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The Real Gatwick Survey Results
Thank you to the 104 people who took the time to fill in the Survey. The results are incredibly valuable and will help us to improve future events.
Please Note - Although 104 people filled in the survey, not everyone responded to each question so the number of people who have attempted a question will change.
Question 1
Did you take part in the IVAO GB Real Gatwick Event?
Yes No
If No, was there anything the GB Team could have done to make you fly for the event?
There were 104 responses to this question. More people who filled in this survey took part in the event. In contrast to the London Online event, more people who didn't take part filled in that survey. Reasons for not taking part included:
- Internet connection problems
- Other event (Virtual Airline)
- Other commitments
- Didn't have the time
- Computer problems
To make more people fly, the GB Team could have:
- Changed the day of the event
- More information for beginners
- Chosen a date not during school exam time in the UK
Question 2
Where did you hear about the event?
Division Website Community Forum Divisional NOTAM AVSIM Flightsim.com external forums Other
Other sources included:
- Fly UK VA
- My Travel VA
- Friends
- IvAe events page
There were 131 different responses to this question. It appears that most people heard about the event from the Divisional website and Divisional NOTAM. The number of people who saw the advertising on external websites (AVSIM, flightsim.com) was not as high as we hoped it would be. A number of people commented that we should have put this information on those websites a little earlier. The advertisement went on flightsim.com about a week before the event. The AVSIM staff would only put the advertising on their website until the day before the event, so that is something that was out of the control of the staff team.
Question 3
What did you think of the advertising for the event?
Excellent Good Average Poor
Do you think there is anything we could have improved with advertising?
There were 100 responses to this question. The majority of people thought the advertising was excellent or good, with a small percentage thinking it was average. Nobody thought the advertising was poor.
This is the area that was most improved from the last event. We took everything that had been said in the last survey into account, which has made a huge improvement. We don't feel that there was anywhere else we could have advertised the event. The places we advertised the event were:
- Website
- NOTAM
- IVAO Forums
- External Websites
- External Forums
- Virtual Airlines
The response from virtual airlines was not as good as we would have liked. Thank you to those VA's who did take part. Something to improve for the next event would be the support of more UK Based VA's.
Suggested improvements from members:
- Start the advertising a little earlier
- Advertise on more external forums
People loved the way we released the event in little stages, building interest and suspense. There were a lot of other positive comments such as "just perfect", "surprised with how much advertising we did", "spot on".
There were one or two comments where people said they had no idea about the event. These were GB members. We cannot really pinpoint why they did not know because several NOTAMs about the event were sent out to all division members. It may be something to do with email account settings blocking access to the NOTAMs.
Question 4
What did you think of the material created for the event? (Webpage, documentation etc)?
Excellent Good Average Poor
Do you think there is anything we could have improved with the material created?
There were 97 responses to this question. The majority of people thought the material was excellent or good. A small percentage of people found it average but nobody thought it was poor.
This was also a massive improvement from the last survey. We took everything that had been said into account. The web page was more clear and eye catching, we created an extensive brief for pilots about flying in the UK, banners were made to advertise. We also made sure that we released everything at the same time and not in stages which was one of the main downfalls from the last event.
Suggested improvements from members:
- Links to better freeware scenery
- Charts more easily accessible
Unfortunately there is very little freeware scenery for the UK. We hunted around the internet and provided links to the best freeware scenery that we could find. We also provided instructions on how to access charts, including providing people with a username and password for the UK AIP. That is the best we can do with charts - we are not allowed to publish them due to copyright restrictions. All we can do is provide people with the information on how to get them.
Again, there were a number of positive comments such as "fantastic", "very in depth", "flight booking system a pleasure to use", "provided everything that was needed".
People also liked the timing of the release of the new division website, to coincide with the event.
Question 5
What did you think of the level of ATC staffing for the event?
Too much Perfect Not enough
There were 96 responses to this question. The majority of people found the amount of ATC was perfect. A small percentage found there was too much, and a small percentage said there wasn't enough.
Question 6
What did you think of the overall quality of the ATC being provided?
Excellent Good Average Poor
Do you think there is anything we could have improved with the ATC?
The majority of people thought the quality of ATC was excellent or good. A small percentage said it was average but nobody said that it was poor.
Ways people thought we could have improved the ATC:
- Kept the delivery position open all the time instead of bandboxing it with ground
- Not hold as many aircraft
- Slow down ATC instructions for foreign pilots
- More ATC coverage for other airports in the UK
- A departure controller
We only held aircraft that it was necessary to hold. Some people think that we were holding just for fun, but this was not the case - The only way to resolve any problems that would have happened was to use holdings. We provided all the information needed to correctly carry out the holdings at the various points.
In the UK, from most major airports, departing aircraft are transferred straight to area control on departure, so this is how we simulated it for the event. It would have been impossible for the approach positions to work the departing aircraft as well as dealing with the huge number of inbounds.
A lot of people thought the ATC was excellent. Comments such as "spot on", "great" and "superb" were given.
Question 7
Was the time and day the event was held on a good choice?
Yes No
If no, why not?
There were 97 responses to this question. Most people felt the choice date and time were perfect. Some reasons why people thought it wasn't a good choice included:
- Could have started earlier
- Could have happened on a Sunday
- Could have gone on for longer
Question 8
If you had the chance to take part in a similar event in the future, would you?
Yes Maybe No
There were 98 responses to this question. Everyone who answered said they would take part again which is a fantastic result!
Question 9
If we were to do this event again in the future, what would you suggest we do differently?
Some of the main suggestions:
- The ground was too busy at times, have a separate delivery and ground controller at all times
- Start advertising a few days earlier
- Assign gates to flights
- Try and get some ATC coverage outside of the UK, for flights leaving those airports
- More coordination with VA's
- Familiarisation sessions
- Add data-link clearances
- Use more than one airport
- Make the event longer
- Follow me cars
- A debrief webpage
The ground was too busy at times, have a separate delivery and ground controller at all times:
This is something that I agree with - We were a little understaffed at the ACC so it was difficult to do this. Next time, we should open it up to members who are not at the virtual ACC.
Start advertising a few days earlier:
Agreed - The event was a last minute thing and we would have preferred to have started advertising a little bit earlier.
Assign gates to flights:
A good idea, but the only difficulty with this is that people use different scenery. A gate on one scenery may be somewhere completely different on another, and may not be exactly where the gate is in reality.
Try and get some ATC coverage outside of the UK, for flights leaving those airports:
We did get in contact with a large number of other divisions who said they would provide some ATC coverage. We contacted each division more than once. This is something that we would have to take up individually with each division.
More coordination with VA's:
We got in contact with a number of VA's. A large number of them didn't reply to the emails that we sent them. Those that did all took part. We would certainly like to see more VA's taking part in the future. Next time, we may try getting in contact with some other VA's that are not necessarily based in the UK.
Familiarisation sessions:
A very good idea, but something that could be very time consuming. This is something that can be discussed for the next event.
Add data-link clearances:
A very good idea, we already have this system in place for oceanic flights so it shouldn't be too difficult to alter the system for an event like this. This is certainly something we will definitely consider for the next event.
Use more than one airport:
An excellent idea, we have already started brainstorming about this for the next event
Make the event longer:
Another possibility, but we need to ensure that we have enough people to provide ATC coverage for the full duration of the event
Follow me cars:
We felt that follow me cars cause more problems than anything. They get in the way and require even more RT on an already very busy frequency. This is something that we probably wont use in any of our events.
A debrief webpage:
An excellent idea, something that we will definitely create after the next event.
Further comments
All the further comments given were all saying how much people enjoyed the event. A number of people said it was the best event they had ever been to.
Again, thank you to everyone who filled in the survey, and thank you to everyone who took part in the event. It was an amazing success and will certainly be repeated in the future.
The GB staff will now analyse the results in the next staff meeting and discuss ways to further improve future events.
