Updates to VATCAR Infrastructure

[EJ Davis]

Dear VATSIM Members,

The VATSIM Caribbean Division is one of the most diverse in the Americas. With over 30 different countries or decencies, it can be a challenge selecting divisional standards that benefit all the major facilities within the Caribbean. It has been a primary goal of my team and I to re-focus our division to serve our facilities to our best ability.

In my professional life, I am a marketing director for a company with over 11,000 employees. During that time, I learned that supporting a diverse team starts at the very bottom: creating a consistent brand experience for all members. The VATCAR team lacked a consistent messaging across their different facilities. The result was an environment that often isolated facilities and distanced themselves from the divisional leadership. My team and I wanted to do everything we could to create a united atmosphere.

I am proud to announce that VATCAR has taken the initial steps towards unification by aligning our technology with redesigned webspaces and logos. Our first facility to work with this new branding was the Piarco FIR. After presenting our work to the other facilities, it was unanimously decided by the facility leaders to adopt this new branding and web design.

With the blessing of our divisional and facility leadership, we have continued moving forward with aligning our technology.

Today, I am proud to announce the new VATCAR webpage! This page features personal touches that highlight the unique flavors of each of our 6 major facilities. It also includes the new consistent branding of our division and each of the facilities within VATCAR. Our newly designed events portal will make it easier for teams to post their upcoming events and for the VATCAR team to showcase them

Over the next several weeks, our division will help the remaining facilities adjust their website and branding to highlight their airspace in a modern webspace. This, however, is only the beginning of the tremendous project we are working on. What’s Next?

Our team has re-thought our training program, help center, and roster management systems. We will shortly begin the tedious work required to create or re-design these spaces to be user friendly for staff and air traffic personnel alike. Afterwards, we will be working on some equally exciting endeavors. But, more details on that later.

I want to take a moment to thank my ATMs for their inputs on our new systems and also for their cooperation in progressing our user experience to what it is now. I also want to thank James Pudney, our Information Systems Manager, for going above any beyond to develop so many new pages – an ask that no other divisional ISM has been confronted with before (to my knowledge). Finally, I want to thank Jannes van Gestel for creating the new branding that each FIR will shortly be featuring. Gentlemen, you have done great work.

VATCAR looks forward to welcoming you to our airspaces in the future. If you are interested in flying or controlling in our airspaces, please visit our webpage for more information.

Sincere Regards,

EJ Davis

VATSIM Caribbean Division Director