4. Pre – Connection Procedures - On Line flight

         Be advised that our flight planning has been made on the basis of the AIRAC Cycle 1412. Be sure to have this AIRAC data installed in your system, or check for possible incompatibilities with older or newer cycles. Also if you use FS Navigator 4.x or any other AIRAC compatible addons take care and update it, dowloading from NavData. 

         Prior to your connection here is a piece of advice that could be proved to be wise. We urge you to utilize the ServInfo, a MUST HAVE utility created by Michael Frantzeskakis (check our Links Page) and find out which of the active servers has the smallest ping time for you. You should choose to connect to this server in SquawkBox/FSInn. Although this is already a standard procedure for the regular and experienced On-Line Flight Simmers, we mention it, so that we reduce the lag factor to the minimum possible level.

As mentioned above, we will connect to VATSIM network and we expect  ATC coverage  up to a satisfactorily level along our route. No need to worry about departure and destination ATC. IT IS FULLY GUARANTEED!!  For the record,  you are supposed to have at least a fair knowledge of on-line flying otherwise you better leave it for next year when you will be more experienced :-).

5. Meeting Point-Communications

First of all : The date of flight is Saturday December 13th 2014.      

     We will meet at the apron of Athens Eleftherios Venizelos (LGAV) at 16:00 UTC (Zulu), which is 18:00 Local Greece Time. The whole procedure (clearance delivery) will start at 16:10 UTC (Zulu) and the first departure slot (take off) will be 16:20 UTC (Zulu).

     Bear in mind that we will apply time slots and assigned gates for our departures to honour our registered pilots. On connection with VATSIM be sure that you have your Squawk on stand by mode and please have your aircraft positioned in the assigned gate prior to this event. Not a big deal after all… 

      Aegean Seagull’s event company frequency, which is rw.liveatc.net/ase, will be available for pre-flight chat as well for chat while flying in no-ATC covered areas. 

      PLEASE set your reality preferences to “IGNORE CRASH” while on the ground. No reason why we should lose time by unpredictable aircraft (pilots ?) behaviour in  LGAV's or EFRO’s Apron.

       Connecting to VATSIM network does not mean that voice capability is mandatory. All controllers will provide ATC services even to text-only-able pilots. But… voice makes things much easier for all of us and is one step closer to reality.  Not to mention that text communications will be a torture for any ATC controller in this specific event. So use voice please!

        Try to use radio laconically and speak loud (not too loud) and clear. You must have your system well tuned in order to take the maximum out of it. Make some testing of your settings. You must also understand that not all of people have English as their native language…. Just for this reason please use standard ATC phraseology as it will facilitate things a lot. Clear, Simple and Effective communication!

         In FIRs that their ATC is not manned, participating pilots (and other event observers of course) have the option to tune to our company official frequency (rw.liveatc.net/ase) for some chat. We will return to ATC voice frequency when ATC is again available.

                 6. Aegean Seagull Log Book and Santa Claus

        We remind you that you do not have to be a qualified Aegean Seagull pilot to participate in our flight, BUT you must be good at flying your aircraft. Have under mind that ASe is an advanced virtual Airline System, the very first worldwide that introduced the exclusively on-line flying in its operations, and its pilots fly with the highest standards available in the FS community. That means that the fun factor will be greatly enhanced. It is a good opportunity to have a good taste of our operations level and perhaps apply to join us. ;-)

                 7. Flight plan

Here are the flight plans in all their details .

NEVRAxx.NEVRA UG33 KOROS UN133 EVIVI N133 LOMOS UN133 EVRIK UZ317 RUMUK M977 SUW M985 BOKSU M857 TLL P855 DOBAN L732 GEMKU T95 NEPIX xx. NEPIX

And here is our Navigation Log :

Aegean Seagull flies to Santa’s Home Year #14
LGAV-EFRO FLIGHT LOG A/C : 737-700, 727-200 or any a/c type able to cruise with at least M0.78 at FL390 FLIGHT LEVEL 390 - CRUISE SPEED : M 0.78 - FLIGHT’S DURATION : 4,0 hrs
Location	Id	Type	Freq	Track	Distance	Airway	Country/FIR
Athens Eleftherios Venizelos	LGAV	Airport					Hellas/Athinai FIR/LGGG
NEVRAxx		SID			33
NEVRA	NEVRA	ISEC	-	061	33	UG33	Hellas/Makedonia FIR/LGMD
KOROS	KOROS	ISEC	-	014	58
GIKAS	GIKAS	ISEC	-	332	27	UN133
PEREN	PEREN	ISEC	-	015	73
EVIVI	EVIVI	ISEC	-	339	54		Exit/Entrance
VANET	VANET	ISEC	-	002	54	N133	Bulgaria/Sofia FIR/LBSR
DOTAM	DOTAM	ISEC	-	002	4
EDADA	EDADA	ISEC	-	002	7
SOFIA	SOF	VOR/DME	112.60	002	13
TODRO	TODRO	ISEC	-	359	13
OGOTA	OGOTA	ISEC	-	359	18
RESLA	RESLA	ISEC	-	359	7
ERDOM	ERDOM	ISEC	-	359	11
LOMOS	LOMOS	ISEC	-	359	19		Exit/Entrance
ABRED	ABRED	ISEC	-	349	50	UN133	Romania/Bucuresti FIR/LRBB
EKMED	EKMED	ISEC	-	349	20
NEKUL	NEKUL	ISEC	-	348	35
VASIS	VASIS	ISEC	-	348	27
OLMIP	OLMIP	ISEC	-	348	6
EVRIK	EVRIK	ISEC	-	348	19
OBARA	OBARA	ISEC	-	030	45	UZ317
RUMUK	RUMUK	ISEC	-	027	65		Exit/Entrance
SVITA	SVITA	ISEC	-	359	63	UM977	Ukraine/LVIV FIR/UKLL
DIBED	DIBED	ISEC	-	359	49		Exit/Entrance
OSMAT	OSMAT	ISEC	-	004	21	M977	Poland/Warszawa FIR/EPWW
BALBA	BALBA	ISEC	-	004	37
DISBI	DISBI	ISEC	-	004	72
ETUBO	ETUBO	ISEC	-	004	24
BESOT	BESOT	ISEC	-	004	27
EVODO	EVODO	ISEC	-	004	22
SUWALKI	SUW	ISEC	-	004	47
BOKSU	BOKSU	ISEC	-	027	15	M985	Exit/Entrance
VAKAL	VAKAL	ISEC	-	015	34	M857	Lithuania/Vilnius FIR/EYVL
DIBET	DIBET	ISEC	-	017	35
GUNTA	GUNTA	ISEC	-	018	57		Exit/Entrance
ATRAK	ATRAK	ISEC	-	019	14		Latvia/Riga FIR/EVRR
RIGA	RIA	VOR/DME	112.05	018	20
SOKVA	SOKVA	ISEC	-	017	59		Exit/Entrance
ANAMA	ANAMA	ISEC	-	017	32		Estonia/Tallinn FIR/EETT
KEMET	KEMET	ISEC	-	018	19
KUNUX	KUNUX	ISEC	-	018	13
TALLINN	TLL	VOR/DME	112.20	018	29
DOBAN	DOBAN	ISEC	-	341	26
UVEMO	UVEMO	ISEC	-	355	80
GEMKU	GEMKU	ISEC	-	348	36		Exit/Entrance
AMASU	AMASU	ISEC	-	005	44		Finland/Tampere FIR/EFES
GIDKI	GIDKI	ISEC	-	005	55	M854
OGTUD	OGTUD	ISEC	-	005	22
ULMEG	ULMEG	ISEC	-	024	13
RUBSI	RUBSI	ISEC	-	024	115
NEPIX	NEPIX	ISEC	-	034	27
NEPIXxx				354	33
Rovaniemi	EFRO	AIRPORT

Total Distance is some 1773,3 nm.

FSNavigator 4.X format flight plan can be found here and PMDG FMS flight plan for FS9 (FS2004) can be found here. 

Note: Although we would very much like all of our event pilots to have the suggested flight plan, the Final Route is definately up to pilot's discretion. 

8. IFR charts

     You can find all nessecary IFR charts for  Athens Eleftherios Venizelos (LGAV) here and for Rovaniemi (EFRO), Ivalo (EFIV) and Kittila (EFKT) airports here. (Official Finland AIP Aeronautical Charts).

Below ypu can find a summary of the latest changes in IFR charts. These changes happened after our last year flight to Santa's Home.

Recent changes for EFRO charts refer to

Aerodrome Charts
ADC	EFRO AD 2.4 - 1	13 NOV 2014
ADC RUNWAY AND TAXIWAY MARKINGS	EFRO AD 2.4 - 3	13 NOV 2014
APDC	EFRO AD 2.5 - 1	13 NOV 2014
Aerodrome Obstacle Charts
AOC RWY 03/21	EFRO AD 2.7 - 1	13 NOV 2014
PATC RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.8 - 1	13 NOV 2014
ATC Surveillance Minimum Altitude Chart
ATC SMAC	EFRO AD 2.9 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
Departure Procedures
RNAV SID RWY 03	EFRO AD 2.10 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
RNAV SID RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.10 - 3/4	13 NOV 2014
OMNIDIRECTIONAL DEPARTURES	EFRO AD 2.10 - 5	13 NOV 2014
Standard Arrival Charts
RNAV STAR RWY 03	EFRO AD 2.12 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
RNAV STAR RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.12 - 3/4	13 NOV 2014
NON-RNAV INA RWY 03	EFRO AD 2.12 - 5	13 NOV 2014
NON-RNAV INA RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.12 - 7	13 NOV 2014
Instrument Approach Charts
RNAV (GNSS) RWY 03	EFRO AD 2.13 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
VOR RWY 03	EFRO AD 2.13 - 3	13 NOV 2014
PAR RWY 03	EFRO AD 2.13 - 5	13 NOV 2014
ILS Z or LOC Z RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.13 - 7/8	13 NOV 2014
ILS Z RWY 21 CAT II	EFRO AD 2.13 - 9/10	13 NOV 2014
ILS Y or LOC Y RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.13 - 11	13 NOV 2014
ILS Y RWY 21 CAT II	EFRO AD 2.13 - 13	13 NOV 2014
RNAV (GNSS) RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.13 - 15/16	13 NOV 2014
VOR RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.13 - 17	13 NOV 2014
PAR RWY 21	EFRO AD 2.13 - 19	13 NOV 2014
Visual Approach and Landing Charts
VAC	EFRO AD 2.14 - 1	13 NOV 2014
LDG	EFRO AD 2.14 - 3	13 NOV 2014
Aeronautical Data
WAYPOINTS AND FIXES	EFRO AD 2.15 - 1	13 NOV 2014
PRD INDEX	EFRO AD 2.15 - 3	13 NOV 2014

Recent changes for EFIV charts refer to:

Aerodrome Charts
ADC	EFIV AD 2.4 - 1	13 NOV 2014
Aerodrome Obstacle Charts
AOC RWY 04/22	EFIV AD 2.7 - 1	13 NOV 2014
Departure Procedures
OMNIDIRECTIONAL DEPARTURES	EFIV AD 2.10 - 1	13 NOV 2014
Standard Arrival Charts
RNAV STAR RWY 04	EFIV AD 2.12 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
RNAV STAR RWY 22	EFIV AD 2.12 - 3/4	13 NOV 2014
Instrument Approach Charts
RNAV (GNSS) RWY 04	EFIV AD 2.13 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
NDB RWY 04	EFIV AD 2.13 - 3	13 NOV 2014
ILS Z or LOC Z RWY 22	EFIV AD 2.13 - 5/6	13 NOV 2014
ILS Y or LOC Y RWY 22	EFIV AD 2.13 - 7	13 NOV 2014
NDB RWY 22	EFIV AD 2.13 - 9	13 NOV 2014
RNAV (GNSS) RWY 22	EFIV AD 2.13 - 11/12	13 NOV 2014
Visual Approach and Landing Charts
VAC	EFIV AD 2.14 - 1	13 NOV 2014
LDG	EFIV AD 2.14 - 3	13 NOV 2014
Aeronautical Data
WAYPOINTS AND FIXES	EFIV AD 2.15 - 1	13 NOV 2014
PRD INDEX	EFIV AD 2.15 - 3	13 NOV 2014

Recent changes for EFKT charts refer to

Aerodrome Charts
ADC	EFKT AD 2.4 - 1	13 NOV 2014
Aerodrome Obstacle Charts
AOC RWY 16/34	EFKT AD 2.7 - 1	13 NOV 2014
Departure Procedures
OMNIDIRECTIONAL DEPARTURES	EFKT AD 2.10 - 1	13 NOV 2014
Standard Arrival Charts
RNAV STAR RWY 16	EFKT AD 2.12 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
RNAV STAR RWY 34	EFKT AD 2.12 - 3/4	13 NOV 2014
Instrument Approach Charts
LOC Z RWY 16	EFKT AD 2.13 - 1/2	13 NOV 2014
LOC Y RWY 16	EFKT AD 2.13 - 3	13 NOV 2014
RNAV (GNSS) RWY 16	EFKT AD 2.13 - 5/6	13 NOV 2014
ILS Z or LOC Z RWY 34	EFKT AD 2.13 - 7/8	13 NOV 2014
ILS Y or LOC Y RWY 34	EFKT AD 2.13 - 9	13 NOV 2014
RNAV (GNSS) RWY 34	EFKT AD 2.13 - 11/12	13 NOV 2014
NDB RWY 34	EFKT AD 2.13 - 13	13 NOV 2014
Visual Approach and Landing Charts
VAC	EFKT AD 2.14 - 1	13 NOV 2014
LDG	EFKT AD 2.14 - 3	13 NOV 2014
Aeronautical Data
WAYPOINTS AND FIXES	EFKT AD 2.15 - 1	13 NOV 2014
PRD INDEX	EFKT AD 2.15 - 3	13 NOV 2014

       Last year as in all recent years, the event was a huge success on pilots participation terms and holding stacks were heavily loaded. It would be a good idea if you could refresh your holding procedures knowledge, to avoid causing any kind of inconvenience to the overstressed ATC or yourselves ;-).

          

                 9. Flight Duration - What to expect in Rovaniemi

    Duration of the flight  will be approx 4,0 hours, from engine start up to engine shut down, not counting the delays that may happen due to increased traffic on ground in Athens, plus the time that you will pass in the holding stacks. 

   " If landing runway 21 please pay attention to any vacating instructions, if there are departing aircraft you need to vacate via B or A as vacating earlier will block the departing aircrafts taxiroute. The most efficent usage of runway 21 is when aircraft vacate via B so if able try to plan your decelleration to exit via B. " (VATEUD note)

"The west side of the airport is military, the civilian apron is on the east side of the runway. There are 13 stands available, there might be minor scenery displacments but stand 2-9 should be in almost the same location for all sceneries. If required parking will also take place on taxiway S." (VATEUD note)

    As stated above our event co-incides with VATEUD & Scandinavia vACC Christmas Event "Fly See Santa"  on Saturday 13/12, so expect quite a lot of traffic on EFRO arrival. To be more accurate expect traffic congestion on your arrival to EFRO, so be sure to have your fuel tanks full, and also take the time and be updated on the holding patterns in the area. Our experience from all these years shows with no doubt that this may be well the busiest approach you make for  your all around the year  flights.

    A good friend flightsimmer and real life commercial pilot, Mr Vangelis Hasiotis ASe411 was lucky enough to fly the LGAV-EFRO flight in Christmas 2004 period. To see a photo-report from his visit to EFRO Rovaniemi, click here.

                                                  10. Cruise Flight Level and Mach Number

            First of all we would like you to participate with aircraft that are able to cruise with M 0.78. The suggested Flight Level is FL390. This way we will ensure that the final Finland ATC will receive our flight within the specified time window and will not have to wait for us being widely dispersed. Now if you insist to fly with a slower aircraft then you should select a lower FL to keep clear of the M 0.78 main stream. In a case a faster aircraft is your choice, please select a higher Flight Level.

          11. Alternative Airport

        Our past years experience shows it would be good to be ready for diversion to one of the EFIV Ivalo (128nm northeast of EFRO) or EFKT Kittila (72 nm northwest of EFRO) airports. After all these years, Finnish vACC was absorbed to VATSIM Scandinavia vACC, which will man alternative airports in Sweden and Norway. Keeping our tradition, we will continue having EFIV and EFKT as our alternative airports. Nevertheless be advised that VATEUD-Scandinavia vACC will have ATC manned Lulea (ESPA) and Tromso (ENTC) in case you prefer to divert there should your patience or fuel are expended :-)

        12. Fuel on board

        For Boeing 737-700 flyers such as Aegean Seagull’s “Island of Skiros” or "City of Chania"  45.000 lbs of fuel should be enough to cover the flight plus 45 mins of holding plus diversion to the alternative airport of Oulou (EFOU), Ivalo (EFIV) or Kittila (EFKT) plus medium delay on Athens ground. Expect long holding times approaching EFRO so take care to have as much fuel as you can in your tanks. Although it is very good to plan carefully your fuel load, our events experience shows that 100% full fuel tanks will keep you out of agony's way.

        13. Missed Approach

        Some details about missed approach…

         This is something that every pilot, who respects himself, should pay some, at least some, attention. We, Aegean Seagull pilots, pay much, really much, attention to it. As weather conditions are not a controlled parameter to a flight, you can very easily be engaged a situation well under the minima for the decision altitude in your destination. In that case we execute a missed approach and we either go for a holding pattern and a second approach later either climb and fly direct to the alternative airport. The latest happens when the main destination airport is closed or there is no chance for the weather to become better. We also execute a missed approach when communication with ATC is lost prior to our landing clearance.

"The standard go around procedure is to climb on runway heading to 2400 feet." (VATEUD note)

          This is the reason why you should study the missed approach pattern at both the destination and alternative airports. If a controller has many aircraft in his area of responsibility, it will be quite difficult for him/her to pay the extra attention needed to you. Besides this way we are as real as it gets…

         

                                         14. Saving your flight regularly - Reconnection procedures

        We strongly suggest you to save your flight in regular time intervals. This way you can ensure that even if a reboot is inevitable, then you will be within close range of the other aircraft. There is an EXCELLENT freeware utility by Peter Dowson called AUTOSAVE. Its a DLL that goes into the MODULES folder and it does things like saving your current flight status (in standard MSFS situation files) and then if it crashes it just resets your flight back to "10 seconds ago" status. You can have as many sequenced files saved (say last 10 or each 10'') and choose where to start from again. If you crash the aircraft FS will restart from last saved file. If FS itself crashes you can just go and select the situation (flight) file you wish from the list of files when you reload FS. It can be found at www.schiratti.com -> DOWSON 

    

            15. Registered Pilots

        In the table below you can find all pilots, that have registered so far.         

Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa's Home Year #14  LGAV-EFRO
Registration Sequence  #	Pilot's Full Name	Callsign	Country	Aircraft Type	FS Type	Assigned Gate / Stand	Assigned CTOT (UTC)
1.	George Papanikolopoulos	ASE011	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	TBA	TBA
2.	Mike Ionas	OAL109	Hellas	777-300er	FS2004	TBA	TBA
3.	Aidan Rice	ASE279	Ireland	MD11	FS2004	TBA	TBA
4.	Christos Karachalios	AEE240	Hellas	A320	FSX	TBA	TBA
5.	Giorgos Christinakis	ASE201	Hellas	A320	FSX	TBA	TBA
6.	Fotis Dimitropoulos	ASE516	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	TBA	TBA

16. Bonus ASe Christmas livery

         Available for long haulers is the PMDG 747-400 repaint based on our launch livery with Christmas graphics added. This repaint was produced by Mr Paschalis Katsiotis ASe287. You can find it here.

         Also available is a "Santa" repaint of our PMDG 737-700 NGX created by Mr Maximos Sevastopoulos. You can find it in AVSIM's library  here. 
        You can also have the "Bold & Beautiful" project livery for our PMDG 737NG created by Mr Babis Peribolas ASe300 here , or if you prefer ASe's launch livery you can find textures for PMDG 737NG here.

17. Wrapping things up

         Our dear Pilots and friends, we have established something special in the history of Aegean Seagull vAS, Hellenic vACC (the oldest event in its history)  and also well known in the international FS community (the oldest VA event in VATSIM as well). Therefore we hope that we will see you flying  with us. As it is a Special Event, please feel free to invite all FS friends of yours, even if they are not Aegean Seagull Pilots. We want to share this event with as many pilots as possible, because we want to celebrate the 12th anniversary of this strong tradition of ours. Be a part of our tradition! Most of the pilots that have flown in our event, are looking forward to flying in next year's event. 

18. ATC Event coverage

         All vACCs along our route have been kindly asked their support. Below you can find the names of Air Traffic Controllers that have registered their ATC coverage so far. 

Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa's Home Year #14  LGAV-EFRO
#	Air Traffic Controller	ATC Post	ATC Post Description
1.	Mark-Julius Pikat	Tallinn Control
2.	Johannes Erdfeld	INTOR (Feeder Sector)
3.	Heigo Tomba	INTOR (Feeder Sector)

19. Event photos

         You invite each and everyone of our particpants to shoot nice screenshots from their cockpit, their ATC console and send them to us. We will publish them along with their names in the debriefing page of our event. The best one will the "Photo of the Event 2014". 

Special Thanks to 

- Mr Vangelis Hasiotis ASe411 for his contribution in the real-life LGAV-EFRO flightplan and EFRO approach/visit photo reportage. It feels really good to know that one of us flew this dreamy route as a real pilot !

- Mr Babis Peribolas ASe300 and  Mr Pachalis Katsiotis ASe287 for painting ASe's 737 and 747.

- Mr Maximos Sevastopoulos for his "Santa" repaint of our PMDG 737-700 NGX. 

- Mr Mike Ionas Olympic Airlines Virtual CEO for his kind acceptance of our invitation

         Do not hesitate to contact us for any additional information or question you might have. For real time contact on Skype: talos334

               PLEASE, DO NOT FORGET TO INFORM US ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATION.

 Finally our best wishes for

  Merry Christmas  

and a

Healthy & Happy New Year  

to you and your family !!!.

 

Site is best viewed on the 1280x1024 analysis with I.E.

Document last updated on : 13/12/2014 - 13:53 Local Hellas Time

Aegean Seagull vAS Homepage

             Click on the respective names for our unique "The Bold & The Beautiful" Project, our Special Tours Page and our ASe Quiz Page.