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The frequency is always busy
With our extensive AI integration, every position in the world is staffed at all times for the most realistic flying experience.
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Run entirely
by its members.
Every position staffed, every event on the calendar and every page of this website is the work of a volunteer. Worth knowing before you decide how involved to get.
What makes us what we are
Six things you can go and check for yourself.
The frequency is always busy
About the network
A free virtual airspace for people who want to fly and people who want to control, and a deliberate attempt to make the second of those as easy to start as the first.
- members
- 90
- events run
- 1
- airfields on file
- 4,748
What we are
trying to be
Four intentions, not achievements. They tell you whether we want the same things you do.
Somewhere to start
Most people who want to try air traffic control never do, because every route in looks like it assumes you already know. The network is built around the idea that the first hour should be survivable.
As realistic as possible
We aim to create the most realistic virtual aviation experience there is. All positions are staffed just like they are in real life, and we follow every procedure as closely as we can.
You're not limited
We don't create rules to unnecessarily restrict what you can do on the Network. You want to fly and control: you can; you want to control in multiple countries: you can; you don't want to be in controlled airspace for the whole of a long flight: you can.
Built to last past its founders
Every rule lives in the database rather than in a habit, every decision is logged, and the site is documented well enough for the next person. Nothing here should depend on one member staying interested.
Ways to contribute
Six routes, and the first is a complete answer on its own. There is no expectation that anyone takes on more than they came for.
Just fly
The largest group of members by some distance, and a perfectly complete way to use the network. File a plan and work with whoever is on frequency.
See what is onLearn to control
The half of the hobby most members never try, and the half the network is short of. Training assumes no prior experience.
How training worksMentor someone
Any rated controller knows enough to teach the rating below their own. Most mentors qualified recently themselves.
What mentoring involvesRun an event
Choose a field and a date, then write the briefing. The events desk handles staffing and promotion, and supports you throughout.
Read the events noticesWrite documentation
Local procedures, airfield briefings, and the guides that were missing when you started. Unglamorous work, and among the most useful.
Get an account firstHelp moderate
Moderation is mostly early, quiet intervention. The need is for members in time zones we do not currently cover.
Read the Code of Conduct
How the network is run
Five departments and an appeals panel, none of them large, and most people sit on more than one. What each is responsible for, who leads it, who is on it and whether it is recruiting, in full and in the open.
Board of Administrators
Sets the direction of the network, owns its rules, and is accountable when something goes wrong.
- Decides what the network takes on next, and declines what it will not.
- Owns the Code of Conduct and the Code of Regulations, including revising them.
- Resolves anything a department cannot settle on its own.
Charles HainceLeads Board of Administrators- Luca Finnis-BernardMember
- JackMember
- Kayne.Member
Executive Panel
Reviews the decisions the board takes, and is the route of appeal when a member disputes one.
- Hears appeals against suspensions and rating decisions.
- Reviews any conduct case a department head is party to.
- Holds the board to the Code of Regulations rather than to its own judgement.
- CarsonMember
- Keanu KeizerweerdMember
- Kayne.Member
- BraydenMember
- mikeMember
Network Operations
Keeps the network running: servers, coverage, the website, and the response when any of it fails.
- Runs the connection servers and the maintenance windows.
- Decides which fields and sectors get local teams, and stands them up.
- Builds and maintains this website.
Luca Finnis-BernardLeads Network OperationsKayne.Webmaster / NOD2- Keanu KeizerweerdMember
- JackMember
- SamMember
- SilasMember
- Charles HainceMember
- mikeMember
- RyanMember
- BraydenMember
Training
Takes members with no prior experience and qualifies them to work a live position.
- Runs mentoring sessions and manages the waiting list.
- Conducts assessments and writes the feedback that follows them.
- Maintains the syllabus, which is revised as procedures change.
BraydenTRD1- Luca Finnis-BernardMember
- Charles HainceMember
- CarsonMember
- TimaMember
- MaxMember
- AndersonMember
- RyanMember
Community Support
The first point of contact when something goes wrong, and responsible for conduct on the Discord.
- Answers support tickets, most of them within the same evening.
- Moderates the Discord, which in practice is far more guidance than enforcement.
- Handles conduct reports discreetly and without an audience.
JackLeads Community Support- Keanu KeizerweerdMember
- SamMember
- henryMember
- Kayne.Member
- AndersonMember
Events
Plans the calendar, staffs the major events, and reviews how each one went.
- Builds the event calendar a season at a time.
- Finds controllers for every position before an event goes live.
- Writes the briefings, with particular attention to the parts most often misread.
CarsonLeads EventsKayne.Leads Events- AndersonMember
The Discord server
Day to day activity happens on the Discord. Select a channel to see what it is for.
Standards of conduct
The Code of Conduct sets this out in full and is worth ten minutes of your time. In practice it reduces to three principles, and they are rarely a difficulty for anyone.
- Assume the person on the other end is new, tired, or both, and extend the patience you would want yourself.
- Say so when you are unsure. Admitting it has never been what gets anybody into difficulty.
- Do not connect and leave the position unattended. An aircraft nobody is flying becomes somebody else’s problem.
Start by listening in.
Many members spend weeks in the Discord before their first flight, and some never fly at all. Both are entirely reasonable ways to be part of this.