2 hours ago, MarcG said:

What makes Newsky any different/better than other VAs? (specifically Walker Air)

Having gone down the path of looking into VAs these past few days I feel like I'm stuck down the bottom of a rabbit hole not knowing which one to choose

Newsky is not a VA. You may consider it as a tool for VAs to track their flights and have an economic component. A Virtual Airline can be many things, but usually it is a group of people with a common goal in flight simulation. The goals can be as diverse as that of a group of, say, car enthusiasts. Are they all cherishing oldtimers? Pick-up trucks? Formula 1 cars? Ferrari's? Chevrolets? Or do they just like driving on a specific road?

I have been a member of probably 10-15 VA is the past. Some aspire to emulate the operations of a real airline; some strive to do all flights on Vatsim; some just wanna have fun and be boys. My current VA (virtualpilots.org) allows me to fly any real flight performed in the last 24 hours or so, regardless of the airline. They're pretty finicky about real-world rules, and that's what got me interested. For other pilots, that would be a reason to not join. 

When looking for a VA, ask yourself a few questions: do I want to emulate a real airline? Do I want schedules? Di I want to fly on Vatsim? Do I want to fly anywhere? Do I want to hang out on Discord or a forum? Then go shopping.

Coming back to Newsky: I would look at the airlines in Newsky and concentrate on the active ones (>5 active pilots). Then look at their description. Do you speak Polish, Portugese, or Spanish? If not, disregard any airline with a description in that language. Have a closer look at the remaining ones: do you like their fleet and their schedules? Do they have a means of communication (Discord, forum, web page)? If you find something appealing, just apply. The worst that can happen is that you leave the group in 1-2 weeks.

Peter

3 hours ago, MarcG said:

What makes Newsky any different/better than other VAs? (specifically Walker Air)

There are two things at play:

1: Newsky is both a VA and an ACARS system. Well, the ACARS system is tied into a free general VA that folks here use just to use Newsky to rate their trips.

2: The Newsky VAs -- the real ones -- all have a shared economic model within the Newsky universe. I know your trip stats affect the profit (or lack thereof) your trip earns for your VA. I also think the Newsky universe tracks passenger demand and traffic across all VAs. I am technically in one Newsky VA for British AV Geek but haven't flown. Instead, I prefer the VAMSYS-based VAs like vSpirit and vAAL.

Excellent thanks chaps 👍

Back flying A Pilot s Life V2. What I missed in Newsky, seems as if the landing was the critical part of evaluation, where APL looks at everything from taxi out to departure to approach and landing. I could make mistakes in Newsky, and they were never detected.. The other thing I missed is the real world routes and having assignments for different airports rather than to have to select my own. So it just  depends on what you are looking for, I suppose. 

Edited November 24, 20232 yr by Bobsk8

I changed my mind about Newsky. I like the fact that I can fly the DC6 in Newsky without getting docked 5 points by A PIlots LIfe, even after I purchased the license from APL. I have sent in two tickets about this issue, and nothing has happened, so my feeling is the developer of APL doesn't give a word not allowed about his customer base. So when flying the 737, I probably will use APL, and when flying the DC6 or the C 310, I will use Newsky. I posted this on their discord page this afternoon, and all I got was a snarky reply about letting PMDG fix the problem, and I shouldn't mention Newsky either.  LOL😁

Edited November 26, 20232 yr by Bobsk8

On 11/21/2023 at 1:54 AM, DAD said:

Newsky better fits my casual needs, not tracking if and when I started the APU, served meals or turned the seatbelt sign on.

Is there really an app that grades you on serving meals?  Yeah... Try, as pilots,  telling the cabin crew when and how to do their service...  No coffee or crew meals for the rest of the trip lol.

I have been testing Newsky the last few days and I must say that I love it! Love the interface and UI and the capabilities. I even created Air France as an airline for fun. IMO it's a lot better than A Pilot's Life so far. 

Checkout my airline: https://newsky.app/airline/AFF/info

Edited December 1, 20232 yr by iFlySimX