Is it common procedure for a Controller to book their availability?

[Morten Graae]

Hi all,

First of all, I'm not a controller. I'm assuming, that this topic is more likely to get a reply from a Controller, than a pilot, which is why I posted in this in 'Controller Talk' forum.

I'm working on a file, which can help me plan my flight, so that the Vatsim ATC coverage is as complete as possible, at the given time of my departure and arrival. For this, I'm using data from:

https://statsim.net/atc

A prerequisite for this, is that a fair quantity of Controllers are actually booking their session on this website.

I have close to none insight in how a Controller is supposed to act when they log in, which is the reason for this topic. Now here is my questions:

• Is booking of Controllers availability a common part of an ATC's procedure, or is it more likely for an Controller to log in without booking?
• And if booking is common procedure, which website/system is standard for you guy's? 

My best guess is, that there are some guidelines to Controllers, and that booking is something you can choose to do, or not. Please allow me to suggest, that the booking part is being considered more of a standard procedure. It would give huge value to the pilot experience when planning for at Vatsim flight.

[Torben Andersen]

This is a really hard question to answer - so this is only my view and experience, other may have other experiences.

Booking is done, when you know, you're going to man a position. So most commonly this is done at events, where other colleges staff similar position and cover most, if not all, of the airspace. Some sort of agreement is needed, so an event coordinator is a key person here.

On a more day-to-day (or rather hour-to-hour) basis booking a position is more up to the individual controller, but at most places they are encouraged to book in advance in order to attract traffic, and promote the local ARTCC. And offcause we, as atc, are interested in traffic. The "downside" is that you then commit yourself and sort of "promise" pilots that the position is manned, even if hardly any traffic shows up. But it is naturally all up to you, if you leave early or not. Many places a minimum staffing time is expected (such as 1 hour min.), but we all know that the unexpected happens and you have to log off before the time is up. But some controllers simply sees an opportunity to man a position for a period of time and would thus not book in advance.

As for me, I normally book a position during events (often also a requirement), sometimes when I know in advance that I'll man a position I book, but often I do not book a position. However I always note for how long I'll stay and only in extremely rare situations stay shorter than published. When I last time manned EKBI Approach I was there for 3 hours+ with only 5 movements. That's regional airports for you. If I'd choosen EKCH much more traffic would have been present for me, but lighting up smaller airports is hopefully happening on a more common basis, as the MSFS simulation is attracting more VFR/smaller planes, which normally do not fly into large airports (except on VATSIM). 

In short, bookings are encouraged, but not a big thing most places.

[Morten Graae]

Thank you Torben, for a quick response.

I'm very pleased to learn, that booking is encouraged among controllers. That was one of my major unclarities.

It makes totally sense, that the booking is mostly used at special events and happenings, where multiple Controllers work together, to coordinate a full coverage, or similar. That said, I would prefer to have the booking shoving intended availability, even if it would result in the controller not being available as scheduled when arriving at your destination due to lack of activity, or other external reasons. At least, a pilot would have some kind of idea whether or not to expect ATC at arrival. The notes you controllers are making, are very valuable, and as a pilot you are able to click on each one of you, to determine the intended duration of your services. However, this is a very trivial exercise. A booking would give much more valuable overview.

I to would log out, if I was just sitting waiting for activity for hours. No doubt. 

Do you have any input to my other question regarding https://statsim.net/atc to be the most common register?

Just wondering. Do you know of any forum or community, that brings controllers and pilots together, to align a proper procedure and best practice?

[Andreas Fuchs]

You can read all current ATC bookings from VATBOOK: http://vatbook.euroutepro.com/servinfo.asp

[Morten Graae]

Hi Andreas,

At first glance, this file looks very similar to the table presented at https://statsim.net/atc.

Do you know, if the data source is the same, or if http://vatbook.euroutepro.com/servinfo.asp is more accurate?

[Andreas Fuchs]

Well, VATBOOK is the original database where StatSim pulls its data from.

It may be the case, though, that StatSim also downloads data from other local booking services (e.g. from some ARTCC-websites in the US) and combines it with the information pulled from VATBOOK, but I cannot say this for sure.

Edited March 22, 2022 at 11:10 PM by Andreas Fuchs

[Morten Graae]

Thank you, Andreas.

[Karl Mathias Moberg]

16 hours ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

You can read all current ATC bookings from VATBOOK: http://vatbook.euroutepro.com/servinfo.asp

"all current" is a very strong statement here. VATBOOK is mainly used by Europe, and not a single US ARTCC use them as far as I know, and looking at the file, it doesn't look like most Asian, Pacific, African or South American FIRs do either. 

There is a centralized (VATSIM) API for bookings in the works that a lot of FIRs and ARTCC have started using, including in the US. Both ZNY, ZBW and a few others already submit all our bookings from our own website automatically to that API - and I think StatSim has integrated it as well, but I'm not 100% sure on that yet.

Edited March 23, 2022 at 12:02 PM by Karl Mathias Moberg

[Andreas Fuchs]

1 hour ago, Karl Mathias Moberg said:

"all current" is a very strong statement here.

It's not a strong statement, but it is a fact that VATBOOK had been the only actively used ATC and pilot booking system for a long, long time and various websites and applications (vroute flightplanning program, ServInfo, Qutescoop, swift pilot client etc.) were using its data. I still do not understand why it was not really used outside Europe, except for maybe Australia, New Zealand, Hongkong, China (to name a few) and now suddenly a "new" system is being used. Hence: all bookings.

PS: just to be clear, I welcome VATSIM finally coming up with an in-house solution to make things easier for everyone worldwide.

Edited March 23, 2022 at 01:32 PM by Andreas Fuchs

[Morten Graae]

Thanks for all your input. 

From your comments, I have learned:

• Statsim is, more less, the best offer as goes for collecting global bookings
• It is probably not best practice for a Controller to book the session in advance, unless an event or similar is going to take place. We can expect more Controllers to book in advance in future, but we are not there yet.

You are welcome to have a look at the file I'm working on here: Vatsim_Coverage_Analyzis in OneDrive

[Andreas Fuchs]

1 hour ago, Morten Graae said:

It is probably not best practice for a Controller to book the session in advance, unless an event or similar is going to take place.

It depends. In Europe many virtual ATCOs tend to commit to a time-frame and make those bookings, while in many other regions members do not feel comfortable committing, because they want to have the freedom to connect and disconnect whenever they feel like it. And then some of them wonder why their traffic volume is so low.

[Felix Holmertz]

StatSim only pulls/insert data to the VATBOOK database currently. So any booking made on for example vRoute or any other service connected to the VATBOOK database will show up on StatSim and any booking made on StatSim will show up on vRoute for example.
As mentioned earlier there is finally a centralized system in the making which a few VACCs already have started to use.

Nice excel sheet you made there btw. 🙂

/Felix, Statsim dev.

Edited March 26, 2022 at 06:17 PM by Felix Holmertz

[Andreas Fuchs]

Hi Felix,

thanks a lot for chiming in here!

[Kirk Christie]

You could have a read of this thread, it might give you some insight as to why some don't bother with bookings.

[Morten Graae]

Thx Kirk, I have read the thread, and I must say, I do not share the negative tone towards the controllers that are described in that thread.

Any insight, and collaboration between pilot and controllers are very useful, and I think a forum like this is the best way to share our 

As a controller, please share your opinion on this statement:

Planning for online controllers by booking online time would enhance experience for both parties.
A pilot requires to be able to plan a departure and a destination, and would prefer as much VATSIM coverage as possible
A controller requires some traffic to the airport that they are covering

 

[Morten Graae]

A new version of the file I'm working on, is available here: https://github.com/BalooCPH/Vatsim_ControllerAvailability

[Morten Graae]

Still developing on this. The latest versions are available on github and flightsim.to
 

• https://github.com/BalooCPH/Vatsim_ControllerAvailability
• https://flightsim.to/file/30248/vatsim-controlleravailabilit

 

Moving to this post: 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2022 at 08:49 PM by Morten Graae

[Morten Graae]

New release available: https://flightsim.to/file/30248/vatsim-controlleravailability

[1341101]

@Morten Graae If you're looking to expand on this, perhaps an idea would be to be able to connect as many individual ARTCC calendars as you can to your software for maximum "coverage". Individual ARTCCs like ZBW, as an example, have many many bookings - you can publicly view them here: http://www.bvartcc.com/. So if you're able to plug those calendars into your software (perhaps an API provided by the webmaster), that could help you out. 

[Morten Graae]

1 hour ago, 1341101 said:

@Morten Graae If you're looking to expand on this, perhaps an idea would be to be able to connect as many individual ARTCC calendars as you can to your software for maximum "coverage". Individual ARTCCs like ZBW, as an example, have many many bookings - you can publicly view them here: http://www.bvartcc.com/. So if you're able to plug those calendars into your software (perhaps an API provided by the webmaster), that could help you out. 

@1341101 
Thx very much for the suggested enhancement. For now, I will focus on the "Calendars" connected to StatSim/VATBOOK, as described by StatSim dev team posted here:
 

Quote

 

StatSim only pulls/insert data to the VATBOOK database currently. So any booking made on for example vRoute or any other service connected to the VATBOOK database will show up on StatSim and any booking made on StatSim will show up on vRoute for example.
As mentioned earlier there is finally a centralized system in the making which a few VACCs already have started to use.

Nice excel sheet you made there btw. 🙂

/Felix, Statsim dev.

 

 

[Morten Graae]

New release available: https://flightsim.to/file/30248/vatsim-controlleravailability