Meeting Notes from VATSIM Executive
Committee
January 26, 2004 - 2100 UTC
Attending
Kyprianos Biris, VATEUR1 - Europe Region
Director - Executive Committee chairman
Terry Scanlan , VATOCE1 - Oceania Region Director
Chris Mc Arthy, VATNA1 - North America Region Director
Paulo Ungar, VATSA1 - South America Region Director
Roland Collins, VATSIM23 - VP Regions - Afr.&M.E. Region afairs representative
Bill Reynolds, VATASI1 - Asia Region Director could not attend and submitted
email before the meeting informing of his opinions on the agenda items.
Executive Committee (EC) Meeting
started at 21:20 UTC
AGENDA ITEM - Region accepting
members with their current ATC rating
Regional Directors (RDs) discussed what
has been done since last EC meeting on the above subject. They all agreed that
correct course of action is not to downgrade a transferring controller.
RD's commonly agreed that the procedure that will take place from now on will be
the following : A newly transferred member will be assigned a Division and
ARTCC, FIR or vACC (local organization) following exchange of emails with the
transferee. The receiving, local organization will then be in charge of
overseeing the new member's progress in its new ATC environment. The local
organization has the right to - and most probably will - ask for a local
competency check to be taken by the new member, equal to the local requirements
of his/her current ATC rating. The emphasis should be on the transferee retaining
their current rating and becoming fully operational as quickly as possible. The
local organization may deem it appropriate to temporarily restrict the role of
the transferee until all local requirements have been met.
The general view of VATSIM EC is that it is appropriate for the transferee to
retain their current rating whilst fast-tracking through the lower ratings since
this allows time for them to familiarize with the new environment and does not
overwhelm the transferee.
If the transferee does not satisfactorily pass a lower rating local competency
check then they can be asked to voluntarily accept a downgrade in rating to the
level already satisfied locally, which in some instances may be that of
Pilot/OBS.
If at any stage the transferee does not accept the proposed local induction plan
then the Region Director will arrange to transfer the member back to their
previous region without any loss of ATC rating.
The above transfer policy will equally apply to a member wishing to gain approval as a 'visiting' controller and not seeking a permanent transfer.
ACTION ITEM: This decision will be made effective on February 15th, 2004. RD's will have to inform their Division Directors who in turn will coordinate with local organizations the transfer procedures. Also RD's have to check Region & Division webpages for rules and regulations that may be in conflict with the above decision.
AGENDA ITEM - Squawk 7600 auto disconnection
RD's discussed the outcome of recent change VATSIM network FSD code regarding
squawk 7600 auto disconnection whereas a member will be automatically
disconnected after 10 seconds if his/her transponder remains on code 7600. They
discussed the details that relate to this new measure as seen on page 5 of
July 2003
BoG's meeting minutes and the update of CoC para. B. 8 of Pilot's Conduct.
The members of VATSIM EC each expressed disappointment that BOG did not consult with EC or give any warning of this change especially since it has significant impact on operational matters at a Region/Division level and affected all members. Roland Collins, speaking on behalf of BOG, apologized for the lack of warning in respect of this implementation.
RD's agreed that they should ask BoG to maintain a closer
communication between BoG and EC in the future when there is an impending change
on matters so operational that may affect local on line procedures. EC informs
BoG of upcoming discussions in case the board has some valuable feedback for the
EC members. This is the way EC wishes to continue communication in both ways (
BoG<->EC ) in order to make sure the members are best represented in future
decisions.
There then followed discussion about Pro's
and Con's of this new measure.
It was agreed that there are members abusing it for gaining priority in busy events like Fly In's etc. Also it was identified that it is seldom used by members when they leave cockpit unattended in order to (as they think) bypass the 30 minute rule by CoR. RD's agreed that there in no technically "Communication Failure" in VATSIM network as long as a pilot or ATC client is connected to the network. All can be reached by a private chat or public messages. Still though it was identified that in few areas around the VATSIM world , squawk 7600 is used as an ATC training & testing tool. Most large airports have "Lost Comm's" procedures in place and these procedures are simulated by pilots when an increased workload needs to be added to the ATCO under training or testing. They are controlled scenarios by examiners & mentors which are imposed on the ATCO's in coordinated on line events. Additionally it was identified that few Regions' Divisions already have special squawk code questions in quite a few theory examination tests and training manuals for Controllers.
Roland Collins explained a bit further the logic behind the BoG decision on squawk 7600 and 7500 but RD's insisted that the problem arises from the auto disconnection and not the regulations regarding emergency & special squawk codes. All RD's agreed that there is no issue about the similar squawk 7500 auto disconnection but 7600 is a problem.
Further discussion showed that RD's common wish is to treat squawk 7600 like 7700 has been until now, without active network disconnection action. They identified they commonly wish that emergency & special codes should stay banned from free usage by members unless they are inside a controlled airspace manned by a VATSIM Air Traffic Controller who has no objection to that particular squawk code use at that particular instance.
A motion for action was passed to be forwarded to BoG and it was agreed unanimously by all RD's.
ACTION ITEM: VP Regions to pass the following EC motion to BoG : EC wishes the removing of auto disconnect for squawk 7600 from FSD code and to allow its use only if simulating a radio failure in presence of ATC and where if it has not been disallowed by the ATC present. A pilot simulating radio failure will still be obliged to technically (VATSIM network wise) maintain a listening watch on the ATC frequency and respond immediately when contacted about discontinuing the 'lost communications' status
A request towards VP Regions to delegate with VP Communications in the future for BoG discussions on impending changes regarding operational day to day matters.
AGENDA ITEM - ADM's access on all local communications
means
RD's discussed the update of CoR para. 3.05 B. 8. regarding the access of all
ADM rated members to all local communications means. All RD's agreed that this
can only increase communication within VATSIM and they should promote access of
Founders and BoG members as well as RDs to all local means so as to increase the
above members' level of awareness about local happenings around VATSIM.
The motion below was passed and unanimously agreed up on.
ACTION ITEM: Anyone wishing to join should ask permission first and if access is justified (according to CoR para. 3.05 B. 8.) then it should be approved by local communications means administrator.
AGENDA ITEM - Future EC Chairman
Kyprianos Biris informed that he has been EC Chairman since
December 20th 2002 and it was time for another RD to take over. He commented
that based on his experience until now the most appropriate person in regards to
RD & EC member experience is Terry Scanlan , VATOCE1. All participating EC members (including VATASI1 by earlier email)
concurred they wish to have Terry as next EC Chairman.
There being no other nomination for the position of EC Chairman, Terry Scanlan
was appointed.
Roland Collins on behalf of BOG and EC thanked Kyprianos for his tireless
efforts during his time as EC Chairman, in particular the dedication and
enthusiasm that Kyprianos brought to the role.
ACTION ITEM: Current EC chairman to take all necessary actions in order for the EC Chairman change to take place on February 15th 2004.
Kyprianos to contact Tom Schroeder to
ensure that the vanity emails are corrected to properly address ec_chairman and
not ec_president as previously shown.
AGENDA ITEM - RD Vacancies
Following a resignation of Ing. Jorge Boardman from the VATCA1 position (Central America Region Director) on January 8th 2004 and Rob Grant from VATAME1 position (Africa & Middle East Region Director) on January 6th 2003, VATSIM now has two RD vacancies.
VP Regions provided the EC
with an up to date progress report regarding manning of these positions. He
mentioned that for VATAME there has been considerable
progress toward the appointment of a suitable person for the VATAME1 position,
and this would mean that he would then relinquish the VATAME Administrator role
that had only been undertaken as a temporary stop-gap measure.
VP Regions advised the EC that he had forwarded Jorge Boardman's email of 7th
January to BOG for their consideration, and had recommended that BOG treat it as
a formal resignation from the position of RD - VATCA.
EC discussed about possible candidates for VATCA1. Ing. Jorge Boardman has proposed Jose Maafs, or Dan Liberman in his resignation email. Paulo Ungar, VATSA1, proposed Jesus Betancourt to be considered and added to the list.
ACTION ITEM: VP Regions took note of all the above recommendations and will pursue to further action needed.
ADJOURNMENT - The meeting adjourned at
23:58 UTC