Virtual Aviators Group Operations Manual. Revision 3.1/2015 Sections 1. Introduction 2. Who s Who 3. Registration 4. Flight Booking 5. ACARS 6. Where to Find a Flight Plan 7. VAG Operational Guidelines Introduction Firstly, a little about us. VAG was founded in November 2009 and prides itself on being Different from the rest. We assume that you can already fly your favourite aircraft so why should you have to pass a test to fly it. There s plenty of help available if you are new to Flight Sim. We assume that you don t want to be limited to one aircraft or even one airline. That s why we provide the routes for the UK s top airlines, utilizing their whole fleets. We assume that you also want something different, that s why we ve created the likes of Destination of the Month, World Relief Challenges and Motor Sports Logistics. Virtual Aviators Group is a flight Sim community first, virtual airline second. We provide the tools required to fly the best of British airlines, from the best of British airports. Unlike other virtual airlines you don t have to have a VATSIM ID and flying online is purely your choice. By joining Virtual Aviators Group you can now fly any of the UK airlines listed on our website, on any of their routes, using any of their aircraft. Our fully automated database will give you all the info you need such as timings, equipment and anything specific to your chosen flight. Being part of Team VAG is more than being part of a virtual airline, unlike other virtual airlines within the FS world, we are operated solely for our members and we are run by our members. We know that you are the most important part of the group. Who s Who Nick Harding CEO nick@virtualaviators.uk Simon O Smotherly Deputy CEO and HR Relations hr@virtualaviators.uk Jonathan Fenech - Classics Manager Peter Cracknell Ops Manager Christopher Peace North American Ops Manager Alan Reid Ops Manager 1 P age
Initial Registration All pilots must register with Virtual Aviators Group if they wish to fly VAG operations. Upon joining you will be assigned a pilot number depending on what you chose as your base carrier i.e. FWA999 and this is your membership number and login. Your password is chosen by you upon registration. VAG requires that all new members join the forum (http://www.virtualaviators.uk/crewforum/) within 30 days of receiving your Pilot ID. You must use your real name as your forum ID i.e. John Doe and failure to register or use of an alternative name could result in termination of your membership. Terms of Membership When you join Virtual Aviators Group (The Group) you agree to the rules and contained within. A. Registration & Joining 1) You will provide genuine registration information such as Name, Email etc. 2) You have read this document outlining the terms of membership. 3) You agree to us collecting the information requested about you. B. Requirements & Conduct 1) You will complete your first flight and submit a PIREP within 14 days. 2) You will continue to complete at least one flight every 28 days subsequently (subject to LOA terms in Paragraph C) 3) You will ensure your profile remains up to date with the correct information such as Email changes etc. 4) When flying online and representing the group on services such as VATSIM you will always promote yourself and the group in the best possible manner. 5) You will actively participate in the group C. Leaves of Absence 1) You may request a leave of absence (LoA) if you are not going to able to fly within a 28 day period. 2) LoA s must not be longer than 60 days. 3) LoA s may not be consecutive 4) LoA s are subject to approval of the Management and may be rejected if we feel that it doesn t apply. This can include (but not limited too) previous long periods of inactivity and lack of PIREP submission. D. PIREP Submission & ACARS. 1) PIREPs should be submitted using the approved ACARS system which currently are: i) FSACARS ii) kacars iii) FS Flight Keeper iv) xacars v) FS Passengers 2) Offline/Manual PIREPS must contain a valid reason why it was not submitted via ACARS. 2 P age
3) You must inform the group if you are unable to submit PIREPS via ACARS and we will decided whether to allow this on a case by case basis. E. Personal Conduct and Conduct towards others. 1) You must at all times operate in the best interests of the group. 2) You must not act inappropriately by making racist, sexist remarks or bullying any other member. In addition to this you also agree that you will not intentionally or indirectly give any information about the group, its intellectual property or procedures to an other Virtual Airline, Group or Business. ACARS Software FsACARS 1. In your PPC you will see ACARS, fleet, scenery and downloads if you go there you will see the install file for FsACARS and the Update file, you must get both. 2. Install the main FsACARS file and then take the files from the update and add them to the main directory on your hard drive if asked to overwrite then do so. You also need to then take the 3. FsACARS configs from the bottom of your PPC and then add them into the main directory and again overwrite. That s the installation complete. When you start the program you must run it in Administrator mode 4. When you start the program and it has loaded if you click Flight from VA the information for the flight which you have bided for should then appear in the appropriate boxes. All you need to add is the altitude (31000 etc ) and add a route (see How to find a route) 5. When you have finished click Stop Log, Accept Send Log then Ok that s it your PIREP should be sent. If it says FS CRASH at any points there our then several solutions to this: Check you have the latest FSUIPC Make sure you are in Administrator mode (Vista) -And running the program as Windows XP: go to the main FsACARS folder and you will see a button to open FsACARS, right click and go to Properties then on the Compatibility tab select Administrator mode (at the bottom) and then at the top there is a click box that says Run this program in compatibility mode for then in the drop down menu make sure you select Windows XP or Windows XP(service pack 2). Also if you look on the Forum there is lots of help with ACARS and solutions to past problems it s always worth a look. Failing that then contact either Nick Harding or William Hogarth. XACARS 1. Again go to the downloads section in your PPC and download the XACARS that applies to your system. You also need the configs from the bottom of you PPC for XACARS and again install them into the main directory. 2. You must run the program in Administrator mode and when you start the program if you type your flight number into the relevant box and then click Get ACARS Flight Data again it will load all the information from your bided flight. You must enter your altitude and route (See How to find a route) 3. Once you have done that click Start ACARS and being your flight. Once you have finished click View PIREP and then follow the instructions to send the log. 3 P age
kacars 1. Download and Install kacars from your pilot centre. 2. Change the base url in the settings to https://www.virtualaviators.uk/ 3. Enter your FWA number and password 4. Once started click Log In 5. Click Get Fight (this will get your latest flight booking) 6. Change any information you need and click connect to FS 7. Start Flight will begin recording the flight data 8. Once flight is complete click stop recording and file pirep Where to find a Flight Plan Now that you have your flight selected (let s take BAW0696 to Vienna) this Flight leaves from London EGLL and Arrives in Vienna LOWW, you need to have a flight plan, now you can simply make one yourself by choosing waypoints on the Flight Sim flight planner, or you can use a very simple program called Vroute. This enables you to find real life flight plans and use them in Flight Sim. Go to this website www.vroute.net and then select download you then have a choice of a free version or a payware version (enter flightsimuk in the code for a 10% discount), the choice is yours. Then you simply install it. Once installed and activated there are just a few steps that will get you on your way. 1. Open up Vroute, then on the left hand side select route from the options. 2. Once you are on that page you will see at the top a series of tabs one of them will say Advanced click on that. Then you will see two ICAO boxes type EGLL in the first then LOWW in the second. 3. It should then give you a list of about 8 routes, for this let s choose the top one (701.1nm) on 4. the left click on the show button 5. It will now open a Details of selected route and that opens up more options about the route, flight level, weather and alternate airports. 6. Then you simply copy the route and put it into your ACARS: DVR L9 KONAN UL607 SPI UQ50 GELPA L607 RUDUS L984 SULUS Z650 VEMUT Z37 MASUR 7. It will not do this for the Flight Sim plan so you will need to find the waypoints or simply fly the route Direct GPS or use an FMC. And that s it you are nearly ready for take-off. How to file a Manual PIREP If you are having troubles with ACARS or for whatever reason your ACARS crashes you will then have to file a manual PIREP, this form can be found on the site at the top where it says File a new PIREP all you have to do is make sure that you fill in the fields correctly, making sure you get the codes correct. When you have filled it out check through and then simply submit the PIREP. If you go to the home page and look at Recent PIREPS your flight should be at the top of the list. And the hours will be automatically added to your profile. If you have made a mistake the please contact the HR Manager on hr@virtualaviators.uk and he will correct your PIREP. That is about it, now all you have to do is repeat these things for your future flights. Some General rules for Operations at VAG 1. Rotations It is preferred that pilots fly in "rotations" e.g. London > Berlin > London. The Only 4 P age
Exception is for Asia Pacific (AP) where it will become Hong Kong > Tokyo > Hong Kong (no more than 6 sectors are to be flown on Cathay or Dragonair) Then you return to London. All other flights must start in the UK first and then come back before you move on. 2. Acceptable Alternative Aircraft (provided the airline uses it) aircraft use outside of these guidelines will result in PIREP rejection: Acceptable Aircraft Swaps Boeing 737 or A319/320 Boeing 757 or A321 Boeing 767 or A330 Boeing 777 or A330 or MD11 Boeing 747 or A340 Embraer E-JET or Airbus A318, Boeing 737 (300 or 600) or ERJ The only aircraft that can t be "alternated" are Embraer ERJ, Dash 8 and Avro Rj85/100/Bae 146 3. Great Circle or ETOPS/LROPS. (ETOPS - Extended Twin Engine Operations, LROPS Long Range Operations) If you need an explanation of the difference, please email me. In accordance with the two, Flights over primarily land should use Great Circle Routing. Operations primarily over water using 3/4 engine aircraft such as A340, MD11 or 747 should use Great Circle routing. Twin Jet Operations (such as A318 (BA A318 only), Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777 and Airbus A330) primarily over water must use ETOPS or LROPS routings. Current JAA/FAA ETOPS ratings: Boeing 757 (75min ETOPS75) Boeing 767 (90min ETOPS90) Boeing 777-200/300 & Airbus A330-200/300 (120/138min ETOPS120/138) Boeing 777-200/300 ER/LR (180/207min ETOPS180/207) A very basic guide to ETOPS ratings is that an ETOPS aircraft must ALWAYS have a diversion point within its relevant number of minutes. i.e. a Boeing 757 must always fly within 75mins of a suitable diversion airport. There are still routes strictly off limits to twin jet aircraft and thus excluded from ETOPS. There are routes traversing the South Pacific (e.g. Auckland, New Zealand - Santiago, Chile and Sydney, Australia - Atlanta, Georgia, USA), Southern Indian Ocean (e.g. Perth, Western Australia - Johannesburg, South Africa) and Antarctica. Another important note about ETOPS is that it is a two-step process and both Aircraft, and Subsequently Airline must be ETOPS rated. All VAG airlines with the exception of Easyjet, Ryanair, FlyBe, Jet2 and Linksair are ETOPS rated. LROPS applies to flights with duration of other 13 hours (sometimes referred to as Ultra Long Haul) and is in addition to ETOPS. 4. Time Acceleration Time acceleration up to x4 may be used on flights over 2 hours but strictly only in level flight and preferably only over water. Use of Time acceleration in climb or descent will result in the rejection of the PIREP. We hope you enjoy your time with Virtual Aviators Group and remember, we re here to help. 5 P age