Crews,

It's been awhile since we've had a "state of the airline" update, so I figure now is a good time to comment on where things stand and where we're trying to go. As is typical, the summer months have been slow for us as most people are out and about on vacations, and generally trying to soak in as much "summer" as possible before the leaves drop. With fall now firmly established, and winter on approach it's a good time to start working on moving our operation forward again.

Website: Essentially there. There's a few minor details such as graphics/images that need some updating, as well as minor text items here and there. We also plan to consolidate all of the manuals into one location on the site. As of right now they are scattered to the four winds, and not very user friendly.

Operations: After several months of tedious work all of the domestic predispatched releases were posted back in August. There is still some work to do finishing the Pacific, Caribbean and European schedules.

Training: The exams for the new-hire program have been online since early spring. Fleet specific recurrent training is still planned but not a reality quite yet. We do have a management slot open for anyone that is interested in heading up the training dept. Job requirements would be to administer the online testing as well as assist in creating recurrent training material. Interested parties should have enough resource material on hand (or at least available) to create aircraft specific quizzes.

ATC: Prior to the previous site crash, MCA had established a solid reputation on VATSIM as a skilled professional group. In years past we have tried (and failed) numerous times to establish an ATC Coordinator management position. It's a fairly low maintenance job but one that needs to be done consistently to be effective. It would function as a liaison between MCA and VATSIM. Some duties would include (but not necessarily be limited to) the following: Initiate and maintain points of contact with all VATSIM ARTCC/FIR's in which we operate or plan to operate. Serve as a single point of contact for all VATSIM related communication. Ensure MCA is compliant with current VATSIM operating procedure. Ensure MCA pilots are kept up to date on news of any significant ATC events, and assist airline mgmt in developing and training for new procedures as required.

Market Evaluation: Now that the current domestic schedule has been in place for awhile we do plan to review the market to determine whether additional service needs to be added, or perhaps discontinued based on performance.

Express/Cargo: These areas are on hold for now until other loose ends are tied up. The Express and Cargo forums have also been temporarily removed from the NOTAM forums.

That's about it for now. As always, comments encouraged, and if anyone is interested in developing the ATC position or spearheading some training, let us know!

Mike