The Little Airline That Could
The Little Airline That Could
Another week brings new pilots, new tours, and new liveries.
When we started the airline at VirtualFlight.Online, we had no idea how popular it might be, or how to organise and run such a thing. Of course we learned very quickly - but who could have guessed that we would rapidly become one of the biggest, busiest virtual airlines on the internet?
The numbers continue to amaze me:
8,736 flights
1,819,034 nautical miles flown
9,539 hours recorded
531 pilots
In terms of the website, the numbers are staggering - during October:
10,180 visits
853,114 pages delivered
1.2 million hits
In the middle of all the mayhem, I’m happy to say the guys at VABase really went to bat for us - the platform we use for the virtual airline becomes more stable, and more feature rich each week.
I’m also impressed with how many pilots have found their way through the various guidance materials we have provided and got up and running so quickly. For those that do get stuck, we have a great support channel over at Discord - if you get stuck, use it! No question is too small, or too simple - it’s far better to get an answer and get up and running than to struggle.
p.s. less than a week until 11 new aircraft land for Flight Simulator with the anniversary update!
Jonathan Beckett
Founder, VirtualFlight.Online
The Route Map
VABase released some nice updates over the last week or so - adding route maps to the toys for us to play with. If you visit the Route Map page, click on a hub, and you will see all available scheduled flights appear from the hub.
If any of you have had the simulator crash during a flight recently, you will notice that ACARS can now recover from disrupted flights. Don’t resort to a manual PIREP straight away - try out the recovery features.
New Tours
After a few weeks of peace and quiet on the tour front, we have three new Class D tours for you to explore:
Class D Black Sea Tour
A tour of the Black Sea, passing through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, the Crimea and Georgia. Aircraft choice is unrestricted. All leg estimates are based on the C208 Grand Caravan.
Class D Caspian Sea Tour
A tour of the Caspian Sea, passing through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia. Aircraft choice is unrestricted. All leg time estimates are based on the C208 Grand Caravan.
Class D Medirranean Sea Tour
A tour of the Mediterranean Sea - starting in Gibraltar, and passing through Spain, Andorra, France, Italy, Sicily, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Aircraft choice is unrestricted. All leg time estimates are based on the C208 Grand Caravan.
New Liveries
Emmanuel has been busy working on VirtualFlight.Online liveries over the past couple of weeks - if you are in a position to, please chip in some donations to reward his efforts at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FMisterO
Aerosoft DHC6 Twin Otter - VirtualFlight Transport Livery Pack
Download from FlightSim.To
Beechcraft KingAir 350i - VirtualFlight Business Livery
Download from FlightSim.To
Daher Kodiak 100 Series II - VirtualFlight Transport Livery Pack
Download from FlightSim.To
MG Honda Hjet HA420 - VirtualFlight Business Livery
Download from FlightSim.To
This Week’s Group Flight - Into the Woods
This coming Sunday evening we will venture deep into the woods of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia in the United States - exploring the Natahala and Chattahoochee-Oconee national forests.
When
Sunday 6th November 2022, 2000 UTC
Flight Plan
There is no flightplan to download - just the notes below. Feel free to use navigation solutions at your disposal to make a plan, follow the notes, or follow the pack!
1A5 Macon County - departure
GE99 Heaven's Landing - touch and go
KDZJ Blairsville - touch and go
1A3 Martin Cambell Field - full stop - 10 min break
85TN Tellico Plains Municipal - touch and go
KRHP Andrews Murphy - touch and go
57NC Sossamon Field - touch and go
24A Jackson County - destination
Approx. 150nm
Suggested Aircraft
Any aircraft capable of 120 knots or more in cruise to complete the flight in a timely manner (we try to keep flights under 2 hours).
Voice Communications
To talk to fellow pilots during the flight, visit the VirtualFlight.Online discord server:
If you've never used Discord before, find out more here:
Multiplayer Network
If you want to see other aircraft within Microsoft Flight Simulator, make sure the following are configured:
You must have Multiplayer data switched on
You must select "All Players" in flight conditions
Choose the "SOUTH EAST ASIA" mutiplayer server
If you would like to see other aircraft within LittleNavMap while en-route, check out the Transmitter app - available for free from:
Rules / Guidelines
If joining the Discord server for voice communications during the flight, conversation must remain family friendly, respectful, and not stray into any subjects that might offend such as adult jokes, politics, religion, racism, or hate-speech.
Try to stay with the group! If the group is becoming stretched, loop back and join the rear of the group.
Try to stay online until everybody has landed at the final airfield.
Screenshot of the Week
Taken during a group flight at Bergamo while in the queue for take-off in quite horrendous weather.
Where many simulator pilots tend to switch “real weather” off as soon as it gets difficult, I tend to lean into the challenge. Yes, the landing 90 minutes later was stressful, but the achievement of getting the plane down in one piece after wrestling with darkness, driving rain, and twenty knot gusts on approach was worth the effort.
If you don’t think the more extreme conditions are realistic, watch this:
Support
If you are in a position to help fund the internet machinery that makes VirtualFlight.Online possible, everybody in the community will be appreciative. For the price of a cup of coffee a month, we get a self funded operation that’s rapidly become one of the fastest growing Flight Simulation communities on the internet!
Find out more at Patreon!