VATUSA ZAB Order 7210.1006 - Mentors
Date: 04-30-10
Version 1.20

1. PURPOSE

a. This policy establishes criteria for mentors and approved mentors

2. DISTRIBUTION

a. This policy is intended for use by ZAB Administrative staff and also serves as a reference for ZAB Controllers.

3. BACKGROUND

a. The Albuquerque ARTCC wishes to maintain an active mentor program that can augment the instructor staff

4. REQUIREMENTS

a. Requirements to be a Mentor

i. All controllers rated S1 and above may function as a mentor if they choose to.

b. Requirements to be an Approved Mentor i. Approved Mentors shall hold as a minimum a rating of S3 on the VATSIM network.

ii. Controllers may be selected by the vZAB ATM, or his/her designated representative, to be an approved mentor.

iii. Controllers, once selected to be an Approved Mentor, may be removed by the vZAB ATM, or his/her designated representative for inactivity (not training students), not documenting training, or may have part of their mentoring privileges restricted (to include, but not limited to, only mentoring on certain positions or with certain students).

c. Mentoring

i. If a controller wishes to function as a mentor, they shall do so as follows.
   a. During periods of light traffic, the mentor may work a control position other then the one being mentored.
   b. During periods of moderate to heavy traffic the mentor may not work a position.

ii. Mentors shall use the call sign with _M_ in the middle to indicate that they are mentoring a student on that position (eg, PHX_M_APP to indicate mentoring on PHX_APP). No callsign notation is required if the mentor is actively working a control position per 4.c.i.a

iii. Mentors shall monitor all voice and text channels the student is on, and retain the ability to step in and take over if necessary

iv. Mentoring may only be done on the VATSIM network, and not on the sweatbox server

v. Mentors may only mentor students on positions that the mentor is qualified to work

d. Approved Mentoring

i. Includes all of the requirements of 7210.1006 4 (c), with the exception of 7210.1006 4 (c) iv. does not apply.

ii. Approved Mentors shall have access to the training section on the website, and the ability to accept training sessions labeled "requesting mentoring" or "requesting either mentoring or instruction".

iii. Approved Mentors shall be given access to ACSim and TwrTrainer software and relevant training scenarios developed for use by the vZAB Training staff.

5. Approvals

a. Local

i. Fred Clausen, ZAB Air Traffic Manager - April 30th, 2010

b. VATUSA

i. - David Jedrejcic, VATUSA8 - May 2nd, 2010