Hi everybody,The reason for this posting is rather simple. I am a longtime member of various Virtual Airlines and have finally decided to create an new VA... Now obviously some of you will say, not another new VA there are already too many on the market and I guess with the second part you might be right.That is why since January I am working on the model of the VA, and now I have reached a stage where I would like to see if what I think is a good idea actually is one.Therefore I would like to hear from others what they think are features that* A VA must have* A VA should have* Would make a VA specialAnd remain in contact with you to bounce backwards and forwards ideas.Just to let you know I have already created a domain and have a server that will house the web-site.I would be pleased to hear from anybody concerning this.If through our discussions interest in participating in this VA is created the better.Happy flyingRalph HummelP.S: I also speak and write French and German so please feel free to contact me also in these languages if you wish.

>* A VA must haveDEDICATED PEOPLE. A select handful of the VA's I've been in have had truely dedicated people running the organization. This leads to lagging updates of roster pages and acknowledgements of PIREPs. This is my number one item. EFFICIENT SYSTEMS. An easy and efficient method of communicating with your supervisors goes a LONG way in keeping pilots flying.REALISTIC RANKING. This is only an exibition, this is not a competition. Making the road from a new commuter pilot to a transoceanic pilot shouldn't be too easy or hard. Requiring HUNDREDS of hours of flight time for the advanced planes is a little unfortunate. A curve such as the one found with Meridian is nice.>* A VA should have VERY AVAILABLE LIVERIES. One of the key complaints I had when I started getting into VA's was the difficulty in finding the airplanes and paintjobs. If you create a fictional airline, try to have all your airplanes painted and more importantly TESTED. If you create a VA based on a real air carrier, look around to recommend the best one or two craft that probably already exist. OPEN SCHEDULING. Being told where and when to fly gets old. Having a schedule available for you to pick a flight to take, be it your old standby or a new adventure, is key. In the same vein, having a multitude of routes avalible for both your beginner and advanced pilots is great. Gives the newbie something to look up to, and the old vet something to drop down on and relax. >* Would make a VA specialCOMMUNITY. Although this is difficult to do with a *new* VA, a warm community of pilots reflects well on any virtual airline. - - - -And those are MY thoughts... Time to get back to my Saturday.-Greg

Thanks for the feedback. Here are some of the thoughts that cross my mind to your points. For convenience I have snipped some parts of your post. >DEDICATED PEOPLE. >>SNIP<>SNIP<>SNIP<>* A VA should have >>VERY AVAILABLE LIVERIES. >>SNIP:)>OPEN SCHEDULING.See above>>* Would make a VA special>>COMMUNITY. Although this is difficult to do with a *new* VA, >a warm community of pilots reflects well on any virtual >airline. Online meetings, online flying, mailing-list online forum and all that in various languages?Happy flyingRalph Hummel

I agree totally with the above ideas! I have researched a lot of VAs and here are some of the best examples that I know of:A. Concept VAsEurostar - amazing website, automation, interface...Love Pegasus!www.eurostar-aviation.chJetStar International - very warm, friendly and helping staff, kick-azz livery! -website not the most advanced but it serves its purposewww.jetstarairlines.comMeridian - great website, excellent schedules, an all-around very good VA - Eurostar's partner tooB. Reality-based VAsBritish Airways Virtual - the BEST website, automation, scheduling, etc - anyone would be highly challenged to out-do this one! Not the "best" support but I know they are very large and that may be a factorwww.bavirtual.co.ukScandinavian Virtual - beautiful website, highly automated, great fleetSimairline.net (A group consisting of Virgin International, Continental/Northwest, Swissair/Sabena and Washington Airports)-its a simple website but you get a lot here and Aaron Robinson does a great job managing it. Lots of versatility.www.simairline.netAmerican Airlines - this one keeps getting better and better. They are new and really forging a solid VA I think. Lots to do and see at the website and a new partnership with British Airways Virtual! (you even get to listen to Enya when you access the site! -Cool....www.flyava.orgThat's my input... is the new VA going to be based on reality or a totally new idea? Keep us posted!John-PaulToronto

Hi John-Paul,I appreciate your input and to answer your question:The VA I am working on currently is going to be a VA not based on any real exisitng airline, but it will use an amalgamation of real exisitng flight schedules and purely fictional flights to chose from.To give you an idea I have published a teaser about the VA to it's site.You can find the site under: http://lyon-air.netMind you this is an ongoing work in development and before the VA goes life some time will pass by since I am currently working on it on my own. People that are interested in taking this concept further and who would like to get involved are always welcome.I appreciate ANY and all feedback (positive and negative), be it through the various forums or directly by email.Happy flyingRalph HummelFounding Member of Lyon-Air Virtual Airlinehttp://lyon-air.net

Hi Ralph, I like the sound of your concept for a VA. If I could add one more suggestion, good aircrafts. By that I mean fairly realistic, i know it may be a tall order looking at the list of planes you're providing. I've flown with some of the airlines mentioned in the above posts and they provide planes, sure, but some of them are none to good, so I end up looking for textures and if possible more realistic air files for the default planes. Good luck in your endevour. Bruno

Hi Bruno,Thanks for your input and you have indeed put your finger on a sore point of most of VAs. Quality freeware aircraft are indeed not easy to come by, those with very good airfiles even more so, so currently I am constantly looking for the aircraft on my list and checking them out and testing them to pick "the best" available aircraft and then repaint them in the VA's livery.I will most probably also provide liveries for commercially available aircraft wherever that is possible to offer them as an alternative for those pilots that posses commercial aircraft and wish to use those.The same goes for every other aspect of the VA. I am looking to create a quality VA that will continually grow and provide a fun atmosphere for hobby-pilots to fly in, not one that is put together in 2 days and then dies within 2 months.

Hi Ralph, I've bookmarked your site and I'll drop in every now and then to see how you're getting on. I like your comittment, another thing I've noticed recently is VA's that provide aircrafts and a forum and that's it, I think they rely on pilot's to provide ideas for jobs. It works for a short while, but the ideas soon dry up. Even in a light plane VA I think there is a need for some schedules, be it mail runs, small contracts etc. A pilot should be able to go to a site and see a flight there he could do, without having to write a story out. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, I hope you do well on your VA and I hope you don't mind me dropping in once in a while.

Bruno,By all means come in as often as you like. I would think however that in the next four weeks you won't notice many obvious changes since I am developing the management features (schedule, download area, pilot management etc) currently which is hosted in an area not publically accessible.I have also started to work on implementing an online forum and a files download section which cross links to any flight in the schedule, so if there is a file available (scenery, flightplan etc) that belongs or is associated with a specific airport or flight you will always get the option to download those files directly from the schedule, but that is still in very early stages of it all.Since yesterday however you do see on the frontpage accumulative information about the schedule and routing system. This is live data since the maintenance of the routes and schedules is based on a web-interface, so even if I am not on my computer but on one with an internet access I can still update the site concerning these issues, and later of course other people that would like to become involved.Realistically speaking I would think that development time before going live will take at least another two or three months, but hey, Rome was not build in a day either.Bit by bit the finished sections will become active and available on the site, the last one will obviously be the one where new pilots can sign up once I feel that an operation makes sense.The reason why I am posting here is simple. I like to get feedback and ideas of interested people that have similar ideas of what a VA should be about. As I said I don't intend the VA to be one that disapears after a couple of weeks again because I or the members lose interest, so it will be a work in progress.Again, anybody that would like to become involved can obviously contact me at all times through the web or this forum. I am always open for any idea, positive and negative feedback and if I feel the person would nicely fit in with what I am hoping to achieve I will gladly accept any help during the development phase of things.

Hallo Ralph,ich schreibe jetzt hier auf Deutsch, weil ich das f

Hi Ralph,I agree with what has been said before, however I feel everyone has left out perhaps (and this is my own opinion) that the most important thing to make a "Perfect VA" and that is to ensure that all the members have FUN. Aircraft, routes, good web site all come second. If the members/pilots are not haveing FUN and ENJOYING it then is does not matter how good the concept is in the first place.Best Regards and Good Luck with your project.Peter.

Cool,We didn't understand a thing...................