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Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa’s Home !!! (Year #7)

A nice holiday flight set from Athens Hellas and Vienna Schwechat Austria to Rovaniemi Finland …

Saturday December 15th, 2007

           This is the well-known annual event in Aegean Seagull’s calendar and has become a nice tradition for all of us. This year it 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 different every year. This year we have chosen Vienna Schwechat LOWW airport. Select your departure airport and here we come flying to Rovaniemi Finland, Santa'’s Home! This year, as in last, our event coincides with our friends' Finnish vACC "Fly See Santa" event, so the fun is guaranteed. 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 minimum Mach 0.78 at FL390.

   

          

                2. Scenery Files

           a. For Rovaniemi Airport (EFRO) and other Finland related scenery check http://vacc.fi/seesanta/sceneries.php 

                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 Vienna Schwechat Airport (LOWW) check 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 LOWW 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 Vienna 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  Vienna Schwechat LOWW 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 0711. 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 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 15th 2007.       

     First group, which will fly the LOWW-EFRO flight,  will meet at the apron of Vienna Schwechat (LOWW) at 17:00 UTC (Zulu), which is 19:00 Local Greece Time. The whole procedure (clearance delivery) will start at 17:10 UTC (Zulu) and the first departure slot (take off) will be 17:20 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 rw.liveatc.net/ase for both flights 

      This will be our check-in frequency 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 LOWW'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 (rw.liveatc.net/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. LOWW-EFRO

LOWW LANUXxx.LANUX UL858 BAVIN UP861 OKX UL733 BURAN UP31 VAPOS UM133 PENOR UM607 RESNA UP609 BABUX EFRO

And here is our Navigation Log :

Aegean Seagull flies to Santa’s Home Year #7 : LOWW-EFRO

LOWW-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 : 3,0 hrs
Location	Id	Type	Freq	Track	Distance	Airway	Country / FIR
Vienna Schwechat	LOWW	Airport					Austria/Wien FIR/LOVV
LANUX	RESNA	ISEC	-	319	59.9	UL858	Exit/Entrance
DESNA	OKF	VOR/DME	113.15	329	5.6		Czech Rep./Praha FIR/LKAA
TABEM	TABEM	ISEC	-	321	20.8
VOZICE	VOZ	ISEC	-	321	22.0
BAVIN	BAVIN	ISEC	-	346	25.4	UP861
DOKEL	DOKEL	ISEC	-	004	41.1
FRYDLANT	OKX	VOR/DME	114.85	025	18.3	UL733
RASAN	RASAN	ISEC	-	019	7.1		Exit/Entrance
BENEK	BENEK	ISEC	-	019	35.3		Poland/Warszawa FIR/EPWW
RONEX	RONEX	ISEC	-	019	86.6
GOLOK	GOLOK	ISEC	-	019	30.4
BURAN	BURAN	ISEC	-	019	50.3	UP31
VAPOS	VAPOS	ISEC	-	035	46.2	UN133
DOMAG	DOMAG	ISEC	-	334	11.8
KOSEL	KOSEL	ISEC	-	336	4.1
PENOR	PENOR	ISEC	-	334	39.6	UM607	Exit/Entrance
TESPO	TESPO	ISEC	-	001	42.0		Sweden/Malmo FIR /ESMM
XOLNU	XOLNU	ISEC	-	001	68.8		Exit/Entrance
TROSA	TRS	VOR/DME	114.30	001	87.4		Sweden/Stockholm FIR/ESOS
RESNA	RESNA	ISEC	-	008	87.2	UP609
SIPRI	SIPRI	ISEC	-	034	35.8
BAKLA	BAKLA	ISEC	-	029	36.5		Exit/Entrance
ETANI	ETANI	ISEC	-	028	99.6		Finland/Tampere FIR/EFES
VAASA	VAS	VOR/DME	114.50	029	20.7
TILTU	TILTU	ISEC	-	020	20.6
INKAT	INKAT	ISEC	-	019	38.6
VASUL	VASUL	ISEC	-	020	39.7		Exit/Entrance
BABUX	BABUX	ISEC	-	018	118.4		Finland/Rovaniemi Control/EFPS
Rovaniemi	EFRO	AIRPORT

Total Distance is some 1220 nm.

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

Note: Final Route is up to pilot's discretion.

  

b. LGAV-EFRO

LGAV ABLONxx.ABLON UB1 SKP UV652 PEREN UN133 KEKED  UM857 PVO UY75 KEKOX.KEKOXxx EFRO

And here is our Navigation Log :

Aegean Seagull flies to Santa’s Home Year #7 : LGAV-EFRO

LGAV-EFRO FLIGHT LOG A/C : 737-700, 727-200 or any a/c type able to cruise with 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
ABLONxx		SID
ABLON	ABLON	ISEC	-	323	23.7	UB1
ILOP	DILOP	ISEC	-	353	10
OMIRO	OMIRO	ISEC	-	353	25
SKOPELOS	SKP	VOR/DME	113.40	353	26	UV652	Exit/Entrance
PEREN	PEREN	ISEC	-	008	87	UN133	Hellas/Makedonia FIR/LGMD
EVIVI	EVIVI	ISEC	-	332	54		Exit/Entrance
SOFIA	SOF	VOR/DME	112.60	355	78		Bulgaria/Sofia FIR/LBSR
RESLA	RESLA	ISEC	-	352	38
ERDOM	ERDOM	ISEC	-	352	11
LOMOS	LOMOS	ISEC	-	352	19		Exit/Entrance
DIROM	DIROM	ISEC	-	342	58		Romania/Bucuresti FIR/LRBB
MOKRU	MOKRU	ISEC	-	342	11
NEKUL	NEKUL	ISEC	-	342	35
VASIS	VASIS	ISEC	-	342	27
BESET	BESET	ISEC	-	341	14
EVRIK	EVRIK	ISEC	-	341	11
ORA	ORA	NDB	418.0	341	47
NARKA	NARKA	ISEC	-	341	9		Exit/Entrance
PERIT	PERIT	ISEC	-	341	34		Hungary/Budapest FIR/LHCC
KEKED	KEKED	ISEC	-	341	46	UM857	Exit/Entrance Slovakia/Bratislava FIR/LZBB
PODAN	PODAN	ISEC	-	004	54		Exit/Entrance
RILAB	RILAB	ISEC	-	007	82		Poland/Warszawa FIR/EPWW
SIE	SIE	VOR/DME	114.70	007	85
BULEP	BULEP	ISEC	-	009	38
SUW	SUW	VOR/DME	117.70	009	80
BOKSU	BOKSU	ISEC	-	018	15		Exit/Entrance
VAKAL	VAKAL	ISEC	-	005	34		Lithuania/Vilnius FIR/EYVL
GUNTA	GUNTA	ISEC	-	008	92		Exit/Entrance
ATRAK	ATRAK	ISEC	-	008	14		Latvia/Riga FIR/EVRR
RIA	RIA	ISEC	-	008	20
SOKVA	SOKVA	ISEC	-	006	60		Exit/Entrance
ANAMA	ANAMA	ISEC	-	006	32		Estonia/Tallinn FIR/EETT
KEMET	KEMET	ISEC	-	006	19
TLL	TLL	VOR/DME	112.20	006	42
BEKNA	BEKNA	ISEC	-	018	8
INTOR	INTOR	ISEC	-	018	20
BALTI	BALTI	ISEC	-	018	5		Exit/Entrance
PVO	PVO	VOR/DME	112.80	018	26	UY75	Finland/Tampere FIR/EFES
ROVIL	ROVIL	ISEC	-	332	34
ANT	ANT	VOR/DME	113.70	355	3
TILDO	TILDO	ISEC	-	355	29
EMLIS	EMLIS	ISEC	-	354	18
LUKAT	LUKAT	ISEC	-	354	18
DIPAR	DIPAR	ISEC	-	354	8
EPESI	EPESI	ISEC	-	359	37
VAVIX	VAVIX	ISEC	-	355	16
MIMLA	MIMLA	ISEC		355	52		Exit Entrance
OSTOS	OSTOS	ISEC	-	356	37		Finland/Rovaniemi FIR/EFPS
OUK	OUK	VOR/DME	113.30	356	30
IRKUN	IRKUN	ISEC	-	356	29
BILSA	BILSA	ISEC	-	356	27
KEKOX	KEKOX	ISEC	-	356	11
KEKOXxx		STAR
Rovaniemi	EFRO	AIRPORT			32

Total Distance is some 1850 nm.

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

Note: Final Route is up to pilot's discretion.

           8. IFR charts

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

       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 procedures knowledge, to avoid any kind of inconvenience.

          9. Flight Duration - What to expect in Rovaniemi.

   Duration of the Flight #1 LOWW-EFRO will be approx. 3,0 hours, from engine start up to engine shut down, not counting the delays that may happen due to increased traffic on ground in Vienna.

    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 15-16/12 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 FL390 for LOWW-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 Skiros” 35.000 lbs of fuel should be enough to cover flight LOWW-EFRO plus 45 mins of holding plus diversion to the alternative airport of Oulou (EFOU) plus medium delay on Vienna 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 #7  LOWW-EFRO
Departure Sequence  #	Pilot's Full Name	Callsign	Country	Aircraft Type	FS Type	Assigned Gate / Stand	Assigned CTOT (UTC)
1.	Savas Tsikkis	HVA827	Hellas	737-700	TBA	40	17:20
2.	Vangelis Dokos	ASE330	Hellas	747-400	FS2004	41	17:25
3.	Aidan Rice	ASE279	Ireland	747-400	FS2004	42	17:30
4.	Dimitris Nisiotis	ASE171	Hellas	737-800	FS2004	43	-

Aegean Seagull Flies to Santa's Home Year #7  LGAV-EFRO
Departure Sequence #	Pilot's Full Name	Callsign	Country	Aircraft Type	FS Type	Assigned Gate / Stand	Assigned CTOT (UTC)
11.	Nikos Terizakis	BMI4RW	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	A05	17:05
1.	Kyprianos Biris	ASE269	Hellas	727-200	FS2004	B15	16:15
2.	Christos Makris	OAL260	Hellas	767-300	FS2004	B13	16:20
3..	Eddie Armaos	OAL331	Hellas	767-300	FS2004	B11	16:25
4..	Haris Kopanidis	AEE103	Hellas	767-300	FS2004	B09	16:30
5..	Orestis Doukas	AEE953	Hellas	A320	FS2004	B07	16:35
6..	George Papaioannou	MCS292	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	B05	16:40
7..	Nikos Christopoulos	ASE181	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	B03	16:45
8..	Panagitis Verras	ASE164	Hellas	737-800	FS2004	A01	16:50
10..	George Dorkofikis	OAL132	Hellas	767-300	FS2004	TBA	17:30
9..	Konstantinos Siderakis	AEO761	Hellas	737-800	FS2004	A03	16:55
12..	Babis Peribolas	ASE300	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	-	17:00
13..	Vangelis Vaos	ASE267	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	A09	17:10
14..	Fotis Dimitropoulos	ASE516	Hellas	737-700	FS2004	A07	17:15

16. Bonus ASe Christmas livery plus...

        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.

        You can also have the "Bold & Beatiful" project livery for our PMDG 737NG created by 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. 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, vACC-SAG (Austria) 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 : 15/12/2007 - 17:15 Local Hellas Time

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