Hi there.I'm new to avsim and I was just wondering, what recommendations do any of you have for virtual airlines?I'm not really looking for anything in particular but I

Hi there Patrick!I'll admit to being biased, but I strongly encourage you to check out Altair Virtual Airlines. The website is www.altairva.com .We have a very friendly group at Altair. We have plenty of good communication through our forums and in newsletters sent from hub managers to the pilots.We have an international membership and were voted the Simflight.org best international VA last year.Our training program is second to none. Our flight instructors are very knowledgeable and helpful.We have a great fleet that allows for all types of flights. Our PIREP system works well and is easy to use.Please contact me if you have any questions.KP

Hi,Check these pages, visit some VA's amd make a choice. There are 100's to choose from, so I might be a good idea to have somekind of checklist of requirements.http://linksmanager.com/vatsimvas/

The ability to speak Portuguese is a definite requirement for Altair :-)--qnh

>The ability to speak Portuguese is a definite requirement for>Altair :-)>>--qnhLOL, I don't speak a word of Portuguese, but we definitely have a large contingent of those who do. :DKP

I am with BA Virtual (www.bavirtual.co.uk) but thinking of switching over to Virtual Jet. Nice looking 757 fleet they have!!

Hi Patrick,Check out Evergreen International. I can guarantee friendly people and lots of help for someone starting out. Check us out at www.eiavac.org or e-mail me at eia004(at)eiavac.orgBen

I'm with BAV, great VA. If you like flying in the UK & Around Europe, you can't beat it. There is a waiting list for it though.http://www.bavirutal.co.ukIf you're looking for a US Based one, I'd suggest Meridian - http://www.flymeridian.com/

Come and visit American Airlines Virtual at www.aavirtual.com. It's a friendly and knowledgable group with some structure (such as proper, recorded checkrides) but not too many restrictions. You can browse the forums a little before joining and see what kind of people are there.

Thank you, everyone for the help. I'll have a look at them all and then make up my mind.Thanks again! :-)

Depends on what you like to fly. For GA, helicopters and Bush flying check out one of the links in my sig.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VACougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviation[link:www.cgrmthelos.com]Cougar Mountain Helicopters

Well, I'm kind of partial to one in particular. (link in my sig) :) Check them all out, and see what they have to offer.

I think that the Sky Travel Alliance is very good, we have 7 VA's all around the world though 1 has been changed to a leasing company now! With 757's at the moment,we should be getting other aircraft soon though! Check out our site at www.sta-virtual.net, we are in the process of changing server hosting at the moment.

My recommendation is to not base your decision on a web site, a web site does not make a VA good (or bad). Decide where you want to fly and then check registeries like flightsim.com. Decide what length of a route you want to fly, which aircraft you're interested in, etc, then shop around. You'll find that about 80% of VA's out there are based on real world VA's, for familiarity that's good, but many of them are cookie cutter images of each other, and that's not good.There are a couple of real world VA's I can recommend, the first that comes to mind is Virtual SWA, I flew for them and was treated really well. For an original concept airline, try Air Fresno at http:/home.earthlink.net/~airfresno/. But like I said, shop around, take your time and fly more than one before deciding.

Virtual Continental Airlines, our site should be back up 100% today due to a server change. www.vcair.com