Hej / Hei / Hallå / Hæ VATSCA 👋
Same procedure as every year. It’s once again time for the bi-annual update on what’s been happening behind the scenes to keep our technical operations stable, scalable, and future-proof.
Looking back on the past year, we largely delivered on what we set out to do. Our focus was on stability, maintenance, and bug-fixing across existing services rather than introducing new major systems. This approach has paid off in improved reliability and smoother day-to-day operations.
The main exception was the events system, which was intentionally developed to give the Events Department a stronger and more coherent foundation for planning and execution. This has already reduced friction, and we plan to continue expanding its capabilities so fewer tools and ad-hoc processes are needed going forward.
Heading into 2026, the focus will shift slightly. We now have a healthy backlog of features ready for implementation, particularly within Control Center. In parallel, we’ll be looking at tighter integration between services and building better internal tooling to empower our staff and make volunteer time more effective.
Finally, a reminder of the reality we operate in: everything here is built and maintained in our spare time. If you have technical skills you think could add value to VATSCA, we’d genuinely love to hear from you. More hands and fresh perspectives help us move faster and smarter.
Stats
We’re closing in on one million total views across our most-used services. The Wiki and Control Center continue to be the primary drivers, confirming that our core platforms are delivering real value to the community.
Movements per Airport
Traffic numbers have increased overall, with VATSCA airports maintaining strong representation in the global Top 100.
ATC Hours
Once again, congratulations to @Lasse Skage (1587880) for being the most active controller in VATSCA.
At a broader level, we’ve seen a solid increase in both average and median ATC hours, which is a strong indicator of sustained controller activity and community health. Great work all around.
Control Center
2025 was a good year for Control Center maturity. Key highlights include:
- General performance improvements & bug fixes
- Buddy system support
- Division-level support
- Migration support for PostgreSQL
We also continue to see external adoption. Control Center is now actively used by 10 vACCs, reinforcing its position as a stable and scalable platform beyond VATSCA.
Infrastructure
We’ve now been running on our current VPS setup for some time, and the results are clear: improved stability and performance across all services. With the current financial model and infrastructure footprint, we are well-positioned to operate for approximately four years without additional funding pressure.
To close, here’s an overview of the publicly facing services we currently operate and maintain for the community:
With all that been said, thanks for the read and have a happy & safe new year!
