Emergencies & New Sector - planned US/Canada Update

Big update this week — and a few important things on the horizon. Let's start with the news.

🌎 US & Canada Sectors — Coming in the next few months Work on the North American airspace expansion is well underway. New sectors will feature full FAA phraseology and authentic radio voices. As the game continues to grow with significantly more content, the price will be adjusted to reflect the expanded scope in the coming weeks.

🧪 Beta Testers Wanted For the upcoming US sectors I'm looking for a small group of beta testers — ideally real-world FAA-licensed controllers, US-based pilots, or experienced ATC sim players familiar with US procedures. If that's you, drop a message in the Discord. Beta access via Steam beta branch with password.

Now to what just dropped:

🗺️ New Map-Based Sector Picker The list-based sector selection is gone. The picker now shows a Germany-centred map with all sectors as clickable polygons — coastlines, country borders, and TRAs drawn for context. Hovered sectors highlight while the rest dim, so the active region pops out at a glance.

🆕 New Sector — Gladbach (EDGB) The northern half of the former Koblenz airspace — covering the Düsseldorf / Cologne / Eifel area — is now playable. Frequency 134.625, callsign "Gladbach Radar". Standard floor at FL200 (lower than other sectors) with an extended-floor option down to FL180 — useful for descent practice into Düsseldorf and Cologne arrival flows. Koblenz (EDKB) keeps the southern half (Saarland / Luxembourg gateway).

🌐 New Neighbouring Sectors Northern Germany is filled in. Four new neighbour sectors appear on the map and in coordination dropdowns: EDBB Berlin/Brandenburg, EDHN Hannover, EDJE Jever, and EDHM Hamburg. Kassel has been split into EDPB Paderborn (west) and EDDN Dresden (east). All ready for coordination practice — playable versions coming in future updates.

🚨 Emergencies Expanded Two emergency types now fully implemented and pilot-driven end-to-end:

• Rapid Decompression (MAYDAY) — Aircraft initiates immediate emergency descent at 6,500 ft/min to FL100, holds heading until coordination approves the divert, then proceeds direct to the chosen airport.

• Medical Emergency (PAN PAN) — Aircraft continues its filed route at cruise. After coord approval, the divert airport is appended to the route so the flight transitions smoothly.

The pilot picks the closest of five German hubs (EDDF, EDDS, EDDK, EDDV, EDDM) as the divert target, states the request on frequency, and the coordination phone surfaces the divert so you can approve it.

✈️ NATO E-3 Sentry (AWACS) A NATO Boeing E-3 Sentry now flies an orbit pattern out of Geilenkirchen (ETNG), transiting Gladbach sector at FL310 every 3 hours. New aircraft type with realistic AWACS performance.

🚧 TRAs on the Radar Temporary Reserved Areas (military exercises, parachute operations, refuelling tracks) now render as dashed blue polygons with FL-range labels. Route your traffic around or under them.

📖 Documentation Hub New master documentation page with three fresh tutorials: Coord Phone for new players, Emergencies Guide (MAYDAY vs PAN PAN), and the HAM ↔ MUC flight schematic.

📊 More Traffic Increased overall traffic by 10%, with extra arrivals/departures across the new neighbouring sectors so cross-FIR coordination has more to work with.

⚙️ Quality of Life

• Vertical-speed indicator next to flight level on radar labels and strips (↑25 / ↓18 = 2,500 / 1,800 ft/min)

• Default display now starts with sectors and weather enabled

• Type-specific emergency ACK readbacks ("roger your Mayday" vs "roger your Pan Pan")

• Aircraft picker rows colour-matched to radar labels

• Detached coord-phone window stays fully in sync

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Climbing aircraft no longer level off early when accepted mid-climb

• Background radio hiss removed

• Mid-transit overflights now render in correct transferred-purple instead of grey

• Arrivals no longer linger as ghost targets near 5,000 ft

• Handed-off arrivals stop leaving phantom callsigns on the radar

Happy controlling!