[ The 28-hour HvACC ATC Marathon ]
"1800UTC April 13th till 2200 UTC April 14th 2002"
Greece lights-up the virtual skies of VATSIM in Europe
and sets new records
[ New all-time records in an all-network ]
The 28-hour ATC Marathon that was organised by the Hellenic
vACC last week (April 13 & 14) has managed to set several new
all-time records in terms of an all-network, continuous on-line ATC coverage
and number of aircraft movements. Never before have there been so many
flights recorded in a single event, organised within the boundaries of
a single, and relatively small, controlled airspace such as the Athens
FIR.
Triple filtering and ten-fold cross-checking of records documented a minimum
of 617 movements within the FIR but unofficial records indicate
that number to well-exceed 670+ movements within the 28-hours of the
event, with ATC provided by just 13 overworked, shot-eye HvACC controllers.
In comparison, the REAL Athens ACC of Greece recorded close to 1000 movements
in the same period, staffed by approximately ...480 professional controllers.
Parallel approaches at Athens International (LGAV) were brought into play
(not actually in practice in the real LGAV) , with nearly 18 a/c waiting
for t/o clearances at the holding points of LGAV (as compared to a mere
usual 10 in real life) and another 60+ a/c roaming the airways at some
stages, nearly proved a handful for the HvACC controllers, with multiple
multi-hour shifts; the result was however well-worth it and both ATC and
pilots seemed to have enjoyed the setting. In fact, the HvACC staff are
in proud possession of dozens of "thank you" and "well
done" notes from pilots, some of them proffesional ATPs, a few of
whom even went as far as to suggest private tuition to certain real-life
controller counterparts... Yes, well... flatery will get you everywhere...
(and with no delays) !
This event made virtual aviation on-line history. It brought together
into a single event pilots and controllers from all different global timezones,
in a thumping experience. However, none of this would have been made possible
without the help of the neighbouring european vACCs, the eager response
of individual pilots and VAs from all over the world, the organisational
efforts of the European and HvACC staff and controllers - and certainly
the support of the AVSIM and SIMFLIGHT sites. And of course, the VATSIM
network, which provided a resilient enough platform to hold these loads,
with not as much as a tick.
[ Logs ]
For detailed logs, statistics and comments, please check here
Vatsim announcement about the Greek ATC Marathon success may be found here.
[ Thank You... ]
28-hour ATC Mararathon proved to be a great success and HvACC Staff would like to THANK you all, who made this event unforgetable:
- Virtual Airlines
- Neighbour vACCs
- Individual Pilots
- Avsim and Simflight
- VATSIM
and above all...
- Greek Controllers
You
made this Event UNFORGETABLE
...in
online Flight Simming History!
[ Screenshots ]
<MAX702> "Congratulations to you for a job well done! We in the USA salute you... and we'll be back"
