There's something in the air
This post went out to the VirtualFlight.Online newsletter a few minutes ago - I’m taking the rare decision to cross-post, given that so many of you may be interested.
We’re building a new virtual airline.
We’re still shaking it down - filling it with data - polishing rough edges - testing - configuring things - populating things - testing some more - you get the idea. We’re still at the point of “not knowing what we don’t know” - but what we do know so far is very, very good.
Rather than list features and functions at this point, I thought it might be best to show you some screenshots.
The login screen
When we finally remove the training wheels and open it to the world, this is the login screen you’ll see.
The “dashboard”
Once logged in, you’ll arrive at a dashboard showing active flights, your most recent PIREP, news, some leaderboards, the weather at your most recent airport, and more.
We’re still undecided about implementing aircraft as finite objects that can’t be shared. We’re thinking not at the moment - because at the scale we operate nobody would be able to manage it effectively.
Airport information
When you click on any airport (and I mean any airport - I’ve imported all 40,000+ in Flight Simulator), you can see a detailed map, and all of the scheduled incoming and outgoing flights.
Airport flight map
To get a more visual view, you can see a flight map of all routes that leave a given airport, and choose the map style you like. Hovering over the lines allows the flights to be explored in more detail.
Live weather at an airport
The WX map pulls up Windy.com showing the location of the airport, with animated winds whistling past.
Tours
We haven’t forgotten about tours, or GA aircraft. We’ve already configured most of the popular aircraft types within Microsoft Flight Simulator, and some fantastic new tours. You’ll be able to file tour flights without dispatching them too - finally.
Flights search
We have pre-configured over 6,000 scheduled flights between 42 hubs spread across all of the continents, and over 600 international airports spread around the world.
Route information
Every route shows detailed information about the direct routing, along with weather at both departure and arrival airports, and the fleets assigned to the route. You can send flight routing information directly to ACARS, or pre-file with Simbrief.
Pre-filing with Simbrief
If pre-filing with Simbrief you get the opportunity to review what is being requested.
Operational flight plan from Simbrief
The results from Simbrief are summarised within the interface, allowing you to easily explore the information presented.
Weather reports from Simbrief
The charts generated by simbrief are just a click away, giving you fast access to everything you might need.
The raw OFP from Simbrief
And yes, the text operational flight plan is a single click away at all times.
The ACARS client
If you send a flight plan to ACARS, it launches automatically, pre-loaded with the sent plan.
Viewing the briefing within the ACARS client
You also have access to the text operational flight plan within the ACARS client.
Viewing the map within the ACARS client
And can see a live moving map with your aircraft rendered on it during flight - along with a live view of the flight log - reporting each event happening along the way, and any issues or transgressions.
Reviewing a flight report
After a flight, the full report from ACARS is immediately available to review - with the route you took, and a vast quantity of both technical and financial data. As you can see from the screenshot below, we’re still working through the numbers. I don’t think this operating cost would fly somehow :)
p.s. don’t tell Geoff at MyAir that he’s owed nearly $1400 for tonight’s ATC coverage!
Summary report information
You can dig into the numbers reported by ACARS, with your take off and landing rate, position, and attitude recorded for review.
The detailed flight log
The log compiled by ACARS is also available to view - allowing you to learn from your mistakes, and improve next time. You can damage aircraft - with engine strikes, tail strikes, hard landings, soft landings, and more. Yes - you read that right - a soft landing will result in an inspection - I know, because I’ve caused it.
Pilot statistics
A huge number of statistics are gathered with each flight, and available for you to read on your profile.
So what now?
We’re working hard to test things out, decide what features we want to use, and what might be a problem going forwards. As mentioned earlier, some of the options around restricting the fleet of aircraft might never be implemented - although saying that, we have deployed 5 of every airframe type - so if there is a rash of bad weather on a group flight, and lots of airframes end up in maintenance, at least there will be lots more to bend.
It’s going to be exciting - seeing how you all get on with it. Please understand we’re doing everything we can to test, and set things up sensibly. We have a lot of documentation to write, and probably quite a few videos to record.
You will be able to transfer hours across when you join - so you won’t have to start at the bottom of the rank ladder if you’ve already been there, done that and got the t-shirt.
Oh yes - there’s going to be a rank ladder. And six airlines. And lots and lots of fleets of aircraft within those airlines.
Here are the airlines:
VFO World (long haul)
VFO Express (commercial jets)
VFO Business (business jets)
VFO Transport (hauling packages)
VFO Historic (museum pieces)
VFO Flying Club (all of the GA aircraft)
It’s getting late.
We’ll let you know when the doors are opened for pilot applications. In case you’re wondering, the new system will co-exist with the old one for the moment.
One last thing - the new system doesn’t require FSUIPC.