Martin Wolin 1397443 Posted April 12, 2018 at 12:06 AM Posted April 12, 2018 at 12:06 AM So I have decided that I want to participate in the cross the pond event. When going to the Vatsim page I notice a section where is says booking I was very confused by this and didn't understand it. Will a regular file flight plan not be accepted and if so where do I make a booking? Sorry, this is my first CTP event so this might be a dumb question. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Fong Posted April 12, 2018 at 01:02 AM Posted April 12, 2018 at 01:02 AM For Cross the Pond, there are a set of 'slots' between the various official departure and arrival airfields that are made available for pilots to book before the event. Basically, you book the slot, they give you a scheduled take-off time and [Mod - Happy Thoughts]igned route which you adhere to (the former is given to you when you first book the slot, the latter approx. 24h before the event). This year, slot bookings opened on 31 Mar; most are gone by now (in fact, most are gone a few hours after the bookings open), although you may be able to snatch one up until 24h before the event, when the bookings are locked. You can fly without a slot, though - it isn't absolutely mandatory. However, you may have to play second fiddle to other departures who have booked official slots (i.e. you can expect to wait, both on the ground and airborne, for quite a bit), and you will need to plan your route around a 'non-event NAT track' (basically, the CTP team releases the official NATs to be used when flying the event ~24h ahead of the event, about when official bookings get their routes [Mod - Happy Thoughts]igned, and at least one NAT track will be allocated for traffic who don't already have prior bookings to use - you will need to use this track and must NOT use any other so as to not interfere with traffic flow). (There is one exception - Concorde. If you want to fly it, due to how few pilots fly that high and that fast, even during CTP, you can just follow the historical NAT SM/SN/SO tracks and ATC won't mind - Concorde pilots will know what I mean.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Board of Governors Don Desfosse Posted April 12, 2018 at 04:24 AM Board of Governors Posted April 12, 2018 at 04:24 AM Just to clarify, booking ability is shut down at 2200Z the night before (~13hrs before the event starts), and the routes are p[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ed out over the next few hours after that (usually approximately 9-12 hours before the event. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=76013&p=522523#p522523 Don Desfosse Vice President, Operations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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