Potential Service Disruption due to Hurricane Irene

As Hurricane Irene continues its advance toward the Northeast US within the next few days, be prepared for potential outages affecting our FSX and FlightDesk server depending on the severity of the hurricane. The ISP that hosts FSX and FlightDesk is located in New York State and is taking precautions in order to be "fully prepared for" the hurricane. Our ISP has advised us that the precautions it is taking include:

• Increased staff levels this weekend to ensure proper coverage in the event that an emergency response is necessary
  
• Completed readiness checks of emergency power systems including UPS and generators plants
  
• Notification of fuel vendors which may need to provide additional fuel for generators in the event of a long-term utility power disruption

Our ISP has also stated that "throughout the event, all systems will continue to be monitored as usual. Additionally, the Facilities and Operations teams will be performing an increased number of inspections of building structure and all critical systems. We have also assembled an emergency management team to continually monitor and be responsive to the situation as it progresses." We hope that, as a result of these precautions, there will be no interruptions to our FSX server.

One of the inherent advantages to being an internet-based community is that our administrators are located across the country (actually, across the continent). We do not expect any service disruptions to our website and forums (the ISP that hosts those is located on the other side of the country) and will post updates on our forums, Facebook, and Twitter in the event of any outages.

I am also aware that some members may be unable to participate in our planned Sunday evening "Bad Weather Regional Circuit" event featuring KBOS & KJFK. Should that be the case, we'll be sure to host a similar event going forward.