Chapter 2: General Operations and Policies
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 program for our members 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 do not follow the requirements found here in the FOM, but we will also offer feedback and invite people to seek advice if they are struggling with some aspect of procedure or technique.
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 (invite link on your vAMSYS dashboard) but you can also reach us at pai@fusionvaa.com.
Activity Requirements
At PVA-HG we ask all pilots to file 1 PIREP over a rolling 90-day period.
After 90 days without a PIREP have passed and the activity rule has been triggered, pilots will have a grace period of 10 additional days to bring their account active. The activity period can be reset if requested prior to deactivation.
In addition, we ask all new pilots to file 1 PIREP, which has status of 'Complete' or 'Accepted', within 10 days of registration.
PIREPs must be filed via Pegasus to count towards the activity requirement.
Rejected and Invalidated PIREPs do not count towards the activity requirement.
If a pilot’s account is removed due to inactivity, their PIREP history will not be lost, and the account can be reactivated under the same Pilot ID. Pilots should contact the admins via email (pai@fusionvaa.com) or Discord to request activation. Do not try to create a new account; request the old one to be reactivated.
Holidays
The functionality discussed in this section will change in appearance with the new version of vAMSYS releasing in late September 2024. This section will be updated with screenshots and corrected instructions (if applicable) as soon as possible.
vAMSYS includes a holiday function which allows pilots a period of time during which the Activity Requirements no longer apply. PVA-HG gives pilots an allotment of 180 days per year of holiday time.
To be eligible, the pilot’s account must be older than 10 days – thus, they must have met the New Hire Activity Requirements.
Holidays can be requested by opening the profile menu by clicking the username in the top right of the vAMSYS website and selecting My Settings. Once on the Account Settings page, select the Airline option from the Settings sidebar on the left.
The Holiday Settings section will be at the bottom of the screen and will display the remaining holiday balance and will allow the pilot to input the Holiday Start and Holiday End dates and send the request off for approval.
While on holiday, flights cannot be booked. The holiday period can be cancelled at any time and unused days will be returned to the holiday allotment.
Ranks
To provide a sense of career progression, PVA-HG has several tiers of ranks which pilots will progress through as they accrue hours, points, and bonus points from their PIREPs.
At this time, vAMSYS does not allow routes or aircraft types to be rank limited; thus, pilots can fly any aircraft and route (providing all livery and aircraft type requirements are followed) regardless of their rank.
There are Honorary/Staff ranks which will be disbursed at the sole discretion of the admin team for certain purposes. These cannot be qualified for independently or requested.
| Rank | Hours Required | Points Required | Bonus Points Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flight Engineer | -- | -- | -- |
| First Officer | 100 | 10,000 | -- |
| Captain | 300 | 24,500 | 1,000 |
| Senior Captain | 750 | 75,000 | 2,000 |
Transfer Hours
No transfer hours from other virtual airlines or from VATSIM, PilotEdge, IVAO, POSCON, etc. will be accepted. All new pilots start at 0 hours and 0 points and will progress from there.
Group Flights and Online Networks
We encourage, but do not require, pilots to utilize VATSIM and other online networks, and from time to time we may organize group flights which will usually be online and sometimes may be done along with a YouTube/Twitch streamer.
In all scenarios we require pilots to firstly comply entirely with the policies of the platform(s) in use as they are representing PVA-HG. Any pilots who are found to have violated any of these policies will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including permanent removal of their account.
Secondly, we require pilots to follow our own Code of Conduct and Bylaws as we do in any offline PVA-HG activity. Any pilots who are found to have violated any of these policies will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including permanent removal of their account.
Finally, we require pilots to follow the procedures found in this document and any future checklists, AOM/FCOMs, etc. that may be released, while flying with others or online. In representing PVA-HG you represent the abilities and qualities we wish to be known for, and your example is what others will judge us by. For that reason, we ask that pilots wait to fly online until they are confident in their ability to correctly operate their aircraft and to follow ATC instructions. We encourage anyone to seek guidance and tutoring if they need assistance. Repeated instances of immature or incompetent behavior online will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including permanent removal of their account.
Flight Tracking
Time Acceleration
Time Acceleration during a flight is prohibited without exception; PIREPs flagged for time acceleration will be invalidated.
Slewing
Slewing during a flight is prohibited without exception; PIREPs where slewing is seen after pushback will be invalidated.
Pausing
Pausing is allowed during a flight.
PIREPs that have over sixty (60) minutes of cumulative time paused will be sent for manual review by staff – please leave a comment explaining the reason for the long pause time. We will almost certainly approve the PIREP.
However, we do ask pilots to not pause excessively. This is a policy we are still trying to develop, so for the time being it is a judgment call by the staff as to whether or not someone is abusing pausing during flights.
Generally speaking, we ask that a flight be completed during one “sitting” — essentially during the same day, unless the flight is sufficiently long that a relief crew would be appropriate in real life (approximately 8+ hours) in which case we have no problem with utilizing "pause at Top of Descent" functionality so that you may come back and resume the flight in the morning.
We do understand that plans can change after a flight has been started, so our policy is flexible, but if something changes after you’ve started a flight to where you will have to leave the simulator paused for a long time before you can complete the flight, we recommend you instead abandon the flight and restart it later when you can complete it without extensive pausing.
The reasoning behind our caution here is twofold:
- We have seen cases where a flight being paused can corrupt Pegasus's tracking, garbling or interrupting the PIREP log or causing it to never come out of the paused state to track the rest of the flight, and there is no way for us to fix this on our side. The longer a flight remains paused, the more likely a problem like this is to occur. The vAMSYS team keeps Pegasus in active development to identify and correct bugs, so this is not an inherent problem in Pegasus that will never be addressed, we are being proactive in helping you avoid frustration in the relatively unlikely case this happens.
- Particularly with MSFS, active pause can cause the aircraft to freeze in position while the flight time clock continues to run, incorrectly and unfairly inflating the flight time for that PIREP, which creates an opportunity to abuse the system to quickly accrue unearned hours. Active pause doesn’t always do this, but we do see it fairly regularly and when we see PIREPs where this happened they are invalidated. Staying paused in MSFS, depending on the add-on and the type of pause used, can also continue burning fuel while paused, causing the aircraft to refuel itself when unpaused, or alternatively cause a complete failure of both engines and the aircraft's systems. This creates an unrealistic and messy scenario to recover from that is not appropriate for an approved PIREP.
Starting and Ending Locations of Flights
A flight must begin and end at either a gate or a remote stand in a cold-and-dark or turnaround power state. Please do not start a flight on a runway or taxiway or with the aircraft powered up with engines on.
We understand that it is possible to sometimes forget to start Pegasus tracking at the gate, so within reason we are fine with tracking being started before takeoff. If we notice a trend of this happening we will inquire and PIREPs may be rejected or invalidated as a result.
PIREPs
Requirements for Approval
To be approved, a PIREP must meet the following criteria:
- You must book the same type of aircraft that you will fly.
- You must use an appropriate livery for the aircraft type.
- Your landing rate must be under -500 fpm to receive points and log hours, or under -600 fpm to log hours.
- You must have taken off and landed with an appropriate fuel load for the flight with no fuel added in flight/after pushback.
- You must not have used used slew mode after pushback or used time acceleration during the flight.
- You must have used an appropriate route for the flight and completed the flight in an appropriate amount of logged flight time without extensive detours or obvious departures from the route due to being lost or negligent managing the autopilot, etc.
- You must depart from and arrive at the booked origin and departure airports. In-flight diversions are allowed with a valid reason.
- Staff reserve the right to reject or invalidate PIREPs for any departures from controlled flight or good airmanship not specifically outlined above, but those situations are rare.
Processing Statuses
It is important to understand that having PIREPs sitting in the review queue does not prevent you from booking and flying additional flights. The system may require a reply on a PIREP — see the following section — before it lets you book a flight, but once all PIREPs that require it have been replied to, you can book a new flight and continue flying. Our team will review PIREPs that are sent for manual review as soon as possible, but keep in mind that review times are dependent on staff availability.
All PIREPs are processed automatically when submitted and may take up to ten (10) minutes to be processed by the system. In certain circumstances, which will be discussed in more detail later, a PIREP will fail automatic scoring and will require a manual review by the admin and staff team. A manual review can take longer, up to a week in some circumstances, but every attempt is made to go through the manual review queue several times per week.
Once processed by the automatic scorer, the PIREP will receive one of six statuses. These are:
- Accepted: PIREP has passed automated scoring and is now complete.
- Awaiting Review: PIREP has failed automated scoring and requires manual review.
- Rejected: PIREP will grant hours to the pilot but no points.
- Invalidated: PIREP will grant neither hours nor points.
- Processing: PIREP is undergoing processing.
- Reply Needed: PIREP needs your input prior to review by the staff team.
Reply Needed
The functionality discussed in this section will change in appearance with the new version of vAMSYS releasing in late September 2024. This section will be updated with a screenshot and corrected instructions (if applicable) as soon as possible.
PIREPs with the status of Reply Needed require prompt attention by the pilot, who will not be able to book or start a new flight until they leave a response on the PIREP. No notification will be sent via email; the next time the pilot tries to book a flight they will be prevented from doing so and instead will be prompted to leave a reply on the PIREP in question.
Leaving a comment on a PIREP via Pegasus or within vAMSYS will automatically result in the PIREP being sent for manual review. This should not be done unless a comment has been requested as outlined above, or if the pilot knows in advance that the PIREP will fail auto processing and the pilot wishes to account for the circumstances in advance.
Please note that rejections or invalidations of PIREPs due to landing rates are not up for negotiation. We apply these rules universally, regardless of alleged circumstances. Leaving a comment claiming a gust of wind, low frame rates, or some other extenuating circumstances caused the hard landing only risks a PIREP's review being further delayed as it will move the PIREP into the manual review queue. It is best to just accept the situation, learn from it, and seek to further refine your landing technique.
We are not able to modify, remove, or delete the landing rate recorded by Pegasus.
Common Causes of Failure
| Name | Condition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Livery flagged for review. No reply needed unless contacted. See FOM for more information. | See next section | Sent for manual staff review. Reply not needed unless we ask. |
| Livery automatically rejected. Contact staff with questions or see FOM. | See next section | Sent for manual staff review. Reply not needed unless we ask. |
| Longer than anticipated flight length. Please leave a comment if anything unusual delayed the flight. | Flight took longer than average or scheduled time by more than 25% or 30 extra minutes. | Sent for manual staff review. Reply not needed unless we ask. |
| Time acceleration detected. PIREP may be invalidated, please leave a comment. | - | Sent for manual staff review. Pilot reply required. Likely invaldiation. |
| Fuel increase detected during flight. PIREP may be invalidated, please leave a comment. | - | Sent for manual staff review. Pilot reply required. Likely invaldiation. |
| Flight paused over 60 cumulative minutes, please leave a comment stating the reason. | - | Sent for manual staff review. Pilot reply required. Likely approval. |
| Landing rate over -500 fpm, PIREP rejected (hours granted, no points). | Landing rate greater than -500fpm. | Rejected (hours kept, no points granted) with no exceptions. |
| Landing rate over -600 fpm, PIREP invalidated (no hours or points granted). | Landing rate greater than -600fpm. | Invalidated (neither hours nor points granted) with no exceptions. |
| Diversion detected, please state reason for diversion. | Flight landed at an airport other than the booked destination. | Sent for manual staff review. Pilot reply required. Approval contingent on scenario/appropriateness of diversion. |
| Multiple landings or large bounce detected, please describe the cause. | - | Sent for manual staff review. Pilot reply required. Likely approval. |
| Negative points, please review PIREP and leave any information relevant to cause(s). | - | Sent for manual staff review. Pilot reply required. Likely invaldiation. |
Claims
The functionality discussed in this section will change in appearance with the new version of vAMSYS releasing in late September 2024. This section will be updated with a new screenshot and corrected instructions (if applicable) as soon as possible.
All attempts should be made to file PIREPs via Pegasus. Because it might not always be possible to file automatically, vAMSYS provides the ability to file a PIREP Claim. This can be accessed via Flight Centre drop down menu within vAMSYS.
You should only use this function if Pegasus crashed during your flight or if you cannot otherwise file a PIREP via Pegasus for a flight you began tracking with Pegasus. If you fail to start tracking your flight in Pegasus prior to takeoff, we will allow you to file a claim, but please keep in mind the frequency limit outlined below.
Due to the great potential of abuse, you may only submit one (1) Claim per calendar month.
You must include with your Claim either screenshots from another flight tracking program like Volanta, or a link to your flight’s history on VATSIM. Claims filed without proof may be invalidated.
Neither Accepted nor Rejected Claims count towards the Activity Requirement.
Please note that abuse of this system may result in rejection of subsequent Claims and/or PIREPs filed with Pegasus and may result in permanent removal from vspirit.
Landing Rates
It has become fashionable in the flight simulation community to pursue landing rates as low as possible. While a smooth landing is satisfying to pilots both real and virtual, it is not advantageous or safe to pursue a landing with a low vertical speed as the top priority.
To discourage this behavior, we have made our landing rate scorer binary – your landing was safe (less than 500 fpm), or it wasn’t (greater than 600 fpm). Between 500 and 600 fpm your PIREP will be rejected (hours granted but no points) while PIREPs greater than 600 fpm will be invalidated (no hours or points granted).
We recommend you target a consistent landing rate between -150 and -300 fpm.
Liveries
Automated and Manual Reviews
Every time a PIREP is submitted, Pegasus and vAMSYS logs the livery used on the flight and compares the logged livery against a database of previously flown liveries.
When it flags a livery as having been seen for the first time, it is placed into a manual review queue for the admin/staff team to check. This allows us to ensure you have flown the correct aircraft type and used an appropriate livery.
Having the PIREP held for livery review is not necessarily an indication that there is a problem with your livery and/or PIREP. If you used an appropriate livery and your PIREP was marked by the system as Awaiting Review, please feel free to continue flying and the member of staff reviewing the PIREP will approve the livery and it will be added to the approved livery list.
It is important to understand that as far as vAMSYS is concerned, a "livery" is more than the paint job on the airplane -- vAMSYS considers a livery to be the paint job on the outside of the airplane plus the aircraft type you booked plus the aircraft type you flew. Each time a livery is used it is reviewed as a combined entity and if it doesn't match in any category, the livery is rejected.
It is also important to understand that a previously approved livery may be flagged for review again in the future. An update to the addon that was used, a change to the livery’s folder name, changes to the aircraft’s name in its configuration files – things of this nature may prompt a re-review. It is not necessary for you to tell us that you’ve used a livery before, or that it came off of the Recommended Livery list, etc., as it will not speed up your PIREP’s review, nor will it prevent additional reviews in the future.
Requirements for Livery Approval
- We ask, but do not require, pilots to use a period correct livery for the flight they’re operating.
- We require that the booked aircraft type matches the aircraft type flown.
- We require that the airline livery flown matches the operator of the booked flight.
- We do not allow fictional liveries.
- We do not allow blank or "house"/manufacturer liveries to be used in place of a correct livery for the booked airline.
Aircraft
Aircraft Types and Substitutions
We do not allow aircraft substitutions.
We require the flown aircraft type and booked aircraft type to match. A mismatch will result in PIREP invalidation.
When assigning aircraft to flights, we analyze the airline's fleet and break the fleet down into categories, usually consisting of subvariants of the same type. For example, for a Piedmont flight operated by a B732, we will also assign the B733 and B734 to the flight; for a Northwest flight operated by a DC-9, we will also assign an MD-80 to the flight.
This strategy bakes flexibility into our schedules, allowing our pilots more freedom to fly routes that they might otherwise not be able to due to add-on availability. This built in flexibility is also why we do not allow substitutions; we have already loaded the schedules with the appropriate substitutions built in.
Historic airline schedules often times do not provide the specific aircraft type that was scheduled to opeate each flight. Some do, but unfortunately it often requires a lot of research and cross-referencing multiple datasets like an OAG or an employee timetable to be able to get that information. Whenever possible, we do that work, but it is not always possible.
If the specific aircraft type that was scheduled to operate each flight can be identified, we use that type to assign a category to each flight as discussed above. If the correct aircraft type cannot be identified, we will look at the airline's overall fleet and make some guesses about what might have been used. Often times, even if the timetable did not identify a specific aircraft type, it will differentiate between widebody aircraft and everything else, allowing us to split the fleet along those two lines.
If the airline's fleet could have reasonably operated everything in the route network and the timetable did not otherwise specify, we assign the airline's full fleet to every route. This method is the final stopgap; we try to be more specific whenever possible.
Approved Add-ons
Due to the large, varied fleet inherent in our many historic timetables, building this section will take a lot of time. For now, ask if you have any questions about whether or not a specific add-on is acceptable. If it's not on the prohibited list, it's likely fine.
We will add a table of approved add-ons to this section in the future when time allows.
Prohibited Add-ons
We understand that by prohibiting certain add-ons, we may disappoint some users. We also understand that these prohibitions exclude several aircraft types entirely from MSFS at this time. An aircraft type being included in our schedules does not mean that any add-on representing that type is approved for PIREPs.
The PVA team wants these aircraft types to be represented as badly, if not more so, than our users do. We have a certain standard of realism and quality that we want to promote, and so for add-ons that we feel fall outside of these standards, or add-ons that we think take advantage of the flight simulation community, we chose to exclude them so that we are able to deliver on one of our goals: maximizing realism where it counts.
The following aircraft are prohibited from use; any PIREP filed with them will be invalidated.
- MSFS FlyByWire/Default A320neo (All A320s in our schedules are A320ceos; a NEO cannot be substituted for them)
- MSFS CaptainSim 767
- MSFS FSS 727F (prohibited from operating passenger flights, it can be used for cargo B727 flights)
- MSFS LatinVFR Airbus Family
- MSFS RHDSimulations 767-300ER
- MSFS SkySimulations MD-11
- X-Plane Rotate MD-11F (prohibited from operating passenger flights, it can be used for cargo MD-11 flights)
Scoring Rules
This section needs to be rebuilt after the vAMSYS v5 launch. Scoring rules can be viewed in vAMSYS by navigating to the Documents tab in the menu and selecting "Scores".