WorldFlight 2015

[Don Desfosse]

It's that time of the year again!  Prepare yourself for one the larger events on the VATSIM calendar and you are invited to join in the fun!

WorldFlight 2015

This year, WorldFlight will be celebrating its 15th year of operations.  WorldFlight will start in Sydney (YSSY) on 01 November and will finish 7 days later.

WorldFlight is a virtual round the world flight that raises money for selected charities around the world. There will be a number of fixed based simulators participating in the event. Full ATC coverage from both local and international controllers will be provided throughout the event as it makes its way around the world.

Join the WorldFlight this year by participating in the event as it makes its way through your region, by flying one of the 45 designated flights or by controlling. Pilots are welcome to start your journey anywhere along the event, expect congested airspace and challenging approaches into a number of locations around the world.

As always, we are looking for all ARTCCs that will be seeing WF arrivals, departures and/or overflights to staff up appropriately for an event of this size, even -- as best you can -- in the middle of the night.  Overflight Centers should plan on 1-2 CTR controllers.  Arrival/Departure  airports should plan on needing 1-2 CTR, 2-3 APP, 1 DEP, and a full cab, including TWR, GND and DEL!

For more information, including route details, flight plans, suggested scenery links and updates throughout the event, please visit: www.worldflight.com.au go to the OPERATIONS|DOWNLOADS to get the files.


VATUSA Schedule Highlights:

Flight   From   To   Sched   Departure   Sched   Arrival
WF1535   Monterrey   Houston   11/05/2015   2010   11/05/2015   2135
WF1536   Houston   Tupelo   11/05/2015   2305   11/06/2015   0045
WF1537   Tupelo   Oklahoma City   11/06/2015   0135   11/06/2015   0315
WF1538   Oklahoma City   Denver   11/06/2015   0405   11/06/2015   0545
WF1539   Denver   Phoenix   11/06/2015   0635   11/06/2015   0825
WF1540   Phoenix   San Francisco   11/06/2015   0915   11/06/2015   1110
WF1541   San Francisco   Honolulu   11/06/2015   1200   11/06/2015   1710
WF1542   Honolulu   Nadi   11/06/2015   1800   11/07/2015   0035

Full schedule here:  http://www.worldflight.com.au/ops/schedule

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Controlling WorldFlight, and cooperating with WorldFlight Controllers
Reminder that WorldFlight controllers are authorized to control any USA airspace where VATUSA controllers are not present.  Most will defer is a VATUSA controller comes online, but are not required to.  Best bet for good relations is if a WF controller is online and you'd like to staff, come on as an OBS, identify yourself as a home ARTCC controller, and offer to either relieve the WF controller if they wish, or ask where you can be most useful.  The idea here is to stay friendly, keep up good relations, and make it a great experience for everyone.

[Don Desfosse]

All, don't forget that, in addition to the fun of flying and controlling with WorldFlight, these are great charities to donate to.  For more information on the USA WorldFlight team and the USA team's chosen charity, All Children's Hospital, see http://worldflight.cockpitbuilders.com

[Don Desfosse]

All, remember that WF is a significant VATSIM event, and is a great workout for our affected ARTCCs.  Each leg generally has 40-80 aircraft all shooting for the same arrival and departure times, so the best strategy is to staff up for a 2-3 hour event ensuring at a minimum CTR, TRACON, TWR and GND are staffed.  I don’t think most ARTCCs get the level of traffic, commitment and staffing needed to run a good, if not flawless, WF event.  And some of it is in the middle of the night, so it’s really important that the ARTCCs, if they do it right (which I want them to), take it seriously, advertise, guarantee staffing, get help when needed, etc.  It’s a wonderful opportunity, but based on the lack of chatter I'm hearing, I'm concerned that the ARTCCs aren't recognizing and capitalizing on that opportunity.  And that reflects poorly on VATUSA.  Hopefully everyone is, and I just haven't heard the chatter. 

Thanks,

Don

[Don Desfosse]

Folks, I know it's early, and the middle of the night isn't here yet, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone who staffs up for WorldFlight.  The locusts have started their attack from the south, and we are well-staffed and from what I can see handling it well.  Thank you!  Let's keep it up! (And sorry for those that will be working the middle of the night for this, especially ZDV, ZAB, ZLA, ZOA and HCF!)

Don

PS:  Thanks also to the ZME guys who worked all night to build two extra very large ramps for all the inbounds....     I asked the WF guys last year why they picked KTUP and pointed out the single runway and limited ramp space; they never got back to me....  Good luck!

[Corey Burt]

Don,

Tupelo was quite the challenge. I am happy to say we succeeded in that challenge. Tupelo just closed up and we cant wait to see Worldflight next year!

Corey Burt.
ZME EC

[Don Desfosse]

As always, we are looking for all ARTCCs that will be seeing WF arrivals, departures and/or overflights to staff up appropriately for an event of this size, even -- as best you can -- in the middle of the night.  Overflight Centers should plan on 1-2 CTR controllers.  Arrival/Departure  airports should plan on needing 1-2 CTR, 2-3 APP, 1 DEP, and a full cab, including TWR, GND and DEL!

Why doesn't anyone believe me when I say how many controllers you need to work WF?   Well, if you were working an understaffed airport tonight....  Now you believe me!!  Please, let's remember this for next year!

[Michael Mund-Hoym]

I was only able to work just over an hour on a feeder sector for the flights from PHX to SFO. We had 1 CTR, 2 feeder APP, 1 final APP, and a full SFO cab. Pretty good considering it was 3.30am local time! It was fairly busy, but we had a blast!

A special thanks to the WorldFlight team for its continuous efforts to support the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a non-profit organization providing health care services to people living in the most remote areas of Australia.

[Don Desfosse]

Thanks, Michael, sounds excellent, especially considering the hour!

Folks, to all that came out and staffed up, THANK YOU!  I appreciate everything you did.  For those that came and worked an understaffed facility and got absolutely slammed, DOUBLE THANK YOU!  And for facilities that don't get to work Cross The Pond -- that's what it's like for about 5-6 hours straight! 

As much as I heard some people get absolutely slammed last night, they all persevered and made it work.  Was it pretty?  Not always (e.g. I was vectored 85NM north of one airport before Center took pity and sent me a .contactme! ) (But I didn't mind at all, smiled, and just waited for things to die down and wasn't worried because I took plenty of extra fuel).  Can we do better next year?  Absolutely.  Doing a little better every single day is what it's all about.  The fact that WF controllers didn't have to do much within VATUSA is a tribute to our controllers, ECs, and ARTCC staff.  Thank you again!

(PS: I know not all of our controllers make their way to the VATUSA forums regularly (unfortunately), so ARTCC staff, please feel free to share this post, and even better, a link to the topic.  Thanks.)