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Sectors

George Daniel edited this page Jun 2, 2026 · 5 revisions

VATSSA Sector File Documentation

Last updated: 2026-06-02
Sources: Discord AIRAC Updates, AeroNav GNG Register, AeroNav Download Page, GitHub (VATSIM-SSA), Control Center Positions Export, Control Center Areas Export, GitHub Issue Template (AIRAC 2412 #44)


1. Control Center Areas

From areas_export_2026-06-02_195624.csv:

area_id Name
1 Southern Africa
2 Eastern Africa
3 Western Africa
4 Central Africa
5 Vanilla

2. Canonical Sector List (25 sectors)

These are the definitive VATSSA-managed sectors, confirmed across the control list (GitHub Issue AIRAC 2412 #44), GNG register, and GitHub repos.

2.1 Standard FIRs (20)

Code Name Control Center Area area_id GitHub Repo GNG
DGAC Accra Western Africa 3 sectorfile-dgac
DNKK Kano Western Africa 3 sectorfile-dnkk
FASA South Africa Southern Africa 1 sectorfile-fasa
FBGR Gaborone Southern Africa 1 sectorfile-fbgr
FCCC Brazzaville Central Africa 4 sectorfile-fccc
FIMM Mauritius Vanilla 5 sectorfile-fimm
FLFI Lusaka Central Africa 4 sectorfile-flfi
FMMM Antananarivo Vanilla 5 sectorfile-fmmm
FNAN Luanda Central Africa 4 sectorfile-fnan
FQBE Beira Southern Africa 1 sectorfile-fqbe
FSSS Seychelles Vanilla 5 sectorfile-fsss
FVHF Harare Southern Africa 1 sectorfile-fvhf
FWLL Lilongwe Eastern Africa 2 sectorfile-fwll
FYWH Windhoek Southern Africa 1 sectorfile-fywf ⚠️
FZZA Kinshasa Central Africa 4 sectorfile-fzza
GOOO Dakar Western Africa 3 sectorfile-gooo
GVSC Sal Western Africa 3 sectorfile-gvsc
HKNA Nairobi Eastern Africa 2 sectorfile-hkna
HTDC Dar es Salaam Eastern Africa 2 sectorfile-htdc
HUEC Entebbe Eastern Africa 2 sectorfile-huec

2.2 Oceanic (2)

Code Name Control Center Area area_id GitHub Repo GNG
FAJO Johannesburg Oceanic Southern Africa 1 sectorfile-fajo
GOOOO Dakar Oceanic Western Africa 3 sectorfile-goooo

2.3 Combined FSS (3)

Code Name Control Center Area area_id GitHub Repo GNG
AFRC Africa Central Central Africa 4 sectorfile-afrc
AFRS Africa South Southern Africa 1 sectorfile-afrs
AFRW Africa West Western Africa 3 sectorfile-afrw

3. Sub-sectors / Included Entries

These are not standalone sectors — they exist within a parent FIR and do not have their own GitHub repos. They appear in some sources (GNG register, Discord parentheticals, positions export) but are managed as part of the parent.

Code Name Parent FIR Appears In
FACA Cape Town FASA GNG register, positions export (1 position)
FAJA Johannesburg FASA GNG register
HBBA Bujumbura HTDC GNG register, Discord (★ parenthetical)
HRYR Kigali HTDC GNG register, Discord (★ parenthetical)
GLRB Roberts GOOO GNG register, Discord (★ parenthetical)
FAXX South Africa (combined) FASA + FAJO combined download GNG register, AeroNav download page

4. Area Breakdown by Region

Southern Africa (area_id = 1)

FASA, FBGR, FAJO, AFRS, FQBE, FVHF, FYWH, FACA (sub)

Eastern Africa (area_id = 2)

HKNA, HTDC, HUEC, FWLL

Western Africa (area_id = 3)

DGAC, DNKK, GOOO, GVSC, AFRW

Central Africa (area_id = 4)

AFRC, FCCC, FLFI, FNAN, FZZA

Vanilla (area_id = 5)

FIMM, FMMM, FSSS


5. Discord Region vs Control Center Area

The Discord AIRAC update post groups sectors into "Central", "West", and "South" — these do not map 1:1 to the control center's area classification.

Discord Group Sectors Control Center Area
Central FNAN Central Africa ✓
Central HTDC, HKNA, FWLL, HUEC Eastern Africa ← mismatch
Central FZZA, FLFI Central Africa ✓
Central FSSS Vanilla ← mismatch
West GOOO, GVSC, DGAC, DNKK Western Africa ✓
South FASA, FBGR, FQBE, FVHF, FYWH Southern Africa ✓
South FCCC Central Africa ← mismatch
South FIMM, FMMM Vanilla ← mismatch

Discord "Central" is a broader operational grouping that combines what the control center classifies as Eastern Africa + Central Africa. Discord "South" includes the Vanilla island sectors (FIMM, FMMM) and Central Africa's FCCC.


6. Source Comparison Matrix

Code Discord Overview GNG Download Control GitHub Positions
DGAC
DNKK
FASA via FAXX
FBGR
FCCC
FIMM
FLFI
FMMM
FNAN
FQBE
FSSS
FVHF
FWLL
FYWH ⚠️ FYWF ⚠️ FYWF ⚠️ fywf ⚠️ FYWF
FZZA ⚠️ FZAA
GOOO
GVSC
HKNA
HTDC
HUEC ⚠️ HUEN
FAJO via FAXX
GOOOO
AFRC
AFRS via AFRC
AFRW via AFRC

7. Discrepancies

D1 — FYWH vs FYWF

Source Code Used
GNG register FYWH
Discord AIRAC post FYWH
Overview/reference list FYWF (typo)
GitHub issue template (AIRAC 2412) FYWF (typo)
GitHub repo name sectorfile-fywf
Positions export (fir column) FYWF

Assessment: The positions database and GitHub repo both use FYWF. GNG and Discord use FYWH. The callsign FYWH_CTR exists in positions but its fir field is FYWF. This is a systemic inconsistency. Either the GNG entry needs updating to FYWF, or the repo/positions need updating to FYWH. Requires a decision on canonical code.


D2 — HUEC vs HUEN

Source Code Used
GNG register HUEC
Discord AIRAC post HUEC
GitHub repo sectorfile-huec
Positions export (fir column) HUEN
Callsigns in positions HUEC_CTR, HUEN_APP, HUEN_TWR, etc.

Assessment: The positions export uses HUEN as the FIR code, while all other sources use HUEC. The ICAO designator for Entebbe FIR is HUEC. HUEN is the airport code for Entebbe. This appears to be a data entry error in the control center — the FIR field should be HUEC.


D3 — FZZA vs FZAA

Source Code Used
All sources except Discord FZZA
Discord AIRAC post FZAA (typo)

Assessment: FZZA is correct. Discord post has a transposed letter typo.


D4 — DIII (Abidjan) in positions but not in canonical list

The FIR code DIII (Abidjan/Ivory Coast) appears in the positions export with 6 positions (DIAP_APP, DIAP_TWR, DIBK_TWR, DIII_CTR, DISP_TWR, DIYO_TWR) all assigned to area_id=3 (Western Africa). DIII is not present in the canonical 25-sector list, not in the GNG register as a VATSSA entry, and has no GitHub repo.

Assessment: DIII may be positions that fall within DGAC's operational area or were added to the control center system without a corresponding sector file setup. Requires clarification — either a repo and GNG entry should be created, or these positions should be reassigned to DGAC or removed.


D5 — GOOOO absent from positions export

GOOOO (Dakar Oceanic) has a GitHub repo, GNG entry, and appears in the download page and control list, but has no positions defined in the control center positions export.

Assessment: No ATC positions have been created for Dakar Oceanic in the training system yet.


D6 — FACA used as FIR code for one position

FACT_GND (Cape Town Ground, line 976) has fir=FACA instead of fir=FASA. All other Cape Town positions use fir=FASA.

Assessment: Likely a data entry error. FACA is a sub-sector of FASA with no standalone repo. FACT_GND should have fir=FASA.


D7 — GND positions in GOOO and DGAC with area_id=2

Several ground positions in GOOO (Dakar) and DGAC (Accra) — both Western Africa (area_id=3) FIRs — have area_id=2 (Eastern Africa) in the positions export. All other position types (TWR, APP, CTR) within those FIRs correctly use area_id=3.

Affected positions:

  • GOBD_GND (Dakar), GOOY_GND (Dakar): area_id=2
  • DGAA_GND (Accra): area_id=2

Assessment: Data entry errors. These GND positions should be area_id=3 (Western Africa) to match the rest of their FIR's positions.


D8 — Discord missing 5 sectors

The Discord AIRAC update post never lists: GOOOO, FAJO, AFRC, AFRS, AFRW.

Assessment: Oceanic (FAJO, GOOOO) and FSS (AFRC, AFRS, AFRW) sectors are excluded from the Discord update post. These should be included when an AIRAC update applies to them.


D9 — FASA absent from download page

FASA has no direct download entry on the AeroNav files page. It is only available via the combined FAXX package (FASA + FAJO).

Assessment: Users looking specifically for FASA will not find it. Consider adding a standalone FASA entry or making the FAXX relationship clearer.


D10 — FWLL classified as Eastern Africa in control center

FWLL (Lilongwe, Malawi) has area_id=2 (Eastern Africa) in the control center, but the Discord AIRAC post lists it under "Central". Geographically Malawi borders Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique — Eastern or Central depending on classification framework.

Assessment: Not necessarily an error, but worth noting the inconsistency between operational grouping (Discord) and the training system area classification.


8. Positions Count by Sector

From positions_export_2026-06-02_195639.csv:

FIR Positions Count Area
FASA 71 Southern Africa
DNKK 37 Western Africa
FZZA 22 Central Africa
GOOO 33 Western Africa
FNAN 17 Central Africa
FCCC 16 Central Africa
HKNA 23 Eastern Africa
HTDC 10 Eastern Africa
FBGR 12 Southern Africa
FVHF 13 Southern Africa
FQBE 13 Southern Africa
DGAC 13 Western Africa
FLFI 12 Eastern Africa
GVSC 12 Western Africa
FYWF (FYWH) 14 Southern Africa
FWLL 6 Eastern Africa
FIMM 7 Vanilla
FMMM 9 Vanilla
FSSS 6 Vanilla
HUEN (HUEC) 6 Eastern Africa
FAJO 4 Southern Africa
AFRC 1 Central Africa
AFRS 1 Southern Africa
AFRW 2 Western Africa
DIII 6 Western Africa (⚠️ not in canonical list)
FACA 1 Southern Africa (⚠️ sub-sector, should be FASA)
GOOOO 0 Western Africa (⚠️ no positions defined)

9. GitHub Repos (VATSIM-SSA)

URL pattern: https://github.com/VATSIM-SSA/sectorfile-[code]

All 25 canonical sectors have repos. Repo names use lowercase codes.

Repo Canonical Code Notes
sectorfile-afrc AFRC
sectorfile-afrs AFRS
sectorfile-afrw AFRW
sectorfile-dgac DGAC
sectorfile-dnkk DNKK
sectorfile-fajo FAJO
sectorfile-fasa FASA
sectorfile-fbgr FBGR
sectorfile-fccc FCCC
sectorfile-fimm FIMM
sectorfile-flfi FLFI
sectorfile-fmmm FMMM
sectorfile-fnan FNAN
sectorfile-fqbe FQBE
sectorfile-fsss FSSS
sectorfile-fvhf FVHF
sectorfile-fwll FWLL
sectorfile-fywf FYWH ⚠️ Repo uses FYWF, canonical code is FYWH
sectorfile-fzza FZZA
sectorfile-gooo GOOO
sectorfile-goooo GOOOO
sectorfile-gvsc GVSC
sectorfile-hkna HKNA
sectorfile-htdc HTDC
sectorfile-huec HUEC

10. GNG URLs

Pattern: https://gng.aero-nav.com/[CODE]/

All 25 canonical sectors have GNG entries under Miguel Albano.


11. Items Requiring Action

# Item Priority
1 Decide canonical code: FYWH or FYWF — affects GNG, repo name, positions, all tooling High
2 Fix positions export: HUEN → HUEC in fir column for Entebbe positions High
3 Fix positions export: FACT_GND fir=FACA → FASA Medium
4 Fix positions export: GOBD_GND, GOOY_GND area_id=2 → 3 (Western Africa) Medium
5 Fix positions export: DGAA_GND area_id=2 → 3 (Western Africa) Medium
6 Clarify DIII (Abidjan) — add to canonical list + create repo, or reassign/remove positions Medium
7 Create positions for GOOOO (Dakar Oceanic) Low
8 Fix Discord post: FZAA → FZZA typo Low
9 Add GOOOO, FAJO, AFRC, AFRS, AFRW to Discord AIRAC update posts when applicable Low
10 Consider adding standalone FASA download entry on AeroNav (separate from FAXX) Low

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