INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL AVIATION ORGANIZATION

'IVAO', or the 'International Virtual Aviation Organisation', is an Internet-based flight-simulation network. It was formed on December 16, 1998^[1] by Erwin Lion and Morten Hansen. It aims at providing flight-simulation enthusiasts with a server network which allows them to fly online with other people, either as an air traffic controller or a pilot.

Contents

Overview

Membership

History

Management Dispute and the Split of IVAO

IVAO.aero becoming an NPO

Notes

References

Further Reading

See also

External links

Overview

IVAO is a non-profit organisation aimed at providing flight-simulation enthusiasts with access to servers that allow them to fly online with other people, either in the role of an air traffic controller or a pilot. To communicate Voice over IP and text is used.
The organization places special emphasis on simulating aviation related procedures as realistically as possible, including proper airmanship, and air traffic control using correct ICAO radio phraseology. Members can undergo optional training, but need to pass exams to obtain ratings that allow them to assume ATC positions with greater responsibilities. Trainers and examiners on IVAO often hold real-world pilot and controller qualifications.

Membership

IVAO membership was approximately 75,000 members as of April 8, 2007.
The membership covers most parts of the world, but most members connect from Europe. Local IVAO structures (called divisions) exist in various parts of the world, usually one division for each country. These divisions are managed by local members holding management, support, maintenance and training responsibilities for that local region.
There are approximately 8000 connections per day, with peak numbers of simultaneous connections at 700-900. The maximum number of simultaneous connections was 1501 on December 9, 2006.^[2]

History

The first steps for setting up flight simulation in a massively-multiplayer online role-playing environment (MMORG) were taken by Jason Grooms, James Willan, Joe Jurecka and Marty Bochane in the mid-1990s when they created the SquawkBox program (a Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 plugin) and ProController (an air traffic control radar screen simulation). These two programs were connected to FSD, a simple MMORG server, which enabled the arrangement to evolve from a one-to-one (one ATC and one plane) environment to a many-to-many environment.
Using these programs, SATCO was the first large network to create an online air traffic simulation environment. On December 16, 1998 IVAO was founded when a group of people left SATCO to form a new network after management conflicts developed within the organization.

Management Dispute and the Split of IVAO

In late 2005, a management conflict in the IVAO organization arose. One side of the management argued that the president had too much power and didn't use this power as it should be used, the formation of a non-profit organization was blocked by the president according to them.^[3]. The other side, the president Morten Hansen, did not agree with these statements and claimed that IVAO had a coup.^[4].
This management dispute led to a split of the organization. On one side the president continued with IVAO.org, while the remainder of the management formed IVAO.aero.

IVAO.aero becoming an NPO

The management of the IVAO.aero organization wanted to do everything to prevent the previous management dispute from happening. This led to their decision in officially registering the organization as a non-profit organization and as such defining a structure to prevent the management dispute from happening again^[5]. On April 25, 2007 this work was finally finished by the publication of their statutes in the Belgian Official Journal.^[6][7]. Eartly June 2007, IVAO.aero officially published a website documenting the NPO: http://association.ivao.aero/. ^[8].

Notes

★ The IVAO.aero organization is registered using British spelling in its full name, according to the registration under Belgian law.

References

1. IVAO Forum -- Gustavo Hernandez on IVAO Birthday
2. IVAO.aero Forum -- Announcement of record for maximum simultaneous connections
3. Why IVAO.aero? -- press release of IVAO.aero after ownership dispute / split of IVAO
4. IVAO.org NOTAM KILO -- statement on IVAO being the victim of a coup
5. IVAO.aero Forum -- Announcement on NPO plans
6. Statutes at Foundation of IVAO.aero
7. IVAO.aero Forum -- News Release of NPO Foundation
8. http://forum.ivao.aero/index.php/topic,55256.0.html

Further Reading

★ Into the wild blue virtual yonder Terdiman Daniel

★ Gelbe Punkte sicher zu Boden brengen Nicole Wenk

★ Spass an Trockenübungen: Nur fliegen ist schöner Torsten Klaus

★ Hinterm Steuerknüppel über Erfurt Anne Dreyer

See also

★ VATSIM

★ Flight Simulator

★ MMORG

★ Air Traffic Control

★ Global Virtual Aviation Community

External links

★ IVAO homepage

★ IVAO Divisions