Joseph Little 881769 Posted March 28, 2005 at 02:54 AM Posted March 28, 2005 at 02:54 AM I am pretty new here but I have flown VATSIM off on over the past couple of years. Most of my flights originated from or to the KZMP Artcc as I live near Minneapolis. I have been eagerly anticpating the release of SB3 as most of the reason for not flying on-line more regularily had to do with the multiple software required to use SB2 and the difficulties in keeping the Gremlins out of the mix. Now this past weekend SB3 has been released and we have seen major major traffic pretty much world-wide. Most of the FIRS have been well stocked with ATC and its been fun. Not so with KZMP I know I check over 20 times at various hours of the day and night, both by logging on to VatSim and with ServInfo and the only controller was KMSP Gnd who was on for less than an hour and was gone before I finished preparing a flight plan. Now I understand all the ATC's are volunteers and fellow simmers but i wonder about the lack of controllers at KZMP. I did notice that thier chief and [Mod - Happy Thoughts]t chief left recently. Does that mean something more than simply people moving oon as thier lives' change? Is that lack of ATC there related? I guess what I want to know is: Is there something up at KZMP and if so what? Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Clausen Posted March 28, 2005 at 03:43 AM Posted March 28, 2005 at 03:43 AM Joe, Some ARTCCs just don't have a lot of traffic, you can pick your reasons why. Controllers generally don't like to control if they don't have traffic. It is a catch 22, you don't have traffic without controllers, and you don't have controllers without traffic. Hopefully the new Chief, whoever he ends up being, will inspire both sides of the equation to show up a little more often. Fred Clausen, vZAB ATM ZAB real life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Little 881769 Posted March 28, 2005 at 12:36 PM Author Posted March 28, 2005 at 12:36 PM Thanks Fred I can understand that and you are right about it being a catch-22. I am one of those pilots that like to have ATC but at the same time I find the traffic at fields like KORD, KLAX or New York still too intimidating to tackle with my level of experience. ZMP in the past, often seemed to provide just the right amount of traffic and helpful controllers to convince me to get my keep trying. Hey, maybe KZMP can find a niche to fill, helping those 1000 + new members of Vatsim get thier feet wet. Well heres hoping for good thing in the future for KZMP Thanks again Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Sykes 852946 Posted March 28, 2005 at 04:43 PM Posted March 28, 2005 at 04:43 PM Keep in mind that (just as an example) LAX_V_CTR controls more than just KLAX. There are lots of smaller fields (off the top of my head in our airspace: KLAS, KSAN, KSNA, KBUR, KONT, KSBA, KPSP and the list goes on) where you can talk to controllers without having to deal with the onslaught of traffic at places like LAX. Our controllers are busy, but they're very accommodating to questions and new people in general. Several guys from ZLA were beta testers for SB3 and they've been working their butts off prowling these forums and answering questions ever since it was released. I've been here and online answering questions too. Busy or not, we're all trying to help. Marc Sykes Toronto ACC Trainee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Harris 877712 Posted March 28, 2005 at 06:51 PM Posted March 28, 2005 at 06:51 PM Joe, Another reason is the actual number of active controllers in an ARTCC. Right now we have 5 or 6 active controllers and 2 just left (chief and [Mod - Happy Thoughts]t. chief). Out of what's left only 1-2 have their rating to work center. Don't pitty us, but just wanted to enlighten pilots as to why there is not much controlling going on up here. Also, I was on center the afternoon that SB3 was released and it was announced that there were 800+ connections when I was on. Do you know how many arrivals and departures I had during the 2 or so hours I was on?....3..... And only 4 or 5 fly overs to go along with this. But, as Mr. Clausen pointed out, ZMP is not known to be active with controlling so it understandable pilots didn't plan to make flights in or out of there during that time. All is not lost though the former chief, Jason Davidson, worked very hard and built a solid 'infrastructure' that the new chief will be able to build off of. And with more pilots online, ZMP controllers will be rewarded more often with actual traffic while they control. Which will hopefully encourage them to control more frequently Jason Harris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Little 881769 Posted April 21, 2005 at 01:41 AM Author Posted April 21, 2005 at 01:41 AM I just want to mention that coverage at KZMP has been much improved over the past couple of weeks. Congrats to Fred C. 1st on his appointment as Chief and 2ndly for working hard to achieve the noted improvement in ATC coverage there, Congrats to the entire team as well. To all of you, I for one, appreciate the effort. Thanks Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Clausen Posted April 21, 2005 at 03:32 AM Posted April 21, 2005 at 03:32 AM Thanks Joe. It has been fun getting settled into the Chief's seat up in ZMP. The previous Chief and staff laid a great foundation for me, and now I just have to take credit for it when it all comes together. Fred Clausen, vZAB ATM ZAB real life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Elchitz 810151 Posted April 24, 2005 at 08:05 AM Posted April 24, 2005 at 08:05 AM Fred - that reminds me. Jason spent a lot of time entering over 1000 routes for Minni into the flightplanner. Please contact me to set up a new representative for the ARTCC to SimRoutes.com (if you still want to be a part of the project - that's your decision). Ian. Ian Elchitz Just a guy without any fancy titles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiel McGowan 813486 Posted April 24, 2005 at 09:16 AM Posted April 24, 2005 at 09:16 AM Seems like MSP is on all the time now. I might hop in my warriror and do some VFR flight following in the GFK area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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