.png "Logan Informer: BVA's Community Newsletter")
Tradition. It’s something we often think of over the holidays. Usually it’s something we look forward to. Something important. Something that we do every year because it feels like the right thing—maybe even the only thing—to do.
For the Administration Team, one of our most important traditions is looking back at the year we’ve gone through and reflecting upon some of the moments we shared together as a community. That’s why our annual All-Member Meeting, held on December 17 with more than 40 BVA members in our TeamSpeak, is a holiday tradition we all look forward to. The meeting gives the members a chance to come together, talk about the community, answer questions, and discuss some of the priorities we’d all like to see in the coming year.
It’s been a good year for BVA. We’ve become more connected, as a community but also within the broader flight simulation world we’re part of. We’ve made it easier than ever for people to participate, helped pilots from around the world achieve great things, and built some great and longstanding relationships within the flight simulation industry. But beyond the better technology, the new partnerships, and the great flying and controlling, what always strikes us is how important and ingrained the spirit of community has become within BVA.
This spirit is exemplified in stunning poetic form by another BVA holiday tradition: “Christmas at ZBW”. Each year, BVA’s “Chief Poet” Alec Liberman, also a newly-minted Center controller, takes it upon himself to express in ways an article like this never could what it really means to be part of our TeamSpeak throughout the year.
In this article, we talk about what the community achieved this year, and what we hope to accomplish in the next. We present the facts. But if you want ‘the feels’ (as Alec’s high school peers might say), read what the community really is on our forums, and later on in this article.
In that All-Member Meeting, one of our controllers said it best: “It’s usually difficult joining an established group. But you’ve all made me feel so welcome. It’s only been a few months, but I feel like I’ve known friends here for years.” BVA is a special place: you can join one day, and have new best friends just a few days later. We’re proud to have one of the simplest ‘new member’ programs in the flight simulation world. Join BVA, and you have instant access to our Getting Started Guide, a step-by-step process that walks users through the first-time setup for VATSIM. This year, we re-wrote the guide and provided an all-new Model Matching solution for members, making it easier than ever to see other pilots as they want to be seen. But we’re not stopping there; we’re on the verge of releasing a major overhaul to BVA Model Matching, providing more airlines, aircraft, and liveries than ever before.
Accomplishing another community objective, in May 2017 we released 6 new flights in our popular Pilot Ratings Program (PRP). The new flights, PRP IFR 14-20, focus on RNAV turbojet operations and modern technology: RNAV procedures, “descend via”, CPDLC, and other innovations that are modernizing the aviation world. Since the release, 13 of our members have completed the entire Pilot Ratings Program. And more than 400 BVA members have passed at least one flight since the program was first established.
We think that programs like our Pilot Ratings Program, Virtual FBO, Ground School, and the training we provide to controllers play an important role in the development of pilots from around the world. For this reason, we keep a running thread of the latest achievements in aviation of our members. This year, the community’s members achieved 2 Private Pilot Certificates, 4 Instrument Ratings, 2 Commercial Certificates, 1 CFI, and 1 Commercial Tower Operator. If you’ve achieved something special in aviation this year, post it, or send it to [email protected] so the community can share in your success.
To see all of our upcoming events, please visit the Events Calendar.
As usual, we’re wasting no time getting started! We kick off another exciting year of events with Northeastern Corridor 2018. The Boston, New York, and Washington ARTCCs are working together to staff up KBOS, KJFK, and KDCA for 5 straight hours on January 19. Whether you’re flying the busy northeastern shuttle flights up and down the coast or just joining us for regional hops within ZBW, you’ll find full ATC coverage and congested frequencies all night!
On February 11, the real-world Cape TRACON facility currently located in Hyannis, MA will be combining with the existing Boston TRACON in Nashua, NH. As a result, “Boston Approach” will now have control of arrival and departure traffic from as far north as Laconia, NH all the way down to the southern edge of the Cape Islands. We’ll be celebrating the change by running a Farewell K90 event on February 11.
Finally, we’ve announced our first Friday Night Operations event of the year. We’re staffing up KBOS on Friday, April 13 from 7-11pm ET.
Registration for FlightSimExpo 2018 is open now! BVA encourages members to join us on June 9-10, 2018 at Flamingo Las Vegas Resort. To join:
1. Register for the conference before February 1 for just $50 (be sure to list “BVA” under “Organization”)
2. Book a hotel room at the special FlightSimExpo rate
FlightSimExpo is a new event that’s been developed by BVA members Austin, Evan, Josh, Phil, and Tom. It’s a truly community-driven event: the venue, host city, and event activities have all been established in response to feedback from developers and attendees.
For BVA, FlightSimExpo represents the best chance for members to come together in person. BVA will have a major presence at the event: members are encouraged to bring their flying and controlling setups to the conference to demonstrate the power of online aviation. Every BVA member who attends will be provided with a free BVA member T-shirt. And, as a thank-you for the support, FlightSimExpo will be hosting a BVA Member Dinner on Saturday, June 9 that everyone from the community is encouraged to attend.
Last month's question was:
Challenge Question: What aircraft equipment is required for day IFR flight? Night IFR?
