New IVAC release

[EHM-0654 Murray]

Not exactly "Online Flying" in and of itself, but the IVAO Software Development department has released an update to their IVAC air traffic controller's software (actually, was released on 30th December, but I never noticed...)

Get it from the Software Development website.

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

I got a "forced" notice when connecting with the old version, so I eventually installed the new one.

I miss a list of "changes since the previous version" (it may exist but I failed to find it), because the most obvious one really scared me last week-end when I got incoming pilots without being able to see their flightstrips.

As I understood later, this was because they did not have an actual squawk (other than 2000). This feature is arguably a plus, but:

1. I felt like I was not warned about

2. As APP I see pilots... approaching, far beyond my actual control area, many times in uncontrolled airspace, so I cannot get them on my frequency to assign a valid squawk, and I still like to read their flightstrips but I am not able to. Of course, this situation like many others can be solved by chat...

Oh, and aircraft squawking standby are displayed as "X" instead of "O". Don't panic!

More new features probably included, that I did not discover yet.

Andrei

[EHM-2029 Sotiris]

Hello Andrei,

there's more features there.
HALO - Assigns a 2 or 5 NM Halo around an aircraft (to help you with separation etc.)
QDM and VERA are now as buttons in the top right
Squawks can't be duplicated within the area.
When double-clicking you no longer get the anchor but the first part of a QDM line.

Probably others too that I have missed.

Regarding your point 2:
If you click on a plane you will still get their callsign to appear in your COMbox line. From there you can text them to change squawk or even do a 'force act' on them and have them come to you.
Also, if these planes are coming toward you you can assign them in your I/O options and they will apear in the I/O box.
Finally, you can always right-click on them and get their FP if you so wish.

[EHM-0654 Murray]

Love the new QDM functionality (Chris Prophet (GB-TA5) gave me a quick "guide" to the new version after I D/Led it this morning) and thanks for the description of what HALO does - too scared to click the button while OBSing just in case...

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

Aaaah, thanks for the infos, I begin to understand.

I red something about "new" QDM feature but I was not too sure what it is about. The double-click change, now that you mention it, I think that I saw it (in astonishment of course).

Don't get me wrong, but I took a 2 weeks break in ATC so with the new version it just felt like I forgot some IVAC basics

The HALO function I was not aware of.

And about incoming traffic, it may be me but i just think it's rude to "FORCE ACT" a pilot who is 50nm short of my TMA boundary, in uncontrolled airspace if no CTR is online (looks like he forgot to contact ATC, which is obviously not the case here). That's why I prefer to use chat for any messages prior to official contact at the TMA boundary.

And it may be me again, but I'm not always lucky when clicking on aircraft (which are moving) so I prefer to select them in the I/O window then right-click on the flightstrip. And yes, I really like flightstrips

Anyway, until Lisbon-Dakar is over I think I have time for ATC in the weekend only...

Andrei