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Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa’s Home !!! (Year #6)

A nice holiday flight set from Athens Hellas and Stockholm Arlanda Sweden to Rovaniemi Finland …

Saturday December 16th, 2006

           This is the first annual event in Aegean Seagulls calendar and has become a nice tradition for all of us. As initiated last year, this event will consist of a two flights set, with simultaneous arrivals in Rovaniemi. As always one flight from Athens Eleftherios Venizelos LGAV and another from a European city airport which is be different every year. This year we have chosen Stockholm Arlanda ESSA airport. Select your departure airport and here we come flying to Rovaniemi Finland, Santas Home! Everyone can take part in this event, no matter if he/she is pilot of Aegean Seagull. 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 Mach 0.78 at FL370.

  

          

                2. Scenery Files

           a. For Rovaniemi Airport (EFRO) and other Finland related scenery check http://files.fsnordic.net/?download=1835 

            and here :  http://files2.fsnordic.net/files/zip/Scenery/EFRO41_Update.zip  

                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 (and in default scenery also) the frequency is 109,1 MHz.

         b. For Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ESSA) check for the Pilot -> Scenery page here.

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

    

 

              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, appear in ESSA or 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 Stockholm or Athens  and e-mail them at fodim@hol.gr. 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 for Stockholm Arlanda ESSA is 19:00 UTC  (21:00 Local Hellas Time) and for Athens LGAV is 16:00 UTC (18:00 Local Hellas Time). Rest will follow with a 3-5 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 !!

 

4. Pre – Connection Procedures - On Line flight

        Be advised that our flight planning has been made on the basis of the AIRAC Cycle 0608. The latest free cycle. Be sure to have this AIRAC data installed in your system, or check for possible incompatibilities with newer cycles. Also if you use FS Navigator 4.x take care and update its airway and intersection databases. You can do this after 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 having contacted the vACCs engaged in our two routes, we expect ATC coverage.  For the record,  you are supposed to know all details about on-line flying otherwise you better leave it for next year when you will be more experienced :-).

   

5. Meeting Point-Communications-AVC usage

    First of all : The date of flight is Saturday December 16th 2006.       

    First group, which will fly the ESSA-EFRO flight,  will meet at the apron of Stockholm Arlanda (ESSA) at 19:00 UTC (Zulu), which is 21:00 Local Greece Time. The whole procedure (clearance delivery) will start at 19:10 UTC (Zulu) and the first departure slot (take off) will be 19:20 UTC (Zulu).

    Second group, which will fly the LGAV-EFRO flight, 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 connect 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… 

     Advanced Voice Client is VATSIM's Official Voice Communication program so we will use it accordingly. You can download the latest valid version  here .    

         We will meet in ASe’s event company frequency which is

    - ESSA-EFRO flight group

        rw.liveatc.net/ase/ESSA 

    - LGAV-EFRO flight group

        rw.liveatc.net/ase/LGAV 

      These will be our check-in frequencies where we just announce our presence and confirm our details. When time comes we all switch to the ATC for the rest of our Event. 

    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 ESSA’s, 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. So please take care and be  AVC able for this flight. 

    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 we will return to our company official frequency (liveatc/ase) and 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 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 .

      a. ESSA-EFRO

      ESSA RESNAxx.RESNA UM607 LEKRA.LEKRAxx EFRO

      And here is our Navigation Log :

      Aegean Seagull flies to Santa’s Home Year #6 : ESSA-EFRO

    ESSA-EFRO FLIGHT LOG

    A/C : 737-700, 727-200 or any a/c type able to cruise with M0.78 at FL370

    FLIGHT LEVEL 370 - CRUISE SPEED : M 0.78 - FLIGHT’S DURATION : 1,0 hr 

    Location

    Id

    Type

    Freq

    Track

    Distance

    Airway

    Country

    Stockholm Arlanda ESSA Airport Sweden

     

    RESNA RESNA ISEC - 001 44.5 UM607
    EDAXA EDAXA ISEC - 013 152.0
    UMSOM UMSOM ISEC - 015 34.8
    LAPIX LAPIX ISEC - 015 36.4
    SOPLI SOPLI ISEC - 015 20.9
    ELBOG ELBOG ISEC - 015 59.1
    BESLA BESLA ISEC - 020 22.5
    MISMO MISMO ISEC - 056 41.4 Exit/Entrance
    ROVIX ROVIX ISEC - 057 10.6 Finland
    LEKRA LEKRA ISEC - 057 18.8

    Rovaniemi

    EFRO

    AIRPORT

         

    Total Distance is some 500 nm.

    FSNavigator 4.X format flight plan and PMDG FMS flight plan can be found here.

     

      b. LGAV-EFRO

      LGAV NEVRAxx.NEVRA UZ507 TSL UR35 EVIVI UN133 KEKED UM857 PVO UY75 KEKOX.KEKOXxx EFRO

      And here is our Navigation Log :

      Aegean Seagull flies to Santa’s Home Year #6 : LGAV-EFRO

    LGAV-EFRO FLIGHT LOG

    A/C : 737-700, 727-200 or any a/c type able to cruise with M0.78 at FL370

    FLIGHT LEVEL 370 - CRUISE SPEED : M 0.78 - FLIGHT’S DURATION : 4,0 hrs 

    Location

    Id

    Type

    Freq

    Track

    Distance

    Airway

    Country

    Athens Eleftherios Venizelos LGAV Airport

    Hellas
    NEVRAxx SID

    NEVRA NEVRA ISEC 

    061 32.6 UN137
    AGILA AGILA ISEC 353 15.7
    KERES KERES ISEC 354 32.9
    PELAS PELAS ISEC 307 30.3
    THESSALONIKI TSL VOR/DME

    112.10

    324 83.3 UR35
    DIKNI DIKNI ISEC

    018 28.4
    ODIKO ODIKO ISEC

    018 4.6
    EVIVI EVIVI ISEC

    018 27.6 UN133 Exit/Entrance
    SOFIA SOF VOR/DME

    112.60

    355 77.8 Bulgaria
    ERDON ERDON ISEC

    352 45.0
    LOMOS LOMOS ISEC

    352 23.3 Exit/Entrance
    MOKRU MOKRU ISEC

    342 69.4 Romania
    ELBAG ELBAG ISEC

    341 22.1
    NEKUL NEKUL ISEC

    341 13.4
    EPOLA EPOLA ISEC

    341 19.4
    VASIS VASIS ISEC

    341 7.8
    EVRIK EVRIK ISEC

    341 24.9
    ORA ORA NDB

    418.0

    341 46.8
    NARKA NARKA ISEC

    341 9.3 UL618 Exit Romania/Entrance Hungary
    KEKED KEKED ISEC

    341 79.8 UM857 Exit Hungary /Entrance Slovakia
    PODAN PODAN ISEC

    003 53.7 Exit/Entrance 
    RILAB RILAB ISEC

    007 82.4 Poland
    SIE SIE VOR/DME

    114.70

    007 84.7
    SUW SUW VOR/DME

    117.70

    008 117.5
    BOKSU BOKSU ISEC

    018 15.4 Exit/Entrance
    VAKAL VAKAL ISEC

    005 34.1 Lithuania
    GUNTA GUNTA ISEC

    007 92.0 Exit/Entrance
    ATRAK ATRAK ISEC

    008 13.5 Latvia
    RIX RIX VOR/DME

    113.70

    008 18.8
    SOKVA SOKVA ISEC

    005 50.2
    ANAMA ANAMA ISEC

    005 31.5
    KEMET KEMET ISEC 005 18.7 Exit/Entrance
    TLL TLL VOR/DME

    112.20

    005 92.2 Estonia
    BALTI BALTI ISEC

    017 32.1 Exit/Entrance
    PVO PVO VOR/DME

    112.80

    017 25.5 UY75

    Finland

    ROVIL ROVIL ISEC

    331 34.4
    ANT ANT VOR/DME

    113.70

    355 2.5
    TILDO TILDO ISEC

    354 28.7
    EMLIS EMLIS ISEC

    354 18.4
    LUKAT LUKAT ISEC

    354 17.7
    DIPAR DIPAR ISEC

    354 8.2
    EPESI EPESI ISEC

    358 36.8
    VAVIX VAVIX ISEC

    355 16.4
    MALIS MALIS ISEC

    355 51.7
    OSTOS OSTOS ISEC

    356 36.6
    OUK OUK VOR/DME

    113.30

    356 29.8
    IRKUN IRKUN ISEC

    356 28.6
    BILSA BILSA ISEC

    356 27.4
    KEKOX KEKOX ISEC

    356 10.9
    KEKOXxx STAR

     

    Rovaniemi

    EFRO

    AIRPORT

     

       32.2  

    Total Distance is some 1850 nm.

    FSNavigator 4.X format flight plan and PMDG FMS flight plan can be found here.

           8. IFR charts

          You can find all nessecary IFR charts for Stockholm Arlanda (ESSA) here , Athens Eleftherios Venizelos (LGAV) here and for Rovaniemi (EFRO) and Oulou (EFOU) airports here. Also for official Finland AIP Aeronautical Charts check here.

        Something else is that if the controller tells you that you under radar control and you will be given radar vectors, please abide by his directions avoiding any possible problems. Last year 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 procedure knowledge, to avoid any kind of inconvenience.

                    

          9. Flight Duration - What to expect in Rovaniemi.

   Duration of the Flight #1 ESSA-EFRO will be approx. 1,0 hours, from engine start up to engine shut down, not counting the delays that may happen due to increased traffic on ground in Stockholm.

    Duration of the Flight #2 LGAV-EFRO 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.

    All pilots be advised that Finnish vACC is organizing an Event for Christmas on 16-17/12 weekend, so expect quite a lot of traffic on EFRO arrival.

    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 FL370 for ESSA-EFRO and LGAV-EFRO as well. 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 Alternative Airport will be Oulu EFOU around 100 nm south of Rovaniemi.

         12. Fuel on board

        For Boeing 737-700 flyers such as Aegean Seagull’s Island of Skiros10.000 lbs of fuel should be enough to cover flight ESSA-EFRO plus 45 mins of holding plus diversion to the alternative airport of Oulou (EFOU) plus medium delay on Stockholm ground. For the same conditions in LGAV-EFRO flight 45.000 lbs of fuel are enough. Expect long holding approaching EFRO so take care to have as much fueal as you can in your tanks.

 

       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.

        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 tables below you can find all registered pilots. 

Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa's Home Year #6  ESSA-EFRO

#

Pilot's Full Name 

Callsign

Country

Aircraft Type

FS Type

Assigned Gate / Stand

Assigned CTOT (UTC)

1.

Terence Mooney

ASE139

Canada

737-700

FS9

9

19:20
2.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

                             

Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa's Home Year #6  LGAV-EFRO

Departure Sequence #

Pilot's Full Name 

Callsign

Country

Aircraft Type

FS Type

Assigned Gate / Stand

Assigned CTOT (UTC)

1. Giannis Bouras ASE282 Hellas 737-700 FS2004 B51 16:15
2. Christos Makris OAL260 Hellas 747-400 FS2004 B13 16:25
3. Aidan Rice ASE279 Ireland 747-400 FS2004 B09 16:30
4. Yannis Apostolopoulos ASE115 Hellas 737-700 FS2004 B59 16:35
5. Nicholas Fragkias ASE063 Hellas 737-500 FS2004 B61 16:40
6. Nikos Terizakis TBA Hellas 737-500 FS2004 LGSK -
7. Paschalis Katsiotis ASE287 Hellas 747-400 FS2004 B07 16:45
8. Nikos Christopoulos ASE181 Hellas 737-700 FS2004 B63 16:50
9. Dimitris Nisiotis ASE171 Hellas 737-700 FS2004 B65 11:00
10. Kyprianos Biris ASE269 Hellas 727-200 FS2004 B55 16:20
11. George Dorkofikis OAL132 Hellas 767-300 FS2004 B07 16:55
12. Fotis Dimitropoulos ASE516 Hellas 737-700 FS2004 B05 17:00
- - - - - - -

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 Paschalis Katsiotis ASe287. You can find it here :

  

17. Wrapping things up 

        Our dear Pilots and friends, we have established something special in the history of Aegean Seagull vAS  and also well known in the international FS community. Therefore we hope that we will see you flying  with us. As it is a Special Event, you are free to invite 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 share this strong tradition of our Virtual Airline System. 

      Many 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 !

- VATSIM's Finland vACC, Hellenic vACC, Scandinavia vACC (Sweden) for their valuable support in our Event. 

        Do not hesitate to contact us for any additional information or question you might have.

               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 : 16/12/2006 - 08:00

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