Information for prospective Pilots

First of all, a warm welcome to BAV.

If you are reading this, then you are considering becoming a member of the largest and most complex VA in the world, where, upon successful application, you will be immediately presented with the challenge of completing/recording your first flight within 14 days.

On joining BAV, you will be faced with a very large website, which is full of useful and interesting information. So take an hour or two to navigate into the dusty corners, and read whatever takes your fancy! Much of the best material is in "Speedbird Online" which is accessed via the top of the Home Page and is of particular interest to those thinking of online flying.

Also read the various articles in "Administration" so that you know how this VA works, what we require from you in the line of flights, how the "leave" system works, what aircraft your rank allows you to fly, etc.

In the "Crew Centre" you will find your Pilot Control Panel, which allows you to set various options to make life more comfortable/interesting! Also there, on the left, is the Pilot Roster - this section is only accessible to current members. If you were a members, you could click on your group to expand it and you would see your details. Clicking again on your ID to the left would bring up your personal BAV logbook, where all your flight details would be entered. Hovering your mouse over some of the logbook entries would reveal even more information.

OK - time to fly! You will need a suitable aircraft, depending on what you prefer, and a selection is available for download at "Fleet Operations". This is not compulsory - you can use any suitable aircraft you already have in your FS, or download any you fancy from any other site. If flying offline, you do not even have to worry about livery (who will see it?!) - although if you fly online, it is fitting that you "fly the flag"

So you have an aircraft, now what do you do with it? First, you would download the Offline Schedules Program from "Flight Operations" (Again, only accessible to members). Install this, initialise it, and ask it to download the BAV schedules, which it will obligingly do! But be warned - you must read the OSP manual to initialise and setup the OSP correctly - otherwise you are in trouble.

Now you know where you can fly your aircraft to and from! Pick shortish flights at first, so that you can get used to the system as painlessly as possible. Why shortish flights? Well, at BAV there is no option to send a manual Pilot Report (Pirep) about any flight you do. Included in the OSP mentioned above is a Flight Monitor, which will record details of your flight, and send a Pirep to BAV for you at the end. This Flight Monitor needs to have the proper data input by you, so it is absolutely essential that you read and fully understand the manual. You have been warned! If you do not use the Flight Monitor correctly, then it will refuse to file your Pirep for you, and the hours spent flying are wasted. Hence the "shortish flights" recommendation. And where do you find short flights? - just look in the Loganair (Scottish) section of the OSP, where you will find some very short flights! And if all else fails, look at Flightnumber BA9000E, which is simply IFR/VFR circuits at Glasgow using any airframe.

All the above refers to offline flights, which we recommend that you start with. Plenty of time for the online adventure when you are fully competent with the OSP. For online flying, we use the BAV ACARS to monitor the flight, it is available from the same page as the OSP.

Just in case you find difficulty in using the OSP Flight Monitor initially, a lot of help can be found in our "Members Only" forum.

For added realism, we can provide you with a duty roster each week/month. However, we would recommend getting to grips with our software before putting yourself under the added pressure of a workload! AF is a purely automated system, and as such has rigid and inflexible rules which must be obeyed to the letter! Far better to leave that until you are comfortable with the basics, and have done that important "first flight within 14 days". Time enough then to read up on the AF system and take part in an optional but very enjoyable scheme.

And when all that is done, think you can sit back with a satisfied smile? Far from it - there is the huge and endlessly fascinating online virtual world to explore. When the time comes for that, do not even think of going it alone, there are far too many new skills to learn. Just pop into "Speedbird Online" and place yourself in the willing hands of the Online Training Captain, Tim Brown!

So that's it! Get up there, fly, and enjoy yourselves thoroughly

  OVERVIEW

 
Do you own Flight Simulator 2004 or Flight Simulator 2002 ?
 Are you a dedicated Flight Simulation enthusiast with some spare time available ?

 British Airways Virtual provides members with a fully automated and stable Virtual Airline environment, providing you with :

  YOUR TICKET TO A BRITISH AIRWAYS VIRTUAL MEMBERSHIP

Recruitment procedures for new members, and detailed information on British Airways Virtual Operations can be found using the menu links.
We strongly advise new and prospective members to read all the information provided in the Recruitment Section prior to application.

British Airways Virtual has been designed for all levels of experience of Flight Simulator.

The Virtual Airline software and automated Flight Reporting System that we utilise in our operations does require thorough reading of the supplied documentation.

We also prefer our members to have a basic knowledge of aviation, and by this we mean a proficient standard of take off and landing procedures and a basic knowledge in Navigation and Routing.

British Airways Virtual is an ACTIVE Virtual Airline, constant changes to the scheduling information, website changes and an active forum are part of our daily routine which makes British Airways Virtual a site to be visited frequently. If you blink, you may miss it.

If you only have a limited amount of time available, then please read our Inactivity Policy as this is strictly enforced.

  DOES IT COST ANYTHING ?

British Airways Virtual does not charge any fees for membership. We are a FREEWARE organisation.
The website you see in front of you is hosted on highly T3 servers with 99.9% uptime to ensure that our pilots are given a First Class service.

British Airways Virtual provides a wealth of information which will help you to obtain the best experience possible from Flight Simulator and our continuous development program always provides our pilots with new and exciting challenges. We always welcome new enthusiasts to the Flight Simulator community and offer training with experienced training Captains on specific airframes or Online flying through Speedbird Online.