IVAO - Belgium Division

Air Traffic Control is a service to pilots, not vice versa... This means that an Air Traffic Control Officer (ATCO) should try to give our pilots the best service he can. In order to do that certain minima are set for people who would like to take up an ATC position within the Brussels FIR, which includes the Luxembourg TMA and CTR (control zone).
In return it is expected that pilots take the effort to study the procedures and follow the instructions of ATC at all times. If unable, please report so immediately to ATC.

§2. ATC minima

All Air Traffic Controllers should have sufficient knowledge of the valid procedures and of the use of the IvAc software (the ATC radar). Your first theoretical exam will be the IvAc exam. This test is simple and requires basic knowledge of the use of the IvAc software. If an ATCO is not able to pass this exam, he/she will also not be able to use the software properly. Read all about how to use IvAc here.
All pilots are supposed to know how to use IvAp, how to switch frequencies and how to eventually communicate in text, if necessary. Read all about how to use IvAp here.

§3. Facility Rating Assignment or FRA's

A FRA is a minimum criterion for ATC on a certain controller position. This means that the ATCO needs to have a specific minimum rating before taking an ATC position. The purpose of a FRA is not to discourage newbies from starting as ATC, but to make sure that our pilots get good ATC quality. The saying "Better bad ATC than no ATC" is not applicable to the Belgium FIR...
Similarly for pilots, although it is very tempting to immediately try to be a captain of a big 747, main thing however is to know HOW to fly. That is: How to get the bird from the ground, but more importantly, how to get it back safely with all the pieces still there and ..... meanwhile following the instructions from ATC.
Be aware, you are not alone out there. Many more try to enjoy this hobby of flying and ATC and therefore we have to set some minima. Respect them and respect the others.

The specific FRA's are mentioned in detail see this page

§4. Airspace

The Belgian Airspace is divided into two major parts:
1. From ground up to FL195, called the FIR (Flight Information Region) and
2. from FL195 up to unlimited, called the UIR (Upper Flight Information Region).
In real life the FIR and part of the UIR (up to FL245) are controlled by Brussels Control (Belgocontrol), the airspace above FL245 is controlled by Eurocontrol Maastricht.
On IVAO this division is (normally) not followed and both the FIR and UIR are controlled by Brussels Control (EBBU) as one area.
The larger airfields in Belgium are all controlled airspace and there may be ground control, tower control and quite often approach control available. Exception is EBKT (Kortrijk-Wevelgem) which is an international airport, but still non-controlled airspace.

§5 Unit procedures - (EBBR as an example)

- Brussels Clearance Delivery (_DEL)

Gives the flight plan clearance.
For IFR traffic, this clearance shall include Standard Instrument Departure (SID) route, runway in use and the squawk code.
For VFR, this clearance will be given by the Tower (TWR) controller.

- Brussels Ground (_GND)

Handles all aircraft on the ground, except that on the active runway(s). Gives start-up and push-back approval, taxi clearance to and from the active runway. Hand-off to Tower (TWR) is done well before the aircraft approaches the holding point, if possible.
TWR will hand-off to ground (GND) after the aircraft has vacated the active runway.

- Brussels Tower (_TWR)

Handles all landing and departing aircraft for the active runway(s) and all other airborne aircraft that are within the Control Zone (CTR). A CTR height may vary, for EBBR it is up to 1500 feet AMSL. This other airborne traffic is (normally) VFR traffic and helicopters.

Tower "owns" the runways and gives take-off and landing clearances. In addition he is responsible for the separation of aircraft established on the ILS. The Approach (APP) controller should hand-off the traffic to TWR once they are established on the ILS.
Aircraft are to contact Departure/Approach as soon as possible after take-off.

Since TWR “owns” the runways it is TWR that will determine the runways to use for landing and departure. See his ATIS for the valid actual information.

- Brussels Approach (_APP)

Handles all arriving aircraft from the appropriate IAF (Initial Approach Fix). In normal cases the hand-off from Brussels ACC to APP is initiated when the arriving aircraft are descending between FL120 – FL100.

For EBBR they will be cleared to descend FL80 (FL60 for arrivals via FLO), provided runways 25L and 25R are in use for landing. For the other runways different procedures apply.
Approach will hand-off to TWR when established on ILS or when the aircraft is visual with the runway (visual approach). They should be well clear of other traffic controlled by Approach.

Note:

At Brussels airport, the different tasks of Approach Control (APP) could be split between a departure controller (DEP) and an arrival controller (ARR). The purpose is to relieve the work-load of a single Approach controller by separately handling the departures by another controller on another frequency. By doing so, the Approach controller can better handle the arrivals. He has to change his position name to ARR (Arrival Controller). APP becomes ARR and DEP position is activated.

The controller at the active APP position decides if and when the traffic load requires his position to be split into ARRival and DEParture positions.

XXXX_ARR (ARRival) and XXXX_DEP (DEParture) positions MAY NOT BE ACTIVATED SEPARATELY! Either there are ARR and DEP or otherwise it is only APP !

- Brussels Departure (_DEP)

Handles departing aircraft up to FL70 depending the actual runway-in-use and mutual agreement with Area Control. In real life Departure (DEP) also handles all traffic which enters the Brussels TMA up to FL65.
Normally Brussels Departure clears aircraft to FL70 before hand-off to Brussels ACC (Area Control Centre).

- Brussels Area Control Center (_CTR)

Handles all traffic (on IVAO including VFR) within the Belgian FIR, that is not controlled by any other ATC Unit. It also controls the holdings over the IAF for EBBR within Brussels TMA's above FL75.

EBBU ACC ensures separation between aircraft during en-route descent, climb-out and overflying Brussels FIR.
Note: If Maastricht UAC (Upper Area Control Centre) is active, en-route traffic above FL245 shall be handed off to them.

- Brussels Flight Information Service FIS (in IVAO:FSS)

The primary role of a Flight Information Service unit is to provide information of all kind.
On IVAO it will provide assistance to pilots (traffic information) and other ATC facilities when requested.
As a FIS unit, you do not provide any radar or procedure control using the (IvAc) ATC client. You provide information.

Likewise, flight plans are not approved by a FIS unit. This is only done via the active ATC unit in the area or at the airfield the pilot is at that moment. If there is no airfield ATC unit active, then it will be the active ACC controller in the area of responsibility, if any. If there is no ATC at all, as required, broadcast your intentions on UNICOM.

Flight Information Service unit only provide information and is not an air traffic control unit.

Note: In Belgium the FIS unit (FSS) will only be activated on the occasion of (intensive) VFR traffic activity, like with an event or during training sessions.

§6. ATIS Information:

The controller's radar program IvAc will generate an automatic ATIS from the info you enter in the ATIS field in the program. That ATIS then will look like this:
de3.ts.ivao.aero/EBBU_CTR
This is EBBU_CTR information BRAVO recorded at 0607z
Check local airports for runway in use and METAR
Transition Level FL50 / Transition Altitude 4500ft
Confirm you have information BRAVO on initial contact.
Don't enter other non-relevant information like your name, 'welcome', etc.
If the pilot checks the ATIS before contacting ATC, he will be aware already of a number of important items, like runway in use, weather information and the transition altitude or level.
In IVAO every ATC unit has its own ATIS.

§8. Voice ATC:

The official voice program for IVAO is TeamSpeak. More info can be found here: http://www.ivao.aero/ts/
Only use the Teamspeak version that comes packed with the IvAc and IvAp software install.
We strongly encourage people to use voice; not only to increase the realism of the simulation but also to speed up traffic flow.

§9. Unicom

When no ATC is available for the part of airspace you use at that moment, pilots should use the Unicom to communicate by text, and look out for traffic, eventually with the help of their TCAS. This is valid as well at controlled airfields.
That Unicom text broadcast will help every one in the neighbourhood to know if there is any other traffic around and what it will do, whether on the ground or in the air. This is part of what is called Situational Awareness: “Be aware of where you are, what is around you and what is happening there”.

Update: 20/03/2010