Denis Brenner

We’re back! Rotate Network is still in development! We’ve been off the radar for long enough, so we wanted to let you all know why we were gone and why we are back. You gave us a lot of enthusiastic moral support as a community, so we think it is fair to explain what made us take a break and how we will move forward. First off, let’s go back to why we took a break. We started our Kickstarter campaign in November, 2017, and were trying to raise 100,000€. This sum would have let us continue developing Rotate Network with a larger team. The success of the fundraising campaign was crucial to turning our dream of the network into a working reality. We did not receive a single cent from the fundraising campaign. But wait, some of our community wanted to donate! That’s absolutely true. Our community, many thanks to you all, did promise to donate 10,000€ to the fundraising campaign. But, we used an all-or-nothing fundraising campaign. This type of campaign means that if we meet our goal, then the donations will be made. We did not receive enough pledges, and did not meet the goal of 100,000€, which is why nobody was charged anything and why we did not get any money. In our eyes the Kickstarter campaign failed because the platform and the service it offers was not user- or campaign-friendly. To make things worse, the Kickstarter platform isn’t commonly used in Europe. At the same time, the image of Kickstarter projects is negative, and because of all of this we will most likely avoid trying to gather funding through a Kickstarter campaign. However, we could have done more. We could have built up our community more before starting the Kickstarter campaign. Alright, so what did we do after the fundraising campaign? We had to gather our wits after the failed Kickstarter campaign. What this meant is what we wrote in our message before “going off the radar”. We took the time to think about changing the development of Rotate and our team. We did this because we wanted to make Rotate Network a reality despite the huge financial setback. How will we do that now? We decided to continue development by ourselves. It will basically be our internal company project while we work other jobs in order to finance Rotate Network ourselves. This means that the development process will be funded with our own money. In order to be transparent, the idea of adding a presale to the release or finding potential sponsors is also possible. We would let you know what we decide as we come to these decisions. Another final word on money: We have a new payment model. There will be a free Beta-development phase. After the Beta, the Lifetime Buy-in Phase begins. Depending on whether this is sustainable we might add a subscription for new accounts later. We think it is important to tell you this so that we are all on the same page. This time around we are looking for more active support from our community, because we are not planning on hiring additional staff. This means opportunities to become a more important member of the Rotate Network. This could be, for example, building and working with our growing community, helping to educate new members, and adding geographically relevant info. This is very open-ended, and we are open to working with you, the community, to find out how to include interested members in more active roles. This is a chance for all members to play a bigger part in our community and network. You can build your own network without bureaucracy. We will reach out to you as soon as we need more help/support. When it comes to release dates, we want one thing to be clearer than the skies under better than perfect conditions. Rotate Network will be released. As we said above, many features presented during our campaign in 2017 won’t be part of the initial build. This means they will be added at a later date in the form of updates. These updates will be released over time so we can take the time to focus on releasing polished content. We think that CD Projekt Red has the right idea. Available when it is ready is what we want you to think when you wonder when a feature will be available. The network will be released on Steam. The whole development team thanks you from the bottom of our hearts. Without you, this project wouldn’t be worth it. Yes, you can pat yourself on the back right about now.

Imagine Think of your checklist and what you would see on the tarmac below as ground crews are working on nearby aircraft. Airports are busy places, and each aircraft is a hub of activity. When you go through your checklist there is a skilled ground crew making sure that you safely get your wheels off the ground in time. The Virtual Ramp Agent lets you experience the next level of realism, even while you are still at the gate. Look around and you will see your own and other aircraft surrounded by ground crews, filling the airfield, breathing life into them. Functions The ramp agent is your eyes and ears on the ground. These hard-working members of any airport staff are responsible for managing all activities while you are on the ground. The ramp agent oversees the people who guide your aircraft into the gate, put chocks under the wheels when you have reached your parking position and are responsible for many other tasks, such as boarding, deboarding and refuelling, just to name a few. They coordinate the baggage and cargo trolleys, as well as the push-back trucks to get you onto the taxiway. Additionally, they make sure that all the vehicles are in place or out of the way at the right times. The Ramp Agent knows the final weight of your aircraft when it is fully loaded and ready for departure. This weight might be different than what was previously planned. This last-minute information gives you the aircraft’s final weight for accurate take-off calculations. All ramp agent functions are controlled from the pilot client. You not only receive information and control the agent from there but you also have to make certain decisions from time to time. Will you wait for the last passenger that hasn’t checked-in at the gate yet, or unload his baggage and take-off without him? Important point: This feature is a stretch goal. It would be great to include in Rotate Network right when we launch, but the time of implementation depends on the amount of funding we receive through our Kickstarter Campaign.

Pilot Career You are an ace, so show it. Just like real-world pilots, you start small and build up your abilities and certifications. From the smallest single-engine aircraft to enormous fully-loaded cargo jets, you can get expertise in any aircraft by investing time in securing licenses and type ratings, and by doing so define your piloting profile. You will gain experience and can proudly present it to your fellow pilots and controllers. Pilot License A pilot license proves that you are a trained pilot. How trained you are is also visible in your profile and when you are in the air on the Live Map. The added depth of flying with Rotate lets you progress and gives you the option of improving as a pilot. Becoming a successful pilot is about more than just flying from A to B. This is a core part of flight, but before you take to the skies, you need to know a lot. Your pilot training includes things such as phraseology, flight planning, meteorology, navigation, map reading, and flying with and without instruments. You can go through a licensing process to prove your ability in all areas of flight. However, earning your license is not just about gaining knowledge. That is an important part, but having a license is a way to prove to yourself what you can do. It is a way of showing others how excellent you really are and helps make your time with Rotate worthwhile. Earning your license will be challenging, but it is worth it, both for the sense of accomplishment, the enjoyment and for the added realism. Type Rating Having a type rating for each aircraft you want to fly is a lot like the licensing process. By going through the necessary steps to reach a type rating, you prove to yourself and to the rest of Rotate Network that you can operate any aircraft you received a type rating for. Imagine having a hangar and filling that hangar with the aircraft you have type ratings for. If you are educated on the specific aircraft you want to operate, it lets fellow pilots and Air Traffic Controllers know just how well you can fly whatever aircraft you have a type rating for. However, should you choose to push yourself to improve, that will be visible to yourself, your airline, and the rest of the Rotate Network, so do something for yourself and the community by getting certified.

At Rotate we implement Air Control Centres for controllers to give you a better gateway to the community. The ACC is effectively your entrance into the ATC world and offers you events, support and organisation for ATCs as individuals within the system. Robust and efficient organisation is a must for a large network. What we did is to focus on the most important part of ATC organisation and eliminate the rest. So, at Rotate, there are two main elements which group controllers efficiently. You are welcome to organise yourselves independently, and we offer you a more straightforward approach to that organisation. Without an unnecessary excess of bureaucracy, there will be nothing getting in the way of your controlling. We want you to socialise and have fun while controlling on the network and to be part of the process without first slogging through hours of management work. We decided only to include ACC and Flight Information Regions (FIR) to keep things simple. Problems and support issues go directly to Rotate, instead of through a massive hierarchy. ACCs – Area Control Centre The ACC is the first member-based level of organisation. It is bound to a specific area, mostly to a country. You can join an ACC to get in touch with other controllers interested in controlling in that region and communicate in the ACC’s native language. ACCs also organise events with other airports or between airports within their area. Each ACC is also responsible for the local airports and provides training for their members so that you can gain knowledge about the specific local procedures within your ACC. Your ACC has mentors who are there to help you with all aspects of your controller training, including working with Rotate’s globally available training documents and preparing you for your controller exams. One of you will be your ACC’s leader, elected by your peers in a simple majority rule election. Their term lasts for half a year. Anyone can be a candidate, and this process is also carried out by the network. The election process is as straightforward as possible. All registered members of an ACC will be notified of the election and can vote as soon as the automated candidate selection is complete. The election and notifications all take place within the Rotate Network. At the start of their term, the ACC leader appoints the deputy leader, head of events, navigation and mentoring. The ACC leader and deputy leader organise the ACC and work as mediators for problems within the ACC. The ACC leader is also our direct contact person. The event coordinator plans upcoming events, contacts other event coordinators or other contact persons and manages anyone involved with the event. The navigation coordinator maintains sector files and procedures at all airports within an ACC. Finally, the mentor coordinator checks and hires new mentors, and makes sure that they receive the support they need. Please note that an ACC in the United States is called ARTCC, so you could get involved with ARTCC Washington D.C., for example. FIRs – Flight Information Region In exceptionally large or densely populated ACCs it makes sense to divide the area even further. For that reason, we believe it is reasonable to introduce an even smaller unit called FIR. FIRs function like an Area Control Centre for a smaller part of an ACC. Regardless of their operational size, they provide all ACC services in their respective areas. This means that FIRs are effectively on the same organisational level as their former ACC was. We hope to cut away unnecessary bureaucracy by giving the leadership in an ACC the option to dissolve their ACC and reform it as multiple FIRs. ACC Registration Requests for forming new ACCs go through our online system. A FIR can also be created after the ACC leadership decides to split the ACC into FIRs or could be requested before forming an ACC. The FIR registration requests will be checked on a case-by-case basis by Rotate so that we can confirm that the new area borders are acceptable. ACC and FIR have to have at least 30 members, and all members must be listed in the registration application. The listed members then have to confirm their membership in the ACC or FIR. Finally, Each ACC and FIR has to elect a leader, who then appoints the other vital positions we listed above. Support The overarching organisation is the Rotate Company itself. We are the main support instance for all ACC and FIR leaders. We make sure that your ACC/FIR runs smoothly. We also offer guidelines, support and training documents for all career and training purposes, as well as the ATC Client, which is your door to the controlling world. We function as everything in the organisational hierarchy above ACC.

No matter what stage of your controller career you are in, we want to support you with everything we have in order to achieve and maintain a global standard of excellence. Advantages of our ATC Career system We put a lot of focus on gaining experience during training. You deserve to hop into the controller seat early on, with as few hurdles as possible. You won’t be alone on your journey through controller training. Mentors will guide you along your path, both for your sake and for the sake of the network. At the end of your training, you will be a competent controller. Mentors Rotate Network makes mentoring a blast. With our globally available training documents, you can focus on educating trainees and helping them improve faster. Additionally, we offer you a special set of tools to increase your effectiveness, such as scenarios where you manage simulated aircraft; or mentoring view, which allows you to oversee the actions of your trainees. Bookings for sessions and training are easily managed right in the Rotate Manager. Organisation is simple and clearing students for the next step in their training requires only a button-click. Now you can focus purely on giving trainees the skills and knowledge they need, sensei. Training Rotate’s goals for the controller community are twofold. We make it straightforward for new users to get into controlling. We also make our controllers prove that they are skilled enough for their stations, right from the start. Once registered with Rotate anyone who is interested in a career as an air traffic controller can start learning the basics of controlling while also receiving an introduction to the ATC Client. First, we supply you with the proper reading which teaches you to what it means to be a controller and how training and controlling works. We create the learning experience, and you just have to apply yourself to the challenges. You aren’t alone in your training; mentors will always assist you, should you need any help. We make sure that before you man a position, where you control real pilots, a mentor will speak with you. After your first mentor session, you can already begin operating an info tower. We also want you to be challenged from the start and believe that you will grow faster by giving you controlling tasks during your training. Learn the basics and start offering great service especially to all VFR enthusiasts and beginner pilots out there while advancing your controller career. We want to make your entry into the world of air traffic control as smooth as possible. That is why we choose to train beginner controllers in smaller steps at the beginning of their career. This allows you to become comfortable and competent in one area first, while at the same time giving you the freedom to accept the challenge of managing those positions all on your own. Training for advanced positions becomes more challenging later on in your ATC Career to ensure high-quality controlling at positions with increased responsibility. You have to pass exams for each level of certification, and once you are a tower controller, you can switch regions or even countries. If you want to switch regions, you are required to pass an exam. Before taking the exam, you are welcome to take an optional refresher course. This examination process makes sure that you know local procedures and your controlling skills are well-suited for your new station. Should you fail the exam, you will have to go through proper training to get certified for the target region. Community Nobody likes to be stuck in a place with no traffic. We are combining those early stations with our Pilot career to make sure you actually get traffic. For example, traffic circuits are a beginning task for all pilots starting their career at Rotate. What better way to train as a pilot than at staffed airports? All controllers can set an option especially welcoming pilots in training. This way pilots can easily see well-suited airports right from their mission screen. This leads to cooperation between beginner controllers and pilots because the controllers offer their service to the pilots, who offer their traffic to the controllers. The two groups grow together because they interact with each other from day one. This symbiosis builds up both parts of the Rotate community. Please note that your ratings will expire if you are gone for long amounts of time, so you will have to practice and prove that you are up-to-date before you resume controlling. This is important because of the standard we want to uphold in our controller community. We want you and the community to be happy and up-to-date, so renewing your license doesn’t take much time. For new ATC trainees, we want to offer a streamlined process that gives everyone the opportunity to become a high-quality air traffic controller without sitting around in positions without enough traffic. If you are a veteran user, we want to challenge your skills and make you improve at your own pace. If you are a mentor, we want to offer you all the tools necessary for you to pass on your skills as efficiently as you control your airspace.

STCA Short Term Conflict Alert monitors for loss of separation between two aircraft with a look-ahead time of two minutes. Once the system calculates a loss of separation within this timeframe, it automatically triggers an alert. It also shows a projection of the incident that is bound to happen after two minutes, giving you the time to react before it happens. APW Area Proximity Warning works almost the same as STCA, but instead of looking for conflicts between aircraft, it monitors conflicts regarding airspaces. If a pilot is about to enter a restricted airspace within the next two minutes, it will trigger an alert. The System takes into account the current altitude of the aircraft, its flight rule and temporary airspace restrictions.

System Supported Co-ordination makes controller communication a lot faster and more comfortable. When transferring an aircraft, you can pass additional information to the receiving controller with only a few clicks. You can quickly negotiate a different FL for a specific outbound aircraft, or adjust the speed by proposing it right in the flight's tag, letting the other controller accept or decline it. Coordinating directs to certain waypoints along the route can now be shown to and approved by all controllers, whose airspace is influenced by the change.

The Monitoring Aids System analyses the complete flight path of all aircraft, providing you with helpful tips. Think of MONA as your assistant sitting next to you, applying little sticky notes to everything you have missed. For example, it knows when an aircraft is supposed to start their descent and displays a small reminder next to the aircrafts tag, to let you know the plane has reached its top of descent. Additionally, the next controller, who you are sending the aircraft to, will love you for always handing over tags just in time. Little does he know that MONA was displaying reminders next to all the aircraft that needed transfers. Anytime a pilots derivates from his flight path or is speeding through the air; MONA lets you know. You can also ask her to remind you when the time is right to execute planned actions, such as having someone descent to a perfect flight level for handovers. MONA is a beautiful gadget, designed to help you with the little things that help you perfect your controlling and offer excellent service to all pilots.

Hello Rotators! For the forum support and the staggering amount of registrations, we thank you. Many of you have asked in the forum, via Facebook and other social media how you can support us. At this stage in development, the best way to support Rotate Network is by letting other people know what we are about, either by sharing with your friends or by posting about us in any forums you are part of. Let’s unite the virtual aviation community! Another option for supporting us is through donations. Our Kickstarter Campaign goes live on the 17th of this month, and we welcome any and all sums you choose to give. Again, thank you for being here and joining us for the next step in virtual aviation. Without you, we would be nothing. -Your Rotate Team

There once were small printed slips of paper to track aircraft flight progress. Those were the early flight strips, the beginnings of better controlling. Nowadays air traffic controllers basically have access the same function, but use a different medium. Modern controllers use electronic flight strips. Each aircraft is represented by a flight strip. These strips are grouped into different categories which you can organise yourself and hold important information for the specific aircraft. Controllers around the world work with flight strips because they give you a solid overview of all operations at your station. Our design is based on what ATC actually work with on a day-to-day basis. We modelled our Flight Strips after their real-world counterparts to give you the most realistic experience possible. You can display them in a smaller version on the same screen as your radar. This is a good solution for single-screen setups. If you have multiple screens, we offer you the option of running extended Flight Strips on a dedicated screen and the compact version on your main view. Our Flight Strips are synchronised network-wide. Edited and commented flight strips are viewable by the first controller at the departure airport, and by the receiving controller at the destination. Many areas of Rotate Network benefit from the synchronisation. For example, mentors watching you during your training can stay updated on your flight strip organisation and how you plan. This feature is all about building a sequence that best suits you and your pilots. Use Flight Strips to make sure you stay ahead of bottlenecks before they lead to delays and that your pilots enjoy the best service.

Hello Robert, we will offer a database with the most common models and liveries at the beginning. But we will continue to add more models based on popularity, upvoted by the community. So, in the long run, there will be nearly all models out there available, created by a professional modeller and graphic artist.

One fascinating side of modern aviation is the multitude of aircraft types and liveries roaring through the skies or pushing back smoothly from the gate next to you. The vast amount of potential combinations breathes life into your simulation and transforms it into a place where you can enjoy virtual aviation as it is meant to be. Inside our global database, you will find detailed, animated models of all major aircraft and their corresponding livery for the real-world airlines that fly those aircraft. Our livery database will grow over time as new models make it to the market, new airlines arise or the community decides it wants to fly a specific combination. Bring your own livery If you already have a livery of your own, such as your airline livery, go ahead and submit it to us. After a quick screening, we add your style to the database to show the community your true colours. There is no need to install external software to support specific skins. We have fully-automated model matching. That means that Rotate recognises your equipped model and its livery, and gives everyone else’s flight sim the correct information. Everyone sees the same thing, both the aircraft model and its livery.

Hello Jakob, we will build an entirely new client for Rotate. Detailed information about the clients can be found here: https://rotate.network/features/general_infrastructure Supported flight simulators include: Flight Sim World Prepar3D v3 Prepar3D v4 Microsoft FSX Microsoft FSX:SE X-Plane 10 X-Plane 11 Our software will be initially made for Windows operating systems. Our app will be available for Android and iOS. We will release more and more features about our pilot client in the next weeks. You can find out more at https://rotate.network/features/pilot Have a good one, Denis

We want to draw on your fascination for flying by giving you missions which help you explore the world of aviation to the full. The Rotate Network’s Mission System is a way of pushing your limits as a pilot and as an ATC. When you complete missions, a number of things happen. For one, your pilot statistics are updated with the details of your mission. Your contribution to any community mission is made visible. There is also a reward system which gives you achievements and ranks. The missions are an opportunity for everyone to see how far they’ve come. Some missions will only be available for a limited time. As a pilot, you benefit from being confronted with flight conditions that might push you outside of your comfort zone. You may have to fly in difficult weather, with technical failure, or make an emergency landing due to a medical emergency. Your mission could include heavy winds, heavy precipitation, or simply be a race against time. Weather dependent missions will only be made available with very short notice and for a limited time only, as soon as we see extreme weather conditions. For ATC, more pilots flying missions means more traffic for you. This increase in mission-specific traffic will give you the opportunity to work with a team of controllers, and will also give smaller airports, included in the mission objectives, more attention. The addition of missions adds extra challenge for ATC, due to managing the influx of connecting flights together as a team. ATC will be able to book slots at different airports, which will be useful for coordinating how many controllers are available to pilots with missions. Challenging missions can lead you to some of the most exciting airports. Pilots browsing the Mission Overview can quickly see when, and how many, ATC are available for each mission. All missions are viewable through the Live Map. Pilot Mission Rotation The missions which are available to you are updated on a regular basis. That basis may change, depending on feedback from the community. We are interested in your ideas, so if you are excited about a mission idea which you and your friends came up with, let us know. If we are impressed, then the new mission will be added to our regular mission line-up. We have more than just regular missions, we also have a special set, complete with achievements, made just for our Kickstarter Founders. Without you, we wouldn’t exist, so this is to say thank you, and to keep your time with the Rotate Network gratifying. Missions are more than just a way to progress as a pilot, they are a way to progress within the community. Other members can also see your statistics, achievements and completed missions. You can look at the leaderboards to see your statistics in comparison with the community average. Showing off your skills never hurts. Everyone has got to start somewhere, right? Every pilot will have access to optional tutorial missions. This will help new players get their bearings within the Rotate Network, but can be skipped if you already know the basics of flying. Whatever mission you choose, it will be sure to challenge yourself and help you reflect on adventures you’ve already had, and those yet to come.

For the first time in virtual aviation history, you as a controller are able to look at the weather. Yes, we know that you can read the METAR, but with Rotate’s Weather Radar you can see it. As it stands in virtual aviation, there is no in-client weather radar for controllers. Your pilots could be flying directly into a thunderstorm, and you wouldn’t even see it coming. The Weather Radar improves this state of affairs. Now you will actually be able to guide pilots around bad weather. You won’t need eyewitness weather information in order to plan redirects. Instead of receiving that info second-hand, trusting the weather reports from pilots, you can take well-informed action. This new feature will help you proactively direct your pilots. You will see first-hand if you need to start planning a reroute. Rain, hail and any other precipitation and its strength will be displayed. Now you are the person with the plan, not waiting for the data you need to do your job. We want to implement this feature within the ATC Client, so that it is an integrated part of your controlling experience. It will give you yet more realism in your controlling experience and improved flight safety due to a better understanding of your pilots’ potential reroutes.