AFA Washington Hub Report for Aug 10


DC Drivers,

I hope this report finds everyone well and active flying (one can hope). Well it appears we made it through the summer and weathered the Dog Days fairly well as activity did not dramatically fall off nor did it shoot thru the roof. We appeared to retain about 25% of our new members which is really a good thing, and while LOA requests have increased we have also had our members returning back to active status pretty much on the time anticipated. We are the middle class of the VA. There is room for improvement and we will try to move in that direction but keep in mind that it is the fun getting there that is important, that is what it is really about.

The forum area is where you can start, signup and get started. Get to know your fellow hub and AFA members, here is the link; http://forums.flyafa.com. Again this is the best way to get to know hub members as well APG members. Our forum area does pretty well as it appears Mike as well as others keep the discussions going along, it is one of our stronger points

Flying online within the VATSIM network, it’s free and not that hard. It is also a great place to find news friends. Here at APG we have a weekly Sunday flyin event going to various locations along with Tuesdays Hub to Hub flights, all posted on our forums (another reason to signup). Look on our forums and see how to signup. It really is a lot of fun. Give it a try and just jump on in, again our forum section can answer most questions you might have. This is an area that we do not fare well. We have our Solid regulars like Gorden Grant and Larry Wilson amongst others but we could still use more. I hope someday to see us and AFA bringing the majority of metal on Sundays as right now PA rules in this area. They have set the bar high at this event and it would not be easy to unseat them. I envy and commend them for this accomplishment as to me it is truly an outstanding feat. We always have hope…please give online flying a try.

Charter flying, now here is an area we could actually excel at. Mike has been creating some great trips as we have also had a few requested. Visit the area and reserve a trip soon.

New members for Aug are, Timothy Birnbaum, Spencer Vik, George Marsh,  Robert Faus, Zachary Calabrese and Wolfgang Snel. Welcome all.

Members of my deadwood society are HENRY MURRAY and Calum McCroskey. We hope to see both flying real soon.


Promotions for this month are, Ben Robbins promoted to ATP Senior Captain, George Marsh has been promoted to ATP First Officer, Timothy Birnbaum has been promoted to Captain, Wolfgang Snel has been promoted to ATP First Officer, Zachary Calabrese has been promoted to Captain, Alan Escudero has been promoted to ATP Commander, Timothy Birnbaum has been promoted to ATP First Officer,  Robert Faus has been promoted to Captain and Don VanWormer has been promoted to Captain. Congrats to all.

Our PILOT OF THE MONTH award goes to AFA6845 Timothy Birnbaum who has been flying the scheduled flights and online at that, Congratulations

I am happy to see the activity at its pace as we had a few closely matched candidates to pick from for the POM award. Mike and I as always thank you for making DC your home and we hope you continue to enjoy the AFA community.


Mike Burns CP
John Britt HD

Dallas Hub Monthly Report - August 2010

The Dallas hub has experienced a spurt in membership in the month of August.  Membership has increased from 33 to 42 total pilots, which works out to an increase of 27% of the hub pilots.  I would wish a very warm welcome to all our new pilots, all of which are listed below.

Statistics for August 2010
Here are the stats for the month of August:

Total flights:     229 - Up 32.37% on last month.
Total hours:     625.53 - Up 44.8% on last month
VATSIM Flts:    64
VATSIM hrs:    188.52 - 30.16% of total hours

Active Pilots:     37
Term Pilots:      2
LOA Pilots:       2
Resigned:        1
Total:             42

Great work by all the crew. Thank you!

Real World Aviation News
I am trialling a RW aviation news section on the Dallas Hub main page.  A new article of news will be added to the main page on a daily basis*.  I am selecting an item of news that I find interesting, and I hope you do too!  If you find an interesting story worthy of inclusion, email it to me and I will post it.  All stories will need to include the details of the author of the piece, so as not to breach copyright.

Vacancy - Dallas Chief Pilot
The position of Chief Pilot remains vacant at this point in time.  Any Hub member who is interested in the position is invited to send their CV to the Hub Director for consideration.

Charter Centre
Craig Goodspeed has kindly agreed to revamp the Charter Centre and has lodged some Dallas related sporting charters.  To find out more please follow the links from the Dallas Main Page to the Dallas Charter Centre to reserve your charter.  Your kind of charter not there? Then contact myself or Craig, and your charter will be created for you.

VATSIM Sundays
Every Sunday night APG conducts an on-line flight.  These flights are an ideal opportunity to becomew familiar with VATSIM, on-line ATC and group flying.  These flights are conducted in relaxed and stress free environment.  For details on the next VATSIM Sunday flight, follow the links to the VATSIM page, for the joining instructions for the flight.

New Flight Crew
The Dallas Hub is pleased to welcome the following new staff:

AFA3929 Stuart Partridge
AFA3931 Dale Reitz
AFA3932 Paterson Thomas
AFA3933 Gabriel Mojica
AFA3934 Randy Horton
AFA3935 Craig Goodspeed (transfer from KSFO)
AFA3937 Rushi Patel

Promotions
During August the following staff was promoted. Congratulations!

AFA3919 Lucas Mackey promoted to ATP First Officer.
AFA3930 Jeff Clarke promoted to Captain.
AFA3931 Dale Reitz promoted to ATP First Officer.
AFA3929 Stuart Partridge promoted to ATP Captain.
AFA3927 Donald Pettis promoted to Captain.
AFA3934 Randy Horton promoted to Captain.
AFA3932 Paterson Thomas promoted to ATP First Officer.

Hub Aces
This new section of the news will list the top three Dallas pilots, who have logged the highest number of hours during the reported month. For the month of August, these pilots are:

AFA3911 George Brown    81 hours
AFA3929 Stuart Partridge    77 hours
AFA3828 John Guidry        71 hours

Awards
Pilot of-the-Month
The Pilot-of-the-Month for August is Stuart Partridge (AFA3929) who has flown 30 flights for a total of 82.29 hours.  Well done, Stuart! This is a great effort and particularly pleasing to announce as Stuart only joined us during the month of August.

Rookie-of-the-Month
The Rookie-of-the-Month is Randy Horton (AFA3934) who has flown 17 flights for a total of 20.81hours flown.

On-Line flights
All pilots are encouraged to use VATSIM and on-line ATC when flying scheduled and charter flights. VATSIM allows your flight to become "as real as it gets". In addition, on-line group flights are available, and pilots are also encouraged to make use of those flights too. Group flights are conducted in casual friendly atmosphere, designed to be as stress free as possible. Watch the News section on the Dallas Hub main page for dates and times. I fly as many of the International Hub flights as I can, so come along and join me.

Forums
Forum activity has remained a little slow for August. If you haven't signed up yet, please do. If you do have an account, please feel free to use it as the forums are good source of information and knowledge in all things Flight Sim, as well as AFA.

That's it from me this month. Remember, any flight you walk away from was a good one

George Brown
AFA3911
Hub Director - Dallas

*As RW routine/demands allows.

    Hello there Chicago, I am very sorry for getting this report out to you all this late in the month been a bit busy. Ok so as for this month is concerned we have been a busy group the summer is coming to a close so activity should start to rise. I also have received word that Miami is the Hub of the Month so congrats to them. As for Chicago we were three points behind Miami in second place so great work there mates. If your Hub Director would have had this done at the beginning of the month we would be celebrating and again I apologize for my lack in my job. I have returned from vacation and will be catching up with things and getting back in to my normal routine. There is a lot of news down below so be sure to check out all the information. Now on to the stats.

Chicago Hub Stats – July 2010

Active Pilots: 21
Pilots on LOA: 7
Pilots Inactive: 2
Pilots Terminated: 1
Pilots Resigned: 1
Total Pilots: 32

Total Pilots flying: 21 - 66% of pilots flying
Total Pilots flying on-line(VATSIM): 6 – 19% another decrease

Total Flights: 137
Total hours flown: 296.04 – an increase from last month
Total hours flown on-line (VATSIM): 183.05 – a decrease
Percent of hours flown on-line: 62% - a decrease

Chicago VATSIM Pilots

PAY5415 Stephen Carlson 110.83
PAY5564 Tom Seeley 28.96
PAY5611 Nicholas Olson 26.66
PAY5425 Larry Huber 11.43
PAY5525 Nick Kamar 3.17
PAY5618 Ben Buller 2

New Chicago Pilots

PAY5619 Landon Webb

Chicago Promotions

PAY5600 Captain Bob Kujawa - Promoted to ATP First Officer

Chicago Hub Awards

Chicago Pilot of the Month Award (6 hrs): PAY5564 Tom Seeley
Chicago Top VATSIM Pilot Award (5 hrs): PAY5415 Stephen Carlson
Chicago Rookie of the Month Award (4 hrs): PAY5609 Frederick Rivers
Chicago Top Hour Pilot Award (3 hrs): Awarded in August Hub Report


Latest News


Chicago Charter Center

The Charter Center has started to see some activity and there has been a request made for a charter. Myself or Ben will be working on putting some more in the center to fill the holes. Also if you have a request for a charter just ask myself or Ben and we will fill your needs.

Forum Participation

Although not required the forums are a great way to gain knowledge about the airline and hear about current events or changes to any policies. Also forum participation is a part of the Hub of the Month Award. It only takes on post to count, so get out there and congratulate a promotion or welcome in a new pilot. The Hub forum is starting to have some activity, but there needs to be some more.

On-Line Flight with VATSIM: 

Flying on-line is great fun and greatly adds to that Real As It Can Get feeling!  Live ATC, real weather and communications with other pilots!  PAY/APG have a company frequencies for both voice and typing.  PAY/APG has several on-line events every month, plus many more are setup by VATSIM and other VA's!  It's a great way to meet fellow Pilots, have fun and even learn more about flying!  It's easy to setup and it's free! If you need any assistance contact the Chicago Hub Staff and we will help you out. Once you do it a few times you won’t want to go back to the default ATC of FS.

APG VATSIM Events

APG has multiple On-line Events. Check the VATSIM Events page in the forums for more information. You are sure to be able to meet Hub Staff members and the Executives of both airlines.

Top Hour Pilot Award

August will begin this award. As stated in last month’s report the pilot with the most hours at the end of the month will receive 3 bonus hours. So get out there and create competition between your fellow pilots and Hub Staff is also involved in this award. Hub Staff cannot gain the bonus hours.

Alright Chicago that is my report for this month. Get out there and have fun. Fill the skies with Chicago pilots.

Chicago Hub Director Nicholas Olson (PAY5611)

AFA Washington Hub Report for Jul 10


DC Drivers,

Greetings, and although this is the July report it is in realization the last couple of months worth of reporting. My job has kept me quite busy and there are periods where I cannot keep up with my side hobbies, something that just comes with the territory but I am truly sorry for not being able to man the wheel as much as I should. What we can really use in our Hub is another member to step forward and help AFA and us out by becoming a CP. I would like to eventually go back to CP duties myself and hand the reigns over to someone who could at least give this hub the sole attention it deserves. Between Mike and myself we still have little time to completely cover each others duties due to the RW, another CP would at least be a start in covering the needs of the hub.
The forum area is where you can start, signup and get started. Get to know your fellow hub and AFA members, here is the link; http://forums.flyafa.com/. Again this is the best way to get to know hub members as well APG members.

Flying online within the VATSIM network, it’s free and not that hard. It is also a great place to find news friends. Here at APG we have a weekly Sunday flyin event going to various locations along with Tuesdays Hub to Hub flights, all posted on our forums (another reason to signup). Look on our forums and see how to signup. It really is a lot of fun. Give it a try and just jump on in, again our forum section can answer most questions you might have. I have been really missing the Sunday flyins and hope to get back to participating in a couple in the near future.

As far as Charters, Mike has been working on them in his spare time. I hope to see us flying most of them as it helps our hub cause and it shows Mike his work is appreciated.

New members, well quite honestly there are too many to mention for the last few months so I will say welcome all as we are glad to have you.

Same goes for promotions as we have had many, congratulations to all and check the front of our Hub page for more specific information on members promoted.

Our PILOT OF THE MONTH award, again for the past few month we have had many deserving so I will award a few, Marino Bonilla (AFA6823), Billy Macklin (AFA6629), and our own Larry Wilson (AFA6304) congrats all.

Again I apologize for not being able to be here the past few months but it is the nature of the beast and I hope to see things slowing down for awhile in the near future, I have communicated with all that have emailed with questions or problems needing resolution and I am usually available and will answer promptly. Mike and I thank you for making DC your home and for being a member of one of the best VA's on the web.


Mike Burns CP
John Britt HD