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It’s hard to believe that just three weeks ago today, many of our community’s members were gathered in-person at Bradley International Airport for FlightSimCon 2017! The fifth annual aviation and flight simulation conference was a huge success, attracting more than 700 people to the Sheraton Hartford Hotel at Bradley Airport.

The conference featured more than 30 exhibitors, and a slate of speakers that discussed flight simulation and real-world aviation-themed subjects throughout the weekend. Alongside several other presenters, attendees were able to hear from ERJ First Officer Matthew Cannon, American Airlines Dispatcher Mike Collier, and participate in an FAA Safety Team WINGS seminar on the benefits of at-home, desktop flight simulation. Attendees also participated in a live question-and-answer session with developers of Flight Simulator X, Prepar3D, and X-Plane.

As we normally are, Boston Virtual ARTCC was extremely well-represented at the event, with more than 40 of our members in attendance. BVA’s pilots and controllers had an entire room to demonstrate the value of flying and controlling in the online world. In addition to helping to promote our community, the demonstration tied in nicely with VATUSA, which had several controllers demonstrating the breadth of airspace that our division controls.

At the end of the conference on Sunday, BVA participated in “Live Up America”, a VATUSA-wide event that saw staffing in almost every single U.S. ARTCC. Our airspace was lit up, with full coverage at KBOS and KBDL, and multiple Boston Center sectors online too. The event capped off a weekend full of live ATC coverage (Boston Center, Bradley Approach, and Bradley Tower were online throughout conference hours).

In addition to being a great chance to promote our community, FlightSimCon is one of our favorite opportunities to get together in person. In some cases, we meet each other for the first time; for others, the event is a chance to catch up with members who have become long-time friends.

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Regional CIrcuit: KPWM and KLEB
Wednesday, July 5, 8-11pm ET
 
GA Fly-In: KLWM, KPSM, KMHT
Monday, July 10, 8-11pm ET
 
Regional Circuit: KBOS and KBDL
Wednesday, July 19, 8-11pm ET
 
Challenge: PRP Series IFR 7-9
Tuesday, July 25, 8-11pm ET
 
To see all of our upcoming events, please visit the Events Calendar. 
 
 
Prepar3D V4
By: Evan Reiter, Training Administrator

With recent releases of Prepar3D v4, Flight Sim World, and X-Plane 11, the flight simulation community has seen updates to the primary simulation platforms within the past few months. It’s an exciting time in a world that, just a few years ago, was questioning if simulation platform development was even going to continue.

For those who have purchased (or are thinking about) Prepar3D Version 4, we’re happy to say that the new platform is 100% compatible with VATSIM and BVA. The latest version of vPilot supports Prepar3D Version 4, and the scenery downloads for KBOS and other BVA airports from our website are also available for Version 4 users. A few of the models in our Model Matching Aircraft Downloads page do require an update for Version 4, and that will be addressed over the next few months.

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Tea Party & Other Upcoming Events
By: Krikor Hajian, Events Coordinator

We hope many of our pilots enjoyed the great ATC coverage that was available last night during the Northeastern Corridor 2017 FNO event! With the support of our neighbors at the New York ARTCC, we staffed up Boston (KBOS) and Newark (KEWR) for 4 hours yesterday night.

Our next major event is the 18th annual Boston Tea Party, which features our controllers working traffic live from near the site of the real-world Boston Consolidated TRACON. On August 19, Boston will be staffed to the hilt, with plenty of ATC coverage at other airports around our ARTCC. In addition to the great coverage, pilots will be able to participate in Airport Poker to enter to win some great prizes. Lots more about Tea Party will be published in the August Informer.

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The Cape Air Virtual Pilot of the Month is 
 
Agenson Ameh (KAP2862)
 
for completing over 38 flights this month. Next month's award will go to the pilot with the most flights into and out of KPVD.
BVA's ATC Instructors have recognized:
 
Vinnie Covino (CV), Class C Tower
 
as Air Traffic Controller of the month for his outstanding dedication and service.
 
 
ATC Clearances
Last month's question was: 
 
Under what three conditions can a pilot in command deviate from an ATC clearance?
 
Answer: the answer to this question can be found in FAR 91.123(a), compliance with ATC clearances and instructions. From the FAR: "When an ATC clearance has been obtained, no pilot in command may deviate from that clearance unless an amended clearance is obtained, an emergency exists, or the deviation is in response to a traffic alert and collision avoidance system resolution advisory." In other words: (1) when ATC gives new instructions; (2) when there is an emergency; or (3) in response to a traffic avoidance advisory from the aircraft. Furthermore, according to FAR 91.3(b), the pilot in command can deviate from any rule in Part 91 if there is an in-flight emergency to the extent requried to meet that emergency.

Challenge Question: 
In what localities is advection fog most likely to occur?

The answer to the challenge question will be included in next month's Pilot Tip. 
 
Each month, we run a contest on our forums to determine who has the best flight simulator screenshot. Camden Bruno submitted his shot of a Baron on the Tuckernuck Visual to Runway 6 at Nantucket!
 
 
You can always find current and archived editions of the Logan Informer on our forums.
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