Building a Better Community

What started as a small group of friends flying together has grown out of all recognition. Let's take a chance to look at what we have achieved.

I don’t think anybody could have imagined when we started VirtualFlight.Online that it would be as popular as it has become - and that’s testament to the members that take part in the Discord server, the Facebook group, the virtual airline, and the various group flights each week.

The numbers

Here are a few numbers to put this in context:

• Facebook group members : 585

• Discord server members : 2114

• Airline pilots : 780

• Newsletter email subscribers : 1095

The airline is servicing somewhere in the region of a million page views a month, and some pretty colossal numbers:

• PIREPS : 11505

• Distance flown : 2829893 nautical miles

Well done everybody!

Thanks to the members

The forums, discussion channels, voice chat, group flights, and airline wouldn’t exist without the members.

Whether it's troubleshooting problems, sharing resources, or offering encouragement - it’s inspiring to see so many go the extra mile - creating a space unlike any other.

Thank you for the countless laughs, the thoughtful advice, and the support along the way. We are all lucky to call ourselves members of the community you have helped to create.

Thanks to the team

A huge part of the reason our community has flourished is because a small but enthusiastic international team have volunteered their time and effort to make the community work - answering questions, helping resolve issues, and sometimes reminding about the rules we try to adhere to.

Without the team - Mugs, Craig, Peter, Joe, Mark, Ard, Neil, and Marnacle - the community would not be such an accessible, welcoming, and well organised place - so a huge thank you to everybody involved.

A reminder about the rules

When caught up in the moment - either posting to the Discord server, Facebook, or while taking part in group flights - it’s easy to get carried away and let conversation slide towards areas we try to avoid.

I guess this is a friendly reminder - we’re here to fly - we’re here to talk about aircraft and everything about them. We’re not here to either offend or divide anybody - however unintentional.

The great thing about our community is that we are here for a common interest - which is quite often a wonderful escape from the rest of our lives.

What’s next?

Over the spring and summer months we will be encouraging everybody to plan and run their own group flights (events). Rather than waiting for the weekly regular group flight, or cursing because you can’t make it - why not run an event of your own choosing on a day and time that suits you?

We have members all over the world - across all of the continents and time-zones. If you know an area of the world particularly well, guided tours always make for the most interesting shared experiences.

We have lots of guidance available in the website on making events - visit the link below to find out more:

https://www.virtualflight.online/operations/group-flights/events