Image: Screenshot of the Month winner Sean D.

Boston Virtual ARTCC's Community Newsletter · September 1, 2025

Boston Tea Party: Saturday, August 9

By: Evan Reiter

The 26th Annual Boston Tea Party Live Event happened on Saturday, August 9, where more than 30 BVA controllers gathered in-person near the site of the real Boston Center to provide live ATC coverage for 6 hours.

The event saw more than 400 operations at Boston’s Logan International Airport (KBOS), averaging more than 68 movements per hour. We are grateful to the many pilots who also visited other staffed airports across our airspace, helping to keep our Class C controllers just as busy.

During the event, pilots participated in Tea Party Poker, a fun competition where virtual poker cards were issued for each landing. At the end of the event, pilots with the best poker hand were eligible to win prizes from Thrustmaster, Tobii, Octavi, Fenix, and Orbx.  

Our 2025 Tea Party Poker pilot winners were: 

• Christopher 
• Maxwell 
• Benjamin 
• Zihao 
• Owen 
• Toby 
• Sean
• Dan

And our 2025 air traffic controller winners (randomly selected from those who participated) were David (DR) and Brennan (LO). 

Tea Party 2026 will be held on August 1, 2026.

By: Jonathan Halverson

Boston Virtual ARTCC is seeking an Assistant Facility Engineer to participate in the BVA Air Traffic Control facility file program. This is a great way to get involved for controllers interested in taking “the next step” with our organization and helping support the ongoing maintenance of our ATC files.

If you hold at least a VATSIM S2 rating, please review the position posting and application instructions here.

By: Camden Bruno

BVA is seeking candidates for content creator position(s) to assist in graphic design, image editing, and more. This is a non-Administrative Team position that does not require air traffic control experience.

If you have graphic design experience and are interested in helping design banners for our website, social media, and more, please consider applying. Details may be found in the position posting on our forums.

Pilot Tip of the Month

Flying RNAV SIDs at KBOS

RNAV Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) exist to streamline departures, ensure traffic separation, and enhance efficiency throughout the National Airspace System. They're very commonly assigned throughout the Boston ARTCC. Here are some tips to ensure a smooth and safe departure from KBOS.

1. Set the correct initial altitude. All RNAV SIDs at Boston have a top altitude of 5,000 feet. Before takeoff, ensure that your aircraft's autopilot, flight director, mode control panel, or similar is set to maintain an initial altitude of 5,000'. This ensures departing aircraft will not be a conflict with arriving aircraft on Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs). One of the most common errors noted by ATC on VATSIM is pilots who climb through 5,000 feet on departure from KBOS without clearance.
2. Verify waypoints in the FMS. When flying an RNAV SID, current databases are crucial to maintaining the correct path. Double-check that the waypoints programmed into your aircraft's FMS match the waypoints in the procedure's chart. Differences between the chart and the FMS may lead to navigational errors and potentially traffic conflicts. ZBW Charts can be accessed here.
3. Ensure you have the correct flight lateral navigation mode selected. The specific terminology will depend on the aircraft, but it will generally be NAV, LNAV, FMS, or similar. In other words - make sure your aircraft isn't following a fixed heading! NAV mode ensures that your flight director (and autopilot, accordingly) will follow the RNAV SID route correctly.

For a more detailed description of flying SIDs correctly, see this example of departing runway 22R on the SSOXS departure. If you have any questions about your clearance or routing, advise air traffic control.

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