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Staff Changes

Operations Manager

I am delighted to announce that Chris Pawley is our new Operations Manager. Chris is no stranger to most of you and he brings a wealth of experience to the role.  Chris will move into Operations from his current training job. I would like to thank Harry Sugden for his work in setting up the department and his hard work during his time on staff. Thanks    
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in Staff Changes

22
Pilot Training

P3 (VFR Pilot) Promotional Video

Evening all, Recently we have launched the P4 IFR Pilot rating and the initial expression of interest was unbelievable! We have already issued 6 P4 ratings within the past 3 weeks and have got more exams planned. We would just like to thank all of the community for the amazing support and interest you have expressed, without the support, time, and dedication received from the community it would not be possible for us to produce and run courses. With the release of the P4 we also launched a
Daniel Crookes

Daniel Crookes in Pilot Training

11
Operations

Thank you, and goodbye!

Hi all, It's with sadness that I have, tonight, resigned from my position as Operations Manager. Since I became an active member of VATSIM UK in March 2013, I have loved every single minute I've spent on the network as a trainee, mentor, and staff member. Arguably, I have, at times, spent too many minutes on the network... but all for a good cause! Unfortunately, the pressures of balancing my final year in Sixth Form with my social life has left little room for VATSIM, and it would be unfai
Harry Sugden

Harry Sugden in Operations

32
Pilot Training

P4 Launched!

Good Evening, Well, PMDG have made a big release today so we thought, why not do the same! The P4 (IFR Pilot) Rating is now LIVE! If you are interested in signing up for the P4 course, please send us a ticket via the Helpdesk. I would like to say a big thank you to @Matthew Collier, @Rhys Marston, @John Livesey, @Oliver Gates and @Morgan Stone for helping us test the P4 rating which has been a massive success. Also, a big thank you to given to @Anthony Colduck for a
Daniel Crookes

Daniel Crookes in Pilot Training

8
ATC Training

VATSIM UK Transferring Controller Process - Effective 1st February 2017

We have revised the process of how we handle Transferring Controller assessments into the United Kingdom. Effective 1st February 2017 the following processes will be followed: S1 Transfer Process   S2 and S3 Transfer Process     C1+ Transfer Process   When you have been accepted by the Community Department and transferred to the ATC Training Department for assessment you will be provided with more information and the required resources in order
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

0
Staff Changes

Marketing Manager

Folks Marketing and Community have always worked closely, and with the introduction to changes in the Community department this will continue at pace.   I have decided to merge the Marketing and Community departments.  This new department will be lead by Barrie Joplin. To maintain the focus on the day to day running of marketing and events I have appointed James Brierley to the role of Marketing Manager.  James will work into Barrie he will be in charge of all our social media out
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in Staff Changes

12
ATC Training

New CT S1 Training Programme Launched!

Hey folks, I'm pleased to announce the launch of our new CT S1 course. Main points: Comprehensive e-Learning/Moodle courses All S1 training completed within the New Controller Training Group All practical S1 training sessions conducted using London Gatwick   *Once process/event is complete, send a ticket to ATC Training to continue the process   I've just joined the New Controller Training Group (TG) - How do I join a Group session? You
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

3
ATC Training

ATC Training Department - Staff Structure

I am pleased to officially announce the new ATC Training Department's staff structure is as above with the following staff filling the roles as below: TG1 TGMs - Fraser Cooper, Paul Murphy, Nick Marinov TGIs - Gregg Donohoe, Michael Pike, Matthew Collier TG2 TGMs - Leon Grant, Oliver Rhodes TGIs - Johan Grauers, Charlie Watson, Luke Collister TGE (Enroute - EGTT, EGPX, EGGX) TGM - Matt Weddell TGI - Phillip Speer Heathrow TGM - Philip Harris TGI - Sebastian Rekdal New Co
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

0
United Kingdom

VATSIM Connexion 2017: Website & Tickets Launched

Following on from the announcement last year that VATSIM would be holding a conference in London this summer.  VATSIM is delighted to announce that the website for Connexion 2017 has been launched and tickets are now available to book. This is a global convention open to all VATSIM members. The event website is here. The discussion thread is here.
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

0
ATC Training

Nova sanguinem - Welcome to...

Following on with the Latin theme... I'm pleased to welcome the following to the ATC Training Department staff team: Gregg Donohoe - TG Instructor for TG1 Gregg is a long standing member of the Division having previously held various roles including SCONI RTSI - It's a real honour to have him back and brings a bucket load of experience, enthusiasm and knowledge to the role Charlie Watson - TG Instructor for TG2 Charlie has been heavily involved with the UK Division for the past co
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

14
ATC Training

CTS Phase 1 Preparation - Exitus acta probat!

Hi folks, In preparation for CT, myself and the Web Services team will be in the next 3 weeks merging all Training RTSs into the 2 new Training Groups (TG1 and TG2). As a student you may begin to notice small cosmetic changes to the CTS, however you should still be able to request mentoring provided you are listed as an active student with a mentoring place. For those members who are not currently training or are currently in a waiting list for training you will most likely receive an email
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

15
Community

Pollice verso (with a turned thumb - or some such Latin'ish blah-de-blah)

Dear All You have been used to being able to extend your thumbs in an upward direction, now it's time for something completely different (only not that different and basically exactly the same)..... In addition to the ability to 'thumbs up' posts within the forum, members will now be able to use 'thumbs down'. Presently you are able to 'thumbs up' a maximum of twenty times each day, this will continue; A maximum of two 'thumbs down' votes may be cast by any one member on any si
Barrie Joplin

Barrie Joplin in Community

2
Operations

A new set of tools...

Thanks to the hard work of @Alex Toff in particular, I'm pleased to announce a 'Squawk Generator' for use by VATSIM UK controllers. Simply type in the destination code, hit 'Generate Squawk', and one will pop up for you to issue. You can access the tool at: squawks.vatsim.net Additionally, this tool has been open sourced and added to VATSIM UK's organisation on GitHub. To contribute, visit the repository: https://github.com/VATSIM-UK/web-squawk-gen --- Going forward, work has
Harry Sugden

Harry Sugden in Operations

20
Web Services

Change of Domain

All, As 2016 draws to a close and we start looking at the list of tasks that 2017 presents, we're presented with a great opportunity to start the year with a fresh domain to better represent the VATSIM UK brand (and make it slightly easier for folk to remember).  @Alex Hartshorne is working incredibly hard to ensure VATSIM UK is correctly represented and as such, from the 1st January, we'll be migrating to our new home - https://vatsim.uk  All old links will continue to work as expecte
Anthony Lawrence

Anthony Lawrence in Web Services

2
ATC Training

Gatwick eLearning Course (DEL/GND)

Hello all, Over the past months we have been writing a Gatwick Ground & Delivery familiarisation e-learning course. The course is now complete. You are now all able to self enrol on to the course. https://moodle.vatsim-uk.co.uk/ This course is designed for any member who wishes to further their knowledge of controlling either on Gatwick Ground or Delivery. Additionally, this will make up one of many future e-learning courses available for airfield familiarisation. These c
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

2
ATC Training

[MINUTES] CTIB Meeting - 16th December 2016

Hi all, I'm pleased to release to you the minutes of our last CTIB meeting. A massive thanks to Oliver Rhodes for doing a fantastic job of compiling a 3 hours meeting into the minutes you see here! Some fantastic progress made and great effort by all to date. Thanks, Sam
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

0
Operations

Open Source Update - UK Sector File

I am pleased to announce that the migration of the UK Sector File Repository from GitLab to GitHub has now been completed - thanks @Neil Farrington! The new repository can be found here: https://github.com/VATSIM-UK/UK-Sector-File The first and most important thing is that you read (and understand) the Contributing guide which is attached to the project. As we go on it is the intention to develop the Wiki with details of how the sector file is generated from the repository, and a step-
Harry Sugden

Harry Sugden in Operations

0
Web Services

Plans for 2017

Overview With the new community cohesion plans, Community Championships/Leaderboards, Central Training, and Pilot Training exercises all announced, it is a good opportunity for me to outline the plans for our department as we go forward and some of the technical challenges we need to overcome. Quarter 1 The most noticeable change for our members that are embarking upon ATC Training will be the rebranding of the RTS System to the CT System to complement the new trai
Anthony Lawrence

Anthony Lawrence in Web Services

0
Community

Home is where the heart is...

Dear All From 00:01z Thursday 15th December, you will be asked if you would like to select one of 8 region-based communities from the following list: Scotland | Northern Ireland | Northern | Wales | Midlands | East Anglia | South West | South East Members do not have to join a community in which the facility they are training at is based.  There may however be benefit for the member to choose the community in which the majority of their day-to-day VATSIM activity (flying/controlli
Barrie Joplin

Barrie Joplin in Community

6
Operations

Reducing Redundancy in Mentoring Reports

ATC MENTORS Following a discussion with @Samuel James, I realised we are both of the opinion that the prevalence of massive chunks of textual procedures in mentoring reports has become excessive. Forgetting the fact that we may of course be seeing changes through the introduction of Central Training for now (see page 7 of the November 2016 DSG meeting minutes regarding 'intense mentoring reports'), the fact that I see so many procedures in reports makes me, as the Operations Manager, worrie
Harry Sugden

Harry Sugden in Operations

0
United Kingdom

[MINUTES] DSG Meeting - 21st November 2016

Folks The minutes of last month's DSG meeting are now available for download here. I'll be making a short post when the minutes are published to add some colour to them and give a short overview of what is happening in the Division.  I will aim to post the minutes and write this blog within a couple of weeks of the meeting taking place.  It's worth pointing out that this was the last DSG meeting of 2016 although we do have an "all staff" meeting in mid December. Most of what is po
Simon Irvine

Simon Irvine in United Kingdom

1
Web Services

Open Source Web Services - Update 3

At the start of 2016, I outlined our plans for moving to an open source model for our core web services.  During the year this has always been a big focus for the team and has helped massively as a reminder of why we need to thoroughly document our code and ensure only high-quality commits to our repositories. 12 months ago we wouldn't have been able to open source straight away - our code styling and formatting was largely inconsistent, we had areas that were written in a different manner
Anthony Lawrence

Anthony Lawrence in Web Services

3
ATC Training

S2s and Sweatbox

To resolve any confusion between who can and cannot run Sweatboxes as an S2 across the Division and to prepare ourselves for the onset of Central Training, from now onwards, S2 Mentors are permitted to run Sweatboxes without restriction. Naturally, as with all Sweatbox mentors regardless of rating, we would encourage those who are not particularly confident with its’ features to attend a ‘Introduction to Sweatbox’ seminar which will be regularly held and details of these will be promulgated on t
Samuel James

Samuel James in ATC Training

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