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Francis Dube

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  1. BN, I thank you for being willing to step up and take on the role of Air Traffic Manager. I know you will excel in the role and I am looking forward to continuing on as a controller and instructor here. I also want to thank everyone who has helped me in the last several years in my many different roles. As unfortunate as it is that my availability has dropped off, you all have helped keep things rolling and I have nothing but respect and appreciation for all that you all have done for me and for ZBW/BVARTCC. I am excited to see where things will continue to go with this merged community that will only continue to thrive. Again, thank you to every one of the staff members, controllers, and pilots who have wished me nothing but well. I promise I will not be too far away.
  2. Team, The last few months have seen a lot of work completed to bring two separate groups of pilots and controllers together into a new community. This merger has been led by the Project Vector group who held many meetings and committed uncountable numbers of hours to make this happen. The Vector Team would like to thank all members of the community for their patience and support as we worked out the details of this integration. At this point, we are bringing the Vector Team to a close as we have completed the major pieces of the integration. There will be more projects to come (website, training updates, etc.), but at this point those items will be worked out by the staff that has been selected to lead us forward. Right now there is one staff position to fill, once that is completed there will be another post announcing the full staff of BVARTCC going forward. The BVARTCC staff will hold regular meetings to make sure that concerns are addressed and that all bases are covered. Any thoughts or concerns that our membership has should be communicated to a staff member so they can be discussed in our bi-weekly meeting. This transition is truly a first in our hobby, and while there have been bumps in the road I would like to again thank everyone who was involved in Project Vector. From the group making the decisions and churning out hundreds of pages of updated documents, to the controllers and pilots who continued to fly and control while this was all worked out. With that, we are officially closing Project Vector and opening the new BVARTCC effective immediately. Lets keep this train moving forward with the quality of controlling and piloting we are known for by providing the best service possible with the most time online. Our next big group project is Cross the Pond, planning meetings begin this weekend for the event on 10/24. I look forward to planning and controlling it with all of you. Francis Dube BVARTCC Air Traffic Manager
  3. After nearly 3 years as our Training Administrator at ZBW. Mike Willey (WY) has stepped down due to real world commitments that have reduced his time availability. We obviously thank Mike for his commitment to the position over the last 3 years and look forward to his continued controlling and training with us as an instructor. With the position opened up and his experience coordinating training efforts at BVA, Evan Reiter (RT) has been selected to succeed Mike and take the position effective immediately. Evan's knowledge of the system we want to implement and his abilities as a controller make him a great fit for this position and I look forward to him excelling a this position. Please join me in congratulating Evan and thanking Mike for their commitment to our training programs past, present, and future.
  4. With Camden Bruno (BN) stepping down as Events Coordinator due to his upcoming college enrollment I would like to announce that Clifton Whitten (WN) has been selected as the Newest BVARTCC Events Coordinator. As the Events Coordinator from the controller side, Clif will execute the many events that ZBW holds and work with the pilot based events team on the events that BVA will continue to operate. The Event Coordinator receives staffing requests from virtual groups that are holding flyins as well as planning for staffing of our home events. We also staff for neighboring ARTCC events and Clif will monitor and plan for those as well. As well as announcing WN as our EC successor, please also join me in thanking BN for his contributions as EC in the past 8 months. Please join me in welcoming WN to this new staff role as he has also recently joined our training staff as a mentor.
  5. As you may or may not know, there is a group that flies and controls on the FS Multiplayer platform that is Boston Virtual ATC. They fly and control primarily in the Boston ARTCC airspace and in the last few weeks have reached out to us with an interest in merging with our ARTCC here on VATSIM. Primary meetings have shown that they have a good amount of support from their membership in making this move. The next move from both sides is to meet together to talk about the transition and get on common ground. BVA brings a lot of competent controllers and pilots who are very proficient with our airspace. This will expand our uptime and our traffic base. BVA also has exceptional documentation for pilots and controllers, our SOP's will be reviewed and in many cases combined to make even better SOP's and operations than we currently have. BVA brings a strong base of VFR traffic where our strength is IFR jet traffic, we will both be learning a lot from each other as this process moves on. All controllers are invited to attend a meeting in the VATUSA teamspeak this Sunday 6/28 at 9PM ET. I have copied the post from BVA to their membership introducing the idea to them. Any other comments/questions may be directed to me via PM or email. -- A second option that was explored is merging with VATSIM's Boston ARTCC, which consists of certified VATSIM air traffic controllers. In preliminary meetings designed to gauge possibility, the ZBW ARTCC at VATSIM has shown a strong interest in joining with Boston Virtual ATC. Their staff is excited about the talent, traffic, and community that Boston Virtual ATC has to offer. In this scenario, BVA pilots and controllers would become members of the VATSIM Boston ARTCC. Everything about BVA (our scenery updates, PRPs, Virtual FBO, resources, virtual airlines, etc.) would remain available to members. While other VATSIM members would be permitted to fly in the VATSIM Boston ARTCC, only BVA members will have access to our TeamSpeak server and community resources. Our strong sense of community would remain as it is today. VATSIM's exceptional radar and pilot technology allows pilots to connect to the VATSIM network using virtually any flight simulation platform. FSX, FSX:SE, P3D, X-Plane, and even FS9 are all supported. BVA would bring our highly trained controllers, as well as our training program, to VATSIM. VATSIM is a busy community that consists of primarily jetliner traffic. Combining Boston Virtual ATC’s general aviation presence with the busy airliner traffic of Boston ARTCC has the potential to make the new community busier and more realistic than any other. -- A meeting has been scheduled at 9pm ET on Sunday, June 28. Members of Boston Virtual ATC as well as members of the VATSIM Boston ARTCC are invited. The meeting will be a great chance for our members to ask questions directly to the leadership of the Boston ARTCC, and VATSIM in general. The meeting will be held in the VATUSA TeamSpeak server (our server is password protected and restricted to BVA members only). More information about the meeting, including connection information, will be posted later this week.
  6. Gents, As an ATM this is by far the hardest post I have ever and hopefully will ever have to write. It has come to our attention that our controller, webmaster, and staff mentor Michael Dugan (DA) has passed away. Based on what little information I have this happened sometime either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. I really have no information on what happened but it was obviously sudden and unexpected. I have no intention of trying to get that information from a grieving family at this time. I will be sending them a message in the next couple of days letting them know what he did for us and getting info to send along anything we want for his funeral. There are a lot of things to sort out and we will do that in the near future, web transfer and whatnot may be a rocky process but that is the least of my concerns right now. Our thoughts will continue to be with a friend and fellow ATC enthusiast who is no longer with us. As I said in an email to staff last night, we move forward but we never forget. Thank you Mike for everything you have done and the laughs you brought us all. Your personality stood tall at the Tea Party event last year and any other day you controlled or hung out on TS with us.
  7. I am pleased to announce that Camden Bruno (BN) has [s:27azhohz]taken the bait[/s:27azhohz] been promoted to the rank of Instructor here at vZBW. As our Events Coordinator and a mentor BN has rapidly become a go to staff member that has brought back great things to our team. His drive and knowledge of ATC and our standards makes this a no brainer for the position and we expect great things to come of it! Again, congrats Camden and enjoy the new position.
  8. Great addition to the team, we'll see you on the scopes!
  9. ZBW is creating the ?Assistant Webmaster? position to assist with the day to day operations and management of our website. Responsibilities: * Manage the day-to-day operations on the ZBW forum and website * Provide troubleshooting and general assistance to ZBW staff and members * Develop, test, and deploy bug fixes under the supervision of the webmaster * Assist the webmaster with the development and improvement of features and functionality Requirements: * Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP * In conjunction with the above, you should be able to write a simple, working web page * 1 hour/week minimum time commitment Nice to Have: * Familiarity with Teamspeak administration * Familiarity with Linux operating systems and associated services * Familiarity with Git or other distributed version control We will train the right individual. Anyone interested please send an email to [email protected]
  10. vZBW Directive 02042015/1 Revision 1 February 4, 2015 Descend Via usage in the Boston ARTCC Purpose: To provide reference for controllers at the enroute and TRACON level in usage of descend via clearances on STAR's. We have been following the established RW procedure that does not include Descend via clearances at the enroute level. As the RW Boston ARTCC is beginning to issue these clearances, we will incorporate them as well. Effective date: This directive is in effect as of February 4, 2015 Applicability: This directive applies to the following STAR's in the Boston ARTCC: KBOS: OOSHN, QUABN, ROBUC KMHT: ROZZE KPWM: SCOGS, CDOGG KBED/KBVY/KLWM: ZELKA FAA JO 7110.65v reference material: Section 4-5-7 Instructions to vertically navigate on a STAR/SID with published restrictions. PHRASEOLOGY- DESCEND VIA (STAR name and number). TERMINAL: DESCEND VIA (STAR name and number and runway number). EXAMPLE- ?Descend via the Eagul Five arrival.? ?Cross Gramm at or above flight level one eight zero, then descend via the Riivr Two arrival.? TERMINAL: ?Descend via the Lendy One Arrival, Runway 22 left.? NOTE- When cleared for STARs that contain published speed restrictions, the pilot must comply with those speed restrictions independent of any descend via clearance. Clearance to ?descend via? authorizes pilots: 1. To descend at pilot discretion to meet published restrictions and laterally navigate on a STAR. Pilots navigating on a STAR must maintain the last assigned altitude until receiving clearance to descend via. Once departing an altitude the pilot may not return to that altitude without an ATC clearance.? 2. When cleared to a waypoint depicted on a STAR, to descend from a previously assigned altitude at pilot's discretion to the altitude depicted for that waypoint. ATC assigned altitudes must ensure obstacle clearance. 3. Once established on the depicted arrival, to descend and to meet all published or assigned altitude and/or speed restrictions. Where speed restrictions are published at the waypoint/fix pilots will begin slowing to comply with the restrictions prior to reaching the waypoint/fix. If it is necessary to assign a crossing altitude which differs from the STAR or SID altitude, emphasize the change to the pilot. PHRASEOLOGY- DESCEND VIA (STAR name and number) ARRIVAL, EXCEPT CROSS (fix, point, waypoint), (revised altitude information). EXAMPLE- ?United 454 descend via the Haris One Arrival, except cross Haris at or above one six thousand.? Operational Usage: Controlling Center Top Down, Center controllers may issue descend via along with the runway transition to reduce frequency congestion. Controlling Center with TRACON available, Center controllers will issue their descend via clearance with the transition to expect from the TRACON controller. The TRACON controller will issue the runway transition upon receiving the aircraft. Phraseology- Enroute- ?American 332, descend via the ROBUC1 arrival, expect runway 22L? TRACON- ?American 332, descend via the ROBUC1 arrival, runway 22L, Boston altimeter xx.xx? At times there will be aircraft that are filed for an approach and do not have the ability to fly it vertically, in this case we will revert to using hard altitudes and there must be coordination between enroute and TRACON controllers. Remember that scratchpads do not work for TRACON controllers so a verbal or text based coordination is required. Also at times to maintain vertical separation or as needed by any controller, there may be a need to issue a descend via clearance with a limit. See the phraseology listed above, this also requires coordination between controllers. Center controllers must monitor all aircraft on descend via clearances to ensure they will meet proper handoff points to the TRACON controller. We have not seen many issues with this yet as many pilots are flying with good FMC equipment, but there will always be mistakes and early correction makes everyone life easier. Summary: This should not be a difficult transition. At the TRACON level you will be receiving aircraft further into your lateral boundaries before they descend into your vertical boundary. Descend via at the TRACON level does not change, enroute will no longer issue hard altitudes unless necessary for traffic management.
  11. Gents, I am pleased to announce that Camden Bruno (BN, or BO if I had let that set of initials slide) has accepted the role of Events Coordinator here at ZBW. Camden's work with our current roster updates and his work on the most recent Cross The Pond planning make him an excellent choice to take over in this position. I expect BN to hit the ground running and pick up the events that are already in planning phase and make up some good creations of his own. As has been said of recent promotions, great things are coming and we are all looking forward to what you can do. So, please join me in congratulating BO... errr... BN on his new position. I just want to tell you good luck, we're all counting on you.
  12. OPEN POSITION POSTING ZBW AIR ROUTE TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTER EVENTS COORDINATOR (EC) The EC: * Reports to the ARTCC's Deputy Air Traffic Manager and the divisional Events Director (VATUSA5) * Maintains an online presence on the VATSIM network. * Functions as VATUSA staff member and attends periodic meetings to report on ARTCC activities and to stay abreast of VATUSA issues and policies. * Coordinates with divisional and neighboring ARTCC?s for event support and planning purposes. * Acts as the primary liaison between virtual aviation organizations and the ARTCC * Develops ideas for events which promote the ARTCC, potentially including but not limited to member gatherings, group flights, and fly-in/fly-out events. * Provides guidance and help to assigned controllers or guests; optionally, establishes a staff of "Mentors" to assist new controllers and guests. * Provides for coordination of position assignments and position restrictions when necessary. * Develops and distributes marketing material (graphics, news posts, forum posts, etc) to promote events and the ARTCC. * Must be available for regular correspondence (via the primary means of e-mail), as well as routinely checking VATUSA forums and other outlets for official notices. Core Requirements The successful candidate: * Must have at least a Senior Student rating. * Must control at least the minimum number of hours required by the ARTCC Standard Operating Procedures to maintain active membership. * Must be an active member of the network in good standing. * Must have excellent written and oral communication skills. * Must be able to work in a team environment. Highly Desired Skills and Abilities The successful candidate will: * Possess a high degree of energy and commitment appropriate to the requirements of the position. * Set an example as an active controller both during events and normal daily operations. The best leaders lead by example. * Demonstrate at a minimum the qualities of understanding, patience, maturity and when necessary, restraint. * Bring a verifiable level of experience sufficient to ensure the ability to manage a complex aviation environment. * Understand and commit to a high level of participation with the knowledge that the position requires considerable devotion and commitment of time. * Instructor or Mentor experience on the network is a plus. * Experience and certification within the ARTCC is a plus. Candidates currently active on the roster will be given first consideration. * Previous managerial or administration experience on the VATSIM network or real world is a plus. * Have no significant disciplinary history or record of unprofessional behavior. Interested candidates should be aware that this is not an entry-level position and not for the inexperienced. The workload can be considerable at times and should not be taken lightly. Only those who understand the requirements and can make the appropriate commitment should consider applying. Candidates can expect an initial evaluation of their application after which they may be contacted for a comprehensive interview. Applications should include: * Full Name, active e-mail, and VATSIM CID * Resume * Plans and vision for the facility as related to the events program APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN MIDNIGHT EDT, 12/12/2014 Please send applications, along with a brief explanation of your plans and vision for the facility, to Francis Dube, Air Traffic Manager [email protected]
  13. Gentlemen (and DA), I would like to announce the promotion of one of our own, Matthew Miller (MR) to DATM. God only knows the things that have happened in that office over the last 22 months but we know it is now in the able hands of our resident de-icing master. Dont worry, our facilities staff will be moving out the liquor cabinet (I'm looking at you PG) and cleaning out whatever that green blob is that has been growing in the corner. In all seriousness, MR has been a great training staff member and has most recently been the Event Coordinator. MR has excelled at both of these positions and will make a great DATM with his knowledge of our facility and his energy/attitude. I'll go all cliche on you and say it seems like yesterday that I was receiving PM's on VRC from ZID_MM_OBS when I was working LEB_TWR about how cool he thought it was I was staffing it. So join me in congratulating MR on his new promotion, there are great things ahead!
  14. Team Boston, I am honored and excited to announce that I have been appointed as Boston ARTCC's Air Traffic Manager. Obviously watching Don Desfosse and Rich Bonneau excel in this position before me have been great examples of what it takes to make this facility great. I feel that we have a strong core of controllers and staff members that are ready and able to step up continue the tradition that is vZBW. As DO has said many times "many hands make light work" and recently there have been many hands in getting facilities, website design, and facility documentation updated and modernized. Our goals and vision are going to continue to be based in growth, retention, excellence, and... wait for it... FUN! We are at our best when we randomly staff 6-8 positions on a Tuesday night with no planning, and it usually starts with just one person staffing up and the rest just come pouring in. The future is bright here at ZBW, and I am happy to serve for all of you and do my part to make this one hell of a place to keep virtual tin separated!
  15. *drum roll please* ... Hear Ye, Hear Ye! The Boston ARTCC is nearby announcing the promotion of Erik Partridge (PG) as our newest [s:21p5mucs]frustrated sector file developer[/s:21p5mucs] Facilities Engineer. Erik has been climbing the ranks as a controller and a mentor pretty steadily and is still looking for more. Please join me in congratulating PG on his promotion, we are expecting great things. Please note our last FE, the fabled FY, left quite a mess in the office. And much of that mess has fermented and created new life forms currently being studied by world class biologists. Once they are finished their research and we get a chance to call up Servpro, you might just be able to move in. Until then, your office is in the basement, just below the bathroom.
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