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A group blog by DSG in Division Updates

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Contributors to this blog

  • Chris Pawley 42
  • Simon Irvine 37
  • Daniel Crookes 27
  • VATSIM UK 7
  • Ben Wright 7
  • Nathan Donnelly 5
  • Kris Thomson 2
  • VATSIM UK Web Services 2
  • Andy Ford 2
  • Oliver Rhodes 2
  • Adam Arkley 2
  • Gdpr Removed 1
  • Loui Ringer 1
  • Adam Farquharson 1
  • Kieran Hardern 1

About this blog

Entries in this blog

United Kingdom

New VATSIM UK Division Director

Folks I am delighted to announce that Chris Pawley is the new VATSIM UK Division Director. Chris's near 2 decades of experience on the network and staff positions made him the ideal candidate to lead the Division into a new era. I will be doing a handover with Chris in the coming week and he will let you know when is in running solo. I would like to wish Chris, and you all,  the best of luck and thanks again for your support over the past 4 years.  
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

54
United Kingdom

Operations Director

The division has concluded the recruitment for the vacancy of Operations Director. We have chosen to appoint @Jack Edwards to this role. Jack has most recently been TGI Approach within the Training Department and has held roles in both the vRAF and in the VA/SOA team of VATSIM.net where he previously has coordinated operations across multiple agencies and countries. Via this and contributions to the operations functions in the UK he has indicated suitability for executing the role. During i
Chris Pawley

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

33
United Kingdom

Flight Training Exercises

VATSIM UK is proud to announce the launch of Flight Training Exercises! https://core.vatsim.uk/fte/dashboard So, what is it? Flight Training Exercises is a new system that will allow you to track your flight whilst completing your chosen exercise. We are initially launching with 5 VFR challenges that will take you from the busy airspace around London Biggin Hill Aiport (EGKB) to the South-West coast of the UK. Whilst you fly through the skies, in the background, TFDi's 'smartCARS' appl
Daniel Crookes

Daniel Crookes in United Kingdom

26
United Kingdom

UK Controller Plugin

Hi all, For a long time, we have wanted to provide our members with more tools that directly aid them in their day to day use of the network. I'm pleased to confirm that today, we are releasing the UK Controller Plugin; a EuroScope plugin for use by controllers in the UK. What Does It Do? Local and General Squawks: If the plugin detects certain conditions that suggest that an aircraft would normally receive a local squawk (e.g. VFR departure), it will assign a local squawk for
VATSIM UK Web Services

VATSIM UK Web Services in United Kingdom

26
United Kingdom

New Deputy Division Director

I have been thinking about bringing a Deputy back for the past few months but have held off. It has not been easy as there are many people with the skills and attributes to do the UK2 job, and having been UK2 myself i know what it takes to be a great deputy. With this in mind I am delighted to announce that Nathan Donnelly has accepted my offer to be the Deputy Division Director.   Nathan is no stranger to the Division with previous staff roles in both pilot and more recently ATC
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

28
United Kingdom

New VATSIM President

Folks Please see here.  Gunnar Lindahl  is VATSIM's new President (VATGOV1). Many of you will know Gunnar as a UK member and a former VATSIM UK Division Director. Well done Gunnar, very well deserved!!  Drinks are on you this weekend at Live!
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

25
United Kingdom

It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

Hi All,   It is with great sadness that I must inform you all of my decision to step down from the role of ATC Training Director and away from VATSIM for the foreseeable future. This has not been an easy decision to make, but I believe that it is in the best interests of both myself and the division.   For all you conspiracy theorists out there, I know we all love a good scandal on VATSIM and we love to speculate who got hacked off or which part of collective responsibility got v
Andy Ford

Andy Ford in United Kingdom

29
United Kingdom

New Member Services Director

The DSG is pleased to announce that @John Batten is appointed as the Member Services Director. This recruitment round has been especially challenging as we negotiated this appointment with external parties and have held extensive discussions with the relevant applicants. Ultimately this has meant that our outgoing Member Services Director ( @Lee Roberts ) has remained in role much longer than anticipated in order to transition this function to our new appointment. For this we thank him. John is
Chris Pawley

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

5
United Kingdom

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

9
United Kingdom

VATSIM UK Live! 2017 - Announcement

We are delighted to announce that this year’s VATSIM UK Live! event will take place on the weekend of the 26th and 27th of August at Conference Aston. Live! is an annual real-world social event which is organised to allow VATSIM members, be that Pilots or Controllers, 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, is home
Kris Thomson

Kris Thomson in United Kingdom

19
United Kingdom

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

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

4
United Kingdom

VATSIM UK Live! 2017 - Bookings 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 26th and 27th 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
Kris Thomson

Kris Thomson in United Kingdom

20
United Kingdom

New Feedback System

Folks I am delighted to announce that we have developed a new feedback system. The new system is built within Core and will allow you to give feedback, positive or negative, to UK based controllers. Feedback for pilots will follow shortly. The feedback that is submitted will be used in three ways... Review our training program based on trends identified in feedback that has been submitted. Pass on positive feedback directly to members. Ensure members with consiste
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

10
United Kingdom

Richie Turnbull

A few days ago we were informed that a member of our community, Richie Turnbull has sadly passed away. Richie was in the prime of his life having just moved to Florida in order to begin the next stage of his training to be a commercial pilot. His sudden passing is a surprise and a shock to all of his friends and family and we hold them all in our thoughts during this difficult time. Richie has been a deeply passionate and involved member of our community for more than ten years. He was
Chris Pawley

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

8
United Kingdom

Training Department Changes

Folks, With the departure of Andy Ford as ATC Training Director, I am making some changes to the way training is organised in the UK. I am delighted to announce that Daniel Crookes will take on the role of Director of Training and will have ultimate responsibility for both ATC and Pilot Training.  Dan will appoint a General Manager of ATC Training and the same for Pilot Training. Dan will assume responsibility for both departments with immediate effect.  While we finalise the stru
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

12
United Kingdom

New Marketing Director

I am delighted to announce that Loui Ringer will be joining the DSG as VATSIM UK's new Marketing Director. Loui is well known to the community as our Social Media Manager and is well placed to lead the department. I would like to thank Trevor Hannant for his time on staff and I wish him well in his new adventure. Please join me in congratulating Loui on his appointment!!  
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

24
United Kingdom

February Changes

Hi all, There’ve been a few staff changes over the past few months. Thanks to: •    @Fraser Cooper for his work as TGI in TG1; •    @Tom Szczypinski for his work as a TGM in TGNC; •    @Tom Knowles for his work as IFR Flight Instructor; •    @James Gibson for his work as Development Flight Instructor. And welcome to: •    @Oliver Gates, who’s joining the team as a TGI for TG1 – he’ll be working with Nathan to develop the mentoring team in TG1 (a TGI for TG2 will be coming
Daniel Crookes

Daniel Crookes in United Kingdom

17
United Kingdom

GCAP Update 2: Technology and Endorsement Changes

As the 1st March rapidly approaches, Mr. Jennings and I caught up with the Tech team this evening in order to review the progress of our technology solutions that will enable us to meet the requirements laid out in GCAP. I am pleased to say that things are progressing well and that there should be no impediment to us going live with new and enhanced functionality on the 1st March. Details of the pending technology changes are outlined later in this blog post. Before we explore anyt
Adam Arkley

Adam Arkley in United Kingdom

19
United Kingdom

Merry Christmas....and other news

I want to thank everyone who has helped the Division this year whether it be flying in for an exam, mentoring, helping with sector files, document writing, staff roles, the list goes on.  You have all had a part in making this a great year for the Division. 2019 was another great year for the Division with more training, some great events and fantastic member engagement meaning that documentation and sector files were up to date and we were at the forefront of the testing for Audio for Vats
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

19
United Kingdom

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

1
United Kingdom

ATC Training Department Changes

Folks Unfortunately, Samuel James has decided to stand down as ATC Training Director.  Sam has been in post since October 2016 and has been instrumental in moving ATC Training in the UK to the next level.  Last year was one of our best for rating progression and this is in no small part to the work that Sam has put in, especially the implementation of the Training Groups from the old RTSs, the first stage of Central Training.  There is no great drama in Sam's departure and those of you who
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

10
United Kingdom

[Appointment] Member Services Director

Following our recent vacancy for a new member services director, I am delighted to report that @Lee Robertshas been appointed to this role. Lee has a wealth of experience in the division and the network overall - having worked with the vSOA team at VATSIM.net and within the training department at VATSIM UK during the recent few years. Harry and Lee will work in parallel for the next few weeks as Lee gets up to speed. We thank Harry for his efforts in running this department and w
Chris Pawley

Chris Pawley in United Kingdom

13
United Kingdom

Training Director Resignation

Hi everyone, Over the past 5 years, I have had the pleasure of being part of what can only be described as a community teeming with enthusiasm, knowledge and the will to want to help others. As with most commitments, there comes a time when it is appropriate for the baton to be passed on. To say that I have enjoyed the past 5 years wouldn’t do it justice.  I will see the department into the new year followed by the commencement of a recruitment period for the role(s) in January 2022.
Daniel Crookes

Daniel Crookes in United Kingdom

11
United Kingdom

VATSIM UK Donations 2018

Good Evening, Thanks to some very generous donations gifted by some of our members over the years, we have been in a very fortunate position in terms of comfortably covering our outlays that we incur whilst running the Division without having to go out to the general membership. We have recently been looking ahead at our anticipated expenditure over the next year and the finances that we will require to continue to provide the services within the Division that we currently do. We belie
Nathan Donnelly

Nathan Donnelly in United Kingdom

8
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