Zachary Woock

The "bot planes" are called Drones. They are there to simulate real world traffic. As we develop the technology further drones will automatically disappear as human traffic in an area increases and reappear as human traffic slows. This allows for ATC to get experience in controlling traffic when humans are not on the network and pilots to fly around with other traffic. Drones are being designed to interact with human pilots without ATC intervention as well. Drones should modify their flight path to avoid issues with a human pilot. If the servers detect a possible collision between an AI drone and a human pilot then the drone will be ghosted from the network to prevent any possible issues. Drones serve to enhance the overall experience of the network and we are very excited to bring this technology into POSCON.

We have a lot of experienced real world ATC and virtual controllers that are all helping make the training experience a much smoother and efficient process. When POSCON starts to expand to the later stages of open beta and full release more details will be made available about ATC training. Thank you all for your input!

I can address a few of these concerns. The whole point of POSCON is to not repeat the mistakes made in previous networks. ATC training will be more streamlined than in the past but will still feature the same high standards of quality control. ATC training will not be easy but will not require as much human intervention as the past. POSCON's leadership structure is more centralized leading to a smaller division "staff" footprint. Ownership and control of training is maintained at the highest level but training duties for specific ARTCC's will be implemented. As of right now the training footprint is still being developed. Once we have a need to start training controllers there will be more information that is released. Edit: More clarification

The shared cockpit feature is being developed to work with the POSCON pilot client. This is very much in the early stages of development but the hope is to have a pilot client that encompasses many of the features that currently require several 3rd party applications on VATSIM.

Hi Feike, The pilot "achievements" are still being developed. This is a great idea that we will see if we can incorporate in some fashion. I know pilots take a lot of pride in collecting achievements such as flying to all 50 US states. We want to make the pilot POSCON HQ page a nice place to display all of the individual accomplishments that they have earned. Stay tuned for more info when we have everything set in stone.

Hi Jay, Sorry for not responding sooner. If your sim crashes you will be able to reconnect to the network and continue from where you left off. We have network features that ensure noninterference with other aircraft until ATC can positively identify you again after reconnecting.

POSCON is currently in closed testing. An official launch date has not been announced yet. All future announcements will be posted on the forums and discord server.

POSCON is currently in CLOSED testing. No applications for additional testers are being accepted at this time. Any change to this will be announced publically on the forums and discord server.

This is not something we would ever consider implementing as it is outside the ethos of creating a friendly environment for aviation professionals, hobbyists, and enthusiasts. Military aviation is supported on the network and formation flying is encouraged but the interception and simulated destruction of other aircraft are best left to other platforms like DCS.

Hey Taylor, Take a look at what AJ just posted. Hopefully, that will answer some of your questions.

POSCON intends to simulate this to the fullest possible extent including simulating HF propagation on the correct frequencies. The pilot client will work with the use of HF SELCAL and alert the pilots to an ATC voice request. The pilot client will also support CPDLC.

1. Pilot ratings will not transfer from any network to POSCON. This is because POSCON's training is different from other networks and it also defeats our intent to improve pilot performance through our custom incentivized training program. ATC ratings will transfer for a limited time on full launch of POSCON. We currently don't have a vehicle to accommodate this yet but once we have everything planned out information will be released. 2. Divisions will be different from what you have experienced on other networks. POSCON will be hosting division websites and training so the "traditional" leadership structure that you are used to won't exist at POSCON. As development progresses past open beta more information will become available about how ATC divisions are structured. 3. POSCON is creating all of our programs, backend code, and servers from scratch. POSCON will release pilot and ATC clients for closed beta testing. Before you ask, closed beta testers have been picked and any additional testers will be selected by the POSCON team. 4. As I mentioned before pilot training will be different from anything else you have seen before. It will be customized to the preferred flying activities of every pilot who joins POSCON. There will be a few required computer-based training modules (CBTs) that every member will have to take before being able to fly on the network but all pilot training is optional. It is our hope that our ranking system will motivate pilots to take advantage of the CTBs that we are making to improve their operational knowledge and performance on the network. ATC training will remain mostly the same. Incentives will still exist for the ATC side but they will still have to take tests and online checkouts in order to be certified on new positions and airports. 5. POSCON will have 100% custom software available for multiple simulators. The list of compatible simulators will be released at a later date.

Rest assured we are working as hard as we can. I know everyone is excited and the hype that has built up is intense but putting out a product that is not up to snuff is the last thing we want to do. Once we have more news it will be shared with everyone. We do appreciate everyone's patience.

Richard, Based on the dialogue I have had with Andrew in the past POSCON will have pilot training unlike anything you have seen before. I have worked with Andrew in discussing what the training footprint would look like. Taking our combined real-world pilot experience and applying it to simulator pilots is no easy task. There is a lot of extra information that we know that does not necessarily need to be learned by simulator pilots. That being said, our initial discussions centered around having training and ratings not only for basics of flight (i.e. VFR vs IFR, reading charts, communication with ATC) but other specific modules that will teach pilots how to operate an FMS or autopilot or how advanced sysems operate (i.e. turbojet engines and hydraulics). We may even see guides for specific aircraft as the Airbus FMS and autopilot are almost identical across their entire fleet.

The first step forward already looks like a giant leap compared to other networks. Nice job!