Pilots are now allowed to join our slot lottery!
Demand for participation in CTP outweighs the available capacity of the controllers and airspace. As a result, we chose to limit the number of participants using a slot system.
Only pilots with a slot are able to participate in the event. In order to distribute the slots to pilots we complete the following steps:
- Pilots register their interest (available until 10APR24 2359z)
- Everyone who enters the lottery will get a personalised booking time
- Pilots login after their allocated time and pick a time slot and city pair (being earlier in the lottery gives more chance for the route you want) (available 13APR24 through 18APR24)
- Pilots who have booked via the above MUST return to the CTP website and confirm their bookings between 20APR24 and 23APR24 2359z. If you do not do this, you WILL LOSE YOUR SLOT.
- After everyone has had some time to select their route, the remaining slots are released to all members (24APR24, ~1700z).
Several factors affect the outcome of the lottery, the most significant of which is your historical interaction with this event. If you have no-showed during a previous event when you held a booking, you will have slightly less chance of getting a slot now. If you applied but did not get a slot last year, you will have a slightly higher chance of getting a slot now.
As in previous events, you will have to return to the website in the week leading up to the event to reconfirm your intention to fly and to provide important information such as your callsign, maximum assignable flight level and so on.
You may now register to be included in the lottery at ctp.vatsim.net.
If you want to keep up to date with CTP, don’t forget to join our Discord server at ctp.vatsim.net/discord.
======================================================================
This Event’s system in Detail
The lottery will run much the same as previous - that being that everyone will go into the lottery and get randomised into an order. This order will be affected primarily by chance, however, there will be weighting for the following:
- No shows - negative weighting if you no-showed a slot you had in the previous event. This does not include people who dropped a slot they were allocated.
- Previous slot allocations - if you got a slot in the last lottery, you have a slightly negative weighting. Likewise, if you didn’t, you have a slight positive weighting
- Sequential events - if you have multiple sequential unsuccessful events, you get more of a positive weighting
With all of those factors taken into account, people will be ranked from 1 to N (N being the total number of people who express interest). A reminder that the main factor is chance, and therefore if you have negative weighting, you aren’t guaranteed to not have a later booking time. Likewise, with a positive weighting, you aren’t guaranteed an early one.
Each person is then given a time that they can book from and there is at least 1 minute between each person in the lottery, therefore a maximum of 5 people get in every 5 minutes. We try to base the booking times so that members from around the globe would be able to log in near to them without much hassle. The point of this is that if you can’t exactly make whatever time you’re given, you are likely to be able to log on soon after and still get a choice of slots, in contrast to the classic ‘free for all’ system where being 15 minutes late meant no slot at all.
We’re not sure how popular all the slots will be, therefore it’s perfectly possible that we’ll run out of slots before the last booking times and therefore people towards the end of the lottery may not have any slots left to choose from. Equally, it’s perfectly possible that some slots and times that are less popular will still be available. People with slots can drop them at any time, so slots will always pop up.
Everyone will then have to return to the site between 13APR24 and 23APR24 (0000-2359 UTC) to confirm they are flying and ensure they’ve filled in all the details. If you don’t do this, your slot will become available to anyone else to take.
Regardless of what’s left, anything not taken will be available on 24APR24. Anyone at this point can take a slot from what’s left. Anything dropped will be available to be booked.
======================================================================
Pilot Briefing Seminar
Something that is not new, but regardless, not talked enough about is the Pilot Briefing Seminar. Our friends from the Flight Simulation Association and other known members of the community are running a seminar to help new and experienced pilots prepare for the event and bring them up to speed with anything new from oceanic procedures, to departing and arriving in the respective continents (with all the differences between FAA, EASA and other airspace).
We will be sharing more details on the seminar very soon, so watch this space, as well as our Discord and our social media accounts on Facebook and X/Twitter @vatsimctp
