Image: Screenshot of the Month winner Carl R.

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

ZBW Sweeps VATUSA's December Iron Mic

By: Evan Reiter

4:02am. Thursday, December 25, 2025.

A bleary-eyed Brennan (LO) is listening to the position relief briefing from Chris (RB), who is finishing a 3-hour shift on Boston Approach. 

“...and for traffic, it’s just that one primary northbound target with the 9 smaller targets around it, it’ll be out of your airspace in less than a second at that speed. Any questions?”

At this point, Boston Approach has been staffed almost non-stop since December 19. Why? Two words: 'Iron Mic'.

Each month, VATUSA presents 'Iron Mic' Awards to the most-staffed Center, Approach, Tower, and Ground facilities in the United States division of VATSIM. Some facilities make specific plans to win awards by targeting staffing over a specific month. Some facilities are just online that much that they happen seemingly naturally. 

Here at Boston Virtual ARTCC, we don’t tend to seek coordinated Iron Mic efforts. However, December is 60 Hours of ATC. Staffing Boston Center (and several underlying positions) for that many hours naturally puts us into a good spot to win December’s Iron Mic without much effort…or so we thought. 

In the second half of the month – while holding a solid lead on all four facilities – we noticed “SMF_APP” was online… a lot. By December 19, it became clear that Oakland Center had begun a coordinated effort to ‘out staff’ Boston Approach and prevent us from sweeping the awards.

A screenshot from VATSIM Radar shows BOS_APP and SMF_APP as the only two facilities staffed across the entirety of VATUSA.

That’s when our controller community pulled together and put in some incredible efforts to hold the lead. More than 25 controllers staffed Boston Approach almost non-stop between December 19 and December 26–including a continuous stretch from 0755 on December 23 until 1921 on December 26. Controllers from around the world participated in the 24-hour effort, including RB and LO who combined to cover most of the overnight shifts. 

Finally, just after Christmas, Oakland Center sent us a friendly message saying that they were conceding the title, then signed off for the first time in days. 

In December, 94 controllers put in almost 800 individual sessions and a combined total of 1,518 hours of ATC coverage. The result was nearly 50% uptime coverage across Boston Center, Approach, Tower, and Ground, officially earning us the sweep of the Iron Mic competition in December. That’s something we’ve only done twice in documented history since 2008.

“I just wanted to take a moment to say how proud I am of all your efforts in 2025, particularly in December during 60 Hours and the big Iron Mic push. Winning all 4 Iron Mic awards in one month is a feat that is rarely accomplished, especially in such convincing fashion. It was incredible to watch how the team came together to make this happen. 

Thank you for all you do to make BVA the greatest ARTCC on VATSIM. It is such a privilege to be a leader in this organization, and I look forward to even greater things in 2026!”

- Josh Nunn, Boston Virtual ARTCC Air Traffic Manager

By: Josh Nunn

That’s right: it is my pleasure to announce that controller Alexander Iannuzzi, who goes by the operating initials AI, will be taking over as BVA’s Webmaster!

Alex’s technical background and years of experience in our community makes him an easy choice for this role.

Alex replaces Collin Koldoff, who has graciously agreed to aid in the transition period. We thank Collin for his years of service to BVA.

Collin also shared the following with the community: 

“Being able to volunteer here has meant a lot to me. What started as a fun way to contribute turned into something that genuinely helped launch my career. The experience, trust, and opportunities I was given here played a huge role in where I ended up professionally, and I am extremely grateful for that. There is a bit of irony in all of this though. The career that BVA helped kick off eventually started taking up more of my time than I could realistically manage, which is why I ultimately chose to step down.

I will still be around during the transition to support the new Webmaster and help however I can. And yes, I have officially been replaced by AI. Hopefully this AI does not try to take over the world.

Thank you all again for the support, teamwork, and great memories over the years. I am proud to have been a part of BVA and I look forward to continuing to support the ARTCC going forward."

By: Evan Reiter

To cap off a year that saw BVA controllers online about 12% more than 2024, we’re pleased to share that Boston Ground was the most-staffed Ground facility across VATUSA, winning us the “Golden Mic Award” for Ground in 2025.

Boston Ground was online 60% more than 2024, and had a total uptime of more than 25% of the year! 

Pilot Tip of the Month

Missed Approach Points

When flying an instrument approach, there comes a time - more specifically, a location - when you must decide whether you may continue the approach or whether you must discontinue and try again. This point is aptly called the missed approach point (MAP). Unless you have the required visual reference in sight at the MAP, you must go around and execute a missed approach. But what actually defines the MAP?

Like most things in aviation, it depends! There are two overarching types of approaches: a non-precision approach and a precision approach. The MAP for a non-precision approach usually comes in the form of a minimum descent altitude (MDA) combined with a location. It could be the runway threshold, the opposite end of the runway, or well prior to the runway. On a non-precision approach, you can descend to and maintain the MDA until you reach the MAP; if you don't have the runway or runway environment in sight, you "go missed". Examples of non-precision approaches include localizer approaches, VOR approaches, and RNAV approaches.

For precision approaches, such as ILS approaches, the MAP comes in the form of an altitude. You reach the MAP when you descend to the decision altitude (DA) or decision height (DH) on the approach. Upon reaching the DA or DH, if you don't have the runway or runway environment in sight, you "go missed".

For more information on IFR flying, check out our WINGS Over New England series here!

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