EGLL 60th Birthday Joint Event

31st May 2006 sees the UKs premier international airport, London Heathrow, celebrating 60 years of existence. What started as an ex-Army tent in a field, mere feet from the aircraft, has grown to the World's busiest international airport, with four terminals in almost constant use, and a fifth under construction. Over 90 airlines flying to 190 destinations carrying over 67 million people per year call Heathrow home. Furthermore, Heathrow is EuroHarmony's most popular hub (with almost twice as many pilots as any of our other hubs!)

IVAO-GB was already running an event to mark the diamond jubilee of the UKs premier airport, so we decided to hook onto the tail of it. Also, in an effort to foster brotherliness with our fellow VA's, FlyUK have graceously agreed to make this a joint event. The memberships of our two VAs get on particularly well when we see each other online, and we both have management team members on the IVAO-GB staff. We have been hoping to run a joint event for quite some time; this was almost heaven sent.

The final piece of the puzzle was a route, and given that this is a mid-week flight, it couldn't be a long one. In the end, we plumped for a simple 1hr 45m run north through France from Marseilles - it's a Class 5 flight for the EuroHarmony pilots that take part (EHM-5037 if you're already Class 5 or above), and it's very similar to a flight that FlyUK has on their timetable.

Note to EHM participants: Go to this thread on the forum [1] and book a takeoff slot. The Online Flying Department will ensure that all pre-booked participants have a correct "slot" on the IVAO flight booking system. This will assist IVAO-GB staff in planning the event and make it a little easier in awarding the IVAO-GB event award. Departure slots at Marseilles are non-negotiable on the evening of the event; there are going to be a fair few pilots from both EuroHarmony and FlyUK wanting to get into the air in as short a time as possible. Ensure you are ready to go at the time you booked, or notify LFML control ahead of your slot being "due" - the ramifications of mistakes in departure times could be huge.

Given the extremely high traffic levels that are expected during this event, participants should be capable of maintaining the published holds. Thanks to EHM1617 (Iain Butler), we have a document that details all relevant procedures for London-Heathrow (linked to from this page immediately, and a number of other places real soon now) Pilots should have read it prior to the event (read: "now").

Route

RouteFinder [2] spat out the following route for the current AIRAC cycle using all available restriction settings (and once again, FSNav auto-calc gave an identical route):

LFML SID MTL UM976 BRY UM733 KOPOR UT426 DIMAL UT420 ALESO STAR EGLL

For SIDs, expect MTL7B for a rwy 14s departure and AVN7C for a rwy 32s departure. Should a 32s departure prove necessary, the airway from AVN to MTL is UZ16:

LFML SID AVN UZ16 MTL thence...

You'll need to file an even flight level for a Northerly heading in French airspace; we suggest an RVSM FL between FL280 and FL380 for a flight of this duration and using a class 5 aircraft.

EGLL 60th Birthday Joint Event * Approximate. Date Wednesday 31st May 2006 Event Start Time Departures start at 18:30Z Event End Time ETE 1h 45m Departure LFML (Marseilles/Provence, France) Destination EGLL (London-Heathrow, UK) Aircraft Any Class 4 or above Network IVAO

downloads Online flying software and procedures [3] EGLL Procedures by EHM1617 (Iain Butler) [4] This document is sort of specific to this event, but the procedures outlined hold true any time EGLL gets really busy on IVAO Event information document by Fly UK Events Department [5] Information for all participating pilots about the event. Supplied by Fly UK Events Department Flight plans pack by Fly UK Events Department [6] Flight plans for the suggested route in FS Navigator (v4), PMDG, LevelD, FS2004 and IvAp formats (assumes B738 being flown). Supplied by Fly UK Events Department Chart pack by EuroHarmony Events Department [7] Current real-world charts for the event (LFML GMC and departure; EGLL SID, APPR, GMC and parking)

Important notes:

• » the information presented on this page is liable to change, especially for long haul events.
• » unless you wish to fly this event as a regular, timetabled Class 5 flight, the flight ID for events is EHM-9999 (if reporting these flights with a PIREP). Participants are also encouraged to file a PIREP on the IVAO VA system [8]
• » during events pilots may fly any Euroharmony class airplane, regardless of rank, and still report the flight.
• » pilots should use their ID as callsign; EHM and three or four numbers (e.g. EHM0250 or EHM250).
• » radio callsign is "Harmony" (e.g. EHM250 is read "Harmony Two Five Zero").
• » pilots are expected to be familiar with both Euroharmony and GB airspace procedures during this event; check the Online Flying Manual [9]. This event is not recommended for novice online flyers!
• » if you still have questions contact the [Online Flying Coordinator] or check out the forum thread for this event [10].
• » screenshots, flight reports/stories and TeamSpeak transcripts for the event are welcomed; send them to the [Online Flying Coordinator] after the event.

See you all in the online skies!
Murray Crane - Online Flying Coordinator