Image: Screenshot of the Month winner Benjamin D.

Boston Virtual ARTCC's Community Newsletter · January 1, 2026

Year-End Article

By: Evan Reiter

It’s 8:30pm on an FNO Friday.

You can’t help but notice the slight midwestern accent in the voice of the Boston Center controller as he hands you off to Boston Approach.

You’re welcomed into the TRACON with “reduce speed to 210” from a sassy Rhode Island accent that has the faintest hint of upspeak at the end of it. 

You’re turned onto a 20-mile final by a voice you’ve heard for hundreds of hours on Twitch, sounding like he could be equal parts controller and life coach whenever a pilot struggles with an instruction. 

As you approach the airport, you’re cleared to land by a Brit who lived in America for a few years but is now back in England. 

And after landing, you receive taxi instructions from a Canadian, a Croatian, and a voice that you’re sure you’ve heard on LiveATC.net before. 

As you taxi past the Tower, you can just see through the tinted windows a dude with his feet up on the desk and think to yourself “the Cab Supervisor is in ‘curve fever position’ again”. 

This is Boston Virtual ARTCC, an international, welcoming community of 2,600 aviation nerds from around the world, who for varying reasons have chosen this corner of the United States to make their virtual home. On any given night, you’ll hear a range of accents, backgrounds, ages, and personalities on the ZBW airwaves, from the pilots and controllers who gather to make Boston Virtual ARTCC the place it is. 

And this was our 2025. 

We were staffed…a lot!

This year, BVA controllers provided more than 15,100 hours of coverage, a 12% increase from 2024 and the highest we’ve seen since the COVID years. 

This increase applied across our Tier 1 facilities: 

• Boston Center: online 16% more than in 2024. 
• Boston Approach: online 53% (!) more than in 2024. 
• Boston Tower: online 17% more than in 2024. 
• Boston Ground: online 60% (!) more than in 2024.

VATUSA recognizes the most staffed facility with a monthly “Iron Mic Award” - which we’ve won for at least one facility in each of January, February, August, September, October, and November.

The numbers were looking great for a December sweep when, just after our 60 Hours of ATC event, we noticed SMF_APP online in the middle of the night. It was the start of a dramatic, multi-day fight to see if we could hold the most-staffed GND, TWR, APP, and CTR facilities in December. And after round-the-clock staffing and contributions from controllers across our ARTCC, we pulled it off! In December, Boston was the most-staffed facility in VATUSA. (More details on that in the February Logan Informer.)

Taken in the middle of the night, this VATSIM Radar screenshot shows BOS_APP and SMF_APP as the only two facilities online across the entire VATUSA.

Overall in 2025, Boston Center was the second-most staffed Center across the entire VATSIM network, with almost 30% uptime over the course of the year.

The broad-based nature of this increase means that controllers at all certification levels are contributing their time to ensuring our pilots have a great experience on the network.

That’s made possible by the 17 members of our ATC Training Staff, who work tirelessly to provide top-tier training for each new controller who walks through our virtual doors. In 2025, 195 new certifications were issued (13% increase from 2024), including 8 new Center controllers, bringing the number of Boston Center-certified controllers on our roster to 50 (a 19% increase from the end of 2024). 

We welcomed a new Training Administrator.

The Training Administrator oversees ATC training, including keeping exams (mostly) up-to-date, making training assignments, and forcing RT to make document changes. Braden (KY) stepped into this role in 2025, replacing Justin (BU) who stepped down from the role in April. 

KY’s appointment to the new role allowed us to welcome Jonathan (HS) to the Administration Team as Facility (or is it “Facilities”?) Engineer. 

In December, Webmaster Collin (KF) announced his plans to step down from the role after 4 years. Collin has completed numerous projects that have been major improvements for pilots and controllers, including automating controller position tags within our TeamSpeak server. Collin has also made a huge impact on VATUSA training as a whole with the development of the ATCTrainer software. Interviews are ongoing for the new position. 

We launched BVASO.

In March, we announced the launch of BVA Spec Ops, an immersive and professional group of pilots and operators dedicated to realistic simulation of various civilian, military, and paramilitary operations on the VATSIM Network. 

During regular evenings and special events, BVASO members have conducted a multitude of special activities within the airspace controlled by Boston Virtual ARTCC, including search and rescue operations, intercepts, training missions, and more. 

We kept our airspace up-to-date.

The Administration Team, alongside the vNAS development team, works behind the scenes to ensure that our airspace is a close reflection of the real-world National Airspace System. A few of the big projects we implemented this year include: 

• Consolidated Wake Turbulence (CWT) Spacing at ZBW Airports, made possible by new ATC software features.
• The launch of a new events guide for controllers, which consolidates the knowledge of working during our busiest periods in one place.
• Updates to BVA's Airspace Briefing Guide, a quick read document that provides pilots with recommended practices to make their simulated flights as realistic as possible.
• Changes relating to new SID/STAR procedures at airports like KJFK, KLGA, KBDL, and more.

In concert with VATSIM policy changes, we’re happy to share that pilots must now be able to at least receive voice transmissions (except for members with disabilities that prevent them from being able to do so). The network has also implemented CTAF frequencies for use at untowered or unstaffed airports. 

We hosted almost 30 unique events.

Multiple times per month, our controllers provide guaranteed staffing for published events, ranging from local events featuring our favorite airports to network-wide fly-ins. We wanted to highlight a few of our favorites: 

• In April, we landed an average of 28 arrivals per hour on Runway 22L during challenging weather conditions  in what turned out to be the last Cross the Pond (at least for now). 
• In October, the CTP team announced that the fall tradition of CTP Eastbound would not proceed. So, in partnership with New York and other facilities, we built our own event. Staffing at Boston, Newark, Bermuda, and San Juan saw us handle 131 departures and 77 KBOS arrivals safely and efficiently. 
• We held our 26th Annual Boston Tea Party–an in-person ATC event where controllers gather close to the real-world Boston Center to provide ATC coverage. On August 9, we saw more than 400 operations at Boston’s Logan International Airport (KBOS) over 6 hours of staffing. That’s more than 68 per hour, on average! 10 pilots and controllers won prizes from Thrustmaster, Tobii, Octavi, Fenix, and Orbx during the event. 
• And over 60 amazing hours in December, we moved 2,258 aircraft in and out of KBOS over the course of 60 Hours of ATC. More on that later. 

And we “hosted” FlightSimExpo 2025.

For the first time, FlightSimExpo was held in our airspace. The sixth annual edition of North America’s flight sim convention, the event took place on June 23-25, 2025 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in downtown Providence. 
 
Alongside VATUSA and VATSIM, Boston Virtual ARTCC had a massive presence at the event and helped to showcase the power of online ATC for pilot training, proficiency, and fun.

BVA’s presence at FlightSimExpo included:

• An FNO featuring KPVD, KBOS, and other neighboring airports—with staffing provided live from the show floor in Providence.
• More than 25 BVA controllers staffing KPVD, KBOS, and other airports during show hours. The display featured ATC setups from controllers across the VATSIM network, including a wraparound, four-projector display of Boston Tower brought in by a controller from the Seattle ARTCC.
• More than 30 instructor-led demo flights based on WINGS IFR 1, designed for FlightSimExpo attendees to experience VATSIM for the first time. 

In all, over 100 VATSIM members supported the interactive display, which won the Attendee Choice Award for “Best Exhibit Booth” at the event. 

We asked for your feedback.

Over 150 members took part in our 2025 Member Survey, which was available between February 1 and March 5, 2025.

Consistent with previous years, members reported being pleased with the community experience, with 95% of members rating their experience as a 4 or 5, out of 5.

72% rated the overall experience as a 5, an 8% increase from the 2022 survey. 

In August, we launched the BVA Merch Shop, a top request from pilots and controllers in surveys. The Merch Shop offers T-Shirts, stickers, drinkware, and more so you can show off your support for Boston Virtual ARTCC! 

We also hosted two All Member Meetings, one in July and another just a few days ago. These meetings offer members the opportunity to connect in a non-flying setting while asking questions and sharing feedback around the direction of the community. 

And based on that feedback, we’ll continue coming together to celebrate aviation in 2026.

Save perhaps for those on Twitch and YouTube, you can’t see the person on the other side of the mic. You don’t know what their home looks like, what their real-world job might be, where they’re from, or if they vote in elections. 

Sometimes, you can hear the slight differences; sometimes, the voices all seem to blend together. 

You may be operating Ryanair’s new A380 service between Boston and New York or sound like a DFW-based Qatar Airways pilot. Wherever you’re from, and wherever you’re going, there’s a home at Boston Virtual ARTCC for those who treat each other with mutual respect, empathy, and courtesy. 

To everyone who makes BVA the community it is, including our neighboring ARTCCs and colleagues across VATSIM and VATUSA: thank you. See you at FlightSimExpo, Tea Party, on TeamSpeak, in Discord, and on the network. 

By: Josh Nunn

Thank you all for participating in another successful 60 Hours weekend! One of our favorite events of the year, 60 Hours of ATC saw Boston Center lit up non-stop from 11am on Friday, December 5 until 11pm on Sunday, December 7.

Over the course of the event, we saw:

• 1,155 departures and 1103 arrivals at BOS. 
  
  • That’s 2,258 movements, an average of 37 per hour.
    
  • Traffic this year was 35% higher than in 2024. 
    
• A peak of 48 arrivals in 1 hour during the FNO.
  
• 81 different BVA controllers activated and controlled for at least 1 hour.

This weekend is an awesome showcase of what we are capable of handling as an ARTCC. Thank you to the controllers and pilots who spent some (and in some cases, most) of their weekend with us!  

By: Camden Bruno

Registration for FlightSimExpo—North America’s community-driven flight simulation convention—opened in December.

FlightSimExpo 2026 takes place on June 12-14, 2026 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre in Minneapolis / Saint Paul. 

Although this year’s event won’t be in our airspace, we expect BVA will have a large presence at the event, alongside VATSIM and VATUSA. We’re also looking forward to offering our “try a WINGS flight at the show” experience again in 2026. 

One of the biggest surprises about events like this is how many attendees have never heard of VATSIM and online ATC. Our presence at shows helps bring flight simmers into the world of online ATC that we know and love so well. 

We look forward to seeing many of our community members out at the event in 2026! 

If you’re planning to attend, please enter the code “BVA” when you get tickets (or, use this link and the code will be applied automatically). Please also list “Boston Virtual ARTCC” as your organization when registering. 

See you in MSP!

Pilot Tip of the Month

Listening Before Speaking

When assigned a frequency change by air traffic control, it's imperative that you spend a few moments on the new frequency building a mental picture of what is going on. This is particularly important during congested events such as Honk and Cross the Pond. There have been many instances of pilots changing frequency and immediately contacting ATC without listening first, thereby stepping on another pilot (or the controller themselves) and blocking a readback or instruction.

If you switch to a new frequency and can't get a word in because it's busy, wait until there is a break and call in. Sometimes, the controller may know you're on their frequency, and they will call you. Conversely, if it's quiet for a few seconds after listening, go ahead and make your call; just know that the controller may be coordinating behind-the-scenes and may not respond immediately.

For more information on radio procedures and other useful knowledge for operating in the Boston area, read our Airspace Briefing Guide here.

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