I'm exhausted.I woke up at 1300Z (7 AM here) and started working HNL center - still half asleep unable to speak. Recognized many people there, had ACA332 take the 4R visual into Honolulu and launched about 5 guys for R465 and R463.Getting the sequencing down for the Oceanic guy was pretty tough - we need 15 minutes between same altitude flights. That's why I kept asking people for updates, as every time I thought I had it set right, someone else would "wake up" and pop onto my radar. I gave COA1014 about 5 altitude & speed changes, and asked him for an update on his CLUTS ETA every 5 minutes . All I can remember is seeing CVA303, ACA856, and AAL327 - the rest was a blur. Had to close up on ACA332 and DAL080 who were just on their way to CLUTS as the lead people were reaching the coast already.Next think I know I'm sitting on Sierra Approach. Oakland is short manned, with a new guy on the tower, and Ernie Alston proving he can do more than just write excellent flight planning software (he was your Oakland Center Controller). I don't know how many aircraft landed at SFO. I gave out ILS approaches for both 28L, 28R, vectored visuals, Tipp Toe, and even a quiet bridge. Three guys got taken down the bay, poor XXX24L had to come around 3 times as my voice was going bananas, my fingers were killing me, and exhaustion was setting in. At the same time they start flying out of and into Oakland, and then on top of the 18 arrivals on my list I have another 12 departures from San Fran - ummm hello.. anyone else out there to help? Eventually I just could no longer do it - I had 856 fly the approach on his own due to my incompetence, Dean (UKD121) could not understand a word I was saying - the tower guy was asking me 600 questions a second, and everyone in the world was sending me messages saying things like "Hey Ian! You guys busy?". Eventually it just became too much for me - I had 3 guys who just took off rather than wait (and they will all be taking a few days off from playing on VATSIM now), and started to lose it - eventually I told this poor UPS pilot who just couldn't understand what i was saying:"UPSXXX, the field is straight ahead, 6 miles report in sight""Umm Si--ra, s-y aga-- p--1""UPSXXX, the thing with flashing lights straigh ahead - do you see it"?"Si--a, --xcx- --sf Yes""UPSXXX, Cleared Visual approach runway 29, traffic is a 757 departing will be long gone before you land""Sixxi-- ai dfa say again""UPSXXX, The flashing lights ahead of you - look out the window - put your plane in between them and on the ground".Ya - that's what happens after 7.5 hours of non stop traffic. Even the calmest and coolest of us start to lose their wits and sense of humour.A poor DAL pilot who was on text with me - I could not get my text radio to work with him properly, so every thing I typed to him got messed up, missed his descent (my fault), late turn for sequencing (my fault), no weather or altimeter for him (my fault), forgot to tell him what runway to expect, about the traffic 4 miles away opposite direction 1000' above, all my fault = time for Ian to sign off.I saw all of you whipping around down under early on Friday evening, and watched on ServInfo as you all started your slow march towards Hawaii. Thanks to Mike Bevington for setting this up - and thanks to all of the VATSIM controllers who took part in this. I have no clue who your controllers were down under - but these are the people who were helping you on our side of the equator:Alex Bower (Oakland ARTCC) - Your Oceanic Controller. A real trooper, I am pretty sure he did not go to bed all night in anticipation of helping you guys out.Kris Samms (Seattle ARTCC) - Your West and East Oceanic Controller.Jim Bartosh (Oakland ARTCC) - Came up late on East KZAK and eventually took over for me on Sierra Approach.Ernie Alston (Los Angeles ARTCC) - handled 90% of you from the Oceanic Border until BSR/SKUNK. Did not plan on being around, and had no prep time - he just wanted to make sure you guys were taken care of (thanks Ernie!).Sachin Phadke (Oakland ARTCC) Your San Francisco Tower controller. He has only been controlling for about 2 weeks. Javier Campos (Oakland ARTCC) - San Francisco Ground, helping guys get their IFR clearance OUT of San Fran, and handling the ground movements, another relative newbie at ZOA.Inigo Markle-Allen (Oakland ARTCC) - Eventually relieved Ernie at Oakland Center, pretty late on - how late I have no idea.Dan Sprouse (Oakland ARTCC) - Helped me from pulling my hair out when he took the Sierra Departure Sector to offset some of my load.Finally - your's truly from Oakland ARTCC, who was your Honolulu Center controller, followed by your Sierra Approach controller. Thanks to all of you for making this so much fun for the controllers. This was the first time we handled any significant traffic in the Oceanic Sectors, and we will be sure to compare notes to see where we could improve.Next time - I'm in the cockpit.Signing off for now,Ian Elchitz CYWGOakland ARTCCp.s. - I just read all of the other posts - I had no idea who many of you were while you were flying in - sorry I could not say hello to many of you. Apologies to Lenny Z - I believe you were the one who ended up going around twice (oops) and Alex Wall (who I do not know) was the poor guy i couldnt work with on text who had me break every one of my rules. So many other names now taht I know the callsigns - I signed off just as Stiffy checked in - heh.

Thanks Ian for all your great work.It was really nice to hear your voice at PHNL; just what I needed after staying up most of the night.So, were you guys busy at SFO? :-)

Ian,as one of the guys on text, I thought you handled the Sierra Approach phase brilliantly. I got all my speeds headings and altitudes in plenty of time to execute them , and type a reply.Did you notice my mad turns after BSR towards CARME - Last time I let LNAV try to handle a near 180 degree turn, would have been better using Heading Select. MarkAMM2255

hey Ianall i can say is: grrrrrreat job. You handled all of that very well.And for the double missed approach, was anyone of them your fault? nope, and i had about 15k fuel left due to some favorable winds at FL390 :)1st one was OR tower, OR BAW408, anyway their communication started about 2 miles to touchdown, and i talked to tower a few minutes ago as i was also on ILS, tower cleared me to land. and then tower cleared BAW408 to land. and it was close actually, but as i was captain and responsible over so many virtual lives, the safest option at that time was to go missed. announces "Sobelair 24lima, going missed, traffic on runway"got the 'climb straight out, 5000ft' from tower and jetted off to approach(Ian), he then vectored me around a sort of right hand TP, but managed to get me on a perfect turn radius to intercept the localiser perfectly. I was a 3500ft, established localiser 28R, G/S not yet alive.2ndso i was established on the localiser, fat and happy 3500ft and doing 210IAS. as suddenly, fortune took toll. Server bounced me off all of a sudden(something which happend crossing the pacific aswell), and i decided to not pause FS, just continue on the localiser but overshoot the G/SI managed to reconnect etc etc, and then it was too late to consider slam dunking. so i said to approach something like this "Frisco 'proach, with you on the localiser 3500ft going missed, request you to vector us around again", as to which approach(Ian) said 'rgr that, no problem, turn right to hdg 360

Ian,In spite of your take on things, everything was fantastic from my seat. You guys handled everything very well. This was the first real test of OAKLAND OCEANIC but it did not come off as a trial but rather an example of how really talented the FIR was staffed.I just sent off an email to Jim Bartosh, you were cc'd, saluting the whole team this morning. GREAT JOB, Ya Done Good!

Hey, Ian, I thought you were great, but then again, I beat the rush into KSFO!"Sierra App: AAL666 you have Tiptoe visual onboard?AAL666: No, only Quiet BridgeSierra App: OK you can have Quiet Bridge 28RAAL666: Would it be easier for you if I took ILS app 28L?Sierra App: There is no easier or harder for me, whatever YOU want!AAL666: OK, I'll take Quiet Bridge visualAAL666: No, I'll take Tiptoe visualAAL666: No, I can't see the bridge, better give me ILS 28L appBy this time I am thinking that you are probably tearing your hair out, but I couldn't hear it in your voice.The only problem I noticed was some pretty heavy slowdowns on the server approaching the airport. This was somewhat annoying especially since the tower tended to be a little late on landing clearances....but hey, as long as I landed the sucker!!That was my longest flight by far with ATC at both ends AND (most importantly) no crashes, lockups, and other glitches.As I said in another post, great fun and thanks a bunch to you guys!Damon (AAL666)

Hey Ian,I just want to add what an excellent job you and the others did. Even though I was just a domestic flight (KLAS>KSFO) coming from the other direction from most of the traffic, you picked me right up and gave me all the calls I was expecting...absolutley no suprises. :)You and the wonderful PIC panel really did my approach, I just pressed a few buttons and turned a few knobs and basically just sat back and marveled at how this all works when its done right! :)I let the autopilot handle my descent and crossed CEDES intersection at 11,000, just as published...I let it make the turn onto the localizer....perfect again. All I did was press the AP and AT disconnect a few miles from the runway...all stablized for me by the AP, then a little power here, a little rudder there, pull back to flare and presto...I'm on the centerline on 28R KSFO! Sometimes you wonder why they pay people to do this (just kidding of course!) :-lolThank you for your commitment to "Push virtual tin" to make our simming experience as real as it gets!Regards,Steve DraVATSIM callsign DAL1068

two wordsThanks Guys :)

Ian - I was Delta 106 - I had a great time, and you did a fine job, with everything going on. It was quite an experience to load up Whazzup, and see a string of aircraft going towards San Fran. Switching runways on a 8 mile final happens in real life too! Many thanks to Mike for setting this all up, creating the flight plans, and getting approach plates for download. Many thanks to all the other controllers - all very professional, and easy to work with. Alex