Chapter 1: Membership Standards
Overview of Code of Conduct and Bylaws
DVAL has two documents which govern expectations for how members conduct themselves as well as the formal organization of the VA's administrative structure. These are our Code of Conduct and our Bylaws, respectively. These documents are maintained separately outside of the Standard Operating Procedures and can be accessed via the links below.
The Bylaws are a set of organizational guidelines that govern how we administer the DVAL airline. The Code of Conduct is a set of behavioral guidelines that govern how we expect our members to behave.
We expect all members of DVAL to follow the Code of Conduct and Bylaws at all times. Continued membership in DVAL implies that you have read and acknowledged them.
These documents can only be amended by the administration team, who review them every so often to update them to align with changing circumstances. When new versions of these documents are published, they will be announced via vAMSYS and on our Discord and the links will be updated in this document.
Here are a few excerpts from the Code of Conduct and Bylaws for reinforcement of importance as well as ease of access:
- Code of Conduct: “In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, the administration team pledges to make participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.”
- Code of Conduct: “Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting the administration team at [Insert Email] or via Discord direct message.”
- Bylaws: “Membership is open to any adult or minor above the age of 18 by either invitation or by application. Membership is fully voluntary. Membership is at the sole discretion of the DVAL administration team. All members are expected to follow whatever posted rules, codes of conduct, and/or community guidelines are found on all vAMSYS websites, chat servers, forums, etc. All members are expected to follow whatever posted rules, codes of conduct, and/or community guidelines are found on all VATSIM, IVAO, and PilotEdge websites, chat servers, forums, etc.”
Knowledge and Competency
Generally speaking, joining a virtual airline is not a recommended first step for people new to the world of flight simulation and commercial aviation. The purpose of a virtual airline is to add a layer of structure and “gamification” to the open ended, open world nature of at home flight simulators.
We do not expect our members to know everything and we do not expect our members to come to us with the knowledge and skill set of a fully trained real world airline pilot. However, we do expect a certain baseline of knowledge as to how a commercial airline flight is legally operated as well as a willingness to learn and pursue self-study.
In time, we hope to offer some kind of training programs for our membership once our structure is more robust. We cannot offer that at this time, but we are always happy to field questions, and we hope all members will ensure that they have read and understand this document before they begin booking flights and filing PIREPs.
We want to strike a happy medium. If all you want is a flight tracker that has no restrictions, then something like Volanta, SimToolKitPro, etc. is more of what you’re looking for. We strive to not be stifling with our requirements; we want to be realistic where it matters and relaxed everywhere else. PIREPs will be rejected or invalidated if we see things that show egregious errors, but we will also offer feedback and invite people to seek advice if they are struggling with some aspect of procedure or technique.
DVAL also maintains a Discord server, which is the most important resource for keeping up to date with events and DVAL news, as well as a great community where you can get answers to technical/operational questions. Membership is not required but is strongly encouraged.
As always, if in doubt please ask questions prior to booking a flight and filing a PIREP, it’s much easier to prevent PIREPs being rejected or invalidated that way. Our Discord is the best place for this (an invite link can be found on your vAMSYS dashboard) but you can also reach us by email at dal@fusionvaa.com — welcome!