Blogs

VATSIM UK Live! 2022 - Bookings Now available

We are pleased to inform you that bookings are now available for VATSIM UK Live! 2022 at Conference Aston in Birmingham, UK. You can book via our website - live.vatsim.uk Our event tickets will cost £20 for a single day (either Saturday or Sunday) or £30 for the whole weekend. Accommodation:- this is available at Conference Aston itself, we recommend either booking directly via their website or via a third party provider (hotels.com or booking.com) - this year there is no option to bo

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

July 17, 2022

P2 - Single Engine Instrument Rating (Aeroplane) Release

P2 SEIR(A) is a go! As many of you know, the P2 has been in the works since early 2021. Over the past 1.5 years, the course has presented us with challenges which have required hours of tireless volunteering by the team to overcome and produce the final product. Firstly, I'd like to extend a sincere and massive thanks to: @Daniel Crookes @Freddie Charlesworth @Lewis Hammett @Tom Knowles @Firas Bashee If I forgot your name, please feel free to shout at me! who have each d

Darren Hill in Pilot Training

July 10, 2022

VATSIM UK Live! 2022

VATSIM UK Live! Is pleased to announce that our event will return on the weekend of 13th & 14th August 2022 at Conference Aston in Birmingham. VATSIM UK Live! is an in person event - where members of the network join together to control and fly from the same room for two days. We understand that this is at short notice, but working out how to best run an in-person event (including logistics, insurances etc.) is a challenge as we move out of the pandemic. As organisers, we wanted

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

June 30, 2022

Shanwick Oceanic Training and new Moodle Course ⭐

Following completion of a brand new moodle course, I am pleased to announce that training for Shanwick Oceanic has been refreshed and split into two segments: Self study/theory phase, including an online moodle course and theory exam (pass mark 90%), followed by; Practical training. There is no specific practical assessment for Shanwick training, mentors will issue the endorsement once competency is achieved. Shanwick Oceanic training is available to home and visiting membe

Jack Edwards in ATC Training

June 26, 2022

ATC Training Staff Changes

Hi all, @Matthew Dean is leaving his role as Tower TG Instructor. With his personal circumstances changing he hasn’t been able to commit the time to the role that he’d have liked to and because of this has decided that it is time to step back from his VATSIM staff duties. I’d like to thank Matthew for his time and wish him all the best for the future. We have appointed @Daniel Blanco to join Kye in the Tower Training Group and Harry S who will be taking the role of Enroute TG Instructo

Adam Farquharson in ATC Training

June 3, 2022

Operations

Operations Assistant - Ellis Delgado

It is my unfortunate duty to announce that @Ellis Delgado will be leaving the Operations Team. Ellis joined the team in August 2021 as an Operations Assistant and has supported us through several major cycle updates, to include our massive Luton/LTMA changes in early 2022. We thank Ellis for his contributions over the last year! Ellis will be continuing to contribute to our AIRAC cycles alongside being an active member of the division.

Kieran Hardern in Operations

May 21, 2022

Update Terms and Conditions

The DSG has drafted new terms and conditions for the division's services. These will come into force on 20th May 2022. You can view both the new and old terms and conditions here:https://www.vatsim.uk/community/terms-and-conditions. Since our terms and conditions were last revised, the division has introduced a number of new platforms; notably Discord, and the majority of our activities have moved away from the forum and teamspeak. We have generalised our rules away from being platform spec

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

May 18, 2022

VFR Flight Instructor

Hi all! Please join me in congratulating our latest addition to the Pilot Training team: @Dale Stainrod! Dale join us as the VFR Flight Instructor, bringing real-world experience and fantastic enthusiasm to the team. He has been actively involved with P1 mentoring since his exam pass last year and continues to show his passion for aviation! Dale will begin this role with immediate effect, thus concluding the current recruitment drive for Pilot Training. Thank you to everyone who was

Darren Hill in Staff Changes

April 28, 2022

Training Place Eligibility Update

Our new theory exam requirement for training places has been live for a couple of weeks now! I would like to provide some extra detail on how this is implemented practically: ⚠️ - Whether you have passed the required theory exam is not currently tracked by the "My Waiting List" eligibility checker on the VATSIM UK Website. ⚠️ - If you meet all the other criteria for a training place other than passing the theory exam, the eligibility checker will still show you as eligible, but

Jack Edwards in ATC Training

April 27, 2022

CTS Theory Exam and Training Place Eligibility Changes

Hi everyone, As mentioned in my recruitment post, in the past couple of months I’ve been looking at what quick changes can be made in order to improve ATC Training. My main focus is maximising the use of mentors time - feedback from mentors suggests that they spend a lot of time teaching theory that is already available through other resources (Moodle, Syllabus, vMATS etc.). Explaining the practical application of theoretical concepts is an important part of the role of a mentor and we want

Adam Farquharson in ATC Training

April 9, 2022

Member Services

Member Services Staff Changes

Hi Everyone, Sadly two of the Member Services team are leaving us, @Adam Meade has left the team due to getting a new job which now leaves him with less time for VATSIM. Adam has been a member of staff for a few years now is a couple of roles with both the ATC training department and the Member Services team. @Matthew Wilson is leaving the staff team after many years of service. He has also found himself in a new job which means less time for VATSIM. Matthew has served in many di

Lee Roberts in Member Services

April 9, 2022

[Vacancies] Approach Training Group Instructor and Division Instructor Vacancies

Hello all, We are now recruiting for someone to join the ATC Training team as an Approach Training Group Instructor. Training Group Instructor role description: Have overall responsibility for training within their designated group; Select and train new mentors; Maintain training standards in their designated group (inc. by ‘sitting in’ on mentoring sessions & exams); Organise group seminars as appropriate; Issue SxVs in accordance with division

Adam Farquharson in Vacancy

March 3, 2022

The Flying Programme Moodle Recruitment

Hi all! Vatsim UK's Pilot Training team is launching a new program called The Flying Program which aims at helping new pilots learn to fly and/or develop their skills on the network. We are in need of people who are passionate and willing to help create Moodle content for the course. The only requirements to join are as follows: Be a member of good standing within the community Have some aviation knowledge If you're interested in learning more about The Fly

Ben Carpenter in Pilot Training

March 3, 2022

IFR & Initial Flight Instructors

Hi all! Please join me in congratulating the two new additions to Pilot Training: @Firas Bashee and @Ben Carpenter! Firas will begin to move into his new role as IFR Flight Instructor over the next few weeks and will assist in this final push to get the course ready for release! He has been a part of the P1 mentoring team for several months and brings a wealth of real-world instructing experience to the table. To add to this, Firas has incredible passion for aviation and giving back to

Darren Hill in Staff Changes

March 3, 2022

ATC Training Staff Changes

Hi everyone, Following our recent recruitment I'm happy to announce that @John Batten has accepted my offer to take up the New Controller Training Group Instructor role. I look forward to working with John in developing the existing training system and improving the experience that new members get when signing up for ATC Training in our division. Unfortunately we are also saying goodbye to some other members of our team. @Fergus Walsh (Heathrow TG Instructor), @William Jennings (APP TG

Adam Farquharson in ATC Training

March 2, 2022

Heathrow TGI Resignation

Hi everyone, I have taken the unfortunate decision to leave my role as Heathrow TGI. I have loved people part of the VATSIM UK team for the past few years and will hopefully try it out again in the future, but with my limited amount of time currently and slight burn out from VATSIM, I feel that it would be selfish for me to hold on to the role, so therefore I am passing TGI on to someone with new and fresh ideas that can benefit the division. I joined the staff team in February 2019 (crazy

Fergus Walsh

March 1, 2022

[Vacancy] New Controller Training Group Instructor

Hi all, I am pleased to announce that we are recruiting for a New Controller Training Group Instructor. This role will see you join with the current team in managing and developing training in the OBS-S1, Gatwick ground endorsement AFIS/AGCS endorsement training programme. General responsibilities in the New Controller Training Group: ● Have overall responsibility for training within their designated group; ● Select and train new mentors; ● Maintain training standard

Adam Farquharson in ATC Training

February 8, 2022

TG Tower Staff Changes

Hi all, Firstly I’d like to thank everyone for the kind messages following the announcement of my appointment as ATC Training Director. Having moved roles this left a space in the TWR team which a couple of people quickly expressed their interest in. Following a few discussions we have decided to appoint @Kye Taylor to the role. Kye joined the Training Department 15 months ago as a New Controller TG Instructor. Having been involved in many projects including the development of th

Adam Farquharson in ATC Training

February 8, 2022