Experiencies from an old timer pilot on FS2002

[Guest egonholm]

Hey fellow pilots on FS2002!Lately i have not done much flying, mainly because i have put all my efforts in developing a new Virtual Airline. And i cast this story of the reasons why i did that to you pilots, because i got tired of some of the VAs, i have been flying for during the last 5 years. Therefore i decided to try my own luck with a couple of different objectives and principles in relation to the VA's i left. And i surely would be very happy to have som pilot opinions on the issue: "The relationsip between a pilot and his/her VA". Here comes the topic:Quite a fair amount of the VAs responded to my application with something like this: "We have reviewed(or approved) your application for being a pilot in ......". This mail came to my box about 5 seconds after submission of the application.The message is quite simply not true, nothing has been reviewed or approved. I could have written "Hey there! I am Hannibal Lechter - known from The Silence of The Lambs", i am sure nothing would have happened. You know at once, you have been talking to a machine, not to a human being. Automated application procedure - of course. No - not of course, but why? Who invented a procedure like that? I always have questions to ask to a VA, because some of them do not expose, or should i say display very much, unless you are a registered pilot. To me it is a bad start on a new job. Well now i am in, i thought, so now is the time to forward some questions. Long time waiting ... helloooo, anybody there?. Finally a mail comes up directing me to an "Introduction package" to read or download from the site, not to forget to read the long, sometimes 5 to 6 screen pages long, "Rules and regulations". In hope to find an answer to my questions i do, what i have been told. The next time i tried to forward some questions, i was redirected to their voluminous and smartly designed forum. They did not use these words, but what they ment was "Do not bother us with that, find some poor guy out there in the forum, who has solved the problem". You are on your own, no support from this VA. After a while my flying frequency diminished, and so did many of their pilots. Running through the rooster revealed long times since the last PIREP. They sometimes count their pilots in thousands, and they have a huge fleet of almost every type of aircraft on the market, huge staffs, 8 to 10 staff members, but you have to wait for a reply mail, and you have to rely on fellow pilots to get things solved.I think there are two main reasons for the pilots loosing their enthusiasm to fly in VA's like this. 1) You are almost never talking to anyone, just to the machine, and 2) you very quickly find out, that it makes no difference, wether you are flying or not, nothing happens.When they talk to you, it probaly is, because you have violated one of the rules, or so. I never came across a VA with a set of regulations, having a paragraph with something like this: "If you should experience not having a reply mail from us latest by the next day, we will compensate you with ...(some earning points, awards or whatever)". Alle the rules and regulations are pointing one way, at you. They seldom grant you some rights.I just started my VA on the 5th of July, and swore to myself, that I would answer a pilot application with a hand-written email, trying to engage in a conversion, trying to establish a relationship. After 4 days the first pilot came, and we immediately got ourselvs engaged in conversations on topics like, which panel to use and how to fly The North Atlantic and many other subjects. I would rather stop when i had recruited 5 to 10 pilots or so, than i would loose the stimulating conversation between the VA - CEO and the pilots.Hope you pilots have some opinions on "Relationships between a pilot and his/her VA".GreetingsEgon HolmMy URL: www.faroejet-va.byethost17.com

[SAS263 1]

Egon, first of all good luck to you and your new VA!Some thoughts, while a more personal approach is of course nicer it obviously takes a large commitment from the managers to be able to put up all the time that this means, especially if the VA is succesful and becomes large. If they grow tired because of this workload and the VA stagnates because of that, well that

[Guest egonholm]

>Egon, first of all good luck to you and your new VA!>>Some thoughts, while a more personal approach is of course>nicer it obviously takes a large commitment from the managers>to be able to put up all the time that this means, especially>if the VA is succesful and becomes large. If they grow tired>because of this workload and the VA stagnates because of that,>well that

[Guest joe308]

[Guest egonholm]

To Joe !Thank you very much for giving an opinion on the issue, Joe. I must say i agree more or less with everything you have written in your reply. I am glad to hear other people wanting to raise the standards a bit, and perhaps bring some of the old virtues up in front again. I too am retired, and maybe many of those, who reads this might think: What a pair of old relics they are. Anyhow, long lifes learning has shown mee, that some virtues never fade, and i think we should stand up to them and defend them.I was hoping for something of, what you seem to have achieved: A small group of "no bells and whistles" people. I started of the 4th of july, 4days after the first pilot arrived, and today ( the 16th) the second one came. I like the slow rate they are coming in, and i might want to stop upon reaching about 10 pilots, because unity and spirit are having a chance in small groups.Once again - thank you Joebest of luck to youEgon (Denmark)

[Guest joe308]

EgonOne thing to keep in mind is a fixed limit on ur pilot base number may not be a good thing until u get a feel for overall participation. Ur going to find that regardless of how many pilots u have on ur roster there is going to be a certain percentage that fly faithfully almost every. Then u