Our division is organised around geographic areas called FIRs, inspired by Flight Information Regions, that constitute the airspace of metropolitan France. Each FIR drives and manages a group of terrains and their associated ATC units, for the benefit of pilots and controllers.

Metropolitan France métropolitaine is divided into FIRs:

• Bordeaux (LFBB)
• Reims (LFEE)
• Paris (LFFF)
• Marseille (LFMM)
• Brest (LFRR).

In addition to these FIRs, the France Division is responsible for overseas French territories:

• Antilles française, Guyane, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean
• La Réunion, Mayotte and Iles éparses in the Indian Ocean
• French Polynesia
• New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna
  

The organisation of the FIR activities ensured by the FIR chiefs (CH / ACH / CHA1) who are the animators and dynamisers of their FIR

In particular, FIR leaders are responsible for: 

• welcome the members and direct them to different departments as needed
• to animate regularly the various FIR terrains by controlling and flying
• ensure the link between the members and the staff, in particular by the different communication channels (forum, Facebook page, Discord, etc.)
  
• organise regular events in collaboration with the Events Department
• develop and manage the tools devoted to ATC activities (IvAc, Manex, memos, LoA, sector files) in collaboration with the AO department
• manage the FRA of the ATC units under the responsibility of their FIR in collaboration with the AO department
• participate in the organisation of the ATC School activities in the terrains of the FIR (proposal of the airport open for training and of the number of trainees per airport) in collaboration with the Training department

FIR chiefs may also nominate platform or regional animators to assist them in the animation and promotion activities of the FIR. In the case of FIRs which do not have FIR chiefs or in Overseas Territories, animators may be appointed by the FR-HQ under its responsibility. In all cases, the recruitment and the activity of the animators are governed by the chart of the animator which follows.

Chart of the animator

The main goal of an animator is to animate and dynamise the platform or the region that has been assigned to him. This animation can result in regular ATC activity, participation in one-off events, etc.

The animators are part of the FIR team, they work together with the FIR chiefs (CH / ACH / CHA1) to its good condition. The FIR chiefs, or the division managers (FR-HQ) for the FIRs not having a CH, name the animators and are guarantors of their actions. The position of animator is therefore available in the five FIRs of metropolitan France (LFBB-Bordeaux, LFEE-Reims, LFFF-Paris, LFMM-Marseille and LFRR-Brest), as well as in overseas territories. The animators of overseas territories are under the responsibility of the FR-HQ.

The animators have no assistants. In this respect, there is only one animator per platform/region.

Be careful, a facilitator is not a member of the IVAO staff. Therefore, an animator is not able to intervene as such to solve problems or to be responsible for specific projects.

Open animator positions may be published by the FIR chiefs or by the division managers. The names and e-mail addresses of the animators in office are indicated in the page of the corresponding FIRs in the IVAO France website and in the forum.

No animator is allowed to use call signs such as LFXX-CH (or -CHIEF, -DIR, -OPS, -ANIM) or anything equivalent to a IVAO staff position. It is customary to log in as LFXX_OBS (R&R §5.1.5). This also applies beyond IvAc, to forums, emails, social media, etc. Signatures such as "LFXX Animator" are allowed. The France division does not authorise the use of means of communication parallel to those provided by IVAO (Personal Discord server, private forum, specific Facebook page, etc.) for activities related to the animation of a platform/region.

Conditions to be an animator

Animator members must be at least AS3 and 15 years of age (waivers are managed exclusively by the division managers). They are strongly encouraged to pass the ADC exam in the months following their appointment in order to be able to animate the platform/region in a more diversified way. Recruitment conditions specific to each FIR may be published on the page of the relevant FIR in the IVAO France website. For any questions relating to recruitment, members are invited to contact the relevant FIR directly by email (CH / ACH / CHA1) or divisional managers for FIRs without a CH (such as overseas territories).

Any platform/region animator should connect as ATC on a regular basis. Thus, during an event involving his FIR, he must be present (or succeed in being replaced) and help the organizers of the event in its realization. The transition to "inactive" status (more than 3 months without a pilot/ATC connection) entails the loss of the position of animator, as well as a breach of IVAO R&R. A shorter period of inactivity can also lead to a loss of position under decision of FIR or division managers.