As VATWA is a Division under VATASIA, both VATSIM's Code of Conduct (CoC), VATSIM's Code of Regulations (CoR) and VATASIA's Policy remain in effect.
Table of contents
All VATWA Staff members (Callsign "VATWAx", where x denotes the staff position number) are listed on the Division's Staff page, with link to e-mail and job description.
In the absence of Director VATWA (VATWA1), VATWA2 replaces him/her with all duties. In case of vacancy for VATWA1, Director VATASIA (VATASIA1) can nominate any of the existing VATWA staff to fill the position on an interim basis until a new Director of VATWA (VATWA1) has been appointed or VATASIA1 replaces him/her with all duties.
Note that VATASIA is a VATSIM ASIA Region Staff member, not a VATSIM West Asia Division Staff member.
§ 2 - Virtual Area Control Centres (VACCs)
The VACC is the local organization serving a specific country, and established within VATWA to perform the following roles:
- Coordinate training of new members
- Maintain archives of required material for Pilots and ATC within their airspace
- Coordinate ATC operations within their airspace
- Organize events
- Brief visiting pilots on procedures
- Communicate with VATWA regarding local matters
- Create and maintain a local VATSIM community for all VATSIM members belonging to the VACC area
Creation of a new VATWA VACC is authorized by Director VATWA (VATWA1), and members wishing to establish a new VACC should first contact VATWA1. New VACCs will start as unofficial VACCs (see below) until they reach official status.
VACCs become official upon reaching an unanimous decision by, VATWA Staff in consultation with VATASIA1.
An Official VACC must be directed by a member of minimum "Controller" C1 Level. It must also include a Training Director, who is able to issue "recommendations" to the Training Department for Controller Upgrades, following performed Controller Practical Tests (CPTs).
The training director also needs to hold a minimum CTR (C1) rating and is encouraged to apply for an INS rating and developing his/herself to fulfill the other pre-requisites as set out in the ATC Training Department section of this website.
An Official VACC must provide, through their website, the necessary information for virtual Pilots and ATCs to operate within its airspace. This should include:
- Training Department (custom tutorials, with links to other training material)
- Downloadable charts
- Other downloads (e.g. sector files, POF-files, scenery information, etc)
- FIR information (routes, navigation, regulations)
- Staff member lists (contact information)
- Member lists (including ATC Endorsements and list of Visiting Controllers)
- Partly Open Forums accessible to all members for informative purposes in addition to having secured log in Forum boards for registered members
- Link to related Virtual Aviation and Controlling websites
No political material may be displayed on the VACC webpage.
An overview over all Countries and VACCs is displayed on the VATWA vACC/Countries page.
Any VACC director nomination and selection needs approval by VATWA1
A VACC director may be dismissed by the unanimous decision of current VATWA staff.
§ 2.2 - Unofficial VACCs
An unofficial VACC meet some of the above requirements, and is informative enough to be included on the VATWA Country/VACCs webpage. The VACC's own webpage must clearly identify that they have unofficial status. Staff members of an unofficial vACC are installed and dismissed by unanimous decision of the staff of VATWA.
Unofficial vACCs are not authorized to perform their own practical tests (CPT's) or to issue upgrade recommendations directly to the Membership Department.
Any vACC who does not have Official Status will not be given AtsimTest Authorized User access. All vACC Recommendations must then go through VATWA membership department.
Further references relevant to Unofficial vACCs is found in § 15 below.
§ 2.4 - VACC Status
A VACC may be rendered unofficial by the unanimous decision of the VATWA Staff. A VACC may loose its official status when one or more of the criteria outlined in § 2.1 are not met for a period of more than 3 consecutive months.
§ 3 - VACC Policy and Regulations Revisions
VACCs are required to adopt and agree upon an internal policy, or constitution.. This policy should contain procedures on how a vACC Director is nominated, selected, dismissed and replaced, the rights and obligations of its members, information about the set up and structure of the vACC, and any disclaimers required under any relevant data protection acts. A vACC policy, or any changes there to, needs to be approved by VATWA1 and VATASIA1. For the avoidance of doubt whilst local language versions are encouraged, an English version will be the overriding and sole official version.
Each VACC is free to organize its internal events, but for better promotion, we recommend that VATWA Membership staff is advised and consulted in advance, in order to promote the event within the entire Divsision or indeed Region and elsewhere.
§ 5 - Air Traffic Controllers and VACC Airspace
A member with an ATC rating in according with VATSIM's Global Rating Policy belonging to VATWA, has the following rights as to where he/she can provide ATC:
- In official VATWA VACC's airspace, only if listed on the VACC's controllers membership roster, and if considered "active" by the VACC Director
- In unofficial VATWA VACC's airspace, only if listed on the VACC's controllers membership roster
- In VATWA airspace, where no VACC exists, only if the individual is registered as a VATWA or VATASIA member
Each VACC has its controller and pilot members. In official VACCs, only the listed "active" member controllers can provide ATC within the VACC's airspace. A VACC has the authority to refuse a member the status of active ATC, based on published VACC policy.
A VACC has the right to render a controller "inactive" based on published VACC policy (see § 3 for details), and to not allow the member to provide ATC within the VACC's airspace until necessary procedures are completed for reactivation of his/her ATC status. It is the duty of the controller to fulfill the VACC´s requirements, and communicate with the VACC in order to regain "active" status, similarly it is the obligation of the VACC to assist and support the member wishing to be reactivated by means of Over the shoulder (OTS) checks within a reasonable period of time after a reactivation request being submitted.
The list of active controllers must be publicly displayed by each VACC, while the decision to display the Pilots, or general members list, rests with each VACC. Names and VATSIM IDs must be displayed, while email addresses are optional.
Any member with an ATC ID level, wishing to control within an official VACC's airspace, without already being a published member, must be authorized by the VACC as a "Visiting Controller". The Visiting Controller should be recommended by the VACC's TD, by checking applicants proficiency. It is the VACC Director who is in charge of accepting or rejecting a Visiting Controller.
This privilege can either be:
a. Publicly viewable on the VACC's webpage (e.g. Controllers roster), or
b. Kept in the VACC's membership records
Members who have just transferred Region with previous ATC rating and joined VATWA for provision of ATC services, must select an official VACC or VATWA TD to oversee their possible training needs. This is done by contacting the VACC's Training Director, or VATWA2 (VATWA TD Director), for further instructions.
All Transfers from another Region or Division is subject to the VATSIM Executive Committee Transfer and Visiting Controller Policy as found on http://www.vatsim.net webpage.
§ 6 - Use of text and voice for ATC
Voice restrictions, based on Controller ID level, do not apply within VATWA. And the Code of Conduct paragraph 8 & 10 applies.
Each controller who provides voice services must assure that his voice server IP is distributed to Pilot clients via his radar client software. In case the radar client software requires the voice IP to be entered manually, the voice IP must be the first line of the Controller's ATIS, enabling pilot clients to identify the voice IP as quick as possible.
Text ATC remains active as a mode of communication, and every pilot and controller must be able to exercise this if needed. Pilots must be tuned to their controller's text ATC frequency (COM1/COM2 in FlightSimulator), even if they intend to use voice. Voice ATC is primary, to aid speed, ease, and realism of communications, but some times for various reasons, like voice connectivity problems, text-only communications has to be used.
All ATC across the West Asia Division need to be able to offer ATC instructions be it by Text or Voice in English at any time.
Only the following ATC Callsign suffixes are authorized for ATC: DEL , GND , TWR , APP , DEP , CTR and FSS.
- _CTR suffix is either "Control", "Radar", "Centre" or "Control Radar"
- _OBS suffix must be used by ALL members connecting as OBServers who do not provide ATC
- _FSS suffix must be used for VATWA's UIR sectors and Oceanic sectors, and any other station as specified below
- _SUP suffix is for VATSIM Supervisors on Supervisory duty, and
- "ACCxxx" or "VATxxx" prefixes are for VACC and Divisional authorized staff only.
The use of _FSS suffix in radar client software falls under VATWA Policy. It is permitted within VATWA airspace, but the rules specified below, and as used within § 14 (temporary solution), must be respected.
Besides UIRs and Oceanic, the only stations allowed to use the _FSS suffix as a callsign for ATC are other stations or areas requiring exceptional geographic radio coverage. Note that the FSS stations within VATWA provide Control service and not Advisory Service.
§ 8 - Operations, Frequencies and Airspace changes
Despite our efforts to maintain a high level of real world realism, any proposed change to operations, frequencies in use, and/or airspace, will have to be reviewed by VATWA staff.
This requirement will ensure that a new set of rules, even if it is based on real world changes, do not interfere with surrounding VACC's operations.
§ 9 - VATWA Restrictive Ratings (RR)
The following VATWA RR Policy is in effect and is compliant with the VATSIM Global Rating Policy which can be found on the main VATSIM website.
a) Controllers with a VATSIM ID level of Student (S1) are allowed to log on and perform ATC service in the capacity of Delivery (DEL), Ground (GND) or Tower (TWR) as part of their training. This is subject to local restrictions, however a trainee may only be granted solo controlling privileges on one airport. If this airport is a major airport then being granted a solo validations also includes major tower endorsement for this airport. Training on other airports must be supervised by a mentor/Instructor. A list of the airports with the relevant trainees needs to be available on each vACC's website. In order to gain solo controlling privileges for airports in general (subject to the GRP) the trainee needs to progress to S2 rating.
b) Controllers with a VATSIM ID level of Student (S2) are only allowed to log on and perform ATC service in the capacity of Delivery (DEL), Ground (GND) or Tower (TWR) or Approach (APP) as part of their training. This is subject to local restrictions, however a trainee may only be granted solo controlling privileges on one airport. If this airport is a major airport then being granted a solo validations also includes major tower endorsement for this airport. Training on other airports must be supervised by a mentor/Instructor. A list of the airports with the relevant trainees needs to be available on each vACC's website. In order to gain solo controlling privileges for airports in general (subject to the GRP) the trainee needs to progress to S3 rating.
c) Controllers with a VATSIM TD level of Student (S3) are allowed to log on to and perform ATC service in the capacity of Delivery (DEL), Ground (GND), Tower (TWR), Approach (APP) or Departure (DEP)
d) Controllers with a VATSIM ID level of Controller (C1) are allowed to log on and perform ATC service in any of the capacities mentioned above in addition to that of Center (CTR) and are allowed to logon and act as _FSS, as used within §14.
All Members may log on with next level up from the one specified in GRP only for training purposes and only if they have someone training, mentoring or overseeing them or have been granted Solo Training as per GRP.
§ 10 - Conflict Resolution - Disciplinary procedures
To the extent possible, VATWA strives to prevent conflicts and disputes from reaching a point that detracts from our activities, or results in disciplinary action.
It is not the intention of VATWA to be involved in "personality conflicts". However, if disputes do become disruptive in nature, or if specific complaints are brought forward, then the VATWA Division Conflict Resolution Manager (DCRM), be asked by VATWA1 to mediate between the parties in a neutral, unoficial and impartial manner and report his findings back to VATWA1
In cases arising from Supervisor suspensions superior to 24 hours, the DCRM will automatically become involved, for determination of guilt and suspension application (if required). User co-operation with the DCRM is a requirement for VATSIM membership, and refusal to co-operate may result in suspension.
For further information on disciplinary procedures, please read the VATSIM Code-of-Conduct (CoC) and Code-of-Regulations (CoR).
Basically, a member may be suspended for 24 or 48 hours by a Supervisor for acting illegally within VATSIM Network. The DCRM will automatically be notified for 48 hour suspensions, and soon after that, the suspending Supervisor and the suspended member may be called upon by the DCRM to give further evidence. The DCRM will soon decide the penalty, further suspension or not, and inform all parties involved. If the suspended member disagrees, then he/she still have the right to appeal the decision to the Region Conflict Resolution Manager (RCRP), who will make the final decision.
Disciplinary action may be taken against a member, in accordance with the CoC and CoR if a Supervisor performs a 48 hour temporary suspension.
VATWA's official Policy on this issue is in full compliance with VATSIM CoC and CoR.
The DCRM is in charge of administering such procedures, as stated in § 10 above.
At the request of ATC or Supervisory personnel:
From time to time Pilots may experience an in flight problem, usually due to using third party add-on, such as FS Passengers or similar causing the need for the Pilot to declare a Pan Pan or Mayday call. It is important that both Pilots and ATC understand that in accordance with § 8 of the CoC ATC have the right to deny the emergency and the pilot is then obliged to stop such an emergency or alternatively to disconnect from the network.
ATCs may deny an emergency, particularly to prevent delays to other pilots, or during heavy traffic periods. Emergencies are usually not welcome during fly-ins. If an emergency is denied (and the pilot is unable to resume normal flight), the pilot should immediately disconnect from the network or cease the emergency.
In cases of Simulated loss of Voice Communication the pilot is obliged to monitor TEXT communication in case of general Network related messages being broadcasted.
Military Flights are allowed within VATWA, as long as they:
- do not interfere with civilian flights and are not on combat missions
- do not interfere with politically sensitive matters / areas in the real world
- do not have a political message passed by their activity
- must follow standard IFR or VFR routes, or may
- follow different routes / procedures only after air traffic controller's approval (if present) and/or previous consent by the local coordinating authority (i.e. a vACC or VATWA)
- follow VATSIM Special Operations Administration (VSOA) Policy as stated on the main VATSIM webpage
For example: Aerial refueling, formation flying, precision approach, military cargo and similar flights are allowed. Simulation of combat operations over national territories that are not in line with VSOA policy or the local coordinating authority is not aware of are strictly forbidden.
ATC should/can request the purpose of the flight's mission. If the response from the flight leader does not seem to be in accordance with the above, then records should be taken (VATSIM ID, radar snapshots, callsigns, etc), and be reported to the DCRM for further action. Online verbal conflicts must be avoided.
As of June 11th 2012 no UIR sectors have been approved. This section will be updated as and when required
Open Sky is an initiative allowing the members of any vACC within the VATASIA Region to open up any position in a designated Open Sky Area in order to bring online presence to current dormant or non-existent areas of VATWA.
In other words, members can control as per their GRP2 rating requirement at any time they so wish without the need to sign up as Visiting Controllers. This policy will be subject to continued review and can be amended or revoked at the discretion of VATWA.
§ 16 Fast Track Upgrade/Network Transfer
Fast Track Upgrade
Available for Real World Air Traffic Controllers and Commercial or Airline Pilots.
NEED TO CONTACT VATWA TRAINING DIRECTOR
This is the program applicable to real life Air Traffic Controllers and pilots holding Commercial Pilot or Airline Pilot Licence aiming to eliminate time requirement for ATSimTest for each level.
Under this program applicants are still obliged to take the written exams and respective CPTs. However, they are not restricted with the time requirements for each level. The ATSimTest for the next level will be sent to the candidate as soon as his current level becomes active.
The procedure for Fast Track program is as follows.
- Candidate for FAST TRACK program applies to his/her vACC Director or Training Manager for Fast Track program with the evidence that he/she is holding valid CP or ATP Licence. The best acceptable evidence is the copy of his/her Licence. A brief resume explaining the real life aviation experience of the candidate is also required.
- The vACC Director or Training Manager confirms VATWA TRAINING DEPARTMENT that the applicant is eligible for FAST TRACK program.
- VATWA Training Director grants applicant the FAST TRACK program.
- Those candidates with no official vACC should make the FAST TRACK application to VATWA TRAINING DIRECTOR
- The respective CPTs under the terms of divisional policy and global rating policy can be held by either the local vACC's Training Department or the VATWA TRAINING DEPARTMENT.
- Refusal of FAST TRACK UPGRADE application is at the discretion of VATWA Training Department if the applicant...
- fails to submit his real life licenses and/or relevant documents.
- proves to have bad VATSIM record.
- displays immature behavior.
- fails to understand and comply with the concepts of virtual controlling.
- fails to pass 3 consecutive STUDENT tests.
(*) VATWA Training Department may ask applicant to submit the copy of the Licence any time.
TRANSFER FROM OTHER NETWORKS
In order to encourage members of other networks to join VATSIM, and taking into consideration their virtual experience in the other network, VATWA TD have implemented a standard transfer policy.
Transfer from IVAO
All transferring members are eligible to apply once for acceptance in the rating corresponding to their last rating held in IVAO for at least six months.
- All IVAO members holding ACC level and above can apply for C1 Level.
- All IVAO members holding APC level can apply for S3 level.
- All IVAO members holding ADC level can apply for S2 level.
All transferring members will need to pass the relevant ATSimTest theory test and pass the CPT for each rating individually. Every test can only be retaken once after failing it.
Any IVAO member holding INS level and above wishing to transfer should contact VATWA1 or VATWA3 directly, however since INS level is not an ATC rating as such but a function a transfer swould usually take place to C1 level.
In order to process these applications we will also require the followings:
- Recommendation or introduction from the relevant vACC DIRECTOR or in the case of a non official vACC by applying to VATWA Director and Training Director
- Proof of IVAO Rating being claimed by the transferring member.
Transfers from other networks than IVAO
At this moment in time, there are no other transfer rules in force.
Members transferring from other networks than IVAO are deemed to be new members and should proceed as normal.
