5 Years Already? A “Thank You” to you!

It’s almost hard to believe that it has already been 5 years since we first officially started up our operations with just a few pilots, a few beta testers, and a few staff members eager and ready to see if we could make a vision come true. That vision was to create the most realistic simulate of American Airlines operations with an emphasis on creating an environment where users could continue to learn about our hobby, aviation in general, and experience a virtual career as if you were a pilot for the real world airline. As someone who first got my start in aviation with home flight simulators and flying on the VATSIM network, and who now is lucky enough to get paid to fly one of my all time favorite aircraft for an amazing company with even better people, I wanted an opportunity to hopefully inspire some to follow in my footsteps or give an opportunity to those who may not be able to do so, to still get a glimpse into some of the day-to-day operations and experiences.

Over the past 5 years we have been truly blessed to have had such an amazing team of staff volunteers continue to join the ranks and allow us to grow into the largest American Virtual Airline by pilots as well as stay at the forefront of innovation with leading technological advancements, adoptions, and continuing to advocate for you all for a better future for flight simulation moving forward. Our training and progression program is still one of a kind and has continued to grow, evolve, and succeed thanks to the work of our VP of Training, Eric T., and his group of Group Chief Pilots made up of B737 Chief Jose P. (who also doubles as our Director of Marketing), A320 Chief Nathanael S., DC-9 Chief Matt M., B777 Chief Joe D., B787 Chief Algernon L., and B757 Chief Jadan J. who all also cover various other programs to try and get you all the fastest responses as you continue through your virtual career with us. Our Senior VP/COO, Alex B., and the remaining Executive Staff Team made up of VP of Human Resources, Taikwan B., VP of Strategic Growth, EJ D., (and of course the aforementioned VP of Training, Eric T.) have gone above and beyond during their time with us to ensure that operations continue to run as smoothly and seamlessly as possible, while also meeting and exceeding the high expectations set for each of them. We truly would not be where we are today without each and every one of them who often sacrifice their own free time to spend a few extra minutes every day to try and make vAAirlines just a little bit better- and it truly shows.

The absolute bottom line though is that we appreciate each and every one of you who have decided to sign up with us and dedicate some of your own free time daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly, to help continue to grow the community and propel us forward into many more years of celebrating milestones. We could have all of the technology, real world schedules, a great staff team, and all of the other bells and whistles but would still be absolutely nowhere without each and every one of you who clicked on “Register” and started your journey with us. Regardless if you have been here for the entire 5 years, or just signed up 5 minutes ago, I can comfortably speak for each and every one of the staff members when I say, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being here and thank you for continuing to choose us to spend some of your very valuable time, experience, and passion with.

As we wind down on our official birthday, I have 3 challenges for you;

1. Get involved – join us on our Discord (Links can be found in the pilot portal) and share more of your journey with us and your fellow pilots! Our VP of Strategic Growth, EJ D., has taken on the task of getting our social media accounts running with more content of higher quality, so feel free to interact with those as we continue to expand. If time allows, consider volunteering some of your time as well and apply to one of our open staff positions which can be found here.
2. Step out of your comfort zone – take advantage of some of our monthly and quarterly pilot challenges (currently we have a challenging airport competition open from DFW-EGE that ends at the end of the month – details are on our Discord), and hop on for one of our VATSIM group flights or just pop in to the voice chat to say hello if you see us flying but can not join in right at the moment!
3. Take care of yourself and one another – in a time where it can often be easy to focus on our differences, take a moment to flip that script and connect with your fellow vAAirlines members while taking comfort in knowing that we all are here because we have fallen in love with aviation to some degree, and all have a deep passion for flight simulation. Make sure that you are taking care of yourself and your family outside of the flight sim world, and know that you do have over 600 other virtual pilots here in case you do ever need anything. We are very fortunate to have experience from all corners of the globe, all different industries, and all different ages that come together with a common love for what we do, and it has truly been amazing to see the community continue to grow and evolve.

Thank you again for everything you personally have done to help keep us around, and I personally look forward to getting to know you more and (once I start to get some seniority and a better schedule 😂) fly with you as well!

-Torrance