ATC Schedule?

[Stephen Olwell]

I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question, but is there a schedule of upcoming ATC controllers or do they just come online/offline as available?   I'm wondering because it would be great to be able to plan a flight around available ATC. 

[Koen Meier]

Just now, Stephen Olwell said:

I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question, but is there a schedule of upcoming ATC controllers or do they just come online/offline as available?   I'm wondering because it would be great to be able to plan a flight around available ATC. 

aside from vatsim events organised by the different VACC/ARTCC's sometimes atc will just pop in when they feel like that. 

[Andreas Fuchs]

There is a service called "VATBOOK". Controllers can announce their ATC sessions through this database and there are quite a few VACC websites that offer this information somewhere (e.g. http://www.vacc.ch/ check the right side of the page). Also, Qutescoop can download and show all ATC bookings in tabular and graphical form:

 

[Evan Reiter]

@Stephen Olwell, where in the world do you tend to fly?

[Stephen Olwell]

Usually in the lower 48, U.S.

[Evan Reiter]

I find in the U.S., ARTCCs are less likely to use VATBOOK or Qutescoop, which tend to be more popular in Europe. Here, we've gone back and forth several times over trying to publish ATC availability and generally have come to the consensus that, country-wide, there's just too much variety in individuals' opinions to be able to put something together. ATC being a hobby, there's a lot of people who don't feel comfortable with the idea of "booking".

Some ARTCCs, like mine, have created their own systems. In our case, you can find published availability at www.bvartcc.com. I'd say it's about 50-75% accurate, and more so with Center than other positions. Quite often, folks will still come on without warning (as I often do, because of my unpredictable schedule). Other airspaces may do something similar, while others just tend to light up (and close down) as individual controllers' schedules permit.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

VATUSA has an events calendar at vatusa.net -- that's a good gauge for scheduled coverage.  You can often find controllers online in the sectors adjoining the host facility, as well. 

[Tim Wong]

Few years ago the policy was made and published by our (now retired) division director, where every controller must book his/her slot if he/she wants to control at a specific time. So if you see a position being booked, you can expect him/her being online (on time) 😂

Apart from that, VATSIM's event calender is quite reliable (including website, forum, Facebook and Twitter) where you can find out where and when ATC will show up 

[Stephen Olwell]

Thanks for the responses.  I really appreciate the effort of all the volunteers at vatsim.

[Andreas Fuchs]

14 hours ago, Evan Reiter said:

ARTCCs are less likely to use VATBOOK or Qutescoop, which tend to be more popular in Europe

Just for the sake of completeness: VATBOOK is the database (kindly hosted by Michal Rok, author of "vroute") where ATC and flight bookings are saved at. Qutescoop is a "viewing program" to check what's going on at VATSIM, including access to VATBOOK to readout all bookings and display them according the filter that the user has to setup (date+time).

[Nicolas Ammann]

If you want to see vatbook bookings, I can recommend https://vatmm.org/atco/booking

It works on desktop and mobile devices and gives a good overview