AFV and CTP: extra airports?

[Andrea Mazzoni]

Hello to everyone,

few minutes ago I talked with a staff member of my vACC, which has told me that today it was reached and breaked the last record of VATSIM of simultaneous connections. And this without the CTP, but only with a new codec.

I would make a question to everyone, expecially VATSIM staff. Probably this CTP will have more traffics than last years, and today due to the high number of users online, we had everyone some problems of connections with the servers. If these problems will be solved, why not add 2 more airports, 1 in American continent, and 1 in Europe, for the next CTP?

Something told me that will be present this year more users, and that probably is better increase the number of official airports

 

Maybe this is a crazy purpose, but it's just an idea.

[Trevor Hannant]

It's all well and good opening up another two airports but you have to consider the following:

 

Additional NAT capacity - There's already more traffic there than is comfortable to handle.

 

Additional Staffing Required - Do we have the resources to open up 2 more airports? You'd need:

 

2 x Delivery Controllers (possibly)

2 x Ground Controllers (possibly more depending on the complexity of the ground operation!)

2 x Tower Controllers (possibly more if they operate split runway ops)

2 x Approach Controllers (probably more as they'll be on split sectors/runway ops)

2 x Terminal Controllers (possibly)

2 x NAT Controllers

N x NAT [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istants

 

And then multiply that by X to cover the timescale of the event...

[Ryan Geckler]

It's all well and good opening up another two airports but you have to consider the following:

 

Additional NAT capacity - There's already more traffic there than is comfortable to handle.

 

Additional Staffing Required - Do we have the resources to open up 2 more airports? You'd need:

 

2 x Delivery Controllers (possibly)

2 x Ground Controllers (possibly more depending on the complexity of the ground operation!)

2 x Tower Controllers (possibly more if they operate split runway ops)

2 x Approach Controllers (probably more as they'll be on split sectors/runway ops)

2 x Terminal Controllers (possibly)

2 x NAT Controllers

N x NAT [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istants

 

And then multiply that by X to cover the timescale of the event...

 

This right here is pretty much the reasons we limit the slots.

 

Besides, most people fly without a slot so *shrug*

[Tim Simpson]

I thought a slot was an absolute requirement?

 

I've never flow CTP because of how long the flights are, but it is fun to see the streamers that broadcast it.

[Don Desfosse]

A slot is definitely NOT an absolute requirement, and hasn't been, at least in the last 12 years. There is always even a dedicated NAT track or two devoted for non-slot participants. That said, many (but not all) facilities advise, simply as a precaution, that anyone flying non-slot should expect significant (1+ hour) delays. In most cases, you won't experience any delays, or very minor ones, but some facilities are a bit more strict about giving preference to slotted aircraft (though not usually in the US in my experience) ....

[Tim Simpson]

That's good to know. The way that pilots make such a huge deal about the slot sign up day, I thought it was a requirement.

 

It's always fun to hop into a departure airport on the GA ramp, listen to the controllers, and watch the stream of departures on VATTASTIC. I give a lot of credit to the pilots that want to sit in front of their sim for 6 to 7 hours during CTP.