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San Francisco Real-Time Pilot's Area!
Pilots
Hello Pilots!
This event is a ARTCC-wide event. The focus airport is San Francisco Intl.(KSFO). Departures and arrivals will be from the entire country. Both VFR and IFR flight plans will be expected. San Francisco will be fully staffed, along with multiple approach sectors and Oakland center. Our friendly neighbors will also be helping out by staffing to keep traffic flowing smoothly. Both new and experienced pilots are warmly welcomed to have fun during this event!
Quick Reference
- Who? ZOA, and many other virtual organizations and ARTCCs.
- What? SFO REAL TIME
- Where? Focus on SFO, but elsewhere in the world!
- When? Saturday, May 29, 2010, 2300-0300 Zulu
All of the SFO Charts can be found here.
All of the SFO-Area High-Enroute, Low-Enroute, and Sectional charts can be found here.
Notes
This is not meant to be a guide on how to aviate, navigate, or communicate though it includes many offhand references on where to find important information, all of which should be reviewed prior to the event. This is made to help guide you into making yourself and the controllers have more fun by being formally prepared for the event. The language I use later on may be a little demanding and harsh, this is not meant to scare you, but just to make some points out to again, make this event fun. EVERYONE, is welcome to come and fly, both new pilots and experienced pilots. Any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to contact me at events@oakartcc.com.
When contacting an controller on INITIAL contact, please say your FULL call sign, and the facilities call sign. DO NOT request anything or say anything else because each controller will be very busy and may not have the time to accommodate you, they will either say "Go ahead" or have you "standby." Whenever a controller has you "standby" please do not respond to it! Also please wait at least five seconds before contacting a controller to cope for lag that may occur on the servers. Also please only file flight plans that you are fully able to fly! It will put stress on both you and the controller and delay traffic flow.
Clearance
San Francisco
- Frequency: 118.850
- Phonetic: San Francisco Clearance
- Call Sign: SFO_DEL
- ATIS: 118.850
Before we begin, I'd like to say this is not the place to begin learning IFR clearances, or IFR procedures at all. The event will have very high traffic levels and it is very important that you use minimal open mic time, follow directions carefully, and be prepared for your flight thoroughly. I will not be going into depth about how to fly each departure, but I may explain a few. If you are still learning, or you want to reassure your understanding of different types of departure procedures I HIGHLY recommend reading THIS document to get a further understanding of SIDs (Standard Instrument Departures).
San Francisco will have high amounts of traffic both in the air and especially on the ground. For departures, you will first listening to an ATIS. The ATIS (Automated Terminal Information Service) is weather, NOTAM, etc, hourly update in descending alphabetical order to specific facility. This recording contains vital information including runways in use, weather, and other important statements. At the end of the ATIS it recites, "Advise on initial contact you have information _____." As a departure, you will first be contacting clearance, advise them you have the current information, or alphabetical character to save them and yourself time of having them repeat it to you. Please note, you may also hear "Gate hold procedures are in effect." This means aircraft may have to wait for a given amount of time at the gate until we can accommodate more departures, this is rare, but possible.
IFR departures should be familiar with how to obtain an IFR clearance, a helpful acronym is CRAFT (Clearance - Route - Altitude - Frequency - Transponder). It is important to write down all information give to you as it may contain extra information used later on. Due to the high amounts of traffic, the controller may only have you read back your transponder code to save time and assist other aircraft. After you have received your IFR clearance you will be given a ground frequency to contact, please do this before attempting to pushback, startup, or taxi in non-movement areas. Sim Routes and Flight Aware are highly recommended resources to find correct flight plans. Please do not file certain IFR flight plans if you are unable to fly them! Review the charts, etc before attempting to file your flight plan!
All VFR departures out of San Francisco will be required to obtain a departure release. As a pilot this means you will have to wait a little longer for a clearance as IFR aircraft have priority over VFR aircraft. San Francisco is a class bravo airspace, so a clearance will be required. I can't stress this anymore, VFR aircraft in this event should be extremely cautious. Looking over VFR sections beforehand is mandatory as we will be very strict of airspace violations.
Ground
San Francisco
- Frequency: West 121.800 and East 124.250
- Phonetic: San Francisco Ground
- Call Sign: SFO_W_GND and SFO_E_GND
In reality and in VATSIM ground movements are extremely important, especially around high loads of traffic. It is very important to ALWAYS have an airport diagram with you. During most casual times in VATSIM you are give, "Taxi to runway 01L." This will be much different. The ground controller may approve or deny your pushback and startup because the airport's movement areas may not be able to accommodate as much aircraft. They will also give you specific taxi ways to follow, specific areas to hold short of, and many cases specific aircraft to follow. Like all controlling, if you do not understand or are unclear of something it is EXTREMELY important to let the controller know. For those aircraft who are not taxing to a runway, but are taxing to the ramp, it is important to specific where you are parking so the controller knows how to taxi you. Tower also may ask this for specific aircraft once you land or prior to landing.
They are doing their best to expedite the flow of ground movements and get aircraft to where they want to be on the ground as efficiently as possible. Your cooperation is their best friend. If you use charts that display "Runway Incursion Hot Spots" it is very important to look out over those areas if you do come close to them on the field. If the controller gives you a specific taxiway or taxiways to follow, and DOES NOT have you hold short of any runway, and while you are taxing you see a runway in front of you, you DO NOT have to hold short of it because they did not tell you to! Taxi speeds are also important, it is recommended to taxi at maximum 20 knots ground speed on straightaways and reduce to 10 knots ground speed while approaching turns and on the turns. Please note that not all aircraft will have the same scenery, please do not report aircraft not taxing properly as they may have a totally different one! Only do and follow what they tell you, do not expect anything more or less from them.
Tower
San Francisco
- Frequency: 120.500
- Phonetic: San Francisco Tower
- Call Sign: SFO_TWR
Tower may be one of the most important positions of them all. They control all the active runways and taxiways between runways. This is where saying your call sign only on initial contact is very important. The tower controller will be handling many aircraft and will be timing departures precisely. It is very important not to mess up their cycle.
IFR arrivals and departures will be the first priority to tower. If San Francisco is in "normal operations" where departures are off of 01L, 01R, 28L, and 28R and arrivals onto 28L and 28R, tower will be having aircraft "position and hold" onto runways 01L and 01R as no aircraft will be landing on them. It is important to do this as quickly as possible make sure tower has a safe separation for your departure, and arrivals off of the perpendicular runways.
Our tower controllers are very well trained, we all go though a course of heavy aircraft, where we learn how to time departures and arrivals. It is very important to NOT argue with the controller, they know exactly what they are doing. Again I hope this is not discouraging but it will make your time a lot more fun by following directions to make both of you happy. They may clear you for takeoff when another aircraft off of the perpendicular runway has not even passed your runway, they are forecasting that he will be fast by the time you begin your rollout, again to increase separation.
VFR aircraft will again be one of the last priorities to aircraft. You will have to wait the longest, especially if you have an unusual request. Aircraft in the traffic pattern may or may not be rejected depending on the traffic level, it is important to know, that if they deny your request, they will not change their mind! For those VFR aircraft arriving to the airport, it is important to either go though the appropriate approach controller first to increase your chance of being able to land quickly.
Once you have read the briefing, in its entirety, go here to book your flight.
Welcome to San Francisco Real-Time.