[3rd September 2022] Cross the Land: Eastbound 2022

[Chriss Klosowski]

Cross the Land: Eastbound 2022

Cross the Land returns for its next eastbound edition from Europe to the Middle East. Watch this forum thread and our socials to keep yourself updated!

We will be posting crucial updates to this thread and social media platforms when the different planning and event stages happen such as the airport selection/voting process, new booking briefing for pilots, and last but not least the pilot booking stage.

Make sure to follow our twitter @vatsimctl and join us on our very own dedicated Community Discord Server for Cross the Land!

As always, we look forward to welcoming all pilots for another edition of our event! See you on Saturday the 3rd of September 2022!

[Chriss Klosowski]

Cross the Land: Eastbound 2022 Airport Voting

The CTL team are pleased to announce that voting is open for our Eastbound event in September! Pilots this is your time to shine as you get to chose the participants! Like, retweet and tell us who you are voting for! Good luck to all applicants! You may vote for your airports here: ctl.vatsim.net

How do I vote?
Head over to the website and login via VATSIM Connect, once logged in head to the navigation bar at the top. From there click on "Airfield Voting". You will be greeted with a Departures Large, Medium, and Small categories followed by a general arrival category. Members should put their first, second, and last priority for their Departure & Arrival options for each category, each vote at the end of the period will be calculated based on Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. 

Airport Applicants:
Departures Large:

• LEMD - Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport
• LFMN - Nice Côte d'Azur Airport
• LTFM - Istanbul Airport
• ULLI - Pulkovo Airport

Departures Medium:

• EDDV - Hannover Airport
• EFHK - Helsinki Airport
• GMMN - Mohammed V International Airport
• LHBP - Budapest Airport
• LKPR - Václav Havel Airport Prague
• LROP - Henri Coandă International Airport

Departures Small:

• ELLX- Luxembourg Airport
• LIML - Milan Linate Airport
• LOWS - Salzburg Airport
• LZIB - Bratislava Airport

Arrival Airports:

• HECA - Cairo International Airport
• OERK - King Khalid International Airport
• OIIE - Imam Khomeini International Airport
• OOMS - Muscat International Airport
• OTHH - Hamad International Airport

The voting period commences from now effective immediately and will end on the 6th of August 2022 @ 2359z! Good luck to all applicants!

Edited July 15, 2022 at 05:12 PM by Chriss Klosowski

[Jack Ludke]

looking forward to it!

Edited July 22, 2022 at 02:28 PM by Jack Ludke

[Chriss Klosowski]

Cross the Land: Eastbound 2022 Airport Voting

Just 3 more days until the voting. Make sure to vote for your favorite airport before the voting ends. Every vote counts! #ctl22e

[Chriss Klosowski]

Cross the Land: Eastbound 2022 Airport Voting Results

The voting period has closed earlier this morning and we are delighted to announce the results for this upcoming edition of Cross the Land happening on the 3rd of September 2022.

Event Airports:
Departures:

• Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas - LEMD
• Hannover - EDDV
• Luxembourg - ELLX
• Nice Côte d'Azur - LFMN
• Salzburg - LOWS
• Václav Havel Prague - LKPR

Arrivals:

• Cairo International - HECA
• Hamad International - OTHH
• King Khalid International  - OERK
• Imam Khomeini International - OIIE

Due to their contributions over the last few years (we can't host CTL without their help) we have decided to award Istanbul - LTFM a special participant status. This means, that although they have not been selected through the voting process, they will be hosting departures and arrivals for pilots interested in shorter flights.

The results of the voting stage can be found publicaly on our GitHub repository which can be found here: https://github.com/amosngSP/CTL_STV/blob/main/22E/README.md

Note: Muscat has pulled their application for the event. After running the voting system again Imam Khomeini Airport has been selected as the final arrival airport in the Middle East.

Keep yourselves updated over the next few weeks through our social media platforms. We will be releasing the slot bookings on the 14th of August 2022. This edition we will also be bringing another confirmation system where pilots will be required to confirm their booking 24-hours before the event. Bookings that are not confirmed will be released for other members to book. More information regarding this will be released as we get towards the booking stage.

Make sure to follow our twitter @vatsimctl and join us on our very own dedicated Community Discord Server for Cross the Land!

Edited August 7, 2022 at 02:22 PM by Chriss Klosowski

[Amos Ng]

Hi everyone,

Apologise for the confusion caused. Slot bookings will be released at a later date. We will release an announcement once the slots are ready.

Regards,

Amos Ng

Cross The Land, Technical Operations Team

[Chriss Klosowski]

Cross the Land: Eastbound 2022 Slots Release Date & Information

We are thrilled to finally reveal information on slots for our next Cross the Land edition after a few technical and operational problems! We are happy to inform that on Friday, August 19, 2022, at 17:00 UTC, pilots will be able to make slot bookings. There will be a variety of slots available with a total of 700 slots and 35 city-pairs. These will be accessible through Friday, September 2, 2022, at 22:00 UTC. As noted in our last event update, this year we made a few adjustments to the event's core planning, which will be covered in this post.

Slots in/out of Istanbul (LTFM)
The opportunity for pilots to fly a new set of quicker routes to the Middle East has been made possible by the special event participation status we have accorded Istanbul this year. On the Cross the Land Discord, a few inquiries have surfaced seeking further details on Istanbul slots. You may now book a slot from one of our departure airports landing in Istanbul and then continuing to one of our arrival airports, or you can fly non-stop from one of our departure airports to one of our arrival airports (for example, LFMN - OTHH or EDDV - LTFM - OERK). Slots for Istanbul will only be available on an Istanbul specific event page which is available here.

Booking confirmation system
We are changing our booking process for this edition; before, pilots could reserve their position instantaneously and obtain their final slot details prior to the event. After analyzing the system, we changed how slots will operate in the days leading up to the event. Pilots must now confirm their slot on the website 72 hours before to the event in order to retain it. Slots booked by pilots who do not confirm them will expire and become available to other pilots. Beginning on August 31, 2022, at 22:00 UTC, this period will last until Thursday, September 1, 2022, at 22:00 UTC.

Why the change?
Last time, we were able to fill every slot within 72 hours, which set a new record for us. However, on the day of the event, between 50 and 65 percent of the booked pilots failed to show up for their slots. Due to our efforts, numerous ATC sectors ended up with significant gaps between the various event streams or no traffic at all. A booking confirmation method enables us to more accurately count the participants and gives others an opportunity to book a slot in the event that a pilot does not confirm their slot.

When will routes be released?
Along with the pilot briefings, routes will be made available 24 to 48 hours before to the event. We have resolved difficulties with both our email server and website so that communications to the pilots really contain the proper final route information. This will be covered in more detail in the days before the event.

Regular Cross the Land slots will be available on the regular Cross the Land event page, while Istanbul slots will be available on a Special Cross the Land event page. We hope you are just as excited as we are and hope to see you all on the 3rd of September!

Edited August 18, 2022 at 07:28 PM by Chriss Klosowski

[Chriss Klosowski]

Captains,

Gentle reminder that we are approaching the event date.

Please do note that this time round, we are implementing a requirement to Confirm Your Booking before the event starts.
This phase will start from 31st August 2022 2200z, till 1st September 2200z. Any bookings thereafter that are not confirmed will be dropped and other captains will be able to book your slot.

If you have multiple slots, BOTH needs to be confirmed to retain both slots. If you confirm only one slot, only that particular slot will be kept by you.

This button will be available on your booking overview page, and will only be visible once the phase starts. You can find this through Events -> My booking.

Please do also note that routes are not yet confirmed, and will only be sent nearer to the event date to your e-mail.

Cheers captains and see you on Saturday!

[Chriss Klosowski]

Captains,

Reminder to all Cross the Land booked members that the slot confirmation phase has began. The confirmation button will be available on your booking overview page. You can find this through Events -> My booking.

If you do not confirm your slot by the 1st of September @ 22:00 UTC, you slot will be dropped and someone else will be able to book it.

Have a nice evening and see you soon on Saturday!

[Chriss Klosowski]

All UNCONFIRMED slots have now been released. There are now a wide variety of slots that are now available to book for those that were unable to grab them. Slots booked now will not require to be confirmed again, please only book if you will guarantee that you will fly it! The slots phase will close on the 2nd of September @ 22:00 UTC.

[David Bromage]

I booked a slot on the day bookings opened. I then confirmed my slot about 2 hours after the email reminding me to do so. To repeat, I absolutely DID confirm my slot.

Now I look in the bookings and I no longer have the slot, which has now been taken by somebody else.

[Rainer Jurczyk]

expired

Edited September 6, 2022 at 08:11 AM by Rainer Jurczyk
expired

[Chriss Klosowski]

Hello Captains,

A big thank you to all the members that pariticapted for the 8th edition of Cross the Land whether as a pilot, controller, or even individual vACC/Division planning team members. We've just accomplished another fantastic event for the network!

16 enroute vACCs participated in this edition of Cross the Land to provide pilots with full enroute ATC coverage throughout the event. 36 external controllers from different divisions on the network made up the Cross the Land: HitSquad team, a team that would aid in ATC staffing in the Middle East and Europe where it was needed. Their contribution to the event is very much appreciated in helping 6 different ACCs online during the event. A big shoutout to them!

We've had aircrafts from A350s, A320s, PC12s, RJ85s, and even private jets. This edition of Cross the Land had the most variety of aircraft in the history of this event. There were also around 136 A320s and 86 737s flew during an event that is usually dominated by wide-bodies.

Last edition we had a bad turn out of event traffic which we avoided this year with the confirmation system. Our slot confirmation system has done a fantastic job in keeping our event traffic numbers accurate with a total of 448 confirmed slots for this edition.

A big GG to the Turkish vACC for accomodating both departing and arrival flights as well as transit flights within Istanbul and Ankara FIRs!

Feedback is our upmost priority in events like these so each edition we can fine tune some areas to improve on. You can find the feedback forms below:

Pilot feedback: https://forms.gle/sSZNX4wNXZQvqChGA
Pilot feedback (those who didn't manage to fly): https://forms.gle/Lg6k6JtmGgNiX3vU6
Air Traffic Controllers: https://forms.gle/VmcyUo6KrStwL1VaA

These feedback forms will be open for the next 48-72 hours. All responses are anonymous. No email addresses, VATSIM CIDs, or names will be collected upon submitting.

Once again, a bit of thank you to everyone involved and making this another successful event. We've got many great things coming as the planning team does not stop working. 

Cross the Land: Westbound 2023 will happen on the 11th of February 2023. So mark the 11th of February in your calendars and be ready for another action-packed event!

All the best,

Cross the Land Planning Team