2008 Convention.

[Richard Ruminski]

After lengthy discussions spanning 3 different meetings it is the general consensus that there will not be a VATUSA Wide Convention this year. VATUSA will however [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ist in the planning and promotion of Region Wide and or local ARTCC mini conventions and get togethers. Factors leading to this decision were rising costs in air travel, difficulties in planning and receiving advanced deposits and reservations, decrease in attendance and excessive financial burden and responsibility placed on the organizers.

[Darian Phillips 928692]

WOW what bummer, that sucks. As far as ARTCC Conventions how is a pilot suppose to interact in that. He or she will have to decide which one to attend and I don't think I would like to try and decide I would rather attend a Convention that is organized by the entire VATUSA but whatever is decided then it will be.

[Kyle Ramsey 810181]

I think he is speaking more regionally based on where you live, not so much which ARTCC you are in. One of the considerations appears to be travel expenses so closer to home would reduce everyone's load on that.

 

I am willing, with some help, to pull together ATC and pilots in the East Texas area, which could cover FTW, HOU, and MEM ARTCC members who live in East Texas, Western Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas, and Southeast Oklahoma. I live in near Tyler Tx and have a place to host a large gathering that would be free to us.

 

Hopefully others will stand up in their regions. A really wild thought would be several mini meetings going on at once with each set up for m[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ive controlling connections. Be hard to get everyone in place on the same day though, but not impossible.

[Brad Littlejohn]

This is where those (in)famous ZLA dinners come in! just about anything goes there, to playing with service animals, to building the biggest tower of scanners possible, to controlling rasta, to the most mundane of things, such as.. I dunno.. Eating.

 

Great fun! Every sector should get one of those started! pick a place to meet, and maybe do some spotting, and have at it!

 

Oh.. and don't forget to bring the significant other with you. At the least, they can see how much of a geek you truly are, and perhaps get^H^H^Htake some blackma^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpictures of the whole thing!

 

 

BL.

[Steve Ogrodowski 876322]

WOW what bummer, that sucks. Mad As far as ARTCC Conventions how is a pilot suppose to interact in that. He or she will have to decide which one to attend and I don't think I would like to try and decide I would rather attend a Convention that is organized by the entire VATUSA but whatever is decided then it will be. Smile

 

Yeah, he's talking about ARTCC get togethers...not so much a "convention." What we've done in the past in several locations is get groups of ATC together that live near each other...so we have a "Center Facility"...well somewhat real. It's pretty bloody cool, at least for us guys behind the scope.

 

I would be willing to help organize something in the SE/SW Michigan, NW Ohio, Chicago areas. Not sure if we could find a facility that's free, though...someone else would have to step in if they have something like that here.

[Garry Morris 920567]

Kyle, while I'm a ZAB controller, I live in Dallas and would be happy to help as I could to put something together with you (though and decent amount of cash is non-existent for me at the moment - stupid car repairs). Even if there was just a barbeque or something I'm sure folks would enjoy it.

 

My contact info is here and in the Admin info on the vExecJet site.

[Brian Beach 915973]

Reading through this, why don't we have a VATUSA-wide event, where each ARTCC has a gettogether within its boundaries. This would provide a more realistic event (since the controllers would be gathered in separate locations), and many more members would be able to participate.

[Keith Smith]

Brian, if you spread 500 pilots over 50 states, you either get 10 pilots in each state (making for a pretty lame event), or you get a VERY lame event in some places, and reasonable event in others. We just don't have the numbers, I believe, to make a nationwide VATUSA event worth while.

 

Have regional gatherings, make it a big event (just like the Rocky Mountain Rumble coming up soon), get lotsa planes, push lotsa tin.

 

Another way to think of it is this...if you attend a gathering in Southern California, to what extent is your enjoyment of the event influenced by the fact that there is a similiar gathering going on in Boston? For all the effort it would take to coordinate all those gatherings at the same time, the end result just isn't that interesting.

 

Now, if you can get enough planes airborne to make EVERY ARTCC rock....then you've got my attention.

[Kyle Ramsey 810181]

Or 500 piots over 20-something ARTCCs, much better. It is doable to line up such an event but it sure would be hard to coordinate that many at once. Unless there was a lot of value to that I'd be concerned it would be more work than benefit.

 

OK Gary, that's a start, I'll shoot you an email and we'll see if anything materialzes. I have family in the DFW area as well; McKinney, Blue Ridge, and Rockwall/Heath.

 

Did I mention I brew beer?

[Garry Morris 920567]

haha, sounds great actually. I still have my secondary fermenter, was using my buddy's pot and primary and other gear...man I miss homebrewing.

 

Will watch for your email.

[Michael Bonertz 966129]

hey you all can come over to my place I got fast internet, BBQ, food, and whatever else you all wanna bring. I don't control but I can sure fly all over your scopes for you.