URGENT NOTICE SATNET/SATCO IS NOW VATSIM! THE IVPA NO LONGER EXISTS AND IVPA PILOT ID'S ARE NO LONGER RECOGNIZED BY VATSIM. ALL PAC PERSONEL MUST RE-REGISTER AS A PILOT WITH VATSIM. THIS PROCESS TAKES ONLY A FEW MINUTES FROM APLICATION TO ACCEPTANCE SO PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DO SO NOW!!!!! WELCOME! Hello! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sam Kimpton and, as can probably be surmised by the title of this page, I am the Executive Vice President of PACIFIC AIR CARGO. This reason this office exists is three-fold: For all PAC personel it is a much your office as mine in that its primary purpose is to provide information intended to help you hone your skills as a pilot with our organization. Please remember that I am a virtual pilot (PAC101) just like you and not a desk jockey,...at least in the conventional sense. Your contributions are of value to us all. If you have any questions, comments, and especially suggestions please feel free to contact me via the link to my e-mail at the bottom of this page. The secondary purpose of this page is to give us an opportunity to get aquainted. There is a link to my other website here which will give a little bit of an idea of what Sam Kimpton is about. I invite you to visit it if you feel amenable to the idea. The Third purpose for this office is to familiarize visitors and newcomers with PACIFIC AIR CARGO I will be in my office between flights and plan to update the information on this page on occasion so don't be a stranger. Do drop buy and see me here from time to time. WHAT IS PACIFIC AIR CARGO? PACIFIC AIR CARGO's operations began in early 1999 and we went public in December of that year. Our pilot roster has grown to include 56 pilots. PACIFIC AIR CARGO is a small regional cargo carrier currently serving locations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, and California. We also fly to other locations on a contractual basis. Our current fleet of aircraft include the Piper PA-31-300 "Navajo", The Beechcraft B-99 "Kingair", The Embraer EMB-120, The ATR-42, The Convair CV-580, The Lockhedd L-188 Electra, and The Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Aircraft assignments are based on hours logged with Pacific Air Cargo so get out there and fly. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR PACIFIC AIR CARGO? The future looks bright for PACIFIC AIR CARGO. Expansion will be the name of the game with the incorporation of new hubs of operation in our ever-growing network. We currently have hubs in Northwestern Oregon (PAC Base) and Salt Lake City, Utah. The expansion of our air fleet to include heavier cargo capaicity and longer range aircraft, such as the C-130 will enable us to include more remote hubs of operation, and makes the possibility of greater revenue building potential a reality. PERSONAL OPPORTUNITIES WITH PACIFIC AIR CARGO PACIFIC AIR CARGO is looking for quality pilots at all skill levels. Expeience with other Vitual Airlines is not required. For those of you who do have such experience your hours with your previous "employer" will be credited to you. After all experience is experience. Do not be detered if you do not feel comfortable with navigation or air traffic control procedures. A training program is in the works and we are more than willing to work with you. You can fill out an application by clicking here. Once your application has been processed and you have been issued a "PAC" number you will be granted full access to aircraft and scenery downloads pertanant to your new VA. In addition any contribution, whether software or management related is welcome. Pacific Air Cargo is especially interested in persons who can develop adventures. Our CEO, Jim Vanderbilt (PAC143), would be very interested in talking to you if this latter skill is your baliwick. SOME NOTES ON PACIFIC AIR CARGO'S OPERATIONS PACIFIC AIR CARGO has recently appointed a new director of Operations; Jeff Bradford (PAC132). You should also visit Jeff's office. He is doing a tremendous job and any questions pertaining to our operations should be directed to him. None-the-less I am including an overview of our operations here. PACIFIC AIR CARGO conducts its operations in a virtual-controled world-wide airspace provided by VATSIM using Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 98 and version 2000. SATNET is a network of UNIX servers run by individuals and educational institutions around the world. Its purpose is to provide a real time educational air traffic control experience for flight simulator pilots and controlers the world over. Flying on VATSIM entails meeting certain free-ware software requirements which are outlined in greater detail below. All the neccesary links to websites where you can download these utilities and other sites for registering with other orgainzations required by VATSIM are embedded as links in the text on this page and will also soon be accessable through links embedded in an image of an annunciator panel at this site. WHAT IS NOT ALLOWED ON VATSIM VATSIM is a structured environment following real-world FAA guidelines. You will not find boorish behavior and an "anything goes" attitude there. In fact certain behaviors are not tolerated there and can result in a permanent banishment from VATSIM by the offending party. It is the responsability of every PAC pilot flying on VATSIM to familiarize himself/herself with the rules and regulations of VATSIM. There is one rule for Pacific Air Cargo upon which I am not flexible: When flying under a PAC designation you shall not act in a manner which will reflect badly on Pacific Air Cargo. This applies equally to all pilots including the board and executive officers. My other rule is that you ENJOY YOURSELF! The very first thing a pilot needs to do after submitting his registration with Pacific Air Cargo is register with VATSIM as a pilot.. DESCRIPTION OF UTILITIES USED IN CONJUCTION WITH SATNET AND BY PACIFIC AIR CARGO SQUAWKBOX: This free utility is absolutely neccesary for VATSIM. It provides an interface between not only pilots and air traffic controllers but also with Their computers running Windows and the UNIX based servers which comprise the network itself. Squawkbox is used to log onto VATSIM, to submit flight plans, to load real weather into your sim, and to provide a chat interface with other pilots and ATC logged onto the network. In addition Squawkbox features an Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS), a Flight Management System (FMS), and Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS). There are many other features,...more than I really care to list here. You must have this utility to fly on VATSIM. More information about SQUAWKBOX including a manual and may be accessed at its official homepage. a tutorial is available online by clicking here. WhazzUp V. 1.20 (Build 180): The current version is 1.20 (Build180). WazzUp is a handy little free-ware utility which will tell you who is logged onto VATSIM by the following catagories: Servers, pilots and, air traffic controllers. It also provides flight plans and frequenciesfor the latter two catagories. Not essential but vey handy! It can be obtained from www.schiratti.com. The exact file name to search for and download is whazzup3.zip. note that previous versions of Whazzup will no longer work for VATSIM. ROGER WILCO (Mark1c mod1): This is a really neat utility which provides a voice interface between users over an Internet Protocol (IP) connection. PAC personell usually have a Roger Wilco channel open and use it to communicate by voice with each other while flying (I am using it to talk with PAC143 as I am writing this HTML script). In addition an increasing number of air traffic controllers are useing it to manage air traffic in their airways! A nice little program and highly recomended. I also would recomend that you invest in a headset with a microphone for this application so you can keep your hands free while flying. This software is available for free from www.resounding.com RAPMAN - v2.5: This little utility will allow you to see if your freinds are online and allows one to invite them into a Roger Wilco session. Available for free from www.rapman.com. OTHER RESCOURCES Jerome Meriweather's Website A really well put together website by a photographer for United Airlines. It features virtual tours of a plethora of flight decks including information on the instrumentation in them. His "flight deck simulations" curently include a B-17, LEM, Space Shuttle, 747, 757, 767, and 777! More are under construction. Jerome has a lot more on this site than meets the eye for those who have the patience to surf it. flightsim.com The mother of all flight simulator addon sites. "Virtual Pilot Flight School" A very good place to learn the ropes about piloting an aircraft, navigation, and procedures. Check it out. You will thank yourselve for it. . ARTCC's of Import To Pacific Air Cargo . SOME INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS On VATSIM The United States is, as is the case in the real world, devided into smaller areas each of which is governed by an ARTCC or Air Routing Traffic Control Center. Also as in real life each center "is responsible for the safe, orderly and expeditious movement of aircraft within its airspace." The controller is responsible for seperating aircraft within the sector so as to avoid collisions. As such the controllers instruction should be complied with except in cases where such compliance would be detrimental to safety. For example. If you would be vectored into a mountain by following a command from ATC you should tell them you can not comply and give them a reason. Another example; if you are being held up in a stack while waiting to land and your fuel state becomes critical you must inform ATC and request that you be given a higher priority in the landing stack. It is all about common sense and communication. Keep ATC informed as to your status and intentions every time they change. Give readbacks of all instructions they issue to you and follow them unless safety dictates otherwise. Do not flood the chat window or Roger Wilco with unnecesary chatter especially when the controller is busy with other aircraft. Be patient and above all curteous. Following these practices will mark you as a professional and endear you to the people who really count in the VATSIM community. Patience and courtesy are important even if the controller is doing a poor job. Remember that they are a flight simulator hobbyist just like you. They are learning just like you and they are probably trying there best. When encountering an extreme case of incompetance it is better to just leave without a confrontation. In a really intolerable or offensive situation file a complaint with the ARTCC chief and leave the matter to VATSIM. It is always good politic to thank the controller and praise them for a job well done. I recently ran into a controller who recognized my designator (PAC101) and who had controlled me one time months before. I remembered the occasion as did he. He was particularly swamped with air traffic that night and was doing his job to the best of his abilities. I employed the principles I just outlined in dealing with him on that occasion and to my pleasant surprise during this chance encounter, months later, he actually thanked me for my patience and understanding. It never hurts to have friends in an ARTCC! Effective communication is an important tool in developing such freindships. Pacific Air Cargo deals with several ARTCC's in the course of there regular operations. I find that a familiarity with there procedures, and personel is helpful when flying in their airspace. They are also a good scource for approach and departure charts for the more important airports in their areas. This is a good reason to visit their websites and talk to them in private chats when possible. You may even discover that even the "bossier" controllers are really nice people! THE ARTCC's The following are the ARTCC's governing the airspace which Pacific Air Cargo routinely flies in on its regular flights. More will be added as PAC expands. Links to these sights are referenced and may be accessed in the annunciator panel below the descriptions. ALBUQUERQIE ARTCC: The lsink is the ALB ARTCC button (to be added soon). DENVER ARTCC: The link is the DEN_ARTCC button. LOS ANGELES ARTCC: The link is the LAX ARTCC button (to be added soon). OAKLAND ARTCC: The link is the OAK-ARTCC button! SEATTLE ARTCC: The link is the SEA-ARTCC button. SALT LAKE ARTCC: In my opinion they have one of the best ARTCC's on SATNET with a website to match. It can be accessed through the SLC-ARTCC button. VANCOUVER B.C. ARTCC (CANADA): Information pertaining to this ARTCC may be accessed through the SATCAN button. This site covers all of Canada. VATUSA: an Umbrella organization for all ARTCC's in the United States. Links to every ARTCC in the United States as well as ther SATCO divisions may be found on their site. THE ANNUNCIATOR PANEL If You have any questions, comments, or criticisms, or if I can be of any help to you do not hesitate to e-mail me.