other “Meet The Staff” boxes in this issue and future issues.

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IVAO Poland RFE Weekend

by Stephen Howarth, Public Relations Director

My adventures in Poland this year actually

During the Berlin event I had the

originated back in March at the European

opportunity to talk more to Jędrek and

Flight Simulator Conference, Schönefeld

Michał with lots of ideas and opportunities

Berlin. IVAO Germany was invited by our

being discussed along with an invitation to

sponsor Aerosoft to demonstrate our

visit Poland for an IVAO event.

network and provide a lecture to the I am certain that at this point no one had

visitors.

envisaged that only four months later Always welcomed by IVAO Germany and

IVAO Poland would be hosting a mammoth

never having actually met Aerosoft, I

18 hour RFE, effectively relaunching the

jumped at the offer to attend the event

division. An ambitious event for even the

and started to prepare my speech.

most adventurous division, this RFE was made all the more challenging as few of

It was during this preparation period that

the ATC staff at the event had ever met

I was contacted by a couple of members

before.

from

IVAO

Poland,

primarily

Jędrek

Przybylski and Michał Wiśniewski. Both

The venue for the event was at the

were travelling to Berlin for the event and

offices of GearUp (www.gearup.aero)

were keen to meet and chat to me.

in Poznań who boast the only full-scale

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

5

Michal Wisniewski and myself are finishing off pizza and making up lanyards with a 5am wakeup alarm set.

5:30am – duty calls and Michal and I travel into town, half asleep and in need of strong coffee, arriving to find the entire RFE staff setup and operational at the GearUp offices. airliner simulator in Poland and what a simulator it is, simply awesome! I cannot fault GearUp on anything concerning the event, an imaginative and well

Not even the constant film crew presence or media buzz could interrupt the controllers

presented establishment with friendly and professional staff and great coffee.

The next 18 hours were not only part of a well organised and executed event by

Hosting such a long event obviously meant

a relatively newly reformed division, but

we all had a very early start on Saturday

a host to a frenzy of media exposure

morning. Clearly lots of sleep the night

and patronage from PANSA (Polish Air

before was required so that we were all

Navigation

awake and full of energy for controlling or

people were interviewed regarding IVAO

attending interviews. The best laid plans

Poland and SimNetAir’s (www.simnetair.

of mice and men... 3am in the hotel lobby

com) “Eagles Nest” program ranging from

and Lukasz Kaluski,

local radio to television channels POLSAT,

6

Bartłomiej Kipis,

Services

Agency).

Several

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

TVP and Poland’s leading general aviation

and PANSA staff enjoying online flights.

monthly magazine Przegląd Lotniczy.

It was a real treat for the pilots to have Not even the constant film crew presence

PANSA staff manning Poznań approach

or

during the afternoon and I think it is safe

media

buzz

could

interrupt

the

controllers – pure professionalism!

to say that not only were IVAO Poland thrilled to have representatives from

Constant PR updates ensured members

PANSA present, but that PANSA were

were kept informed and over 300 flights

suitably impressed by the quality of the

were logged with extra ATC positions being

IVAO software and level of competance of

opened to cope with demand. A smooth

the controllers.

operation any division would be proud of with no major issues, relaxed controllers

A final late evening PR post resulted in a

and a friendly atmosphere all day, evening

flurry of activity online, bringing to a close

and into the night.

a hugely successful RFE for all concerned.

PANSA were suitably impressed by the quality of the IVAO software

Organising RFE’s takes a great deal of time, effort and support from both staff and members and the results are greatly appreciated and enjoyed by all

A highlight of the event was having the

IVAO members who take part. They are

GearUp Boeing 737 simulator connected

hugely popular with pilots and equally

to IVAO all day, very popular with not only

challenging for controllers, however from

the event staff but also executive editor of

my perspective, they demonstrate the

Przegląd Lotniczy - Krzysztof Krawcewicz

commitment and professionalism of IVAO

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

7

members and embody the core values of the organisation.

This was my first visit to Poland and I was extremely impressed by the divisions work and enthusiasm. The event was exceptionally well organised with a huge amount of media interest and coverage.

I consumed far too much pizza than I guess is healthy over a weekend, washed down with far too much Vodka, but more importantly I met some amazing, friendly

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Thank you IVAO Poland for an amazing

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

DevOps: A Brief Q&A Interview

by Ken Andries (DevOps Support Coordinator), Filip Jonckers (DevOps Support) & Stephen Howarth (Public Relations Director)

The latter part of 2016 has seen an

Q: What kind/how many resources can

increasing number of demonstrations and

DevOps rely on?

live streaming events featuring IvAc2, the eagerly awaited update to IVAO’s air traffic

A: Our most recent appointment was

control software. The main question on

to the MTL team they now consist of

everyone’s lips is “When will it be released?”

four working their way through the

and the obvious answer to this is “When it

MTL backlog and making some exciting

is ready”. IvAc2 is a huge undertaking for

changes. two in forum support, two in

the DevOps team and many members are

Server administration, three on legacy

extremely interested in its feature set and

web projects, three core developers

functionality, but it is not the only project

(IvAc2, IvAp3, FSD). As you can see there

they are involved with.

are not a lot of people in our team but we are constantly looking for extra help. If you

I recently had the opportunity to chat to the

ever wondered why things take a while

DevOps team and pose some questions

to develop, we are not a game company

about the work they do and the role they

with a team of 20-40 developers working

play within the organisation.

40h/week. We put as much time in as we possibly can.

I hope you find the following interview interesting and informative and I thank

Q: What is the average time DevOps

the team for their time and commitment.

members spend on their IVAO job?

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

9

A: As much as possible; the core team probably spends a few hours a day on IVAO. We are all very eager to work on IVAO projects.

Q: What tasks do DevOps members do which are not visible directly by the members?

A: Meetings, and working on “sensitive” projects. We communicate very regularly with the Executive, BoG & PR department to discuss problems at hand or sharing ideas. We also try to get together a couple of times a year with the team which is not the easiest thing in the world to organise.

Q: What departments are covered by DevOps and what are their responsibilities?

A: The old Web, Logistics, Softdev & Support departments. The web team is in charge of maintaining the main IVAO website which we now call the legacy system, they fix bugs, make small improvements on request of the Executive or other departments. Logistics which already was a combined team of Network & Forum, their main tasks were to keep the operational network (FSD, Teamspeak, Web Servers) online and protect it, while the forum team handles any changes in the forum which are requested by divisions or HQ staff. Softdev took point on software development focusing on IvAp, IvAc clients and also FSD, MTL & WX Server. Finally, our support

The first feeling on IvAc2 just felt great! The assuming of planes who are transferred by other stations is just easy like 1-2-3 ~ David Flement

team, if you ever had any questions or issues with our software / network it is more than likely that you have met them.

When DEVOPS was created the idea was to

integrate all these different teams which greatly improved communication and problem solving by putting developers, operational network team & support all in one group we are able to quickly react to changes. Which seems to be working quite well after a year.

Q: How realistic is IvAc2?

A: We have shown IvAc2 to several atco’s and generally speaking they are very excited, it 10

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

not only functions like a real radar, it is very intuitive to use compared to the real thing.

Q: We have all seen the many previews and images on the forum, livestreams on Twitch and your posts on the DevOps blog. Considering this will members be able to use IvAc2 soon?

A: It is not as easy as it looks, IvAc2 is getting to a more stable state with every BETA release to our DataPrep teams but bugs still exist, although we also want to release IvAc2 as soon as possible. Remember that we only have three of our core developers with two actively developing.

Somehow it felt very naughty to have multiple inset windows open with SMRs for different airports spread across three monitors after being used to frantic panand-zoom. Felt odd to go back to using v1 this evening ~ Ian Beswick

As soon as we feel comfortable putting it out, the members will have it.

Q: Are you working on any other projects?

A: We are working on a few “Top Secret” projects we cannot say anything about as they are either too early in development or we just do not want to spoil the surprise.

We often talk to different people via Skype or even during real visit to have a brainstorm session, during these sessions we come up with hunderds of ideas to improve IVAO’s services towards our members, at the end of the day it is for them we do it.

Q: Do you want to add anything else?

Both working on the FIRDEF and using IvAc2 is much easier than IvAc1. When using IvAc2 everything just feels natural.

Comparing v1 with v2 would be like comparing apples with pears, there is just no comparison possible, it is just that good! ~ Jessy Stas

With both IvAc2 and IvAp3 using the enhanced features and security the new API offers, we will be able to deliver the best user experience ever!

The huge

progress made during the summer shows the commitment and craftsmanship of our team ~ Filip Jonckers

Working on IVAO software is very exciting, although we all wish we could release it tomorrow and could implement all our dreams, we have to stay objective. Since I joined SoftDev (now DEVOPS) about 2 years ago we have seen huge progress. I really feel we are working towards something amazing! ~ Ken Andries International Virtual Aviation Organisation

11

June non-edited screenshot contest winner

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IVAO Belux Region - An Introduction

by Jessy Stas, IVAO Belux Director

It all started in 1998 when IVAO was

so it was a logical step to provide support

created. Belgium, the birthplace of IVAO

and service for the Luxembourg Division

and the place where IVAO currently is

as well.

registered as a Non-Profit Organisation.

This might be one of the reasons why the

IVAO BeLux started with promoting IVAO

Belgian Division is so important for many

to the outside world since some years

people, as they have seen IVAO growing

already with a very small demonstration

from within this division.

stand on aviation related events. We showed an observer session of IVAC and

The Belgian Division has always tried

gave some explanations to the visitors

to provide the best service possible for

of such events. This all started while still

its members which was always highly

operating under IVAO Belgium.

appreciated.

Today we can extend that service even

IvAc2 is another thing which is very important with IVAO BeLux

to Luxembourg as we have become IVAO BeLux Region since this year. This change gave us the possibility to provide training,

Today, we are forming a real Demo

events etc. for members residing in

Team and have multiple so called Public

Luxembourg. The Airspace of Luxembourg

Demonstration Events, PDE for short, a

has always been part of the Brussels FIR

year where lots of aviation enthusiasts

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

come to take a gasp of those lovely flying

We also get support from our local Virtual

machines. Our demonstration stand has

Airlines who try to promote the PDE and

grown a lot the last year. These days we

encourage their pilots to fly them. People

always set up at least one ATC Station,

visiting our stand are always stunned by

being Brussels Tower, together with

what they see and what can be achieved

Tower View which adds a bit to the realism

through IVAO. Many people also mistake

but also helps us to make the connection

us with the real ATC from the airport

between IVAO, Flight Sim and ATC. It can

where the event is happening, many times

occur that we open multiple ATC stations

we get the question if we are providing

on our demonstration stand depending on

the ATC service live for the real airport fly-

how many people are present on location

in, which makes us a bit proud of course

of course.

as this shows how professional and real IVAO can be.

IVAO BeLux tries to support local Virtual Airlines as much as possible

During these PDEs IVAO BeLux works closely together with Flight Simulator Club Belgium FSCB, who are also present at these real life events. Some of their members fly to/from Brussels National Airport during these events, either from home or from the event location which is a huge plus as we can simply explain

It’s also nice to see how real IVAO can be

the whole IVAO concept this way. Visitors

if part of the Demonstration Team arrives

always switch from our stand to the stand

by plane during those events which again

of FSCB to see those pilots on both their

adds to the amazement of the audience

sim and on our radar and Tower View.

when explaining it.

Next to our PDEs we had our yearly FS LAN Party, which has been a great success for several years. Unfortunately the interest of members to join such a LAN Party has been decreasing over the last year and we had to take the regrettable decision of no longer organising it at this moment.

The concept of a LAN Party may be a little outdated so we started looking for

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

15

alternatives. What we have in the pipeline

title. We have been working very hard on

are several things and focus a bit on the

a system where each staff member can

social aspect.

help out in another department if their knowledge allows it. This allows us to have

One of those things are so called seminars.

more ideas and suggestions which would

During these seminars we like to present

otherwise just be neglected as it would

a few topics, heavyweight and lightweight

not be part of their “job”.

about aviation to our members. Just a few hours where we give some explanations about these topics, or we let guest speakers do that for us. Afterwards people can ask questions about that topic before we move on to the next one. It’s always so much more pleasant in person than over a Skype call.

A second idea we had was to do some sort of daytrips with our members, be it a spotting trip to our National Airport, a visit to an aviation museum, a session at a full flight simulator, a guided tour at an airport, … so many ideas to work out

This has opened up more opportunities for

and bring the staff and members closer

each department, just an example would

together.

be that our Membership Department and Training Department are working closely together on a project to better guide new members in their virtual career and lower the threshold of making the step to online flying.

Another thing is that IVAO BeLux tries to support local Virtual Airlines as much as possible. Virtual Airlines are most of the time the most important source for new members so we take care of our local

Speaking of staff, our staff team has

Virtual Airlines as best as we can. When a

evolved a lot in the last year and maybe

Virtual Airline would have an event they

one of the most important changes is that

can always rely on us to get some ATC

our staff do not work just for their Staff

online, they can even promote their event

16

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

through our forum as other pilots might

closely together with the core developers

be interested in flying that event as well

to have our FIR Definition ready for

if they do not have any inspiration for a

upcoming beta releases. As a result of this

flight. In return they encourage their pilots

we were also able to provide ATC service

to fly during our events and PDEs.

with IvAc2 during our last RFE and we can use it during our PDEs as well which is a

We also work closely together with

huge motivation for everyone involved in

European Flight Simulator EFS. For our last

those events. So let us take opportunity to

Real Flight Event they offered their venue

thank the core developers to allow us to

entry as ATC station space. Visiting people

use IvAc2 during these events!

for EFS then could also get a glimpse of what we were doing. Our ATC was able

Well, that would be about it what we can

to take a few minutes in their B737NG

tell you about our division. Don’t forget to

sim after the event which was of course

check our website for upcoming events

the highlight of the day. EFS also offer a

and Public Demonstration Events. We also

10% discount for IVAO members. See

invite you to our weekly Online Evening,

our website on how you can achieve that

which is held every Tuesday from 1700z

discount.

till 2000z. Our neighbouring division also have their online evenings at that time

IvAc2 is another thing which is very

so a perfect moment for one or multiple

important with IVAO BeLux as we are

short flights under full ATC guidance!

one of the divisions on which other Data Preparations teams base themselves. Our

Until we meet each other in the virtual

DataPrep Team are always working very

skies or on one of our real life events!

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The Life Of A Passenger Service Agent

by Luc Schweizer, Membership Advisor, IVAO CH Membership Coordinator

Dear members,

Gate Agent). The passenger handling for an airline requires a lot of different skills,

I wanted to share with you “A day in the

and thus they are divided into “teams”

life of a Passenger Service Agent”, as it may

or “departments”. For each airport you

give you some inspiration and impressions

will find the Airline Ticket Office team,

about the ground handling world at an

the Transfer Service team (irregularities

international airport.

handling & rebooking of misconnection passengers), Lounges and VIP services, the

I will try to show you some sides you

care team for Passengers with Reduced

might not know about the world of

Mobility (PRM), and of course the Check-

aviation. Indeed, there are plenty of jobs

in/Gate Agents. All these teams work

in the aviation industry next to the classic

together in order to help the passenger

Pilot or ATC job, and believe me, they are

find their way through the airport or assist

very interesting as well! From Passenger

if needed.

Services to Flight dispatcher, via Ramp Agent and Red Cap (the loadsheet guy);

Back to me: I am myself working as Check-

all these jobs have something in common:

in/Gate Agent and in addition to that I am

the “fascination for aviation”.

part of the irregularity pick-up team, which is responsible for handling irregularities

First of all, you need to know what are

(heavy delays, lot of misconnections,

the roles of a Passenger Service Agent (or

cancellations).

18

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

thing I know is my main task for the shift (Check-in or Gate).

Throughout the shift I am planned for different tasks: check-in, departure or arrival flight. As for many airports, there are departure and arrival waves, which means that we are planned accordingly.

For example, for an early shift (5am to 13.15pm), you will most of the time start with a few minutes at the check-in, then go to the gate to open the doors for an inbound long-haul flight (as the morning arrival wave starts at 6am), and finally go to another gate for a departure flight as the outbound wave is starting at 7.30am.

Our shifts at Zurich Airport are in between

After that, you might have a first break

4am to 11.15pm. My day starts with taking

before starting again the same logical

my work mobile phone, and signing in. The

cycle: check-in > arrival/departure > and

mobile phone is used to provide me with

so on. Of course if your main task for the

my assigned tasks (which are managed

day is “check-in”, you will most likely spend

by the Employee Dispatch Team). I have

the whole shift at the counters.

to “confirm”, “start” and “end” these tasks at the right moment. For example, I may

I won’t go more into the details, as there

start with 30 minutes of First Class check-

are so many things to tell or explain that

in counter, and then have 10 minutes

I cannot cover everything. What you for

to get to gate E42 for flight LX38 to San

sure need to know, is that it is interesting

Francisco, and so on…

to meet plenty of passengers, all having other stories, different cultures, different

One thing is sure, you will never get bored at an airport!

destinations, and so on. Of course not every passenger is friendly: like for every service providing business, there are

These tasks are dispatched according to

always people complaining or unhappy,

the flight timetable and/or the need at the

which in some cases is understandable.

check-in counters, and may be adapted

What I definitely like the most regarding

if delays are occurring. So in fact I never

this job, is that you learn how to deal with

know what I will be doing in +3 hours, which

people, have a chat with them, or make

is what I like as every day is completely

them happy if possible. And all this into an

different than the previous one. The only

aviation environment.

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

19

beds into the terminal, provide enough drinks and food. We rebooked passengers on a later flight, which at the end got cancelled as well. And so on … I let you imagine how difficult it was to handle, as nobody really knew if the flight was going to depart or not. After 5 or 6 days the weather was getting better, most of the flights were departing and we could handle it in a way that we were able to get Now, I think it is more interesting to show

the passengers out of Zurich. Of course a

you some examples of irregularities and

few days were needed to resume normal

special cases I had.

operations, but it was a great learning experience for everybody.

As you may know from flight simulation or from private experiences, not everything

I have hundreds of stories I could tell

is going according to plan. Every day there

you about, but this is definitely the most

are special cases such as technical issues,

memorable and challenging one. One

delays, medical cases, and so on. Of

thing is sure, you will never get bored at

course major cases luckily don’t happen

an airport!

that often, but still.

I remember the Christmas period of December 2014, as there was so much snow falling that the airport wasn’t able to maintain the runways clean without closing the runway every 30 minutes, which of course caused major delays and cancellations. After 3 or 4 days like this, we had approximately 10,000 passengers stranded in Zurich, with half of the flights cancelled. Everybody was waiting in a 4/5

That was it for now, I hope you enjoyed

hour long queue in order to be rebooked

reading the article, and maybe you are

for the next possible flight. As you can

now motivated to start a career at the

imagine, it was a difficult period for

airport? As I wrote in the beginning, there

everybody, as it was Christmas time. Every

are plenty of jobs I didn’t know about until

passenger wanted to get home to see their

today, and I can assure you that they are

family, friends and relatives. The airport

all worth it if you want to embark on a

had to provide and prepare thousands of

career in the aviation world.

20

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

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This add-on provides virtual pilots numerous detailed reconstructed features like the leaning tower, cathedral, stadium, photo real ground imagery and 2k textures. Pisa X is available for your FSX, FSX:SE and P3D soon!

www.aerosoft.com

Meet The Staff Shaun Sullivan (XG-ADIR, XG-EC) I am an Aussie living as an expat in Dubai since 2001. My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 back when I was about 12 years old - for you young people - this is well before the Internet! I remain a geek to this day and cannot begin to count how many computers and gadgets I have had over the years. The first flight simulator I had was the original SubLOGIC flight simulator for the C-64 (which eventually became Microsoft Flight Simulator). I joined IVAO way back in 2004 and did all my early training in the GB Division where I was also staff for a while. I took a break from IVAO and Flight Simulator for a few years when real life became a little too hectic and I got back into flying and IVAO again a few years ago. Being based in Dubai I transferred into the AE division which is now the XG GCC division. More recently I have had the honour of heading the XG Events department and together with my EAC Adam Offra we have tried to bring more activity and events to our division. We are particularly proud of the success of our recent RFE’s - especially the Ultimate Dubai RFE. I am also honoured to be selected as the Assistant Director working with a fantastic team of staff in our division under the amazing leadership of our Director Gio. Finally, just wanted to add - I am constantly impressed with the hard work so many of you are doing to make our hobby enjoyable for all the members. It is fantastic to be a member of this community and I hope I can continue to help in any small way I am able, long into the future.

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

21

Virtual Airlines (VA’s) provide increasing levels of immersion within the flight simulation community, often able to provide compelling, realistic, experiences similar to operations inside a real airline.

IVAO welcome the integration of VA’s within the network to provide real time air traffic control services that further enhance the realism of VA operations.

Below is a list of a selection of IVAO registered Virtual Airlines - we are sure you will find a Virtual Airline that suits your needs among these!

Hellenic Aviation Virtual is a bit different from other VA’s as we are a training academy operated by real world pilots and simmer enthusiasts, providing training in accordance with IVAO’s rules and regulations and maintaining high standards for students that want to start their virtual career with any virtual airline; all you have to do is show up and be ready to learn. Studies provided by Hellenic Aviation Virtual are: PPL, CPL, MEP, IR, NR, Type ratings and recurrent Type ratings for the individuals or other Virtual airlines that don’t have or don’t want to have a training department.

Lessons are provided via our TeamSpeak server for theory with practical on IVAO’s network using our advanced VAM ACARS that provides scores for each flight made.

hellenicaviation.net

Air Nostrum Virtual simulates real company operation in terms of routes, callsigns and fleet. Come to enjoy regionals flights over Spain and Europe, with a complete CRJ family fleet and our prop king ATR. Air Nostrum Virtual a VAG (Virtual Airlines Group) member.

airnostrumvirtual.com

TVS Virtual (TVS VA) is an online based virtual airline (VA) community of pilots whom use our approved flight simulations to simulate the operations of a real airline. We strive to maintain realism while still ensuring that the airline is fun for all members of any skill. TVS Virtual Airline is also proud to say we have a growing online presence on IVAO and we actively seek to support members wishing to give IVAO a try!

tvs-virtual.cz

Sky Club Italia was established to provide group activities to train virtual VFR pilots to make them aware of how much this practice can give and sufficiently skilled to taste its flavours. We promote VFR flights on the IVAO network focusing but not limiting to the Italian Division and in such context, support ATC training and exams, flying these events, and the IVAO ranking of our pilots. For these purposes, Sky Club Italia provides through its virtual flight school, all the required resources to improve ourselves as virtual pilots, and through its internal ranking system, the self awareness of each one capabilities.

skyclubitalia.it

KLM Virtual Airline is one of the largest and most active virtual airlines in the flight simulator community. We represent our nation’s pride, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, on the IVAO network. Using our extensive fleet of aircraft, our pilots fly around the virtual world to hundreds of destinations in their world-famous blue and white aircraft. We offer all the benefits of being part of an online virtual airline community without the strict regulations. To our pilots, our offer is supposed to be fun, not a second job. Therefore, you are allowed to fly any aircraft to and from any destination regardless of your rank. Moreover, for pilots looking for more realism, we will in the near future also offer the possibility to perform highquality flights, where strict, real-world limitations are to be observed.

klm-va.nl

Founded 02/07/2011, Sunwings Express is a Portuguese Virtual Airline operating a vast fleet of aircraft around the world in several hubs including Regional flights within those hubs and routes for IVAO Tours and VA special events. We consider ourselves to be a high frills, low cost airline and welcome every level of pilot, newcomers as well as experts. Our main goals are for all of you to enjoy flight simulation and have fun along the way. With a dedicated team of staff members and the best virtual and real pilots, we are capable of satisfying your every need in Flight Simulation!

Sunwings Express is a Fun airline that works with pilots and rewards good pilots. Come fly with us online on IVAO!

sunwingsexpress.com

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

VA AFL was founded and officially registered in IVAO in January 2012. The virtual airline has significantly grown since then. Our philosophy is: “to strive for perfection.” We always have a strong desire to keep developing.

Our VA places great importance on the quality of flights carried out by our virtual pilots. For the past four years, VA AFL underwent two major changes: in February 2015 the VA was totally updated and in September 2016 we launched a new website which offered our members fascinating features that made virtual flights more real. In 2016 the number of our members almost doubled and amounted to 700+. Today VA AFL is one of the most advanced and fastest-growing virtual airlines in IVAO. Together with the virtual pilots of the VA we are constantly improving the skills.

Our friendly and dedicated team is always ready to help and support the members of VA AFL.

va-afl.su

Welcome aboard Virtual Enter, place for aviation enthusiasts real and virtual. Our operations are based on the real schedules operated by the airlines as well as procedures used by the airline in the real world. Virtual Enter was founded by aviation enthusiasts. All operational and logistics are performed in the virtual world of network using MS Flight Simulator.

Both founders of the line as well as the members have a great importance in maintaining high standard of operations performed.

virtual-enter.eu

AlexandAIR Virtual, as descendants of Icarus, the first man on earth who tried to fly, we continue the tradition and follow our passion for lifting from the ground and to explore the Earth from above, following the birds in their own ways... With a fleet that is always updated and 4 HUBS (LGAV, LGTS, LGMT, LGRP and KSFO) our pilots using the phpVMS system are always “on air” with one of the oldest Hellenic VA’s.

gralexandair.net

Olympic Airlines Virtual is a virtual airline that was created to simulate the actual Olympic Airlines, when it was culminated in the world’s aviation community. It was created by people with enthusiasm and passion for flight simulation and love for aviation. Experienced and new virtual pilots, all together, we have created a company, having fun with our hobby, but at the same time, and pass the most experienced, their knowledge to the younger pilots. Olympic Airways-Airlines Virtual is divided into two subsidiaries, the Olympic Airlines and the Olympic Charter. The first simulates the actual flights of OAH, while the second one provides the freedom to fly to and from any destination. If for you, the name OLYMPIC is in your heart, we are waiting for you!

olympicairlinesvirtual.com

The KKW Compagnie is a French Virtual Airline with hubs in Paris, Bordeaux, Nice, Nantes and Montreal in Canada ! We are a passionate community of simmers based on mutual help and exchange. The staff is listening to pilots who want to learn in a friendly atmosphere, the quest for realism is what drives us ! The KKW Compagnie is a registered virtual airline on IVAO. Follow us on Facebook and check our website.

kkw.fr

Sky Aurora - with hubs in Copenhagen, Bergen and on Iceland we focus on offering exciting routes and planes. No matter if you want to fly small GA aircrafts or the mighty T7, short or long routes, passengers or cargo we have a flight for you. Our main goal is to have a good time while flying and we let our pilots influence the VA’s direction.

skyaurora.se

FlyUK - our mission is to provide a high quality virtual aviation experience for all flight simulator enthusiasts, striking the right balance between realism and flexibility within a friendly and helpful community. We will help pilots of all skill levels and experience to achieve their full potential as virtual airline pilots. Innovation has always been one of our aims and we’re proud to have brought a number of firsts to the virtual aviation community.

flyuk.aero

SkyAllianceVA simulates reallife operations and real fleets of 10 airlines.

We include Air Seychelles, Air Mauritius, Air Madagascar, Air Austral, Air Caraibes, Corsair International, Air Tahiti Nui, Aigle Azur, XL Airways France, Frenchblue. Fly in one of the most beautiful areas and islands of the world. You have the choice from short island hopping over shorthaul up to longhaul in the heavies.

skyalliance-va.com

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

23

July non-edited screenshot contest winner

Dominik Klomann - Through the Alps with the DA40

What did they say? Doing it the FAA way!

by Tom Gilmore, XA Training Assistant Coordinator, XA Chief, Senior Training Advisor

Many online pilots are apprehensive about

clearance.

flying in areas of the world with which

Departure Clearance

they are not familiar and although this is understandable it is often overcome with

The departure clearance contains the

a little bit of knowledge.

same information as an ICAO clearance, but with slightly different formatting. It is

In the North America Region, specifically

issued using the acronym CRAFT.

the United States, things are done a bit differently than the rest of the world.

C: Clearance Limit: The fix, point,

The regulatory agency is the FAA, whose

or location to which the aircraft is

regulations supersede most ICAO Annexes.

cleared, usually the destination airport

As an online pilot, don’t let this scare you! If

R: Route: The route to the clearance

you have knowledge of general airmanship

limit. This will include departure

and ICAO procedures, you will not have

procedures (SID)

any issues if you listen closely to air traffic

A: Altitude: The initial climb altitude,

control’s transmissions. Most importantly,

or top altitude followed by an

if there is a question at any time, don’t be

“expected altitude” (this is usually final

afraid to ask the controller to repeat or

cruising altitude) see example below

clarify instructions. Controllers in the XA

F: Frequency: Departure control

region are used to doing so, and you will

frequency

find that they are quite friendly.

T: Transponder: Squawk Code

There are a few things that will help

With those elements defined, let’s take

you with flying in the U.S. The biggest

the example of UAL999 flying from KEWR

one is understanding how some of the

to EBBR on route MERIT HFD PUT BOS

clearances are issued. If you have a

WHALE N75A SUPRY NATY BEDRA…etc.

general understanding of how a clearance will be issued, it will make it much easier

“United 999, you’re cleared to the Brussels

for the readback and compliance with the

airport via the Newark Two departure,

instructions. The two biggest “culprits” are

radar vectors MERIT then as filed. Climb

the departure clearance, and the approach

via the SID. Expect FL370, 10 minutes after

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

departure. Departure frequency 119.2.

turn left heading 240, maintain 5000

Squawk 3701.”

until established, Cleared ILS runway 21L

Approach Clearance

approach.”

The approach clearance contains several

The position element of this clearance

elements as well. This is using the PTAC

does not need to be repeated in the

acronym.

readback.

P: Position: Distance from one of the

As you can see, these clearances contain

fixes on the approach

the same general elements that you can

T: Turn: Radar vector to intercept the

expect to find in the ICAO world. There are

final approach course

just some minor changes that once you

A: Altitude: Altitude Restriction

understand, do not really make a huge

C: Clearance: Approach clearance

difference for an airman.

The following scenario is an aircraft being

The last two important things to remember

vectored from the northeast, for the ILS

about flying in the U.S. are conditional

approach runway 21L at KDTW.

clearances

and

sequential

landing

clearances. Conditional clearances DO “Northwest 1111, 5 miles from ROBBI,

NOT exist. For example, you will never be told to line up and wait behind an arriving aircraft. This is strictly forbidden in the U.S. The opposite is true with sequential landing clearances. Multiple aircraft can be cleared to land on the same runway in sequence. So don’t be shocked to hear

EC-1, 15 SEP 2016 to 13 OCT 2016

EC-1, 15 SEP 2016 to 13 OCT 2016

a traffic advisory followed by: “you’re number two [or three], cleared to land.”

With those general elements discussed, there is no reason to be apprehensive about flying in an area with which you are unfamiliar. The important thing to remember is that we are all here for the same reason. We all have a passion for aviation. If you have a question about any instruction you are given, don’t be afraid to ask. Everybody begins at zero knowledge reproduced with permission from the Federal Aviation Administration ~ www.faa.gov

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

and has to learn somewhere!

27

From AE to XG Giorgio La pira XG-DIR, Balint Takacs XG-AOAC, Shaun Sullivan XG-ADIR, Adam Offra XG-EAC, Joshua Rees XG-EA1

The GCC Division

reflecting in our network. We thought we could do much better than that, and we

It is a great pleasure for us, here in the GCC

needed to establish a plan to restructure

Region of IVAO to give you a little insight

and improve the entire region.

on what has happened over the last 14 months in our well beloved Division.

That could only be achieved by focusing on

The GCC Division (XG) has undergone a

what the members wanted and needed.

profound transformation from the former

Our priorities were to establish a solid

UAE Division (AE) that has allowed us to

training department, an active events

position ourselves amongst the best and

department and a very wide range of

most successful divisions in our network.

resources to assist our members to fly or

Just over a year ago, we started with a

control in our division.

restructuring project for the Division that has taken us to where we are now.

Our web team has redesigned our entire

After my appointment as director, and

website, that included a series of web

with the collaboration of my staff and the

based tools for our users. We simplified

very many new members of the staff that

all the process to request GCAs or training

joined at the time, we decided to set some

sessions and created a simple user hub.

goals for ourselves.

Comprehensive ATC procedures for the entire division were written and presented

We started with a very low number of

online in a logical and useful way.

active members, around 30 to 40, and we needed to get this number to increase. The

In parallel, our training department started

Middle East is one of the busiest airspaces

organising regular training sessions and

in the world, and those numbers were not

exams, in coordination with our events

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

department, to make sure those days

for the major airports and control sectors

were busy.

of our neighbour countries.

After some very successful RFEs, and

All of this would not have been possible

right after the release of the website and

without a strong collaboration with our

the new web tools, we started to notice

friends and colleagues over at the Kuwaiti

an increase in the number of division

and Saudi Arabian Divisions.

transfers and new members.

Our members loved all these projects, and IvAc2

we started getting some enquiries about

development team, and we made sure we

the possibility of merging all the neighbour

were ready to be amongst the first testers.

countries with the UAE Division, and we

So that as of today we are fully ready

thought that it could have been a great

and compliant with the new software

idea. Since Multi Country divisions are at

that will be released shortly! In addition

this point, a great way to share resources

to that, we also completed the Arabian

amongst small countries that would

Control project, that basically significantly

otherwise not have an active division in

increased the ATC coverage in the region

IVAO.

We

immediately

joined

the

and allowed a single controller to look after 4 or 5 major and super busy airports

After consulting our members, and in

in the world and in IVAO.

coordination with HQ we commenced the project that lead us to where we are now,

Our vision was to improve the services

a Multi Country Division that encompasses

provided to the users all across the region,

4 countries (UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and

and we thought that we had to start

Oman).

looking after our neighbour countries, to increase the traffic regionally. We

We currently have over 180 members

developed the IVAC sectors as well as

in the division, after only one year, and

QuickView documents, and we started to

we continue working on many exciting

update all the ATC procedures and SOPs

projects that include training videos for

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

29

IvAc2, a series of sponsored events and

is used in real life in the UAE and other

RFEs, new and updated web tools and a

countries of the GCC. Thankfully, this was

lot more that will be announced soon!

made possible through long hours of work and research, producing “As Real As

Make sure to visit xg.ivao.aero and our

It Gets� quality across all of our FIRs.

forum xg.forum.ivao.aero and see yourself what has happened in the Middle East,

While IvAc2 was under development and

and how incredible it is to fly and control

progressed to Beta testing, IVAO DevOps

in one of the busiest regions in IVAO!

elected our DataPrep to become among the Beta Testing Team. The Beta Testing

IVAC2 Dataprep

Team consists of a very limited number of divisions that use IvAc 2 to control on

Our division became involved in the IvAc2

IVAO Network to find and report issues

DataPrep Project in August 2015 and

and bugs to the developers.

underwent a lot of restructuring in our project and work to accelerate progress.

What

will

follow?

Well,

SoftDev

is

We have been working hard to complete

continuously introducing new features

OMAE FIR as main scope. However, around

so we need to constantly create, edit and

spring we started working on the rest of

update the files according to that. Also

the FIRs as well (OOMM, OBBB).

our target is to help out other divisions to take their first steps in the development

A key goal we had set was to create our

process.

IvAc2 radar screens to simulate what

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

Events Department

these important airports in the region.

The GCC Division Events department has

Also, we work hard to come up with some

delivered our members over 28 events so

interesting events such as our Dubai

far in 2016 with 12 more events planned

Overload event where we simulated a

before the end of the year.

number of operational events such as airspace or taxiway closures seen often in

By far, the biggest events during the year

real life. This allowed controllers and pilots

were our Real Flight Events (RFE’s) where

to experience the additional challenges

we broke new ground in May with our

our real life counterparts experience.

first Ultimate Dubai RFE involving all three airports in Dubai. This event averaged one

Looking ahead, based on member’s

flight every 90 seconds.

requests and suggestions we continue to work to bring exciting and interesting

In August, we conducted an in depth

events, along with our popular and major

survey with all division members around

RFE events. We hope to meet you flying or

events to understand more about what

controlling in our skies!

their events and time preferences are.

Members responded with many ideas and suggestions and also gave us a clear idea of preferences for days, time and types of events. These suggestions are already being incorporated into the Event Department planning for 2017.

We have also been working very closely with our neighbouring divisions to deliver interesting Air-Bridge type events in the region. We have received fantastic support from all the Divisions in our region and had many well-attended events together.

With the official launch of the GCC Division which merged Oman, Qatar and Bahrain with the UAE, it also expanded the events we plan. Exciting new airports are now having events planned such as Muscat, Salalah, Bahrain and Doha giving pilots and controllers wide variety and experience in International Virtual Aviation Organisation

31

TVS Virtual

Attractive destinations, Modern fleet, Sophisticated systems

by Jan PodlipskĂ˝, TVS Virtual Validations Director

TVS Virtual is a Virtual Airline, which simulates the operations of Travel Service airline based in Prague. Our primary hubs are Prague, Bratislava, Budapest and Warsaw. We have more than 100 real flights all around Europe, codeshare flights for Czech Airlines, and wet leases to Oman (Oman Air), India (Spicejet) and Canada (Sunwing Airlines, sometimes AirTransat) especially in winter, and much more.

Our skilled repainters are providing us with repaints for every aircraft in the fleet, which is a feature no other Virtual Airline has. Therefore, we have decided to provide our repaint library to only active pilots.

TVS Virtual is also a member of the Aerosoft Virtual Airline Program, which offers us the ability to provide 20% discount codes for our pilots on selected Aerosoft products like PFPX, Mega Airports, etc‌

Our Booking System is based on your location. For example, if you fly from Prague to Dubai, it will change your location from Prague to Dubai once you have completed your flight. After that, it

We are using the smartCARS 2 as our

will offer you flights only from Dubai. We

tracking software, which provides us with

also have the Jumpseat option, which will

the professional and complex systems

easily allow you to switch locations.

needed for our PIREPs.

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

TVS Virtual is proud to say that we have

Meet The Staff

a growing number of active pilots, which

Ken Andries (DOC, XB-ADIR, XB-WM)

is now more than 250 pilots and we are

After purchasing Microsoft

receiving more than 60 PIREPs per day.

Fight Simulator 9 and flying offline for a number of weeks, I decided to google if it was at all possible to

We have also created our own career

fly online somehow. As

system and exams for entry to our VA, as

luck would have it I found

well as rank upgrades.

IVAO and I joined the network in May 2006. I printed out our divisions

We have also created our own checklists

documentation on how to talk to ATC as a pilot and

for our pilots based on the real checklists.

how to correctly control aircraft. I read it anytime I had some free time. A year later I was fortunate enough to come into contact with Jessy Stas and Jean-Luc Courtois, we were all fascinated by military flying and together we put Special Operations in the BE division on the map. Still too young to be a staff member I eagerly helped where I could. In 2008 I became BE-SOAC. Together with Jessy (BE-SOC at the time) we gave training, organised events and created documenation. Over the next few years I got into training and started my integrated ATPL course in 2010. I continued to dedicate a lot of my free time

If you would like to give our Virtual Airline a

to IVAO by teaching others and organising a yearly

chance, please visit our website for details

BE FsLanParty. In November 2014 I both started

www.tvs-virtual.cz

working as a professional Software Engineer and joined SoftDev team as this is my second passion besides aviation. I tried to assist the team with my professional knowledge and collection of software tools. Slowly I got into developing IvAc2 and the new API. During the last year I took a step back in our division and focused my attention on helping Filip and the others with development of IvAc2 and our other software projects. IVAO has given me the opportunity to learn, experiment and grow both personal and professional, in return I try to give as

On behalf of TVS Virtual, we wish you many

much time and knowledge back as I can.

happy hours flying with us!

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

33

August non-edited screenshot contest winner

Dmitry Lavrov - On final, runway 01

Demistifying Special Operations

by Fabian de Jong, Special Operations Assistant Director

This issue we would like to take a look at

this point we are probably close to being

the Training Project that is being worked

halfway there, which is why we would like

on by the Special Operations Department.

to give everyone a quick update on where we stand.

We have talked about it in this magazine a couple of times before. Previously, we

Once the project has been finished we

have discussed a couple of the advantages

would like to implement three S.O. ranks

of such a project: no need for each division

for both pilots and controllers. Due to

to invest a lot of time setting up a training

technical limitations it will not be possible

program, the ability to standardise a lot

to implement these ranks as an FRA, but

of S.O. procedures so everyone knows

everyone will receive an annotation in

what is expected of them during S.O.

their IVAO profile once an S.O. rank has

events, a bigger audience with bigger

been achieved. We have created a big list

gains to warrant the time investment,

of subjects that we feel should be part

provide a centralised knowledgebase,

of the training for all ranks and we have

give people from divisionless countries a

roughly divided them by rank. The general

chance to participate in S.O. training. Most

goal of each rank is to enable people to

importantly, however, the ability to give

participate in increasingly more difficult

people who are new to S.O. a specific place

S.O. events once a rank has been achieved.

and path to start from under the guidance

Obviously we will be starting off with

of experienced S.O. trainers.

subjects that help people to participate in the most basic of S.O. events, slowly

The last couple of months the HQ Special

working our way up to complicated air-

Operations Department has been working

to-air and air-to-ground category B events

hard to get this project off the ground. At

with each passing rank.

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International Virtual Aviation Organisation

Special Operations not only entails flying

members need to be able to request

a fighter jet, it entails a lot more than

training sessions and exams, they need to

that. There’s transport aircraft, Airborne

be planned, members need to be informed

Warning And Control System (AWACS),

of the requirements per rank and briefed

Air-to Air refueling, firefighting, police

to prepare for the training sessions/exams

helicopters, attack helicopters, rescue

and many more things on the backend

helicopters etc. The possibilities are

that need to be created. For this purpose

endless. We feel that there should be

the Special Operations Department has

room for each discipline within the training

recently added Karim Wissel to our team

project.

as the Special Operations Advisor 4.

Ricardo Carrano has also recently been

It would be impossible and too time

added to the team. He will perform the

consuming to train everyone on each

duties of the Advisor 1, but he will also be

possible discipline in detail. That is why

able to help out with the Training Project.

the first two ranks will focus on general

Welcome Karim and Ricardo!

procedures that are applicable to all disciplines. The last rank will be a more specialised one, targetting Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground operations. In due time we hope to add some self-study documents to

The general goal of each rank is to enable people to participate in increasingly more difficult S.O. events

the knowledgebase about the specialised procedures for each other discipline.

There are still many things yet to be taken care of before the project

Now that the ranks and subjects have

can

been defined, we have a foundation to

documentation, infrastructure, negotiate

start from. The logical next step would

with divisions where and when S.O.

be to start creating documents on each

training sessions/exams can take place,

subject to help with the training. This is

gathering and implementing feedback are

a very time consuming process, which is

some of the things that spring to mind.

currently about halfway through. We do

We have set ourselves a soft target to

have one of these standardized documents

fully implement the training project for

to share as an example for anyone who is

pilots hopefully by the beginning of 2017,

interested: formation-flying. This is our

time and resources permitting. Training

most comprehensive document yet and

sessions for ATC will take a bit longer, but

focuses on formation flying.

they will follow as soon as possible.

Another thing we are currently working

Whether we will be able to make this soft

on is the infrastructure needed once the

target heavily depends on the availability

project is finished. Amongst other things,

of staff. Therefore, the only thing we can

International Virtual Aviation Organisation

be

implemented.

Finishing

the

37

guarantee is that we will release it “once it is done”. As always, any feedback and

How International is IVAO?

ideas are most welcome and will be highly

With over 180,000 registered members

appreciated. We can be reached through

in over 200 countries IVAO is one of

the “Special Operations” forum section or

the world’s largest Virtual Aviation

via email. We hope to be able to welcome

Networks, take a look at the active

you all at our S.O. training sessions in

countries and areas where IVAO is

the near foreseeable future! Prepare

represented by divisions or regions

yourselves for a great challenge!

Algeria

Luxembourg

Argentina

Malta

Aruba

Mexico

Australia

Morocco

Austria

The Netherlands

I first joined IVAO in 2007

Bahrain

Netherlands Antilles

as an active ATC and was

Belarus

New Caledonia

absolutely daunted by it.

Belgium

New Zealand

Brazil

Norway

Bulgaria

Oman

Canada

Poland

Chile

Portugal

China

Qatar

didn’t really work out. I made a switch to GB-AOC

Columbia

Romania

and from there, they were inviting applications to

Croatia

Russian Federation

Czech Republic

Saudi Arabia

Denmark

Senegal

Dominican Republic

Serbia

Egypt

Slovakia

After a less than effective merge of GB with the

Finland

Slovenia

former IE division, I set about making changes to

France

South Africa

French Polynesia

Spain

Germany

Sudan

Greece

Sweden

Hong Kong

Switzerland

changes to further enhance the integration of

Hungary

Syria

Ireland. Long journeys begin with short steps. We’re

Iceland

Thailand

dedicating training sessions to controlling in Ireland.

India

Tunisia

Indonesia

Turkey

Iran

Ukraine

Ireland

United Arab Emirates

Israel

United Kingdom

We have training targets to get more people passing

Italy

United States

exams both as ATC and as pilots.

Kuwait

Venezuela

Meet The Staff Graeme Wright (GB-DIR)

Honestly, I still am. I fly lots as well both IFR and VFR. I was first introduced to the staff team as GB-FOC and it

be GB-ADIR in my division. I applied for it and was recommended to the Executive. I am pleased to say that they interviewed me and the rest is history.

involve the IE of the GB&IE division. It wasnt a lot but it was more than we had. I was then promoted to GB-DIR and along with my team we are making

We are involving Ireland in more Tours and Events.

It’s not all about Ireland! I have a team of staff also tirelessly working on the implementation of IVAC2.

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Story of an Airline Pilot

by Olivier Monnot, IVAO member

My name is Olivier, I’m 43 years old. I am

neighborhood was just a little reminder

a french airline pilot. I am the only one

on your way. But I am very touched that

in my family interested by planes. And I

you share with me the memory.” I was

wonder how I became so passionate about

moved by these words too. Yes, maybe

aviation and flying. Trying to understand

a fairy godmother looks at the cradle of

how my passion for aviation aroused, I

each of us to lay the seeds of a passion...

remembered a childhood memory.

These seeds continued to grow, and When I was a 6 years old, we moved to a

at 15 years old, I was reading aviation

new appartment. Our neighbour was a

magazines at the public library. The title of

cabin crew for UTA, at the time the second

one of them was “Aviation & Private Pilot”.

largest french airline, flying from Paris

Two years later, I was able to work for this

to dream destinations such as Australia,

magazine for a month, as a summer job.

South Africa, Singapore, La Réunion island

I did my very first flight in a light plane

or Tahiti. Back from her trips overseas, she

with the editor in chief, in a nice Cessna

used to offer me small gifts like postcards,

Centurion, out of Lognes airfield, close to

key rings, goodies...

Paris. After this memorable flight, I bought the private pilot handbook... which laid

Maybe she was part of the explanation.

on a shelf for almost 10 years. Of course,

Ten years ago, I sent her a letter explaining

from time to time, I was reading a chapter

I was a private pilot (at this time), and

or another, but I didn’t really had enough

in her moving answer, she wrote: “I am

either time or money to fly.

pretty sure a good fairy filed in your cradle with this quest of sky and travel, and my

I started my PPL training in 2000, and 10

‘contribution’ by my presence in your

years after my first flight, I took off from

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the very same runway, at LFPL, flying a

the stratosphere, where the color of the

Robin DR400 with my flight instuctor.I

sky is not the same, a dark blue, so close

passed my test the year after, and flew

to the space... And a memorable arrival

as a private pilot for 9 years, with friends,

at Charles-de-Gaulle airport with firemen

family and colleagues to make them

trucks, a long taxi across the airport, with

discover how nice it is to travel in a light

a salute to the Concorde fans, and another

plane, overflying beautiful landscapes

one to the Air France staff in front of the

before relaxing for a nice week-end in

airline headquarters.

nice places like the Atlantic french islands (Ouessant, Belle-Ile or Yeu). I had a chance

The year after, back to Africa. I flew a Cessna

to fly in USA only two months after my PPL

172 with the Toulouse-Saint Louis du

skill test, in Nevada and California, doing

Sénégal air race. More than 20 light planes

amazing things for a young private pilot,

flying along the famous route created in

like landing on an airport at 8,000 feet or

the late 1910’s by the Aeropostale pilots

in the Death Valley, where your altimeter

like Jean Mermoz and Antoine de Saint

reads a negative altitude on short final.

Exupery (and dozens of other anonymous heroes).

I flew in French West Indies, flying from Grand Case airfield on Saint-Martin island,

I was jumpseating a lot during these years

and practising touch and go with a flight

and flight after flight, I realized I wanted

instructor in Saint-Barth, famous for its

to be an airline pilot. I was almost 35

very challenging approach above the hill.

years old when I started my professional training. I decided to do all my training in

In 2003, I had the unique opportunity to

English, and prepare my theoritical ATPL

be in the student seat of an Aero L29, a

exams with Bristol Ground School. Then I

military jet trainer used in most of the

went to Bristol for my CPL and IR training,

Warsaw Pact countries in the 1960’s.

flying the Piper Arrow and the Seneca.

With the owner, we flew from Paris to

Thereafter, I came back to France for my

Nouakchott. This was a wonderful trip, my

Flight Instructor Rating.

very first in Africa, through Spain, Morroco and Mauritania.

I was an instructor in an airclub near to Paris for a few months, then I was hired

A few weeks after this amazing trip, I had

to fly a Beech 200 in Paris-Le Bourget

another unique experience, one of my

Airport. I flew this aircraft for 5 years and

best aviation memory: a flight onboard

almost 2 000 hours, first as a First Officer,

Concorde, for the last commercial flight

then as a Captain. Our missions were

of the beautiful bird with Air France. A

Medevac flights (organs transportation

supersonic loop over the Atlantic. An

and ambulance flights), freight and VIP

incredible 1h45m flight, on the edge of

flights. I flew to almost 150 differents

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airports, from big ones as Amsterdam or

exercise, but flying a 42 tons and four

Charles de Gaulle to small airfields in 20

engine jet... My Line Training will start

differents countries.

soon. A new chapter of my pilot’s life is starting.

This was a very enriching experience.

In this company, I was flying 30 year old

I love to read, and to write, and as a

planes with classical instrumentation, an

matter of fact, my first job was journalist.

old GPS not coupled with the autopilot

I own a (very small) edition company

(we flew using the heading mode for

(www.ankidoo.com), and during the last

departure, cruise and arrival), with a lot of

10 years, I published aviation books (in

technical issues. It definitely helps to gain

french), including several written by a

a good airmanship and captaincy skills.

friend, ATR42 Captain and TRI, another one by a pilot who started to fly just after

I started to use Flight Sim years ago, when

World War II, and a book of a cabin crew

the design was very basic. I joined IVAO in

and private pilot. I wrote and published, a

2008, but didn’t fly a lot at the begining.

few years ago, a book about my flights as

In 2014, as I was flying the Beech 200 in

a private pilot, and will publish by the end

Bordeaux, two friends of mine came to

of the year another one to share my flight

see the plane. One of them proposeded

experiences in Africa.

to do a livery for the King Air, using the exact paint of my company’s plane. When he finished it, I really wanted to try it, so I bought the last version of Flight Simulator and flew with the King Air. And decided it would be funnier to do it online. Thanks to him, I am back on Ivao, mostly as ATC at Lyon-Saint Exupery.

Recently, my pilot career took a new direction,

as

I

passed

the

Cityjet

assesment. Last summer, I did my Avro RJ85 Type Rating, my first on a jet. Another memorable experience was my first flight on the real plane, taking off from Dublin to fly to Shannon where I did the base check.

A few days before, I was practising trafic patterns with a PPL student in Toussusle-Noble, a general aviation airfield close to Paris, and I was now doing the same International Virtual Aviation Organisation

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The Senegalese Division

by Lamine Badji, SN-DIR, SN-TC, MA6

IVAO Senegalese is one of the 7 active divisions in Africa. 2016 is definitely the best year of the division since the beginning with now 100 members (50 in 2015) thanks to our actual MAC and to our successfull activities: Divisions tours 2016 in progress: 5 tours are organized by our former SN-EAC, with large success of participations and awards: IFR / VFR / HELI / Special Operations / Vintage / Raid Latécoère.

Lan party: 2 local lan party and fly-in were organized this year with participation 25 members. These events give us the possibility to make a demonstration at the ATC school with the Head Manager who really appreciated IVAO initiatives.

Ivao Senegal Academy is now established with several trainings and exams proposed 42

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to members like PP, SPP, ADC, APC and

To continue our development we are

ACC. The training quality we are proposing

also working on a Multi Country Division

is really appreciated actually and pilots

project. The objective is to gather several

flying in our FIR are very happy to receive

african countries managed by the same

high quality services.

Aviation Authorities (ASECNA) that’s to say a number of 16 countries in Africa. All those the

target countries have actually no active

partnership that we have implemented

division but have some members looking

with the Civil Aviation Agency (ANACIM).

for assistance to increase their knowledge.

They are helping us to initiate yearly

This MCD will help them to pass their pilot

aviation event every 7th December during

and atc exams, and to increase the quality

the World Aviation Celebration Day. We are

level of west Africa Region. This could

actually finalizing a big event in Senegal on

also help to increase registration of new

December 2016 with our first Real Flight

members located in those countries with

Event.

a very large communication programme.

Another

major

development

is

Meet The Staff Ben Mathon (NL-PRC) As

Public

Relations

Coordinator in the Dutch division I see it as my privilege

to

bring

good

news to members and to the world outside of IVAO. Even a necessary negative announcement can easily be turned into a positive message, often with a smile or a reason for good laughter. My motto “A crazy mind is a joy forever” is in line with my secondary “job” in the IVAO community: I am also the CEO of the Insane Pilots Association as well as the Insane Controllers Association. Don’t bother to become a member of these entities; you are probably not insane enough to qualify.

Considering my age and based on the qualifications as described above I should probably try and run for a more senior position in the IVAO community in the near future. Donations to my campaign fund will be very much appreciated.

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The Continental Online Day Marco Frosio, Events Director

The IVAO Events Department launched

was organised: the divisions were hosting

the Continental Online Day trial period

their online days on different days in the

on the 1st October 2016. The online days

same geographical area. Moreover, a lot

will temporarily be grouped by continent

of divisional online days were frequently

(Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia, North

abandoned due to the inactivity of some

America and South America) and not by

divisions. This was leading to a chaotic

division; we asked Marco Frosio (Events

and messy system that needed a reform.

Director) about this project.

Since the IVAO first years, the online days have become the core of the online member’s

activity

on

the

network.

We are very confident in this project, we hope that you will enjoy this new Continental Online Day system

They have always been a great way to attract pilots and controllers in specific

During the last few months, in our HQ

divisions all around the world and, for

department, we have been thinking: How

this reason, the Events Department has

can we improve the online day system?

always appreciated the importance and significance of the online days.

A lot of different options and ideas came up but we always tried to be focused on

After a number of years experience in the

keeping things simple and easy.

department, our team noticed that there seemed to be a fundamental problem

The IVAO member should be able to know

with the way in which the divisional system

in advance where they are able to fly each

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day to get reliable ATC service.

As this will be a drastic change for the online day system, we think this trial period

That is how we got to the idea of the

is the right way to test the new system and

Continental Online Day: a clear and simple

see if it gives the expected results.

weekly schedule, each continent has its own unique online day. We hoped that in

For this reason, we started a three months

this way we could both increase the traffic

trial from the 1st October 2016 until the

in remote areas of the world (Asia, Africa)

31st December 2016. At the end of this trial

and concentrate the traffic in the most

period, we will have an internal survey with

active zones (Europe, South America).

event staffs from all divisions (DIR/ADIR/ EC/EAC/EAx). Afterwards, we will assess

We also thought to set specific time-frame

and decide if the new system is working,

for each online day but this causes a lot

if it needs to be improved, or if it is better

of problems with the continents which are

to simply revert to the old divisional one.

far away from the main user activity (like Europe). That is why, for the time being,

We are very confident in this project,

we decided to set a full day time-frame

we hope that you will enjoy this new

from 00z to 24z, allowing divisions to select

Continental

their own start and finish times that best

perhaps take the opportunity to try

suit their members, however we reserve

flying in continents you may never have

the option to add the feature in the next

considered in the past.

Online

Day

system

and

months if we can find a good compromise.

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IN TERN ATI O NAL V I RTUAL AVIA T ION O RGANI S ATI O N

“Where the virtual world meets the real world“

http://ivao.aero