VATSIM Oceania Quarterly Report Q (April to June)

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1 VATSIM Oceania Quarterly Report Q (April to June) The region headed into a cold and wet winter season some some very chilly weather seeing more VATSIM users join the Region and many more spending time online flying and controlling. Evenings in both VATPAC and VATNZ airspace continue to be the most serviced by ATC but pleasing to see is a steady increase in ATC services on weekends. I ve been busy in my role as Executive Committee Chairman completing duties across the whole Network. Events VATPAC continues to be very active with events on several evenings each week, including their milk run events on Monday nights between the major airpots on Australia s east coast as well as the regular Tuesday event. VATNZ Sunday Night Ops is the main focus for VATNZ with steady streams of traffic up and down the country participating. Staffing VATPAC welcomed a staff change with Peter Adamos stepping up to assist Greg Barber as Assistant Training Director. VATNZ has struggled with a significant number of inactive staff members and I am working with the Board to assist to restructure the board and get some growth back into the Division. Membership In order to better report on membership growth, I ve prepared some graphs to show a graphic representation of the Region s growth. I plan to

update this each quarter so that all members have a good indication of

2 I ve tidied up our membership lists this quarter to remove some

the region, seeing an increase of 273 members, our biggest growth

2 update this each quarter so that all members have a good indication of the growth. 2 I ve tidied up our membership lists this quarter to remove some members who were showing in VATPAC or VATNZ but yet assigned to another Region. This was affecting the reporting but can now accurately report on membership numbers. At the end of the Quarter, VATSIM Oceania has 2,230 members assigned to the region, seeing an increase of 273 members, our biggest growth quarter in the past few years. Our membership continues to trend upwards which is a pleasing trend. VATSIM OCEANIA MEMBERSHIP Q (Apr- Jun) 16% VATPAC VATNZ 84% As expected, 1,882 (84%) of the Region s members are VATPAC members with the remaining 348 (16%) in VATNZ.

3 VATSIM Oceania Membership Report 2500 273 2230 300 Membership Numbers 2000 1500 1000 841 874 708 736 781 926 829 979 922 105 1084 1102 213 1297 1290 223 1520 213 1733 1468 1957 224 1658 1882 250

3 3 VATSIM Oceania Membership Report Membership Numbers Region Change Q (Jan- Mar) Q (Apr- Jun) Q (Jul- Sep) Q (Oct- Dec) Q (Jan- Mar) Q (Apr- Jun) Q (Jul- Sep) Q (Oct- Dec) Q (Jan- Mar) Q (Apr- Jun) 0 VATPAC VATNZ REGION TOTAL Region Change Conflict Resolution During the Quarter, the Regional Conflict Resolution Panel convened to hear an appeal of a DCRM (Divisional Conflict Resolution Manager)

4 decision to suspend a member. Otherwise, overall the work in conflict resolution by both the RCRP and two DCRMs remains low indicating excellent compliance with the VATSIM Code of Conduct by Oceania members. 4 Thanks to my Deputy Regional Director Jeff Smith and the Regional team for their efforts this quarter. Mark Richards Regional Director 1 July 2014

VATPAC Quarterly Report - Apr- Jun 2014 STAFFING Mr Peter Adamos took over as Deputy Director of ATC Training ATC TRAINING Work continues to update our training materials to a new Moodle site.

5 VATPAC Quarterly Report - Apr- Jun 2014 STAFFING Mr Peter Adamos took over as Deputy Director of ATC Training ATC TRAINING Work continues to update our training materials to a new Moodle site. We are starting by completely rewriting the Tower Rating. As an entry-level course this has been identified as an area where improving the online resources can best serve the community to attract new controllers and get them online with more understanding of the skills required. As the Tower Course nears completion we will be transferring other ATC and Pilot courses over to the new system. When this happens all users will need to re-register in the new system to gain access. ATC Training Activities: A lot quieter this quarter compared to last. Total assessment requests: 10 Total competent assessments: 6 Total still in progress: 3 Total terminated: 1 (Per request) Mentoring provided: 4 Longest time from theory exam to competency: 44 days Shortest time: 14 days Average length: ~28 days TWR) Total assessment requests: 5 Total competent assessments: 2 Total still in progress: 2 Total terminated: 1 TMA) Total assessment requests: 3 Total competent assessments: 3 Total still in progress: 0 Total terminated: 0

6 ENR) Total assessment requests: 2 Total competent assessments: 1 Total still in progress: 1 Total terminated: 0 OCA) Total assessment requests: 2 Total competent assessments: 1 Total still in progress: 1 Total terminated: 0 SNR) Undergoing Mentoring: 1 Awaiting Assessment: 1 Applications awaiting entry: 2 OPERATIONS The Director of Operations Mr Steve Cotterill remains on extended leave of absence due to ill health. The Deputy Director Mr Arjun Murthy is administering the Operations portfolio until further notice, as there is no current Deputy Director of Operations. The decision has been reached, with some regret, to advertise for a replacement.

7 Activity Q2 Historical Activity Trends & Trend Analysis Jul 13 Apr 14

8 ATC Connections

9 Pilot Flights

10 EVENTS April was an extraordinarily busy month for events. In fact, we had just 6 days in the whole month that didn't have a scheduled event and we had 3 days with 2 events! The Milk run visited BrisVegas, Panic Stations was double trouble as the masses made their way to either Brisbane or Gold Coast, Lemon Air made a successful debut on Spilled Milk Run Monday, and we helped quite a few newbies over 2 Newbie Night events. May was barely any quieter as we barrel rolled our way into Sydney via the infamous WorldFlight STAR for the second instalment of our Uncomfortable Approaches series. Jetstar Virtual held a very successful event as part of their 10th Birthday celebrations, and Spilled Milk Run spilled over into Sunday as we invaded VATNZ's airspace. June was a lot quieter as the Events team worked on the code for the upcoming Nab the Pax competition. Of note was Spilled Milk Run Monday, which saw a raft of non-standard ATC positions opened. Upcoming events: August Nab the Pax, Round 1 Regionals and Twins Canberra Eastern Extremities Tour, Leg 1 - YSCB to YLHI Spilled Milk Run Monday VFR Coordinator Q2 Report. PART 1 Report is based on desired goals and relates events that were created to meet them. GOALS: REDUCE RELIANCE ON GPS FLIGHT PLANS - Introduce selected events where GPS flight plans are not provided. Provide alternative navigation strategies, typically, visual and radio navigation information. - Include visual guidance and radio navigation info into flights. Even where GPS flight plans are provided, pilots have the option of using another method of navigating the flight.

11 - Develop flights designed to familiarise pilots with visual reference points around aerodromes prior to presenting more ambitious flights using them. INTEGRATE MORE REAL WORLD PROCEDURES AND CONSIDERATIONS - Complying with restricted airspace and CTA steps. - Requiring use of inbound / outbound routing into busy controlled aerodromes. - Adjusting flights based on weather considerations. - Including greater detail in navigation charts - Encourage use of recommended joins, radio announcements and airmanship during each event. INTRODUCE VARIATIONS BETWEEN FRIDAY AND SUNDAY FLIGHTS. 1) Restrict flight durations on Sunday to not greater than 80 mins (earlier finish time to accommodate pilots needing to attend school/work the following morning) but allow longer on the Friday. 2) Reduce repetition of route and flight conditions over both days - Introduced route reversals between departure and destination airports. Sometimes same route, others entirely different. Where departure and destination airport are the same, the route is reversed. INTEGRATE EVENTS TO COINCIDE WITH OTHER VATPAC EVENTS 1) VATPAC Panic stations. Not entirely compatible. The target time is only 30 mins from VFR Ops commencement time. CONTINUE TO PROVIDE SIMILAR EVENTS AS DONE PREVIOUSLY - Flights to showcase the virtual world CONTRIBUTION TO VATPAC and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VFR Operations has a consistent following of pilots. A core set of members ensures a minimum of 4 pilots per event with as many as 16 pilots this quarter. Best turn out this qtr - Fri:[Moorabbin to Wangaratta - Weekend away from the rat race...], Sun:[Wangaratta to Moorabbin - Return to the rat race..]. Many flights are purposely set to operate in and/or out from a towered facility. Typically, the goal is to ensure this occurs 2 out of every 3 events. Fortunately, VFR Operations has benefitted many times from superb contributions from controllers, in particular, Peter Story who very often provides a high quality of service for a great many of the events held this quarter. This effort has further enhanced the goal of recreating a sense of realism for the flights. Peter has not been alone and other notable controllers have also provided excellent service in often difficult circumstances. It's not easy controlling 10 or so pilots of varying abilities and each and every controller deserves a great deal credit for making the attempt. VFR Operations will continue in the next quarter in much the same manner as the last. There are some plans to conduct some 'out of the box' events. In the near term will be some Helo ops around Sydney exploring the various published Helo routes in the Sydney ERSA. The VFR Coordinator is also exploring the use of gliders for an event or two and is presently assessing the suitability of Cumulus-X as a generator of a multi-player compatible means of generating thermals and ridge lift. Further to this, the feasibility of conducting some events relating to fire suppression using Water Bombers is being explored. Suitable fire simulation scenery has been successfully created but

12 evaluation of available fire fighting aircraft is still ongoing. It is hoped to get some introductory events happening in last winter to introduce pilots to the environment and equipment by conducting simulated drills. The goal is to increase drill complexity eventually leading to complete simulation of a fire suppression op that can potentially involve VFR Operations and controllers for 'on sight' coordination of aircraft into fire zones and also filling locations such as forward aerodromes and water bodies. The first step is to prepare a single exploratory event and assess the outcome of the participants before committing any significant resources. Evaluating the success of each event is problematic and typically subjective. Empirical data collection from sources such as VAT-Aware is also misleading since it only records pilots that completed the submitted flight plan. Often additional pilots commence the flight but forced to dis connect for various technical and personal reasons. Darryl Lyons has had this misfortune on more than three occasions. Events will continue in a similar manner and it is envisaged events will begin to be based on participants via "suggest-a-flight", however, the incoming coordinator may require a brief on what is required to identify the suggestions once submitted. FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS: Introduce the occasional coordinated migration of Daily Focus Events. i.e., concentrate all activity in featured areas much like occurs with Iron Mic week, but on a more regular basis. PILOT TRAINING Nil report AIRSPACE Nil Report Jackson Harding Director of Division

13 VATSIM New Zealand Quarterly Report to the Regional Director Q The second quarter of 2014 has been a challenging period for VATNZ. Staff Changes There have been no staff changes. VATSIM VP Membership vs VATNZ Deputy Division Director Leon Gibbs was subject to a baseless and malicious accusation of divulging a member's personal information, made by a disgruntled former VATNZ member. He was stood down while the matter was investigated by an independent DCRM in accordance with VATSIM's established procedures. The investigation concluded that the complaint against Gibbs was completely unfounded and recommended his immediate and full reinstatement. The VATSIM VP Membership Jim Johnson unilaterally decided to ignore the DCRM's findings and recommendation, and repeatedly refused to reinstate Gibbs' access to the CERT Membership Database. This restriction has a significant impact on the ability of the Deputy Division Director to perform his duties in helping to run the division, and has had a negative impact on the health and the viability of the division as a whole. Apparently there is no recourse to appeal this person's decision and no-one on the Board of Governors has responded to repeated requests to intervene on behalf of the division, or to even discuss the matter, made by both the Division Director and the Regional Director, Oceania. The time and effort spent by Senior VATNZ Board staff resolving this issue via the DCRM process and then unsuccessfully seeking to have Jim Johnson's decision on CERT access reviewed has consumed a significant portion of the available staff hours this quarter and is the primary reason that the Cross the Ditch 10 event was cancelled. This situation is a clear case of a VATSIM staff member putting their own ego ahead of the welfare of the organisation and one of its Divisions, and as such VATNZ has no confidence in Jim Johnson's fitness to hold any VATSIM Board position. Membership There were 34 new members who joined VATNZ and become active during this quarter. There were 9 VATNZ members who provided ATC in VATNZ airspace during the quarter. There were 128 VATNZ members who flew in VATNZ airspace during the quarter. Overall there were 128 VATNZ members who were active in VATNZ airspace during the quarter. The percentage of people who join the division but never become active remains high (34 out of 63: 54%). Improving this conversion rate remains a chief challenge for the division as a whole. Events There were no major events this quarter. Cross the Ditch 10 had been scheduled for May but this had to be cancelled due to a lack of available hours to organise and promote the event as a consequence of the ongoing disruptions caused by VP Membership Jim Johnson.

14 2 Controller Activity Hours Controller Hours were relatively static against the previous year in April and June. May's hours were down substantially due to the lack of a Cross the Ditch event.

15 VATNZ Controller Count VATNZ Active Controller numbers were static or down against the previous in all three months of this quarter. May's numbers are probably due to the lack of Cross the Ditch event, but June's figures simply represent a reduction in the number of active controllers.

16 4 Summary Q2 has been a somewhat challenging period for VATNZ as a division. Flight and controller numbers and hours were down against the same period last year. This is partly explained by the non-staging of the Winter Cross the Ditch event in May, but it also reflects the challenges that such a small division is facing. These challenges are exacerbated by VP Membership Jim Johnson's intransigence with respect to the removal of the Deputy Division Director's access to the CERT database. As a result of this arbitrary and seemingly unappealable decision, there is now only one board member left within the division who has the ability to access or update division members' records. This bureaucratic overreach has had a significant negative impact on the health and efficiency of the division, and adds yet another needless challenge to task of maintaining and growing VATSIM membership within the New Zealand and Pacific regions. Nick Johnston, DIVISION DIRECTOR 28th August 2014

VATSIM Oceania Quarterly Report Q (April to June)

VATSIM Oceania Quarterly Report Q2 2013 (April to June) Hi all and welcome to Winter in Oceania! In some parts (read my house) winter hit with avengence with many overnight temperatures dipping below freezing