As you know, the Member TeamSpeak has been a staple of our community. We use the platform as a means of social communication outside of the ATC-pilot communications, which of course take place through VATSIM.
After a recent discussion on the BVA member forums about Discord, we are pleased to announce that we have just released the Boston Virtual ARTCC Member Discord! Discord is a new voice and text chat application that has recently achieved substantial popularity within gaming communities. Discord is used at some levels of VATSIM, and is also used by the Oakland ARTCC. Like TeamSpeak, Discord would be free and offers mobile and desktop applications.
Unlike TeamSpeak, Discord is more of an ongoing chat client. Although Discord does allow voice capability, our Member Discord has been restricted to text-only. Discord is also more mobile-friendly than TeamSpeak. Members are encouraged to join the chat, and to use Discord to ask questions or send messages to admins, friends, etc. when they aren’t connected to the network or around the community. Discord is more of a “group chat” setting that also allows for announcements, targeted questions/answers, and member connectivity. Think of Discord as a modernized, mobile forum board!
To read more about Discord and how to get connected, visit the new Social page of our website. Here you will find the server connection information along with the Discord Connection Guide.
As our Member Discord is new, you may continue to see modifications made to channels, settings, etc. As always, we are open to suggestions and feedback as to what you’d like to see on the Member Discord server.
We looking forward to chatting with you!
Last month, our Logan Informer advertised an opportunity to win a free, all-expenses paid trip to FlightSimExpo…and most figured out this was a well-timed April Fool’s Joke.
But we’re not kidding now – we’re just barely a month away from FlightSimExpo, BVA’s biggest member meet-up of the year! There are now more than 40 confirmed exhibitors for the conference, with the latest additions including ProSIM-AR, Positive Control, projectFLY, and Redbird. The speaker schedule is now posted at www.flightsimexpo.com, and includes a major announcement from PMDG’s Robert S. Randazzo, who will be attending the event.Looking for more information on FlightSimExpo? Event co-founders and BVA members Evan and Phil were recently interviewed in PC Pilot.
As members know, BVA will be working with VATUSA to promote the network and our community. VATSIM, VATSTAR, and Vattastic will all be represented together. We are also inviting BVA members to volunteer for the conference and help with registration, setup, and other activities.
If you haven’t already, please complete BVA’s FlightSimExpo Participation Form. This will help us plan for numbers and make arrangements for our member dinner on Saturday, June 9. If you’ve already completed the form: thank you! We’ll be in touch with more information shortly.
Members following our forums have likely been hearing about BVAI, a new model matching solution for VATSIM pilots that is currently in open beta testing within the flight simulation community. As we continue to develop the product, we have decided to begin working with Ryan Parry, creator of vPilot AI. vPilot AI is a similar package that has been available to VATSIM members since as early as 2015.
The new free product, to be called Fly Ai (FLAi), will bring the same level of immersion offered by vPilot AI, with the easier installation and incredible ops center of BVAI, and a team of people working to keep the package up to date. That means more updates, more often, and a much more realistic experience for everyone! In addition, we'll be offering a set compatible with FSX, P3D v1, V2, V3, and V4, as well as a second P3D V4 only package that will include P3D v4 models and dynamic lighting on select models.
The aircraft models and liveries that are currently available in BVAI or vPilot AI will all be available as part of FLAi.
If you are a current beta tester of BVAI, no action is required. Once we’ve released the first beta version of FLAi, we’ll let you know. For existing BVAI users, the installation process will be simple: run the BVAI Operations Center, and you’ll be upgraded to the first beta version of FLAi.
If you haven’t yet downloaded BVAI, we recommend waiting until the first stable version of FLAi has been released. At that time, we’ll publish more information about how to download and install the new model matching package.
We have events almost every week this month, starting today! Join us at Portland (KPWM) for a Pack The Pattern starting at 8pm ET tonight.
On May 9, the Regional Circuit features KALB & KSYR. On Thursday, May 24, we’ll be bringing the General Aviation out with a Fly-In to KBDL, KBAF, and KCEF. And on May 30, we staff up airports that underlie the Class B airspace to test your navigation and airspace skill!
Visit our website to see the list of events, or add ‘http://events.bvartcc.com’ as a subscribed or online calendar on your desktop or mobile devices.
Last month's question was:
