Andrew Heath

This is a repository for pilot users to reference when operating into and out of certain regions of the world. Unlike other repositories that require staff access to edit (e.g. Policies, Support, etc.), the Pilot Resources repository is open for all members to contribute to. All POSCON members have the same access to view the documents within this repository, but some roles have more access to edit/modify than others. Here is an overview of the access: For now now, everyone has access to everything but "Overview" and "Map" POSCON Members Can view all documents within the repository Can edit all Reference Guides Can edit any document in "General" other than "Overview" and "Map" POSCON Controllers Can view all documents within the repository Can edit both Airport Briefing sections and Reference Guides Can edit any document in "General" other than "Overview" and "Map" All new documents within this repository have to be started by a staff member (Manager or Director). If you want to start a document, please create as section here: https://forums.poscon.net/docs/pilots/general/notices/

https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.poscon.com/aac/MMMX.pdf User contribution objective: Convert the above PDF to the documents system.

https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.poscon.com/aac/KJFK.pdf User contribution objective: Convert the above PDF to the documents system.

https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.poscon.com/aac/EGKK.pdf User contribution objective: Convert the above PDF to the documents system.

https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.poscon.com/aac/BIKF.pdf User contribution objective: Convert the above PDF to the documents system.

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

This certifies that Virtual United States Navy has met the requirements of the Positive Control Network's Virtual Operator policies and standards prescribed for the issuance of this certificate and is hereby authorized to operate as an affiliated Positive Control Network Virtual Operator and conduct operations in accordance with the policies and standards prescribed and the terms, conditions, and limitations contained in the approved operations specifications. This certificate is not transferable and, unless sooner surrendered, suspended, or revoked, shall continue in effect indefinitely. The type of certification is: Military VUSN-001.pdf

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

This Virtual Operator has NOT received an official operating corticate yet. All the information contained in subsequent sections should be considered in draft status.

Please follow these directions: https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/install/dotnet-35-windows#enable-the-net-framework-35-in-control-panel

Ensure Step 2 has been approved by the Director of Operations or his designee. The Virtual Operator Policies require all Virtual Operators to: Have clear language on their website that points users to instructions on how to register and connect to POSCON. Have the POSCON logo clearly visible and labeled as a "partner" logo and it must link to the POSCON website. Use one of the following images: Purple White Once these requirements are added to your website, reach out via the same support ticket you submitted for Step 1. Once approved, you may move to Step 4.

Ensure Step 3 has been approved by the Director of Operations or his designee. This next will likely involve the Director of Operations or his designee to work directly with your Virtual Operator's POC in order to determine what Ops Specs work best for your Virtual Operator. We will coordinate via email or Discord to accomplish this step. The Ops Specs are still a work-in-progress. Don't worry too much about these requirements as we will be tweaking them over the coming months.

Before beginning this step, please first read the Virtual Operator Policies. Interested Virtual Operators should have the member in-charge draft an email to the POSCON Director of Operations (for now will be handled through the support ticket system). This email must contain the following required information: The name of the Virtual Operator and the way you would like the name branded on our website. For example, the Positive Control Network brands POSCON as all capital letters, not as PosCon. The real-world operating certificate number for this airline, if applicable. For example, American Airlines' real-world certificate number is "AALA025A". If you cannot find this information or you don't have one, we will make one up for you. ICAO airline codes you wish to operate under with the respective IATA codes if applicable. Also give us the telephony for radio communication. For example, American Airlines is: ICAO = "AAL" IATA = "AA" Telephony = "American" Please list the ICAO codes for all the hub airports applicable to your Virtual Operator. Please list the ICAO codes for your entire aircraft fleet. Please provide a link to the Virtual Operator's publicly accessible website, member list (if public), and the names of at least five POSCON members on the roster. Please provide a link to where POSCON members can register with your Virtual Operator. Please provide social links to the Virtual Operator's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and Discord Invite (link must not expire). It is okay if you don't have all social accounts, just provide the ones that you have. Provide your Virtual Operator's logo and banner images. The logo should have a transparent background and be close to a 1:1 size ratio. The banner image should be closer to a 3:1 size ratio. Who is the Point of Contact (POC)? We need the POSCON user ID and email address of the person POSCON should contact in regards to this Virtual Operator. Please provide us with the management personnel for the Virtual Operator. We need names, titles, and emails. Please provide us with the title of the regulations under which your Virtual Operator simulates operations. For example, in the United States, airlines operate under "14 CFR Part 121". Please provide us with the aviation safety authority name. For example, in the United States it is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Please list the types of operations conducted (e.g. scheduled air carrier, unscheduled, military/governmental, charters, etc.) Please provide us with a link to training documentation, if applicable. After receiving confirmation that your application has been received, processed, and approved, you may move to Step 2.

Ensure Step 1 has been approved by the Director of Operations or his designee. The next step requires your Virtual Operator's technical lead to get involved. POSCON needs a way to verify which members of your Virtual Operator are also members of POSCON. Connecting with POSCON is relatively straightforward, but you must have experience with authenticating via OAuth. The steps below outline the basic process of authenticating with POSCON via OAuth. Note that this is similar to any other OAuth/SSO system. Create a button on the page from where you would like your users to connect. The button can be named for example "Connect with POSCON" (see image above as an example) The button would link to the "POSCON SSO Authorize URL". The URL would have additional parameters such as the response_type, redirect_uri, scope, client_id, and optionally a state. This will send the user to the POSCON Login page. Once the user has logged in successfully, they will be redirected to the redirect_uri that is provided in the URL in step 2. In this redirect, you will notice that a parameter for code is sent. This code is what you will need in the next step to retrieve an access token which will allow you to retrieve user information. Using the code from the previous step, you must now make a POST request to the "POSCON SSO Token URL" and include the parameters: grant_type, client_id, client_secret, code, redirect_uri, and scope. Once the POST request from the previous step is successful, you will receive a response with the access token, refresh token, expire time, and expire at time. You can now use this access token to get user information in the next step. With the access token, you can send a GET request to the "POSCON SSO User Info URL" and provide the access token in the headers such as "Authorization: Bearer {access token}" and also ensure that "Accept: application/json" is set in the headers. If the above step is successful, you will receive the user information. That's all! POSCON SSO Authorize URL: https://sso.poscon.net/oauth/authorize POSCON SSO Token URL: https://sso.poscon.net/api/oauth/token POSCON SSO Token Info URL: https://sso.poscon.net/api/oauth/token_info POSCON SSO User Info URL: https://sso.poscon.net/api/oauth/userinfo grant_type: authorization_code scope: openid%20profile redirect_uri: {your redirect URL} PLEASE NOTE: When applying for the OAuth, you must provide us with your "redirect URL". This is the URL that the OAuth will redirect to once the user is signed in. We’ve made some example code to help you connect to our SSO. Just plug in your Client ID, secret and callback URL. PHP https://gitlab.com/-/snippets/2239220 NodeJS https://gitlab.com/-/snippets/2239718 When you have completed Step 2, reach out via the same support ticket that you submitted for Step 1 so that our team can review the user flow. Once Step 2 has been tested and approved, you may move to Step 3.

UPDATE: The files have been removed from our distribution pipeline. Due to the current logic in the Launcher, the files are not automatically deleted from users' computers, but rather they are no longer served to new users or users that reinstall the Launcher software.

Back in September of 2019, I was browsing through X-Plane community downloads in order to find additional models to enhance the POSCON X-Plane Pilot Client model distribution. During the course of my search, I came across the X-CSL model package and reached out to the X-CSL team via their Contact form to obtain authorization to use their package in our software. The X-CSL team granted POSCON permission back then, but as of January 2022, they have unilaterally revoked that permission. The main reason for this blog post is to inform POSCON users that the X-CSL package is in the process of being removed from our distribution and should be fully removed by the end of the week. Once this package is removed, the next time you reinstall your X-Plane Pilot Client via the Launcher Client, the models will be automatically deleted from your computer. An equally important reason for this blog post is to shed light on what transpired to get us to this point, a point where we are taking a drastic step backwards regarding user experience. The reason for this decision is because the founder of the X-CSL model package, a man named Aleksandr (Almik) Mikitas, revoked permission to use these models after our "Out of Beta" announcement was made public. He wrote to me shortly after the announcement and claimed that permission was never granted to use these models, even though a senior developer from his team clearly granted us permission over two years ago (see the email exchanges). As mentioned earlier, I originally wrote X-CSL via their Contact form in September of 2019 to ask for permission and Aleksandr responded and handed me off to his senior developer who subsequently granted permission to use the models with the stipulation that we give credit to X-CSL, which we did: https://forums.poscon.net/docs/support/manuals/acknowledgements/ Despite my best efforts to convince Aleksandr that the lack of communication was isolated internally within his team and not at all POSCON's fault, he has decided to take punitive action against POSCON members by requiring us to remove the models. This action only serves to hurt you, the user, by making it more difficult to use the X-CSL package (i.e. you now have to go download it from their website and use scripts to get it to work with POSCON, which is hardly worth the time). While I have many theories about the timing and reasons behind this new requirement, I want to stick to the facts here as much as possible. Speaking of facts, here is an important one: Aleksandr Mikitas now works as the MTL Designer and Membership Assistant Coordinator - Eastern Europe and Northern Asia for the International Virtual Aviation Organisation (IVAO). To my knowledge, Almik did not hold this position with IVAO at the time I approached X-CSL in September of 2019. I have put together an evidence package in case POSCON users want to dig deep into what was said and by who. Publicly releasing my personal correspondence is not something I take lightly, but I find it entirely relevant to the current situation. An important note about the email exchanges is that all respective parties were always CCed on every email so anything said was guaranteed to be seen by both Almik and myself. Based on the email exchanges with X-CSL, my lawyer concluded that X-CSL and Almik implicitly allowed POSCON to distribute these models. Why else would Almik have referred me to his developer in order to give us technical information which would enable POSCON to include these models in our software? Our intentions were clearly outlined from the very first email sent to X-CSL. Almik and his developer never said, “yes include the package in your installer” directly, but they also never said “no.” Even though Almik was CCed on all the emails from the beginning, I recently reminded him that he was the one who referred us to his developer and as a result, his developer told us how to include the model package in our software. The POSCON developer programmed software based on this representation. The X-CSL developer's role in this was perpetuated by Almik — Almik referred POSCON to his developer, so it implies that Almik knew what this was about, and approved of it. What's also interesting to note is that Almik says he created this package for the benefit of all X-Plane users, "Each our model is a our free time, effort and even money to give the best results for all XP users as free," but by revoking POSCON's authorization he actually has made it harder for X-Plane users to use the X-CSL package on their preferred network of choice, unless of course that network is IVAO. At the end of the day, POSCON will comply with X-CSL's demands, but I think it is important to shed light on what sometimes happens behind the scenes in this "community" and why we can't have nice things. Reflecting back, this whole situation seems eerily familiar to the recent debacle between AIG and FLAi (click here for additional reading material). Bottom line, this type of behavior in our community needs to be called out and more importantly, it needs to stop. What Happens to the POSCON X-Plane Model Package? To be honest, this doesn't really affect our model package too badly. There was approximately 70% overlap between BlueBell and X-CSL, so there will be a few unique models that will disappear in addition to some liveries. If you are interested in helping the POSCON model project recover from this loss, please reach out to Jeffory Beckers, our Model Asset Manager.

These operations specifications are issued to the United States Armed Force Virtual, whose principal base of operation is located at: https://usafv.org/ The holder of these operations specifications is the holder of Operating Certificate Number USAFV001 and shall hereafter be referred to as the certificate holder. In addition to the Positive Control Network's policies and standards, the certificate holder shall operate under the United States of America Title 32 and 48 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) issued and maintained by the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The certificate holder's operations are restricted to the scope of the following military authorities: United States Army United States Navy United States Air Force United States Marines United States Coast Guard The certificate holder shall conduct these kinds of operations in accordance with the specific authorizations, limitations, and procedures in these operations specifications and all appropriate Parts of the CFR. The certificate holder shall only conduct the above operations in airspace controlled by the United States DoD. M001 EXEMPTION: The certificate holder may conduct operations in airspace not controlled by the United States DoD with specific authorization. For those POSCON Divisions listed under the "Active Divisions" list, authorization must be obtained from the acting Division Manager or his/her designee. If routine operations are planned within this airspace, then a LOA must be established. (Expires: Never) M001 DEVIATION: Operations that simulate past/present-day real-world hostile engagements must be approved on a case-by-case basis by the POSCON President. (Expires: Never) The certificate holder is authorized to conduct operations using the following ICAO airline code(s) and radio telephony: A - "Air Force" E - "Evac" VV - "Navy" RCH - "Reach" R - "Army" VM - "Marine" G - "Air Guard" C - "Coast Guard" In addition to above radio telephony, the certificate holder is authorized to use "tactical" callsigns listed in the Positive Control Network's "Restricted Callsigns" database. _______________________________________ 1. Issued by the Positive Control Network, Operations Department. 2. These Operations Specifications are approved by direction of the Director of Operations. Digitally signed by Mathieu Laflamme, Director of Operations [1] SUPPORT INFO: Submission Package Ops Spec M001 Issuance and Applicability [2] EFFECTIVE DATE: 01/20/2022 [3] AMENDMENT #: 02/14/2022 DATE: 2022.02.14 23:38Z 3. I herby accept and receive the Operations Specifications in this paragraph. Digitally signed by Sean Peterson, Virtual Secretary of Defense [1] SUPPORT INFO: N/A DATE: 2022.12.22 22:17Z

This certifies that United States Armed Forces Virtual has met the requirements of the Positive Control Network's Virtual Operator policies and standards prescribed for the issuance of this certificate and is hereby authorized to operate as an affiliated Positive Control Network Virtual Operator and conduct operations in accordance with the policies and standards prescribed and the terms, conditions, and limitations contained in the approved operations specifications. This certificate is not transferable and, unless sooner surrendered, suspended, or revoked, shall continue in effect indefinitely. The type of certification is: Military USAFV001.pdf

This certificate covers the very specific operations of non-military governmental organization. These operations include: Search and Rescue operations Fire-fighting operations Mandatory Operations Specifications: