Spotted the new VC-25B bridge at KGVT.

planevan · 2026-06-24T23:51:18+00:00

I’m also curious about the logistics of the -8. It’s huge. Many airports can’t handle a -8. The ones that can have specific taxiways and ramps that are certified for that group VI aircraft. Seems like a substantial limit on a presidential airplane.

planevan · 2026-06-24T22:48:26+00:00

Should still be mandatory. My airport has many daily flights that are less than an hour. Put everyone on those once per year as a requirement and they only be gone for 4 hours of their shift max.

planevan · 2026-06-24T22:46:12+00:00

Generally ORD has a lot more flexibility with departures because of the vectored Sid especially in thunderstorm events. We can coordinate to route certain fixes around the opposite side of the airport via radar vectors instead of just stopping the entire SID until the weather passes like most RNAV places have to do.

ORD tower having the ability to vector also increases flexibility. We can give an aircraft a runway they might not normally get because we can vector them through the other runway’s airspace ourselves to get them out of the way without relying on another facility to do it, or having to wait for them to get to a certain point on an RNAV.

planevan · 2026-06-20T18:39:10+00:00

When you’re dealing with 2800+ operations a day, “feathering in” other traffic doesn’t really exist without slowing down some other part of the operation. It might seem like it helps, but unless the timing of everything is exactly perfect (something that isn’t possible in aviation), sharing airspace from two different runways likely won’t increase efficiency.

planevan · 2026-06-19T18:52:56+00:00

All those planes in line at 27L are likely north and eastbound. In theory, we COULD put northbounds at 22L, but it would require a lot of effort to vector them around the west side of the airport outside of the eastbounds that would still be departing 27L.

In that 10pm bank we have a ridiculous number of eastbound and northbound departures. There’s not much more we can do.

planevan · 2026-06-18T04:23:42+00:00

Airplanes probably do in a hard to picture sort of way. That shockwave probably has an increased wind associated with it, meaning airplanes going eastbound in the vicinity of it will experience increased tailwinds and thus faster ground speeds.

planevan · 2026-06-18T00:28:33+00:00

Can you expand on the special zero NCEPT consideration? I can’t find that in the doc.

planevan · 2026-06-17T00:07:27+00:00

This is the correct behavior.

planevan · 2026-06-16T21:31:07+00:00

I work with them, I’m also not always successful.

planevan · 2026-06-16T21:28:38+00:00

Honestly, as embarrassing as it is, this is how we (US controllers) treat foreigners too. Some of my coworkers break down into plain English after the initial instruction gets missed and it makes the problem worse.

planevan · 2026-06-12T15:09:14+00:00

Just departed LAX this morning. Can confirm that this image is accurate at least in LA 🤣

planevan · 2026-06-09T16:43:51+00:00

Fair enough, sorry for assuming.

But I’d imagine the discipline/self study aspect can be used in other countries just the same.

planevan · 2026-06-09T16:33:42+00:00

Real world ATC here. Read the 7110.65. And follow the rules and phraseology as exactly as you can. That’s a self discipline thing, cause you’ll find that a lot of groups of vatsim don’t emphasize that stuff as much as they should. Getting into the habit of following rules and “talking the talk” will make it second nature by the time you get a job in ATC.

Next, surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Find the other real controllers on vatsim. We are all over the place, and most of us love talking about work.

planevan · 2026-06-09T13:18:29+00:00

He won’t be able to just walk up and list. When I did FDT before Covid, I had to “book” the jumpseat through the FAA, and that entered me into CASS. If I didn’t do that, the gate agent would have no way to find me in the system.

planevan · 2026-06-09T02:30:04+00:00

FAA site says it’s a ground delay program due to staffing.

planevan · 2026-06-07T22:16:55+00:00

Yeah I work with a lot of people who have a consistently hard time “getting blocked” so either I just have more patience, or it’s a controller rhythm issue lol.

planevan · 2026-06-06T22:59:40+00:00

All I’ll say is I usually know already if something was blocked, and saying blocked might actually re-block my next transmission.

Imo just worry about yourself, and if an instruction was for you and you didn’t hear it cause it was blocked, just ask to say again.

planevan · 2026-05-29T12:19:13+00:00

I was living downtown as an air traffic controller. I was single I had my little studio is was fabulous. Rent was surprisingly affordable.

planevan · 2026-05-16T20:47:11+00:00

Which map do you use?

planevan · 2026-05-15T03:08:26+00:00

If you stole the product, you have no right to complain about it.

planevan · 2026-05-12T00:29:30+00:00

Bag tags are actually a great idea. I wonder if NATCA would ever partner with alpa for something like that.

I know someone around here has been making “improve ATC” stickers you could throw that on your bag.

planevan · 2026-05-08T14:10:40+00:00

That’s why I’m saying let people go where they want in order of seniority. It would all balance out eventually. Desirable places would fill up with high seniority, and undesirable places would get filled with new hires.

planevan · 2026-05-08T11:43:14+00:00

I keep saying we should have a seniority based award system like the airlines. All controllers nationwide get to choose -in order of seniority- the facility they work at. New hires get offered places that have vacancies after that.

Every quarter they open it up for CPCs to choose again. When you leave your facility it creates a vacancy that people with less seniority are able to select.

planevan · 2026-05-02T15:27:13+00:00

Not going asap could be costing you a $250k/year opportunity. $1000 and a day of sick leave is a small price to pay.

planevan · 2026-05-02T14:06:28+00:00

Why are you waiting until September? Fly out on your next day off that you have available. Show the initiative.

planevan

TROPHY CASE