International Virtual Aviation Organization Hong Kong Division Report 2014 Annual Report January 21, 2015 1
1. Mission, Vision, and Values Our Vision Committed to an Efficient, Sustainable and Friendly online aviation system in Hong Kong Our Mission Positioning IVAO as a leading virtual aviation organization of the local communities Providing a highly realistic simulation experience whilst maintaining a fun and friendly atmosphere Providing information and training in real life procedures for Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers Facilitating the growth of flight simulation through the application of leading edge technology in online computing systems Maintaining a safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic within the IVAO Hong Kong Flight Information Region Providing aeronautical information service and alerting service within the IVAO Hong Kong Flight Information Region Ensuring compliance with IVAO training standards by Hong Kong registered examinations and promotions Bridging flight simulation and aviation education in the local communities Monitoring compliance by virtual airlines with IVAO Rules and Regulations Our Values Safety and security Efficiency and effectiveness Compliance with standards Professionalism and integrity Teamwork Sustainable development 2
2. Table of Content 1. Mission, Vision, and Values... 2 2. Table of Content... 3 3. Director s Review... 4 4. Organization Chart... 5 5. Calendar of Events... 6 6. Departments... 7 6.1. Training... 7 6.2. Web services and Members... 8 6.3. Event and Tours... 9 6.4. Flight Operations... 10 6.5. ATC Operations... 11 3
3. Director s Review 2014 was a year full of challenges for the IVAO Hong Kong Division (HK). After months of hard work, the Hong Kong Division was established in mid-2014. The operational departments with the coordinators gradually launched as the official status to provide full coverage services to the online aviation community and the local public. Prior to the opening of the new division, preparation work had been reached with IVAO Headquarters to formulate a fully functional division. It should be noted that the establishment would not have been completed so expeditiously had it not been for the full support of the Executive Council, the Training Departments, and the Indonesia Division. With the successful implementation of the division website and adaptation to the Headquarters website, the operations of ATC, Pilot, Event and Members have been functioning satisfactorily. By the end of 2014, the Hong Kong Division membership base recorded a slight increase of 9 per cent each month to 183 members with 89 of them are active. The increase was significant in August, partly as a result of the new introduction of the division. The two local operators, Oasis Hong Kong Virtual (OHK) and Air Golden (AGD), continued to expand their members. By the end of December, the membership base of OHK and AGD increased to 22 and 12 IVAO members respectively. Considerable preparatory work was carried out during the year under review of the Training Department to conduct training standardization and for the commissioning of the examination system. Consequent upon its commission, Hong Kong Division will enter into the era of the full standards division. The Division will also embark on a new project on web-based information services to further improve the provision of air traffic services. 4
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to all HK staff for their hard work throughout the year. Their contributions have been essential in maintaining IVAO as the local leading virtual aviation community. Jacky Wan Hong Kong Division Director International Virtual Aviation Organisation http://hk.ivao.aero 4. Organization Chart Division Director Mr Jacky Wan Webmaster Membership Coordinator Mr Jacky Yeung Training Coordinator Mr Gary Law Training Assistant Coordinator Mr Jacklyn Wu Training Advisor 1 Mr Anthony Au Flight Operations Coordinator Mr Gerald Kong ATC Operations Coordinator Mr Eric Wong Event Coordinator Mr Gerald Kong Flight Operations Assistant Coordinator Mr Dennis Lam 5
5. Calendar of Events Date Jan 5 The beginning of preparation work for the new Hong Kong Division. Jan 9 Created the first IVAO Hong Kong sector file (Cycle 1401). Jan 10 Registered with the domain IVAO.HK and began website development. Apr 4 Sector file had updated (Cycle 1404). May 16 Aug 5 Aug 9 Aug 16 Sep 3 Sep 27 Oct 11 Oct 18 Nov 27 The first review of website with IVAO Training Department. The website was fully operational. The official establishment of the Hong Kong division. Event: What if Hong Kong Server Migration began. Groupflight from Indonesia to Macao Intl (VMMC). Event: SEA Triangle with Indonesia and Thailand Division. Event: Kai Tak Challenge with Russia Division Completion of Server Migration. Dec 26 Sector file had updated (Cycle 1501). Dec 28 Air Golden (AGD) listed as an official Virtual Airlines in IVAO. 6
6. Departments 6.1. Training The Training Coordinators are responsible for: Managing of training courses and materials for pilots and controllers; Conducting and marking examinations; and Ensuring high standards of training across all disciplines. Training Materials Within the year, the Hong Kong Training Coordinators developed a set of ATC Manual referenced from the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong SAR. Combined with the Supplementary Manual that designed for the virtual aviation environment, the full set of ATC Manual had been implemented to the ATC Training, ensuring a high level of realistic to the ATC standards. The Manual is open to public to read and download. Examinations To establish a well examination system with international standards, the training coordinators worked closely with the Headquarters Training Department to review the procedures and quality. There were 3 monitored practical examinations within Hong Kong between September and November. More PP and ADC monitored practical examinations and reviews are going on to ensure the division can have the ability to conduct examinations. An internal question bank had been developed by the coordinators for practical examinations. 7
6.2. Web services and Members The Webmaster and Membership Coordinators are responsible for: Managing the division website and related web services; Maintaining the membership database; Reviewing the statistics of membership and website usage; and Managing the social media and communication channel. Website The division website was fully operational during the establishment of the Hong Kong Division, including the Wordpress 4 central management system, the division Teamspeak 3 server, and the ATC automatic dashboard with the internal assignment system of Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) Code. The remarkable SSR code assignment system was completed in mid-october. The powerful website provides a convenient platform to access and edit the published information. With the integrated Facebook user management, the Web CMS enabled the multi-departments editing roles for coordinators to update pages and events. By the end of December, the division website introduced the new theme to compliance with the new IVAO branding. The CSS code and stylesheet had been implemented to be aligned with the future IVAO Headquarters Website. Server Migration The Hong Kong VPS server was being migrated for more capacity and save cost. The migration plan had been executed in early September. With the complication of the web system, the migration plan was a hard work to the web service team. By the end of November, this plan was been completed and the testing were passed with the original schedule of completion was at the end of December. Social Media With the establishment of the division, the Facebook page and Facebook group had been started to serve as multi-purpose communication channel between staff-to-members and members-to-members. The promotion and enquiries were handled through the above platform and received remarkable response. By the end of December, the Facebook page and Facebook group had 350 likes and 470 members respectively. 8
6.3. Event and Tours The Event Coordinators are responsible for: Organizing division events and group flight; Coordinating with divisions and virtual airlines for joint events; and Creating division tours and assisting with validation. Event Coordinating Since the establishment of the division, the event coordinators had been organizing 6 events including the celebration event of establishment (What if Hong Kong). The implementation of the event checklist ensured to follow the proper procedures of registering an event over IVAO network. Apart from the preparation, the event coordinators worked so hard on coordinating with the available controllers and the participant parties. In the future, a minimum of 5 events per year was committed to provide enough activities for online active members. Division Tours The division tour suggestion campaign was completed by the end of October. There were 3 sets of suggestion for IFR and VFR tours. These suggestion will be modified to compliance with IVAO Rules and Regulation and to be introduced in early 2015. 9
6.4. Flight Operations The Flight Operations Coordinators are responsible for: Maintaining the route database; and Maintaining flight procedures and resources within Hong Kong FIR. Route Database The IVAO route database of Hong Kong airports had been updated after the establishment of the division. The update contained 118 destinations and 232 routes with standard ICAO flight plan and international airways. The flight operations had received remarkable assistance from the local operators, Oasis Hong Kong Virtual (OHK) and Air Golden (AGD) to validate the flight routes. These update was completed in mid-september. Charts and Procedures Navigation Charts had been published in mid-august, including the Kai Tak Airport that had closed in real life. The Kai Tak (VHHX) Procedures had been tailor-made for IVAO network in combining the traditional Integrated Guiding System (IGS) approach, Visual Step Down and the modern airways for arrivals. The departure procedures were remained with the 1998 procedures during the final dates of Kai Tak. For the other part of the FIR and the airports, including Hong Kong Intl (VHHH), Macao Intl (VMMC) and Shek Kong (VHSK), were reinforced to the recent real life procedures. Pilot Enquiry The Flight Operations Coordinators were assisting members to use the IVAO network software. Especially to introduce IVAO to other simulation network population and provide instant support through email and voice for members to adapt the IVAO software. Virtual Airlines The two local operators Oasis Hong Kong Virtual (OHK) and Air Golden (AGD) were working closely with the Flight Operations Coordinators to register with IVAO. By the end of December, Air Golden (AGD) was approved by the Flight Operations Department and became the first official Virtual Airlines based in Hong Kong. The Oasis Hong Kong Virtual (OHK) will soon be listed in the early of 2015. 10
6.5. ATC Operations The ATC Operations Coordinators are responsible for: Setting the facility ratings in the Hong Kong FIR; Maintaining the sector files with related software; Publishing and maintain the ATC Manual in conjunction with the Training Coordinators; Maintaining the airport database; and Maintaining the ATC dashboard and resources in conjunction with the Webmaster. Sector Files With the assistance of Mr Jacky Wan and Mr Dennis Lam, the IVAO Hong Kong sector file had been created in January from the former aviation organization. Contingency updates were made by Mr Dennis Lam in April and December. The sector file was fully functional with various tools, including Airways and Transition Routes, Departures, Arrivals, Instrument Approaches, Aerodrome Taxiways and Parkings, Geography and Coastlines. A sector manual was published in August before the establishment of the division. Airport Database The database of IVAO was updated with recent communication facilities and frequencies, including the implementation of Kai Tak procedures and Macao Approach Area. The primary frequency of Hong Kong Radar was modified from 121.300 MHz to 127.100 MHz. ATC Position Priority Scheme With the planning of the facility rating, the ATC position priority scheme was studied and will be soon introduced. The objective was to create a better ATC coverage during the lack of online controllers on behalf of the ratings. A total of 28 positions were identified for the maximum ATC facilities available in Hong Kong area. 11