Good afternoon, all,

I'm tremendously pleased to have been appointed as ATC Training Director and look forward to working with you all to improve the provision of ATC Training across the division. To those of you that have sent congratulatory messages; thank you - I appreciate them greatly. I realise that recent staff changes have caused some turbulence in the division, including within ATC Training and my thanks go to Kieran and the wider DSG for ensuring the smooth running of the department for all involved.

During my interview, I discussed the demand that the division faces for ATC Training; VATSIM UK is one of the most popular divisions on the VATSIM network and this goes some way towards explaining the waiting times across ratings. However, I also discussed opportunities by which I believe the division can improve training times and these will become a focus of my attention in due course.

For now, VATSIM's replacement for GRP, the Global Controller Administration Policy (GCAP) is schedule to become effective across VATSIM on the 1st March 2024. The DSG have been working on our initial plans for the division to implement GCAP and this will largely be my first focus. The division has no choice but to be compliant with GCAP and we will need to consider any potential impact on our training processes.

Finally, I am conscious that the department has seen some churn in staff across the department in the last year. Longevity and retention are important topics to me and, very soon, I will be working to meet with all of the ATC training staff in order to better introduce myself and outline some of my plans for the division. That aside, in order to help ensure longevity in ATC training and remove single points of failure, it is my intention to appoint an ATC Training Manager immediately.

Will Jennings has agreed to take up that post. Will has jointly overseen our Approach training group in the role of Training Group Instructor diligently for some time now and he and I have many shared ideas of how ATC trainnig might be improved across the division. It's my pleasure to appoint him as ATC Training Manager and I am sure that he will be a great asset to the department in his new role. Please join me in congratulating Will on his new appointment.

I have made clear to everyone I have spoken with recently that I believe openness and transparency are critical when leading voluntary teams. As the division develops its plan to comply with the requirements of GCAP and as other changes are considered, planned or implemented across the department, I aim to keep everybody appraised and consult where it is appropriate to do so. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out.

Best regards,

Adam