IVAO The Real Heathrow 21/03/2009

[IVAO UK Staff]

 

The United Kingdom division of IVAO brings you the UK’s busiest airport, and the world’s busiest international airport, fully staffed on the 21st March, with some of the best controllers in the community.

 

From 1200Z – 2200Z, you as a pilot will be able to fly any of the 720 real flights available to book – flights which will be flown during those same 10 hours in real life! Whether you like long hauls or short domestic hops, there will be a flight for you.

 

Our finest ATC will be provided from a live ACC in West Sussex with over 18 active positions! To ensure a smooth flow into UK airspace a second ACC will be opened in Belgium where Brussels and Maastricht controllers will be based.

 

For more information, please see the Event Webpage

 

During the event, we will be running a datalink clearance system at Heathrow. Full details can be found in the Pilot briefing guide. We will also be using a flow management system that we have built to help minimise the delays into Heathrow.

 

If you like to be number 6 on the ILS, taxi behind 4 other aircraft towards the runway or join a holding pattern with several other aircraft, then this is the event for you. Flying with IVAO does not get more real than this.

 

See you there!

 

Important Information

 

Booking for this event is unlike any other. Up until 1 hour before the event, you can only register an interest in a flight. Up to 3 people may register an interest for any one flight.

 

On the day of the event, 1 hour before each flight is due to depart, an email will be sent to the first person who registered an interest in that flight. The email will contain a validation link which will confirm that person would still like to fly that particular flight. Please Note - You will only have 15 minutes from the moment the email is sent to confirm your attendance. If after 15 minutes, no booking is made, an email will be sent to the 2nd and 3rd people telling them that the flight is available and to visit the website and book it if they would like to. Either person can book the flight, it depends who books it through the booking system first.

 

Anyone else viewing the booking system at that time may also book the flight.

 

When selecting your flight, pay careful attention to the slot time. As we are using real flight schedules with a large number of flights, delays are inevitable. As a result, we have simulated the delays that each aircraft had.

 

- Slot Times in green have a take off time that is between -5 minutes and +10 minutes of the ETD, thus are not classed as having a delay.

 

- Slot times in blue have a take off that is more than 5 minutes prior to the ETD, thus are classed as early.

 

- Slot times in red have a take off time that is more than 10 minutes after the ETD, thus are classed as delayed flights.

 

It is important that the slot times are adhered to. ETD and ETA times are for reference ONLY. You must take off at the Slot time. (Remember, you must be airborne between -5 minutes and +10 minutes of your slot time or a new time has to be assigned.)

 

When departing, you should plan to pushback between 15 and 20 minutes before your slot.

 

Due to the expected volume of traffic only flights listed on our schedule will be guaranteed a landing slot at Heathrow. All other flights may be accepted subject to slot availability but could be diverted to Brussels, Gatwick or Stansted.

 

When booking flights, if it turns out you are number 2 or 3 in the queue for a flight, we would strongly suggest that you book another flight just in case to avoid disappointment.

 

We also realise that if you don't get the flight you wanted, it is very tempting to fly a non scheduled flight. We can't stress enough that we would prefer you to fly a flight within our schedules. Non scheduled flights put a HUGE strain on the system and we cannot guarantee that they will all be able to land at Heathrow.

 

 

Best regards,

 

Tom Perry GB-EC

Ross McLennan GB-EAC