Grusswort von VATEUD1

Dear VATSIM members in the European Division, A late "Hello".

As you all know I have taken over the position of the Director of VATSIM Europe Division. And the start was a bit bumpy. Not because of VATEUD and the numerous tasks i had to read, but also by real life commitments. So, apologies for that.

And finally but absolutely deserved, a huge thanks for the outgoing staff members in the EUD Division; great chaps with a true passion for our hobby. Thank you very much for your work and support to make our adventure of Online Flight Simulation and Online Air Traffic Control better, more realistic and on top: understandable. So, thank you very much to invest your time and ideas in our hobby, our community and simply caring to develop our combined "evening funs".

For those to whom I wasn't able to talk the last years (maybe there are a few left *G*), let me introduce me a bit. I am in the VATSIM Network quite long, started back approx. 3-4 months after it was created out of SATCO. In Flight Simulation I've started back in SubLogic times, and those of us who might remember the "good old times of the 5.25" Floppy Disk area", thats, when i started. So, to allow me that old joke: i am considering myself as an "O'Hare" in our hobby. In VATSIM was active in different management positions. Coming from VATSIM Germany, my "Home FIR" is still EDWW, I was called first to EUD, later to the BoG as VP Marketing, now back in the Division setup. And I really enjoy the new challenges. I might have had the pleasure in guiding some of you thru German and other airspaces as ATC. With a C3 Rating I am controlling mainly in Bremen and Frankfurt on CTR positions. Being also Head of the VATSIM Hitsquad, you might see me online in other areas too, mainly to my annual VATSIM Highlight, the first week in November for the "VATSIM WorldFlight" week.

VATSIM is a community. And VATEUD is its biggest Division. More than 30 countries are covered by the division. Furthermore, with our friends in the neighborhood, VATRUS and VATSIM UK, we build a great area to simply fly, control and having a daily adventure. All services are provided free of any costs and created by members bringing their knowledge in for the benefit of our communities. No matter where they are living or what they doing in real life: they contribute to our all benefits. A huge thanks to them.

Everyone of us is organized in a local entity. Normally we use the term "vACC", virtual ATC Control Center (or what ever). But your local community is simply more. It is the place to meet other from your area, maybe from your city or county that share the same hobby, the same enthusiasm as you. Your local crews and managers do their absolutely best to keep your local environment running and take more than the "typical evening time" to keep all things running. This starts with the local community services like Pilots Training, of course the ATC Training with their complex tasks to get everyone of you into the position to control an airspace. ATC follows stricter rules than flying an aircraft. The reason is simple: if you slam your aircraft in the ground, its your fault. But if ATC is not good, they can spoil the evening for a couple of pilots.

To those of you who "just" fly: take a look on the other side of the screen. ATC certainly IS the other adventure VATSIM can offer. Although you need training to survive an action packed evening on e.g. an Approach position, it is the best way to understand what our real life counterparts are creating day-by-day. And those of you who think flying is too complicated: It isn't. Sure, it needs training. A real world pilots training takes a couple of years until she/he gets the appropriate rating. To climb this mountain of knowledge, you are not alone. Check for the offers of our different communities offering Pilot Training. They are more than just willing to help you to learn the stuff from basics up to the Mount Olympus of flying.

Back to VATEUD. The upcoming months we will see some changes in the structure and in the services. We want to setup our all Division to give YOU a better and easier to reach support. This will bring some changes to all entities, but I am sure it will be the best for our future. On this endevour I am asking also you to bring yourself in to the benefit of our communities. Whereever you are, whatever you do, for sure you can help in organizing, supporting, servicing and so on. And if your activities would be bonused by e.g. flying our events, giving starting ATC trainies a helping hand and a bit of traffic, then I am quite sure that we will have lots of fun together, living the adventures and successful enjoy our common hobby: Flight Simulation and the ATC.

On this I would ask you to continue flying, forgiving others doing errors in e.g. the skies, helping new members on their first steps and simply enjoy our communities and hobby. Roland Collins, one of the VATSIM Founders, remembered us all during the VATSIM Vienna Convention in May: "VATSIM is having fun". And of course, he is right.

Sincerely yours
Florian Harms
VATEUD1
VATSIM Europe Division