5.0 Flight Operations
5.0 Flight Operations
American Virtual (AAVA) does not attempt to place any undue pressure on its members. We realize that members can only commit a certain number of hours and time to this hobby; as such, we have established reasonable minimum flight requirements that must be adhered to remain an active pilot for the organization. These requirements are designed to ensure that all pilots can remain active, regardless of their commitments elsewhere. The primary flight requirement states that each pilot is required to fly at a minimum of one flight every 30 days.
If you fail to meet this requirement, you will receive a system-generated warning to the email address on file. Once placed on termination warning, you will have a period of fourteen (14) days to file a report which will be monitored by the hub manager. If after 45 days, no flight has been logged, your account will be auto retired. You will receive a system-generated email to alert you to this fact to the email address on file. If you know in advance that you will not be able to complete the flight time requirement, request a Leave of Absence in your profile.
We want to work with our pilots to ensure that they remain active. However, our pilots need to maintain contact with hub management to determine the best way to remain active.
The submission of fraudulent PIREPs will result in the immediate termination of your membership with AAVA.
5.1 Schedule
As our name suggests, we strive to mirror the American Airlines flight operations in as realistic a manner as possible. This includes utilizing a real-world, current schedule of flights from American Airlines and its subsidiaries. For flight hours to count, pilots may only operate flights that are listed in the current AAVA schedule (accessible by choosing "Flight Operations -> Schedule Bid" or browsing "Ground Operations -> Advanced Schedules" within the Crew Center.) Quarterly, we pull live flight information from FlightAware for American Airlines and its direct subsidiaries to update our database. The schedules, while accurate at the time of pull, may lose their accuracy depending on what is happening in the real-world counterpart operations.
Utilizing the "Schedule Bid" page provided to you through the Crew Center, you will be able to search for flights from the current location (the last place you landed) and add them to your bids. Once you identify a flight, we highly recommend that you first click on "Add to Bid" to take the flight out of the system and then go through "Pilot Brief" to receive accurate information about the flight and receive your dispatch paperwork (exactly like in real life). This will provide you with specific details regarding your flight including route, fuel, departure time, maps, weather, etc.
American Virtual is not concerned with the actual time you fly a flight in your bid. You are free to choose whatever time of the day/night you prefer to complete the flight.
5.2 Jump Seat
To enhance the operation's realism, the system recognizes the last arrival and will only display flights from that airport. Pilots have the option of departing from the airport where they last arrived or purchasing a Jump Seat Ticket for a fee to move to another location.
Purchasing a Jump Seat Ticket allows pilots to leave their last arrived location and be able to bid on a flight leaving from a different airport. The employee rate for Jump Seat Tickets is $0.25/nautical mile, which will be automatically deducted from your earnings. The time to get to the new location is 1 second/nautical mile.
Pilots will not be allowed to purchase a Jump Seat Ticket in the event they have not earned enough money although in our experience that is extremely unlikely.
If there are no flights available for the pilot's current rank at the arrival location, the pilot will be able to jump seat to a different location free of charge.
5.3 Livery Selection
As our name suggests, we strive to mirror the American Airlines flight operations in as realistic a manner as possible. This includes flying American Airlines branded aircraft (or one of the other Codeshare airlines currently in our schedule).
Pilots incur the risk of the flight report being rejected without warning if a report is found using a livery from an airline, not in our schedule, or one that does not correspond to the flight. There are many resources online as well as in our own downloads section to find and retrieve free American Airlines liveries (or subsidiaries and Codeshares), leaving truly little reason for an excuse.
5.4 Codeshares
American Airlines is part of the One World network of airlines. We partially simulate this relationship with codeshare flights in our schedule. All flight numbers in our schedule will start with AAL (American), CAR (American Cargo), HER (Heritage Schedule), or AAC (American Airlines Charters) however, decoding the flight number is how you can determine what airline is operating the flight.
For your convenience, please refer to the table below:
| AALx-2xxx - Mainline American | AAL77xx - GOL (Gol Transportes Aereos) |
| AAL3xxx-5xxx - American Regional Carriers | AAL84xx - Japan Airlines |
| AAL6xxx - British Airways | AAL85xx - Air Nostrum |
| AAL72xx - Royal Jordanian | AAL87xx-88xx - Iberia |
| AAL73xx - Qantas | AAL89xx - Cathay Pacific |
| AAL75xx - Alaska Airlines | AAL9xxx - Finnair |
With that in mind, the table above is for reference only and there may always be schedule variations or different airline representations. For more information about any specific flight, we recommend checking either FlightAware or flightradar24. Schedules also change very rapidly, sometimes daily. If you happen to find a schedule that exists in the real world, but it is not present in our systems, please use the appropriate Discord channel.
Also, for programming convenience, we always use 9XXX numbers for our "Adventures" schedules.
5.5 Model Selection/Substitutions
All flights in our schedule specify which model is to be flown for the flight. While there are many resources online to download freeware aircraft, we will allow some substitutions to take place. For a model substitution to be valid, the substitution should be within the same family. For example:
- Flight calls for a Boeing 737-800 -- Valid substitutions in the 737 family would be (733, 34, 35, 36, etc.)
- Flight calls for Airbus 320 -- Valid substitutions in the A320 family would be (319, 320, 321)
Pilots run the risk of the flight report being rejected without warning if the model flown is outside the family of aircraft specified on the schedule. Examples could be:
- Flight schedule calls for a 737-800 -- Pilot uses a Boeing 767
- Flight schedule calls for an A319 -- Pilot uses a Boeing 737
For added convenience and easier understanding, please follow the substitution chart below:
The Charter Operations module provides its separate fleet; however, the substitution table above applies all the same. Please follow the same chart when creating a Charter flight and choosing your equipment to complete it.