Homepage > Operations > Airline (Legacy) > Getting Started

Joining the VirtualFlight.Online Airline

To become a pilot with the VirtualFlight.Online virtual airline, you first need to register for an account by pressing the button below.

• Your account registration will require approval before you can login, which may take up to a day (all approvals are manual).

• Following approval, you will be assigned a pilot ID, in the format "VFLnnnn" - each pilot has a unique 4 digit number.

Fill out your profile!

Once your account has been approved, visit the Edit Profile page, and fill out as much as you can. Pay particular attention to the "background" field, and tell everybody a little about yourself - your history with flight simulation and aviation in general. We're here to build a community.

Notice that the profile includes VATSIM and IVAO ID numbers. If you are interested in using VATSIM or IVAO, the flight despatch system can automatically pre-file your flight-plan for you.

Install the ACARS client

To track your flights you will need to install the ACARS client software. Visit the ACARS page to read all about it.

Free Flights

You can log hours in any aircraft, flying any route through ACARS. Your "rank" within the airline only comes into play when dispatching tour and event legs, or scheduled flights. Just fill in the form within the ACARS client while on the ground at your departure airport.

Dispatching flights

To fly pre-determined routes from the airline, you must first "dispatch" or "book" the flight. There are several places to find routes:

• Events and Tours - Click on an event, or tour that interests you, then click a leg, and dispatch the leg.

• Scheduled Flights - Search for a flight that interests you, click on it, then dispatch it.

• Chartered Flights - Fill in the details of your flight, and dispatch via Simbrief (requires a free Simbrief account).

Getting started with Tours and Events

The tours and events are grouped by rank - you must attain a given rank before you can take part in the tours in that group.

• When you start out, you are a "Student Pilot".

• Until you have at least 1 hours filed, you are restricted to the "Flying School" events.

• After filing 1 hour of flying time, you become a "Private Pilot", and the "Private Pilot" tours become available to you.

• You can find out more about career progression on the Rank Structure page.

To help you get started, we have created some introductory "Flight School" events that are open to pilots of any rank:

• • Wycombe Air Park in the United Kingdom

  • Methet in France

  • Frederick Municipal Airport in the USA (the home of AOPA)

The main aim of Flight School is to get used to ACARS, and find out what you are scored on after each flight. Check your logbook to find out how you did after a flight. Note that flights sometimes take a minute or two to appear after filing them.

Do your first tour

Once you have qualified as a "Private Pilot" (filed more than an hour), lots of tours become available to you. Notice that most tours allow free choice of aircraft - aircraft choice becomes a factor for charters, scheduled flights, and dispatching flights via SimBrief.

• Visit the Italy Cross Country Tour as a good example tour.

Do your first scheduled flight

After reaching 10 hours of logged flight time, you become a "Class D First Officer" - which qualifies you for a number of Turboprops, and the scheduled routes they might fly.

• Check the Rank Structure and Fleet pages to find out which aircraft become available at each rank.

• Visit the Flight Schedule page, and filter by aircraft type.

Flying chartered flights

If you don't want to fly a tour, you can fly a "Chartered Flight" between any two locations. To do so you will need to visit the Dispatch page (while you have no booked flight), and request "Dispatch Charter Flight". You will need a free Simbrief account.

• Visit the Simbrief Dispatch page.

I'm on Xbox!

If you are using Flight Simulator on an Xbox, all is not lost. You can still dispatch flights, and then file a "Manual PIREP" after a flight - where you fill out a form with information about your flight.

• Visit the Manual PIREP page.

Follow the guidelines!

When recording flights either with ACARS, or manual PIREPs, you will be expected to record fair, accurate, and representative information:

• You will not manipulate time (through acceleration or deceleration) within the simulator

• You will not use SLEW, teleportation, or any other method of artificially moving your aircraft

• If filing a manual PIREP your report will be as accurate, fair, and as representative as reasonably possible

Join Discord!

We have a forum and voice chat channel in Discord specificially for the Virtual Airline. In order to use it, you need to do the following:

1. Join the Discord server (follow the link).

2. Visit the "#self-service" onboarding channel, which will unlock all the channels in the server

3. Visit the "#va-onboarding" channel, which will walk you through changing your nickname in Discord, and proudly displaying your virtual airline rank on your profile.

If you get stuck, just message one of the moderators in the Discord server - we're a friendly bunch :)