FAQ

Here is a list of the most commonly asked questions about Atlas Virtual Airlines. For more details, please visit the Forums, which contain a wealth of information!

Question: What is a Virtual Airline?
Answer: A Virtual Airline (VA) is an airline that exists solely in cyberspace, and therefore doesn't sell real airline tickets, but gives purpose and added realism to activities held in a flight simulator. Pilots who fly for a VA do so between certain set airports, with one of the airplanes that are part of the VA's fleet, and at certain scheduled times – just like in a real world airline.
A VA is also a meeting place of virtual aviation enthusiasts, and provides flight training to its pilots.

Question: Which simulators and multiplayer networks are supported by Atlas Virtual Airlines?
Answer: Originally, Atlas Virtual Airlines started out as a FlightGear-only airline, but we do not discriminate which simulator you use. You can use any version of Microsoft Flight simulator, X-plane or any other simulator as long as it allows the use of multiplayer servers with tracking information. That is to say, you can use the standard FlightGear multiplayer servers, or connect to Vatsim with Squawkgear. Squawkbox can be used both by X-Plane and different versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The only thing we don't support is IVAO, because as far as we know it is not possible to track flights on IVAO.

Question: Which airplanes can I fly when I join Atlas Virtual Airlines?
Answer: Please see our "fleet" page or consult the table on the bottom of this page. We currently do not restrict airplanes to rank, nor do we plan to do so in the near future.

Question: Is there a minimum amount of hours that I have to fly?
Answer: We only delete your account if your explicitly ask us to do so, OR if you fail to fly 15 hours in the first month after you sign up, OR it has become clear by your lack of activity you have ceased flying for Atlas. For example, if we see you put on 15 hours in a month, and no more hours for several months after that, without having contacted us for a leave of absence, your account will be suspended. This is to keep our database clean of pilots who show up and never fly.

Question: OK, I signed up, now how do I fly for Atlas?
Answer: Flying for Atlas is a simple 3-step procedure:
1. Find a flight in the schedule
2. Fly it according to the scheduled time, or as an AVX charter flight (see below)
3. File a pilot report (pirep)

To choose a flight, click on schedules on top of our webpage and select one of the options. You can also download the schedule in excel format (from the download section) which makes it easier to filter out certain schedules. If you cannot find a scheduled flight that suits your needs, you can fly a charter with Atlas Virtual Express.
When you have chosen a scheduled flight, click on "Add to bid" so the text "bid added" appears. You have now reserved this flight, and we expect you to fly it.
To get the latest information about weather, routes and the airports, go to "pilot briefing". If you have left the schedules page you can find this under "my bids" in your pilot center.

Before your very first flight, make sure your simulator is set up to fly for Atlas (see question below)

Once you are ready, start your simulator and fly. Keep in mind all times are UTC, and make sure you are aware of our delay policy.

When you have completed the flight, go to your pilot center to file a pirep. This is important, because without filing the pirep we won't know you flew for us, and it won't show up in our system.

If you flew a charter flight for Atlas Virtual Executive, click on submit pirep in the pilot center. Make sure to choose AVX from the division dropdown list. For AVX the flight number is the same as the airplane callsign, as seen in the equipment dropdown list.
If you flew a scheduled flight, click on view my bids and then file pirep, which populates some of the fields in the pirep form.
 In both cases, you need to enter the departure airport, arrival airport, the amount of fuel used, the time, and your tracker URL in the comments field. The tracker URL can be either from vataware.com (if you flew vatsim) or from FGtracker  when you used flightgear multiplayer servers.  If cannot provide either, a reason must be given for its absence. Atlas management has no time to go search for your tracker URLS.

When you have entered all the information, click the submit pirep button once, and wait for approval from management. In the meantime, you can continue with the next flight.

An alternative is to set up the Atlas Auto Pirep routine, discussed below. AAP makes filing pireps a breeze.

Question: How do I set up my simulator for flying with Atlas Virtual Airlines?
Answer:  First of all, you must make sure to have the airplanes installed that we support. You obviously don't have to install all of them if you only fly certain models. You can find some links below for both FSX and Flightgear. If you are still not sure if a certain plane can be used or not, contact us.
The Boeing 777-200 and the Beechcraft B1900d are default aircraft in Flightgear. In FSX you can use the default 737-800 (instead of the 739) and CRJ700.

Next you should do is set up your sim for multiplayer: In FlightGear, you have the option to use standard FlightGear multiplayer or the VATSIM network. 
Flying on mpserver is very simple: on the last page of the Flightgear launcher, enable multiplayer, and enter mpserver01.flightgear.org as a hostname. The inbound and outbound ports are 5000. Your callsign should be the username/callsign assigned to you by Atlas Virtual Airlines  e.g. AVA0020 or AVE0012.

If you use flightgear with Squawkgear, please click on this link. If you use VATSIM to fly for Atlas (with FlightGear or any other simulator) you must use AVXxxxx where xxxx are the numbers in your callsign. For example, when your atlas callsign is AVA0007, then in vatsim you would use AVX0007.

NB: It has happened in the past that rogue pilots in flightgear multiplayer environment have abused our callsigns. If you find that somebody is using your assigned callsign, please use the flight number as a callsign instead and make a comment on the pirep so management is aware of this.

Question: What is the policy regarding delays?
Answer:
Pilots who fly our scheduled flights on time will be rewarded with an extra 25% pilot pay when they adhere to the following rules.
- The maximum delay for arrival is 30 minutes on flights with a scheduled duration of up to 4 hours, and 1 hour on longer flights. If you arrive too late we will accept the pirep, but you will receive no bonus.
- Your departure may not take place after the scheduled arrival time. Hence, you can start a 4-hour flight even 3:55 hours late, but no bonus will be given. If you cannot find a suitable scheduled flight, we suggest you fly with AVX.
- When filing the pirep, the checkbox titled flight in time should be set to YES. Default is NO, so if you don't change it you don't get the bonus.

Keep in mind that all times are UTC! Atlas management will compare times in your tracker URL with the scheduled time. Time-zone confusion is no excuse for flying late.

Question: Can I start my scheduled flight early?
Answer: You can start 15 minutes before the scheduled flight time. Just like real pilots, you only get paid for "block time", meaning the time between pushback and arrival at the gate. Preparation time is on your own account, although you may use the 15 minutes for that. 

Question: I can't remember how much fuel I used. How do I file a pirep?
Answer: At the bottom of this page, you find our airplanes and their default fuel payload in Flightgear, as well as the fuel burn rates. If you really don't know how much you used, multiply the burn rate with the amount of hours from your flight, and enter that value. We understand that sometimes people forget things, but we do expect our pilots to keep track of fuel consumption.  So before your next take-off, write down the amount of fuel you started with.

To make things easier you can use the atlas autopirep facility. This is a routine you can download from Pilot Center > Downloads for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. Instructions for installation of each are included with in the download.  Once installed and configured, Autopirep will track your flight, including time online and fuel used. When your flight is completed, and you're ready to file  your pirep, start up AutoPirep, click Collect Pirep Info, and a window will open for you to select the directory and file containing this information. Click on the file, most of the windows in the Autopirep will self-populate (the info will magically appear) and you then highlight flight number and  your pilot number, and click File Pirep. This will send the pertinent information to the website, and all you have to do is a few clicks. More questions? Visit us on the Forums for further information and help getting this nifty feature going.

Question: Which airplanes can I use to fly with Atlas?
Answer: for scheduled flights on AVA, AVE or AVC, you MUST use the aircraft listed in the schedule. If you like to fly, for example, the flight from JFK to Atlanta, you must do this with the 739. You may do it with the MD-81, but then file it as a charter under AVX. See bottom of the page for a list of Atlas approved equipment.

Question: I have bid on a flight, but I have changed my mind, or external circumstances prevent me from flying it. What do I do?
Answer: Go to your pilot center, click on bids, and then double-click on cancel bid.  

Question:  On some of the schedules there is a route specified. Do I have to follow this route?
Answer:  The proposed routes are just a suggestion, and there to help your flight preparation, but they are not mandatory. It's just much quicker to type a range of known waypoints in the trip planner, rather than finding them yourself. However, many airways lead to Rome, and you are free to choose your own route. On the vatsim network, controllers often expect you to specify a SID or STAR, depending on weather conditions, so you have to keep that in account when submitting a flight plan.

Question: is it mandatory to use real airport charts when flying for atlas?
Answer: On the flightgear multiplayer network it certainly isn't, although it adds realism to your flying experience. On Vatsim you probably need them when you arrive or depart under ATC guidance – some ATCs are very strict.

Question: What if the multiplayer environment is offline?
Answer: It happens sometimes that the FlightGear multiplayer servers are not tracked. In that case, please write "tracker offline" in the comment. We do encourage pilots to double-check whether tracker is online and, if not, to switch to vatsim where possible.

Question: I just completed an Altas flight, but the atlas website is down and I can't file a pirep. What do I do?
Answer: You can always file it later. Just write down the fuel consumption, time taken, and the airports you flew from/to.  When the site is back online you can file the pirep(s).

Question: What if my flight simulator or computer crashes?
Answer: if you can resume the flight within reasonable time (ca 15minutes) and within reasonable distance of your last known position, there is no problem: just post all relevant tracker URL's on your pirep. If your actual airplane crashes due to lack of fuel, flying into obstacles, pilot error etc, we will reject the pirep.

Question: do you allow simulator time speed-up?
Answer: We allow this only on Charter flights, not on scheduled flights, and we only award actual hours flown. So, if you fly from Denver to Miami in 2 hours due to time speed-up, you can file for only 2 hours, not the 4 hours it usually takes. Also, keep in mind that time speed-up is prohibited on the vatsim network.

Question: If I signed up under the KIND hub, can I fly flights to/from the EDDF hub?
Answer: Yes. The hub you signed up for should be considered your primary operating hub, however, you are allowed to fly flights starting or ending at either hub. If you find yourself flying more flights from the other hub, please PM Trennor  so you can be switched to that hub.


Question: If I signed up under AVA for passenger flights, can I fly cargo flights as well?
Answer: Yes. The division that you signed up for should be considered your primary division, however, you are allowed to fly flights for either division.


Question: How long before I fly a flight can I bid on it?
Answer: Bids expire in 24 hours if no PIREP has been filed. Therefore, you will need to complete your flight AND file a PIREP within 24 hours of bidding on that flight.


Question: The hours shown on the pilot's page use decimal numbers, but they don't add up correctly to my total flight time. What does this mean?
Answer: The hours shown on the Pilots page (everyone's total hours) are shown in decimal form, but are not actually decimal numbers. For example, if a pilot's total hours show 38.5, he/she has not flown 38 hours and 30 minutes, but has actually flown 38 hours and 50 minutes. The number after the decimal is the number of minutes, not a fraction of an hour. This is due to the way the software represents the time format.

Question: Where do I download Atlas Virtual Airlines liveries?
Answer: The aircraft that we use and their liveries as well as any exclusive scenery are hosted on the website at this link

Question: What Rank can I achieve?
Answer: Our ranking system is based on a real life commercial pilots system; the more hours you fly, the greater the possibility of promotion. Automatic promotion up to Cat III Pilot takes place, however, an examination is required to further your career to Captain and beyond.As AVA grows we will be selecting further staff members to assist in the running of our Airline. At AVA experience counts!

Question: What are the examinations for?
Answer: Atlas has been conceived on the desire to produce a semi-realistic environment for those simulator pilots who wish to enhance their experience. Examinations can be either assigned to you free by the admin staff or they can be purchased much the same as in the real world. See the EXAM Center for more details. On registering, you will be assigned a "knowledge check" examination. It is not necessary to complete this exam, however you do receive an Award and V$1000 to spend in the Pilot Shop. HINT: When being challenged by the exams, search engines can be very friendly and helpful. Our exams are "open-book," we don't expect you'll know the answers without some help.

Question: What kind of events will Atlas Virtual Airlines host?
Answer: Atlas is constantly striving to provide events tailored to its pilots. Some events will be held in conjunction with TGA and some will be entirely separate. Events are largely based around "Fly-Ins" at one of our main hubs, however, other event types are under consideration. 

Question: How can I make suggestions or submit comments regarding Atlas Virtual Airlines?
Answer: The Atlas Forum is the best place to discuss anything you feel could enhance your experience. If not, you can always send an email to our contact addresses at enquiries(at)atlasvirtualairlines(dot)com
 

We look forward to having you as a part of the AVA Team! If you have any questions not covered here, please feel free to post them in the forum, PM (Personal-Message) the Moderator or use the contact link on the website.

Sincerely,
The Atlas Virtual Airlines Management Team

Note: "Atlas Virtual Airlines" and the Atlas Virtual Airlines logo are copyright of Atlas Virtual Airlines.