Virtual Airlines: What Are They?
The recent release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has people talking about virtual airlines. But what are virtual airlines?
With the recent announcement of preorders for MFS2020, there has been a lot of news about virtual airlines and transitions to the new flight simulator. However, most people don’t even know what a virtual airline is. This article will be a quick one covering the basics about VA’s and who they are a good fit for.
Basics
A virtual airline is typically an independent foundation driven by a person or a group of people. The main goal of a virtual airline is to imitate or closely mimic the real-world operations of an actual airline. Some virtual airlines, however, do not do this and instead operate with their own infrastructure. This allows them to achieve a degree of realism which is very hard to accomplish.
One of the main ways that they track all operations is through a network called VATSIM. VATSIM stands for Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network, and on this network, you can find some of the most realistic air traffic control, if not the most, on a flight simulator. This helps add to the realism that is trying to be achieved with this virtual airline.
Operations
As stated above, Virtual Airlines operate very similarly to normal airlines, albeit with some minor differences. One of the more notable differences is that you get to choose the exact flight that you fly, unlike real airlines, where most of the time they put you on whatever flight is available. This makes sense because this is completely voluntary.
When flying, the procedures followed are almost exactly like in the real world, including starting up from Cold and Dark, programming the Flight Management Computer (FMC), flying according to air traffic control, and so on.
Who Is This For?
VA’s are typically not extremely demanding but require a lot of skill and knowledge to fly the planes. Because of this and the good time management required to fly consistently and not get removed, I would recommend it for people who are serious about flying, including aspiring pilots and current pilots.
To conclude, Virtual Airlines are one of the best ways to practice realistic flight operations to be better prepared for the real world. It will also kill a lot of time, which can be helpful since we are all stuck in our homes. I am considering personally joining one myself, and if I do, there will most likely be another article explaining the process and how it is in-depth, so stay tuned for that!
