[24th April 2021] Cross the Pond Westbound - Discussion Thread

[Saens Michelot]

OK but I don't fond the CTP subject on the discord

[Dace Nicmane]

Go to the #role-selection channel and grab the CTP role to get access to the CTP channels.

[Saens Michelot]

Thank's so much

[Joaquin Blanco]

Something I would like to mention is that the last time I tried to use Nattrack I coudn't get it to work because the TMI was not included with the route assigned. Perhaps worth mentioning this to those organising the Nat Tracks routes for release to pilots.

Regards

 

Joaquin

.

[Kieran Hardern]

7 hours ago, Joaquin Blanco said:

Something I would like to mention is that the last time I tried to use Nattrack I coudn't get it to work because the TMI was not included with the route assigned. Perhaps worth mentioning this to those organising the Nat Tracks routes for release to pilots.

Regards

 

Joaquin

.

 

As in you didn't know what TMI to put into nattrak? or you had a problem putting the TMI in?

[Joaquin Blanco]

I didn't get a TMI and therefore never put it in the box. Later a pilot on the frequecy mentioned that without TMI nattrack wouldn't work. Cannot confirm o deny if what he said was actually correct, since have not used since then. The rest of the flight was done via voice position reports.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 at 09:08 AM by Joaquin Blanco

[Kirk Christie]

TMI is just the Day of the year Today is day 109 of the year, the TMI for today is 109.

[Andreas Fuchs]

Well, strictly speaking you are not supposed to use the TMI of the current day, but the TMI that you read on the NAT-message - it is its identifier to make sure that you have read and used the correct/same NAT-message as ATC expected from you! If your briefing/NAT-message does not contain a TMI, what do you do?

[Tanveer Jugpal]

What if I wanted to fly Eastbound to and from non event airports, around or after the last slot departure for the event? 1600 UTC.

Edited April 19, 2021 at 10:50 AM by Tanveer Jugpal

[Andreas Fuchs]

You will probably be "in the way" of traffic and asked to either stay below FL290 all the way OR fly well north or south of all the traffic. And without ATC, on UNICOM. If you just want to fly on this day to take advantage of full ATC during this flight, it will not be conductive to your desires, because most likely you will end up quite lonely over the Ocean.

[Eric Dziura]

Picked up the briefing guides for my booking (LIMC-KORD) and they are impressive.

In the past, we were able to access all event briefing guides, which provide a wealth of info for future flights.

You might consider re-instituting this practice.

Many thanks for your efforts.

[Murat Dus]

FYI EDDF briefing link is down. 

[Simon Schwenke]

Hey everyone,

 

so just to confirm: I have not received a mail about any CPT bookings and the CPT website under bookings doesn't list any booking for me, which means that I did not get a slot? Correct?

If that is the case, I am truly stunned because last time it was said that those who participated during the last lotteries will get preferential treatment during selection if they did not get a slot last time. This is like - I think - the third time that I try to get lucky and - with all due respect  to those organizing these events - it makes it harder to stick to the request of not participating.
To be clear, I did not participate last time because I accepted the lottery system, the request to refrain from flying, and the message that we would be more likely to get a slot next time.

I wonder how that selection process was working and if this preferential selection thing was actually implemented or not.

Besides all these critical comments/questions, a big thank you to all those involved.

Simon

Edited April 20, 2021 at 05:24 PM by Simon Schwenke

[Nuno Soares]

Morning all,

 

i make my reservation some weeks ago, but in my bookings and available slots nothing apears:

Can anyone knows why?

 

thank you in advance

 

Regards

Nuno

[Mats Edvin Aaro]

1 hour ago, Nuno Soares said:

i make my reservation some weeks ago, but in my bookings and available slots nothing apears:

Hi Nuno,

You didn't really make a reservation, you just entered the raffle/lottery. Slot assignments are given at random to people who registered. If you don't see a slot and haven't gotten an email, you unfortunately were not given a slot this year.

Read more about it in the relevant section here: 

 

[Razaan Botutihe]

Hi guys, this is gonna be my first CTP since im lucky enough to get 1 slot from the lottery, i do have 1 question since i rarely fly translantic, when handoff from shannon to shanwhick, what do i say ? just like a normal position report ? or i dont need to since theres no position report? Sorry for such a noob question 😄 

[Andreas Fuchs]

https://knowledgebase.ganderoceanic.com/en/basics/airspace

https://www.vatsim.uk/pilots/oceanic

Oceanic clearances will be handled through NatTrak, no POS REPs are required. When checking in with a new oceanic frequency, make a SELCAL check.

https://ctp.vatsim.net/#faq

[Nuno Soares]

5 hours ago, Mats Edvin Aaro said:

Hi Nuno,

You didn't really make a reservation, you just entered the raffle/lottery. Slot assignments are given at random to people who registered. If you don't see a slot and haven't gotten an email, you unfortunately were not given a slot this year.

Read more about it in the relevant section here: 

 

thank you for your fast feedback.

i will check it.

 

Thank you,

regards

Nuno

[Daniel Abad Gamero]

Hello, I visited the https://nattrak.vatsim.net/ website as listed in the ctp.vatsim.net website, but there is nothing to do there, just this image: I can't scroll up or down. Here's a screenshot: I tried to connect to vatsim on the simulator to see what happens, but nothing happened.

[Andreas Fuchs]

natTRAK will only show something for the event.

[Daniel Abad Gamero]

Thank you for your reply.

[Kieran Hardern]

We're getting very close to CTP day and therefore our workload on the planning team is increasing quite rapidly.

We will hopefully be putting out an oceanic pilot brief soon for you all, but for now here's some general information.

What can you expect over the next 48 hours?

The day before the event, we will lock bookings, usually around 1700 UTC, but sometimes later. Please plan to have any slots dropped/swapped by this time. I note the speed at which slots are being scooped up is very high, therefore I would remind that swapping is at your own risk and I'd probably suggest you're taking a large risk if you're doing it.

Shortly after this our team goes to work agreeing all the last-minute details, tackling some last minute problems and uploading all of the route planning. You will receive an email either late on the 23rd April, or more likely in the early hours of 24th April. I would strongly advise you log in to re-check your route, level and SELCAL as we may have changed them at this point. There will definitely be some level re-allocation this year to lower the average level for departures from LPPT/EIDW and also to manage some of the oceanic crossing routes.

When you re-log in you will see you route, and importantly which oceanic track you are flying down. We will be naming all the oceanic tracks by a letter or a letter-number combination. You can refer to the tracks by that identifier on frequency without needing the whole route. (e.g. "Alpha" or "Hotel Two"). I also advise you to log in and check your route right before you start setting up your flight. We do occasionally make small mistakes, typos or connect incorrect route combinations in the night before meeting. When these are spotted, we will tend to update your website route, post everywhere telling you to re-check it, but often won't be able to send out another email. I am hoping we won't have to do this!

On the morning of CTP, flights will start departing at our eastern-most airfields

How can I interact?

You can interact with us on VATSIM social media, or more directly via the CTP team's twitter (@vatsimctp), which will be running live on the day.

We will also have a live blog run in the community discord. You'll see this soon in the CTP channels (you'll need to ask for the CTP role in role-selection to see these).

If you are livestreaming, let us know on the day via twitter, or in the Community Discord #livestreams channel. Equally feel free to post below here to let us know what you are streaming.

What if I still don't have a slot

I have linked below my previous guidance about non-slot aircraft, but to recap:

• We ask kindly that you avoid flying over the north atlantic during event periods
• If you do fly, expect a delay on the ground that could be very long
• Almost everyone non-event will get a re-route from Delivery (event airport or not), therefore don't spend too much time typing into your FMC
• We expect you to accept the delay to fly the route choice you have asked for and wait patiently for your turn/slot time
• Pilots who disconnect on the ground to avoid delay are asked to continue their flight offline - if you reconnect you will be asked to disconnect to do so
• Thank you for your patienence in advance. Thank you even more for not flying.

I'm sorry to sound so negative about this part of the event, however sadly it is nessesary. We look forward to welcoming you to an event slot in Eastbound 2021.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 at 10:30 PM by Kieran Hardern

[Sharadh Rajaraman]

Most of the discussion about non-booked traffic I've seen are for transatlantic flights. Are there any restrictions against flying within the sets of departure/arrival airports, for instance, EGLL — EDDF, or KBOS — KATL (I think)? I presume this would affect airport congestion, but not much in the air, especially if we're going east within Europe, for instance. 

[Andreas Fuchs]

There are no restrictions for these flights, but you may experience some delay due to the amount of traffic.

[Ian Cumming]

Hi all.

Just a quick note about AIRAC. I'm sure most pilots will have noted & updated there navigation data. But just in case the AIRAC has changed yesterday to 2104 & will need updating. 

Then we will all be on the same data & won't cause any problems.

Regards & see you in the sky's.

Ian

Edited April 22, 2021 at 08:48 AM by Ian Cumming