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Can You Handle The SweatBox?


Richard Jenkins
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Richard Jenkins
Posted
Posted

VATSIM is proud to announce the deployment of the new SweatBox server. This server in conjunction with the deployment of ACSim will provide a new aspect to student training and testing on VATSIM.

 

What is the ACSim??

Over the past several years, virtual traffic volume has grown tremendously however it's still very scattered, random and unreliable. To practice ATC efficiently there's no replacement for controlling under the critique of a knowledgeable mentor or instructor, so the members of VATSIM's Boston ARTCC have come up with the idea of having a program simulate traffic. To implement that idea, we have come up with the ACSim.

 

The ACSim (short for AirCraft Simulator)is a client-side tool that connects to an FSD© server and initializes aircraft situations setup in custom made flight files. Each file provides a different amount, type and arrangement of traffic ranging from a few VFR flights to an "n" number string of IFR and VFR mixed aircraft of any type. Each aircraft connects to the server via its own socket all controlled via user inputs through the ACSim.

 

With the introduction of the ACSim, instructors and mentors can train or test their students at any time that is convenient: No longer will we have to wait for a busy night to administer and over-the-shoulder. In addition, we feel that students will learn to handle large volumes of traffic with much more efficiency after using the ACSim with a mentor on a regular basis because it develops the most important skills of a constant scan of all aircraft in a controllers sector, planning ahead and learning to get the "big picture."

 

Instructors will be contacting their students shortly with information regarding the use of the SweatBox server.

RJ

 

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Matthew Horan 901577
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Will the information meant for instructors be sent to our Division Directors, or Training Directors?

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Richard Jenkins
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Yes, they were notified last week that we would be deploying this week and they received download and connection information about 5 hours ago.

RJ

 

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Matthew Horan 901577
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Yes, they were notified last week that we would be deploying this week and they received download and connection information about 5 hours ago.

 

OK, sounds good!

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Andy Cleeremans 828954
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Excellent! I can't wait.

Andy Cleeremans

ZLA Training Administrator

 

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Marek Pola 843115
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Yes, they were notified last week that we would be deploying this week and they received download and connection information about 5 hours ago.

Please clarify to whom this info has been sent. I'm very interested in this and have asked about this a few months ago, but I haven't received any info or download instructions.

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Richard Jenkins
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Marek,

 

The information was posted to the VATSIM Staff list. Members from Europe on that list include Martin Georg, Chris Dobison, Kyprianos Biris, and a few others.

RJ

 

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Marek Pola 843115
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Marek,

 

The information was posted to the VATSIM Staff list. Members from Europe on that list include Martin Georg, Chris Dobison, Kyprianos Biris, and a few others.

Ok, thanks! Can't wait to use this when training a student. Will definitely speed up training and make it more fun for the student too!

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Martin Leat 860888
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I see that there has been an excellent flash site made for the INS to see how to use it etc. Will there be something that will be made to explain to students how they go about it etc and is there a date that we can start using it from or is it live now?

Martin Leat

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Richard Jenkins
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Actually there is nothing different for the student to do. The instructor will provide the student with the IP to connect to and they will control normally.

 

You are free to start using the system right now! No waiting! First come, first served!

RJ

 

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Marek Pola 843115
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Is INS rating required to use the Sweatbox? If this is the case, this is unfortunate. Many VACCs in Europe, including VACCSCA, don't have a Ins rating in the staff.

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Richard Jenkins
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Marek,

 

You will be able to connect and those that have a legitimate need for ACSim will also be included. Why is the training director of a major ACC not an instructor?

RJ

 

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Alexander Nolting 887789
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Richard,

 

see the VATEUD mimimum requirements to get an idea, why there are so few instructur ratings available.

 

http://www.vateud-td.org/manual/atc/MinimumRequirements.asp#5.5

 

I only know of one VACC member in my 3 years membership, who got an INS rating. And he didn´t match the requirements fully. But there was a strong promotion by a VATEUDTD member, so he finally got this rating.

 

That is why most european VACC (e.g. VACC-SAG) are doing a mentorship system on FIR basis, to train student ratings. These mentors are mostly holding also a STU+ rating themselves. So there is an training session issue, where a session is limited to 30 minutes only, because of VATSIM "non active positions" rules.

“the biggest enemy of freedom are happy slaves“

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Marek Pola 843115
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Marek,

 

You will be able to connect and those that have a legitimate need for ACSim will also be included. Why is the training director of a major ACC not an instructor?

I work too much with VACC administration and training to be a really good controller. And I just recently became C3. Maybe one day I'll apply for a Ins rating, but that will have to wait for at least a year. We are not so fast at rating upgrades in Europe.

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Andre Koch 852831
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Why is the training director of a major ACC not an instructor?

Well heck, I´m the Director of Europe´s largest VACC, and I am just holding the Controller rating myself. Most of our mentors are Senior Students (actually the ratio between SS and C1 respectively C3 is pretty much 50:50 within the mentors of the VACC SAG). Therefore it would be much appreciated if this INS restriction would be lifted, so our mentors can use the SweatBox for their training.

 

If I may ask, what was the reason for implementing this restriction?

Cheers,

Andre Koch

Director VACC-SAG

[email protected]

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Christopher Serio 823884
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I think Richard is mistaken. Controllers should be able to login just fine.

Christopher Serio,

Developer XTower/AVC/XSB/ACSim (Sweatbox)

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Richard Jenkins
Posted
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Yes, I made a mistake, controller and above will be able to login.

 

I'm still baffled by the lack of instructors in Europe. Why even have the rating, it doesn't appear to be used?

RJ

 

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Marek Pola 843115
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It would be very nice if Senior Students also could use the Sweatbox. Pleeeeeeeese?

 

We have quite a few SS who are mentors for Students at VACCSCA. Out of totally 25 VACCSCA instructors, 9 are Senior Students.

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Richard Jenkins
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Tell them to get promoted and they get and extra tool...

RJ

 

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Christopher Serio 823884
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It would be very nice if Senior Students also could use the Sweatbox. Pleeeeeeeese?

 

We have quite a few SS who are mentors for Students at VACCSCA. Out of totally 25 VACCSCA instructors, 9 are Senior Students.

 

It would be nice if i got paid for doing this too but some things just aren't meant to be.

Christopher Serio,

Developer XTower/AVC/XSB/ACSim (Sweatbox)

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Martin Loxbo
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A problem that we have within VACCSCA is that there is no incentive to proceed to the Controller rating, or for that matter beyond. That's why we have so many who stay at the Senior Student (SS) level. The skill level acquired and training provided to SSs today is to a large extent dependent on which instructor/mentor the student has, as well as the student's initial level of knowledge and motivation. So we have some very experienced SSs who are excellent controllers, and on the other hand we have SSs fresh out of training with very varied skill levels. SSs in VACCSCA are entitled to man all ATC positions at all times, and there is no differentiation between "experienced" and "inexperienced" SSs. This has the effect that mostly the larger positions are staffed, like CTR and APP at the largest airports, while other positions are rarely opened.

 

Now, that was a bit off topic, but the point is that we shouldn't remove incentives for controllers to aim for the higher ATC ratings, and we should use the ATC rating system to ensure that we have a high and consistent quality of training, as well as a high quality ATC service.

Martin Loxbo

Director Sweden FIR

VATSIM Scandinavia

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Matthew Horan 901577
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I was logged in yesterday with my staff callsign, and had a new student in another region message me; I helped him get set-up with some questions about ASRC, and then he asked me 'how do I get on the sweatbox server to make all those planes go'

 

I explained to him that it was restricted to above a certain level, and he would only be able to connect to watch, and not use ACSim to direct the planes.

 

He said he wanted to fly them into each other, and so on -- I think reasons like that are reasons why we have the restrictions in place. To keep the less informed, and less mature people out of the way of those who want to use Sweatbox to push their students!

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  • 2 years later...
Anton Krishna Saputra 1012
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I'am holding the INS rating at VATID

can i get the link for download the ACsim software ..

please tell me at [email protected] or [email protected]

thx b4

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  • 1 month later...
Blake Gray 841141
Posted
Posted

Sweatbox is an awesome tool ! I tried it a few times with my instructor and I consider it awesome and a great workout. Thanks Vatsim !

 

Mr Gray

"Keep The Shiny Side Up And The Greasy Side Down !"

Live Streaming Simulators KSP, TKOM, FSX, ARK

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  • 3 weeks later...
Nick Brown 1086486
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That sounds great I would like to be trained thanks,

 

Nick Brown

[email protected]

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