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Heathrow Training Group Instructor

We are pleased to announce that James Yuen has been appointed as the Training Group Instructor for TG Heathrow. James will be working closely with Oliver and myself to re-ignite the S2->S3 training program at Heathrow, details of which will be announced over the next week. Good luck, James!

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in Staff Changes

Pilot Training Q2 2018 Summary

Hi all, A quick summary from the Pilot Training Department of Q2! Q2 Progress We have made great headway in our mentor recruitment which is reflected by the number of sessions conducted as the months of Q2 progress. Oliver Hall has departed the team as IFR Flight Instructor, this role will soon be filled. FTE production has been slow over the past 6 weeks due to availability with the team, but we will gear back up as this month continues! But our biggest de

Daniel Crookes

Daniel Crookes in Pilot Training

ATC Rating Progression: The Story So Far

Hi Folks, We're now well into the second half of the year and I've taken this opportunity to have a look at the statistics and let you know how we're doing. The good news is, we're way way up on exam passes, compared to where we were this time last year! To this day in 2017, we had a total of 16 exam passes: 8 TWR 6 APP 2 CTR So far this year, we've had a total of 41 exam passes: 29 TWR 11 APP 1 CTR As well as the above, we currently ha

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

S1 AFISO/AG Validation: Additional Airfields

Now that things have had time to settle, we're adding some additional aerodromes to the list of those that S1 rated members holding the AFISO/AG validation may control. They are as follows: Barra (EGPR) Bodmin (EGLA) - airfield information sufficient to VATSIM needs is available on the airfields website - Bodmin does not feature in the AIP. Wolverhampton / Halfpenny Green (EGBO) We decided not to add Barrow/Walney Island (EGNL) at this time, due to instrument approach an

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

Shifting Focus: Enroute Training

Having restructured the Tower and Radar training schemes, we are now in a position to take the final step, release of the first version of our restructured C1 syllabus. Thank you to everyone who commented and gave feedback. The key points of this re-thinking of our syllabus are as follows: A number of competencies have been designated as self-taught. In the past, these were included in practical mentoring reports, which led to some students assuming that the mentor would teach them. N

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

Web Services Assistant

Hi all, I was pleasantly surprised at the volume of strong submissions to the announcement of a vacancy within the Web Services team. After spending some time reviewing them, I am pleased to announce that Callum Axon will be joining the team. Callum has spent time on the ATC staff team in the past and is very familiar with the Division's operations. His past experiences with the technologies that we utilise will be of great assistance as we take on some rather large projects in the c

VATSIM UK Web Services

VATSIM UK Web Services in Staff Changes

James Edwards

Dear all, It is with regret that James Edwards has resigned from his role of TG2 Training Group Manager this afternoon, effective immediately. James has been maintaining the administrative operation (mainly behind the scenes) for TG2 for the past 6 months, ensuring that training runs smoothly for all involved. Please join me in thanking James for dedicating his time to the division. Alex

Alex Beard

Alex Beard in Staff Changes

Web Department Changes

Folks I am making some changes to the Web Department.  As you know web has been working as two teams over the past 14 months.  This has really had its benefits, for example, the expansion of CORE and the introduction of Flight Training Exercises where the two teams worked hand in hand in launching these. Over the next 12 months, we will be launching a new website, start the migration of CTS into CORE as well as the rollout of a new ATC plugin.  With this in mind, I have decided to brin

Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

Training Aerodrome Preferences

Under the old RTS' System and also under the early days of the new system, we took students aerodrome preference into account during the early stages of training and only offered the student a place when their chosen aerodrome came up. This sometimes led to students becoming disappointed in the waiting times if the student in front of them took longer to pass and thus held up a training place at their chosen aerodrome whilst their friends at other aerodromes passed before them. Under a new

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

Reciprocating Effort

The re-drafting of the training syllabus has brought with it an encouragement for students to learn on their own, by designating significant portions as self-taught. That is, the student is expected to read the material on their own and bring any questions to sessions, not expect to have it spoon-fed to them by mentors. Most of you have risen to the challenge with enthusiasm. Of course, there are still one or two who aren't reciprocating the effort that their mentors are putting in to train

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

VATSIM UK Live! 2018 - Bookings Now Open!

We are delighted to announce that bookings have opened this evening for VATSIM UK Live! which is taking place on the weekend of the 4th and 5th of August at Conference Aston. Tickets are priced at £30 for the weekend, or £20 for one day. We have also worked with Conference Aston to provide options for on-site accommodation (incl. breakfast). For more information on pricing, or anything about the weekend, visit the Live! website. We have also provided more detailed information about the g

Chris Pawley

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

Returning Mentors: An Exercise In Trust

Effectively immediately, we are going to be trialling out a new policy for mentors returning to us after a break from the network. In the past, returning mentors were usually subject to the same training regime as new mentors, which was often discouraging. We're still quite unsure about this one - with some good arguments both supporting and refuting the idea. So, we thought the best thing to do was give it a go and see how it pans out. The trial process as follows: If a mentor has been "s

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

GDPR - What It Means For You

Unless you've been living under a rock, you will have heard of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) that comes into effect on May 25th. What you may not know is what it means, how it may affect you and why organisations of all sizes are flooding your inbox with "please click here to say we can contact you" links... I don't study the law... but what is GDPR? I don't either so I'll give you the key points! GDPR... is the biggest shake up to data protection regulations in aro

VATSIM UK Web Services

VATSIM UK Web Services in United Kingdom

Events - Summer Season

Over the past few Events, getting the number of controllers we need to cover them comfortable has been more of a challenge than it was earlier in the year so we've decided to take a short break from running any for a few reasons: - it's Exam season and some pilots/controllers have these to concentrate on - summer holiday season (for some) - some controllers (in particular) may be "Event-ed out" As exam season is now under way and as some of you head off to sunnier locations (if it

Trevor Hannant

Trevor Hannant in Marketing

Shifting Focus: Approach Training

Following on from the restructuring of our S2 syllabus, we are now in a position to release the first version of our restructured S3 syllabus. Thank you to everyone who commented and gave feedback on the request for comments thread. The key points of this re-thinking of our syllabus are as follows: A number of competencies have been designated as self-taught. In the past, these were included in practical mentoring reports, which led to some students assuming that the mentor would teac

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

VATSIM UK Live! 2018

https://live.vatsim.uk We are delighted to announce that this year’s VATSIM-UK Live! event will take place on the weekend of the 4th and 5th of August at Conference Aston. Live! is an annual real-world social event which is organised to allow VATSIM members, be that Pilots or Controller’s, to meet and work alongside each other. During the event, attendees will be working together in close proximity, which adds a new element to "as real as it gets". Our venue, Aston Business School

Chris Pawley

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

Military ACC Course - Released

We are pleased to announce the release of our Military Area Radar Moodle Course and the re-introduction of Military ACC endorsements. A massive thank you to Callum Presley and Lee Roberts for creating this course for us. The course is open to view to all members. Members holding a permanent controller rating of C1 or C3 and also a Military APC endorsement are invited to take the exam (please submit a ticket to the helpdesk to have the exam enabled) at the end of the course to gain their Mil

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

Self Study Exercises For Radar Students

To coincide with the impending release of the new S3 syllabus, the department has created a number of simulator scenarios for EuroScope. The purpose of these scenarios is to allow radar students to practice specific competencies on their own, with a few tips and aspects to consider provided - thus avoiding the distractions of trying to learn many things at once and also imperfect pilots. These are more directed towards the practical aspects of Approach Radar such as vectoring, rather than h

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

TG New Controller TGMs

Dear all, Please join me in welcoming Josh Howker and Tom Szczypinski to the role of Training Group Manager in TG New Controller. Both bring their own unique set of skills to the table, and I look forward to working with both in greater depth. They will be working alongside Fraser and Oliver to help develop TGNC and the OBS process. Alex

Alex Beard

Alex Beard in Staff Changes

Solo Enroute Validations (S3)

Effectively immediately, the division will be utilising Solo Enroute Validations (SEV's... or SCV's, if you prefer the American term). These will be granted to S3 rated members upon submission for their CTR exam, in order to have a several days to practice solo without the guidance of a mentor in preparation for the big night. The validations will be valid for a single parent enroute sector and may be used to open relevant splits and TMA positions where division policy permits. The val

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

Military PAR Course - Released

We are pleased to announce the release of our Military Precision Approach Radar (PAR) Online Moodle Course. This course is for those members that want to take their Military Approach controlling up a notch, offering pilots the opportunity to be talked all the way down the final approach (similar to a SRA), with vectors and glideslope information. A massive thank you to Trevor Hannant and Callum Presley for creating this course for us. The course is open for all members to view and self-enro

Andy Ford

Andy Ford in ATC Training

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