Q1 Airline Update

It is pretty crazy to think that Q1 of 2025 has already flown by and that we are already making our way through Spring! We wanted to take a moment to update everyone on some changes that have recently happened, some that will be changing in the near future, and some other general updates about the current state of the airline. First and foremost we wanted to thank all of you for your flying over the past few months as we continue to grow and, with your help, have been able to begin expanding on areas of our operation gearing up to begin celebrating our 5th year of operations!

JetNet ACARS Update (In case you missed it)

A few months back we had some issues with an update that was causing major issues to our website. We have been monitoring the updates with the developer while also testing those updates, and are comfortable having everyone update again to the latest version.

The new ACARS has been on the website, but can also be downloaded via this link: click here.

To update the ACARS simply find and delete your old “JetNet” folder and all of it’s contents. Run the new .exe installer and follow the prompts. Finally utilize the new blue icon on your desktop named “acars” to open the new ACARS.

To begin setting up your account make sure to copy/paste your API key from the main website under “My Profile” > “Main Profile” and click the eye icon next to “Show Key”. The phpVMS url is “https://crew.aalva.org” and must include https:// and not any variation of that/can not include “www”. You can then click “Validate” to check and ensure the connection is correct before hitting save. Now when you restart the ACARS you should see our splashscreen and logos once again and it should automatically connect when opening the ACARS or when utilizing the “Load in JetNet” option on the website.

Please update your ACARS ASAP to enjoy using the new features, streamlined connections to your simulator, as well as a newer UI. This version also brings official support for MSFS 2024 to our airline!

PLEASE NOTE: MSFS 2024 is still a newer sim and may encounter issues. Please keep in mind all aspects of the SOPPHB/FOM remain in effect (including fleet substitutions) and no exceptions will be made based on availability of aircraft in the simulator as we are not requiring or encouraging anyone to move to the new simulator platform.

The ACARS page has been updated with new setup pictures if you need any help with the new setup process but, as always, do not hesitate to reach out if you need assistance!

SmartCARS 3 Testing

We are currently still monitoring the development of SC3 and hope to be able to offer it to you all as a flight tracking option sometime in late 2025. The TFDi team has been making strides in the development of the program, but unfortunately it still lacks a lot of core functionality and data reporting that is needed to work seamlessly with our operation. We will let you all know once we have a more clear picture of the timeline for these implementations.

Discord Fleet Roles

We have just unlocked a new channel in the Discord which will allow you to select any type ratings that you have, would like to have, or are just curious about. Once selected, you will gain access to the specific forum-like channel for that fleet program where you can have fleet group specific conversations. There you may find AA specific aircraft configuration items, techniques, liveries, freeware add-ons, and more! The fleet spaces can be chosen to mimic your current type rating list, none of them, or you can also select an upcoming type rating that you are interested to get some help with flying the aircraft, understanding systems/operations on it, or just to generally discuss it. Please keep in mind that checkrides are not to be discussed at all in these, or any public, areas.

Discord Activity Roles

Have you checked out the “Get Roles” channel on our Discord? We’ve got some pretty cool ways to get involved through that channel including our monthly competitions, events, charter announcements, and more! All you need to do it to click the corresponding button to which types of things you would like to be kept in the loop about, and Discord will handle the rest. Over the next few months we will continue to ramp up the activity in each of these categories, so make sure your account is ready for the things you would like to get involved with! Can’t see “#Get-Roles”? You may need to enable it by clicking “Browse Channels” at the very top of our Discord and toggle the checkmark on next to that channel (and any others that you want to make sure to see). As always, if you have any issues or need some help, do not hesitate to reach out!

Cross the Pond – CAT FREE

As always, we are also very excited about this year’s VATSIM Cross the Pond event and will hopefully be able to match up some of our city pairs with those of the event for you to be able to participate with a vAAirlines flight! We are currently waiting to see the final city pair list to see if our routes match any, but in the meantime you may express your interest in the event by logging in to the CTP portal at https://ctp.vatsim.net/. This expression of interest closes today, 10APR2025.

The event itself takes place on April 26, 2025 and will start at the time you are able to select when booking if selected for the event. vAAirlines, in celebration of this event, will begin CAT FREE operations on April 18, 2025 at 0500 Zulu, and will cease on May 5, 2025 at 0500 Zulu. During this time you are able to fly any aircraft in the fleet, regardless of your rank and type ratings held, but please keep in mind that all other areas of the SOPPHB/FOM remain in effect (including fleet substitutions).

Other Airline Updates

Ok, we’re almost done. As many of you probably know, Air Wisconsin is no longer flying for American Airlines as of 03APR2025. We will keep the Air Wisconsin schedules in the system until our next scheduled system route update which is currently scheduled for the first week of May. After this update, some of the routes will remain in the system as historic American Eagle routes with a few of the Air Wisconsin tail numbers being transferred to the American Eagle Historic “airline”.

The current SOPPHB has been reworked into a much better web doc and will be published sometime in the next few weeks after our internal review has been completed. The rework also renames the document from the very long Standard Operating Procedures – Pilot HandBook (SOPPHB) to simply the Flight Operations Manual (FOM) which aligns it with it’s real world manual name. Inside the new manual we have also brought back the information that use to be found in our FM-1.pdf which has lots of great “general” information to help with your FlightAcademy courses!

A NOTAM will be sent out via email once this is ready to go and will be at least 3 days before the release with the hard cutover to the new FOM.

Year 5

It is hard to believe that it has already been 5 years since we began operations. We can not thank each and every one of you all enough for helping to create the community that we have today, and we can not wait to continue to grow it with you all. We will be rolling out a few new updates in the very near future for our celebration, but in the meantime we just want to highlight you and say “thank you“!

Blue skies and happy flying to you all! Stay tuned for more coming very soon…