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Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa’s Home !!! 

(Year #15)*

 A nice holiday flight from Athens Hellas to Rovaniemi Finland 

Saturday December 12th, 2015

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          * VATSIM'S OLDEST VA EVENT 

 

         This is the well-known annual event in Aegean Seagulls calendar which has become a nice tradition for all of us. This year is the 14th consecutive one we organize this flight to Rovaniemi. Something that makes us really proud, and having the honour to organize VATSIM's VA oldest event,  we will fly from Athens Eleftherios Venizelos airport (LGAV) to Rovaniemi (EFRO)  Santa's Home! As in the several previous times, our event coincides with VATEUD  & Scandinavia vACC "Fly and See Santa" event, so we expect some fun up there. Everyone can take part in this event, no matter if he/she is an  Aegean Seagull pilot. Please feel free to invite your fellow simmers to this flight…Let’s meet altogether and feel the Holiday Spirit in another dimension….

1. Organizing the Flight

      We will fly our 737-700 or 727-200, but you can fly any of your favorite aircraft as long as you can cruise with minimum Mach 0.78 at FL390. If you take into account the holding time you will face in the end of the trip, this speed is objectively the very minimum, except you have virtually no time limit in your life...:-)

 

2. Scenery Files

           a. For Rovaniemi Airport (EFRO) and other Finland related scenery

a.1 FS2004 scenery 

Check Finnish Scenery Designers page  http://fisd.fsnordic.net/projects/

a.2 FSX scenery

- Free scenery for Rovaniemi (EFRO). Special Christmas edition by Tatu Kantomaa.

  Download : http://simulaattori.mik.fi/efro_x-mas/Rovaniemi_revisited_Christmas.zip

- Download :  http://files.fsnordic.net/?download=2225

Note :  Only an AFCAD file that changes the apron, taxiways and ILS frequency on top of FSX default EFRO scenery. 

- For FSX users, there is a light weight scenery package including all controlled airports except Helsinki Airport (EFHK) and Malmi (EFHF).  The scenery package is built for FSX, but should in theory work also for Prepar3D v2.

Created by Juha Holopainen.

Download : http://www.kolumbus.fi/holopainen.juha/misc/EFxx_FSX_1407.zip

    It would be a good idea to dowload and install scenery for Ivalo (EFIV) and Kittila (EFKT) airports since experience shows that quite an amount of traffic diverts to these airports. Unfortunately Scandinavia vACC has chosen to man alternative airports in Sweden and Norway so in case someone decides to divert he/she will be probably with no ATC coverage.  

    Please note! The ILS frequency for EFRO rwy 21 has been changed. You must download the v.4.1 update to get the new ILS frequency 111,7 MHz active. Otherwise (in both FS2004 and FSX default) the frequency is 109,1 MHz.

b. For Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport (LGAV) and other Hellas related scenery check here.

            It would be great to have the following sites under mind when you search for up to date freeware sceneries. Our good friend Robert Jan Osterloo takes good care of them.

FSX Freeware Scenery            FS2004 Freeware Scenery

 

          3. Registration - Is it obligatory?

       By no means reservation is an obligation of yours. But by doing this, you make our planning efforts much easier and our feedback to the  corresponding ATC will be more accurate and credible with the minimum possible surprises. On the other hand if you found out about this event some late never mind, just appear in LGAV and fly with us. This is what counts after all !! In case you register, you will receive your assigned gate to place your aircraft and an assigned time slot. Have we convinced you? Please send us your Full Name, Callsign, e-mail address, Country of Origin, Flight Simulator version, Aircraft you plan to fly as well as the time you wish to depart from  Athens  and e-mail them to fodim@hol.gr or contact talos334 on Skype. We will try to satisfy your wish for your time of departure, but only if this slot is not reserved for another pilot that has opted for it  prior to your registration. All registrations will be treated on the "first come - first served" basis. Have under mind that the first departure time slot is 16:00 UTC (18:00 Local Hellas Time). Rest will follow with a 2-3 minutes interval depending  on the final number of registrated pilots. It will be quite difficult to intervene in this slot  procedure once it is started and if you would not like to expect your turn after all pilots have departed. So  Please Do Register !! A final request to last minute appearing pilots. Please show respect to the registered pilots sequence and avoid creating a mess in a well streamlined procedure !!!

4. Pre – Connection Procedures - On Line flight

         Be advised that our flight planning has been made on the basis of the AIRAC Cycle 1511. 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 12th 2015.      

     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. As experience showed, not all participant pilots use this frequency, so it will be not be "obligatory". It will be there for everyone...

      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 #15

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

AMISI AMISI ISEC - 014 42.5
KOROS KOROS ISEC - 014 15.9
GIKAS GIKAS ISEC - 332 26.6

UN133

PEREN PEREN ISEC - 332 73.2
EVIVI EVIVI ISEC - 332 53.6

Exit/Entrance

VANET VANET ISEC - 355 53.6

N133

Bulgaria/Sofia FIR/LBSR

DOTAM DOTAM ISEC - 355 3.7
EDADA EDADA ISEC - 355 7.1
SOFIA SOF VOR/DME

112.60

355 13.4
TODRO TODRO ISEC - 352 13.4
OGOTA OGOTA ISEC - 352 17.7
RESLA RESLA ISEC - 352 6.9
ERDOM ERDOM ISEC - 352 11.4
LOMOS LOMOS ISEC - 352 19

Exit/Entrance

OVDOT OVDOT ISEC - 342 43.9

UN133

Romania/Bucuresti FIR/LRBB

SODGO SODGO ISEC - 342 20.5
OBEBI OBEBI ISEC - 342 30.7
NEKUL NEKUL ISEC - 341 9.8
EKNAB EKNAB ISEC - 341 13.2
DIMDU DIMDU ISEC - 341 10.4
VASIS VASIS ISEC - 341 3.7
OLMIP OLMIP ISEC - 341 5.7
EVRIK EVRIK ISEC - 341 19.2
OBARA OBARA ISEC - 022 45.2

UZ317

NEDKO NEDKO ISEC - 019 40.8
RUMUK RUMUK ISEC - 021 24.2

Exit/Entrance

SVITA SVITA ISEC - 351 63.4

UM977

Ukraine/LVIV FIR/UKLL

DIBED DIBED ISEC - 351 48.9

Exit/Entrance

OSMAT OSMAT ISEC - 355 21.3

M977

Poland/Warszawa FIR/EPWW

BALBA BALBA ISEC - 355 37.1
DISBI DISBI ISEC - 355 72.3
ETUBO ETUBO ISEC - 355 24.2
BESOT BESOT ISEC - 355 27.2
EVODO EVODO ISEC - 355 22.4
SUWALKI SUW ISEC - 355 46.5
BOKSU BOKSU ISEC

-

018 15.4

M857

Exit/Entrance

VAKAL VAKAL ISEC - 005 34.1

Lithuania/Vilnius FIR/EYVL

INBOV INBOV ISEC - 008 34.8
GUNTA GUNTA ISEC - 007 57.2

Exit/Entrance

ATRAK ATRAK ISEC - 008 13.5

Latvia/Riga FIR/EVRR

RIGA RIA VOR/DME 112.05 007 20.2
SOKVA SOKVA ISEC - 006 59.7

Exit/Entrance

ANAMA ANAMA ISEC - 006 31.5

Estonia/Tallinn FIR/EETT

KEMET KEMET ISEC - 005 18.7
KUNUX KUNUX ISEC - 005 12.7
TALLINN TLL VOR/DME

112.20

005 29.3
DOBAN DOBAN ISEC - 329 26.1

P855

UVEMO UVEMO ISEC - 342 79.6

L732

GEMKU GEMKU ISEC - 348 36

Exit/Entrance

AMASU AMASU ISEC

-

352 43.7

T95

Finland/Tampere FIR/EFES

GIDKI GIDKI ISEC - 352 54.7
OGTUD OGTUD ISEC

-

352 22.3
ULMEG ULMEG ISEC - 011 12.7
RUBSI RUBSI ISEC - 010 115.0
NEPIX NEPIX ISEC - 019 27.3
NEPIXxx          

Rovaniemi

EFRO

AIRPORT

 

   

Total Distance is some 1798,2 nm.

Study your flightplan and have a copy handy, as many Air Traffic Controllers issue directives "direct to..." and it would be embarrasing to try to find your fix at the moment. 

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 (Official Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority / AIP Publications --> AIP  --> Aerodromes --> AD-2 LGAV /Free log-in required) 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

Recent changes for EFIV charts refer to:

Recent changes for EFKT charts refer to

Aerodrome Charts
ADC EFKT AD 2.4 - 1 20 AUG 2015

       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 12/12, 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 :-) You can find charts for ENTC here  (Official Norway AIP) and for ENTC here (AROWeb – AIS MET and Flight Planning)

        12. Fuel on board

        For Boeing 737-700 flyers such as Aegean Seagulls “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 #15  LGAV-EFRO

Registration Sequence  #

Pilot's Full Name 

Callsign

Country

Aircraft Type

FS Type

Assigned Gate / Stand

Assigned CTOT (UTC)

1.

Nick Gerontoukos

ASE137

Hellas

737-700

FSX

B03 16:00
2.

Michael Katsanis

AEE810

Hellas

A320-214

FSX

B05 16:05
3.

Christos Chaidoutis

AEO320

Hellas

737-800

FS2004

B07 16:20
4.

Panagiotis Papanikolaou

AEO762

Hellas

737-800

FS2004

B09 16:23
5.

Panagiotis Dimzas

AEO004

Hellas

737-800

FS2004

B11 16:26
6.

Alexander Nakopoulos

AEE2016

Hellas

A320

FSX

B13 16:30
7.

Aidan Rice *

ASE279

Ireland

MD-11

FS2004

- PD
8.

Fotis Dimitropoulos

ASE516

Hellas

737-700

FS2004

B15 PD

* Aidan Rice ASE279 will depart from Dublin Ireland (EIDW)

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 15th 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 #15  LGAV-EFRO

#

Air Traffic Controller

ATC Post

ATC Post Description

1.
Joseph Donat Bolton  
EETT_CTR TALLINN CONTROL
2.
Mark-Julius Pikat
EETN_F_APP  TALLINN RADAR
3. Piotr Grudniewski EPWW_CTR WARSAW RADAR

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 2015". 

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

- Aegean Airlines virtual for kindly accepting our invitation

- Aeolos Airlines virtual for their kind participation

- Flightsimmer.gr for announcing our event in their site without prior notice from us

- Austria VACC for announcing our event in their site without prior notice from us

         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 !!!.

 

   

 

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Document last updated on : 12/12/2015 - 11:39 Local Hellas Time

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