CTP Eastbound 2015

Cross The Pond, aka CTP, Eastbound 2015 took place on Saturday, October 24th and once again, some of "The Nutters" came together with the masses and completed our respective virtual journeys from the Eastern United States to the UK and Europe.  CTP is a very large event that captures the attention of hundreds of virtual aviators who take the challenge of flying for 8-10 hours through controlled airspace.  As with any event, this took massive planning on the parts of many Vatsim affiliates including vatsim uk, VATUSA, VATCAN, vat.eud, and Gander Oceanic.  If you aren't aware, the large body of water known as the Atlantic Ocean between North/South America and Europe is affectionately referred to as "The Pond" which sees thousands of real world flights on a routine basis.  With the help of numerous "volunteer" VATSIM controllers, a large crossing is simulated to test the skills of virtual pilots, controllers, and the VATSIM infrastructure.  More on that later.  This would be my first CTP event since real world commitments prevented my participation in the 2015 westbound flight.  If you recall, I participated in Cross The Eurasia westbound earlier in the year and while a successful flight, this flight would require crossing the pond which brings with it specific oceanic clearance procedures.  My oceanic clearance paperwork was in place which would allow me to properly provide accurate position reports to Gander and Shanwick.

 

Prior to the event, airfields are submitted and voting commences to choose the departure and arrival airports.  The date of bookings becomes very busy with obvious server overload as pilots across the globe try to access the website to book their "slot."  Unfortunately, the bookings opened while I was busy at work in the middle of the afternoon and I completely forgot about the openings.  This prevented some of The Nutters from being able to fly the same route but honestly, with multiple virtual pilots come opinions on different departure and arrival airports.  For those who were able to participate, we chose our departure and arrival airports and waited for that email with the designated route and NAT (North Atlantic Track) for the flight.  Since this would be another "early" departure for me it required a 0315 hour wake-up after a few hours of sleep.....

This year saw departures from Atlanta (KATL), Washington Dulles (KIAD), John F. Kennedy (KJFK), Boston (KBOS), Newark (KEWR), and Miami (KMIA) with arrivals into Manchester (EGCC), Amsterdam (EHAM), Charles de Gaulle (LFPG), Berlin-Tegel (EDDT), and Vienna (LOWW).  With 3rd party software available from various vendors, this would give virtual pilots the opportunity to experience relatively accurate airfields both on departure and arrival along with fully staffed virtual ATC positions doing their best to simulate real world ops.

1015 zulu or 0315 local came very early on Saturday morning and Facebook Messenger was already alive with Nutter traffic.  Yes, we are grown men with jobs, families, relationships, etc.  and yes, we chat like teenage school girls :-)  But, I've covered that topic in the past so no need to hash an old point.  But, lets just say....the Nutters stay connected.  Also, a quick look on VatTraffic saw two Nutters already parked at the gates at KATL.  These types of flights take preparation and I was able to complete some of my flight planning the previous evening.  I spawned into KATL in my trusty PMDG MD-11 in old Delta colors and began the pre-flight checks.  Well, actually, my virtual First Officer began all the necessary checks while I completed the flight planning with the route and departure information.  Josh and Graham were already parked at their respective gates and thankfully, the Delta terminals were fairly empty upon entering the sim so the west ramps were empty.  The east ramps were full of International flights and since KATL was working with easterly ops, I would have a short taxi to RWY 8R for the DAWGS8 SID or standard instrument departure.  Other Nutters, Danish, Neil, Wiki, Ben, were working on their departures while my virtual caterers and bag loaders got to work.  My virtual passengers were boarded and with my pre-departure clearance (PDC-a beautiful thing) set and the route planned, it was time to push-back from the gate.  At this time, it became apparent that the VATSIM network was being heavily stressed with communication problems, strange log-offs from controllers, etc.  But, they were quickly sorted at KATL and communication was established with the ground and tower controllers.  I departed a few minutes late but my MD-11 was quickly roaring down RWY8R with a full load of virtual fuel (roughly 158,000 pounds) and 254 virtual passengers.  While the flight began as dark morning in Atlanta, the sun began to rise with a high cloud cover partially covering the sky.  The Atlanta skyline was visible to the north of the airport and after a few turns, I was quickly climbing to FL350. 

 

As you saw above, I added some of the paperwork completed during the event.  And no, I'm not a doctor...which is something one could assume by my terrible handwriting.  Yes, I prefer to type....oh well.  Anyway, the forms allow pilots to note various information for communicating with controllers and it helps reduce errors.  As you can see above, there were plenty of little "ants" marching across the pond and each of those pilots are flying on different North Atlantic Tracks which require position updates to controllers.  Needless to say, the radios are busy and the fewer mistakes the more efficient positions can be noted.  

I continued my flight to the north and my respective NAT, Romeo, would take me on a northerly route across the Atlantic and during the flight, the radios were busy.  It can be difficult making position reports but for as many virtual pilots that were in the air, things weren't as chaotic as expected.  The sun began to slowly set behind the jet while the moon began to rise above the horizon.  The winds were in our favor and at times, I saw tailwinds at 120 knots which translated to higher ground speeds and thus an earlier arrival into Tegel.  Tegel was showing 60+ planned arrivals and as I crossed over Scotland and down the east side of England, it was time for things to get busy.

 

My top of descent or TOD was quickly nearing and the descent briefing was completed and the descent checklist was completed.  I was contacted by Bremmen Radar as I neared the north coast of Europe and my descent began via the VIBIS2Z arrival for the ILS approach to RWY 8L.  The weather was nice for the arrival and the controllers did an excellent job keeping the various jets properly spaced for the arrival.  Radar vectors were provided and before I knew it, I was lined up for RWY 8L and established on the localizer, descending on the glideslope. The runway lights at Tegel became visible and I was able to hand fly the big jet onto the center line with a respectable landing rate.  I let the MD-11 roll to the end of the runway and exited 8L and a quick switch to the ground frequency had me taxiing to Gate 2.  A Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 landed shortly after my arrival while other traffic was taxiing and departing 08R.  

 

8 hours and 22 minutes later, I was parked at the gate and my virtual passengers and their bags were being removed from the jet.  Another successful long haul was completed and once again, thanks to all the VATSIM staff members and controllers who made this happen.  I have also included a series of great shots taken by fellow Nutters during their respective trips across the pond.  Enjoy!