There’s more to vASA than what meets the eye
vASA is a virtual airline based on the real-world Alaska Airlines, utilizing the vAMSYS software platform and its Pegasus ACARS client. We incorporate selected historical schedules from both Alaska and operators that became part of Alaska, like Virgin America and Hawaiian, as well as updated and accurate modern schedules.
vASA is also a member of the Fusion Virtual Airline Alliance (FVAA), a group of virtual airlines which utilize vAMSYS, which means we benefit from being run by a single group of volunteers, and our members enjoy the convenience of similar policies and resources as well as one big, active community on Discord.
The other FVAA members are: vAAL, FDXvirtual, LATAM Virtual, vspirit, Piedmont Virtual Airlines Historical Group, and VirtUAL.
We hope you'll check out the rest of the VAs in our network soon!
What’s the vAMSYS Platform? vAMSYS (Virtual Airline Management System) is a platform to which we, vASA, subscribe as a customer.
Each VA on vAMSYS is a separate entity and are operated by different owners and volunteers.
The section below summarizes some of the rules we expect our members to follow. Before we get to those, however, let’s talk a little bit about why virtual airlines have rules.
Virtual airlines placing restrictions on their members is something that regularly causes some heartburn in the community. It’s not uncommon to go into forums or Discords and see someone loudly complaining about a VA telling them they couldn’t do something they wanted to do and how it’s unfair and ridiculous.
The thing is, the entire point of a virtual airline is the rules. Flight simulation is inherently the most open world experience available where you can go anywhere, any time, with anything that is available in the simulator. In that context, a virtual airline exists to provide context and a framework to constrain and define what you’re doing in that hyper-open world.
We hope that if you find our rules a little too constraining that you’ll still give us a try and keep an open mind. There are VAs out there who are stricter than we are and also ones that are less strict; we try to strike a good balance.
We have activity requirements
We require one (1) accepted PIREP filed via Pegasus within ten (10) days after joining. Thereafter, we require one (1) accepted PIREP filed via Pegasus every one hundred and twenty (120) days, with a ten (10) day grace period.
We have livery requirements
We require our pilots to book the same type of aircraft that they fly — which extends to sub-variants (think 737-700 vs 737-800, etc.) — and we require our pilots to use appropriate, non-fictional liveries that match the airline of the flight they’ve booked. PIREPs that do not meet our livery requirements are subject to rejection or invalidation. Information about these policies are available to our members in greater detail.
We also prohibit the use of certain aircraft add-ons.
We understand that by prohibiting certain add-ons, we may disappoint some users. We have a certain standard of realism and quality that we want to promote, and so for add-ons that we feel fall outside of these standards, or add-ons that we think take advantage of the flight simulation community, we chose to exclude them so that we are able to deliver on one of our goals: maximizing realism where it counts.
The following aircraft are prohibited from use at vASA; any PIREP filed with them will be invalidated.
MSFS Fenix A321ceo:
Alaska/Virgin America did not operate the A321ceo (A321), so it is not an acceptable substitution for an A321neo (A21N).
It is obviously an immensely high quality add-on the prohibition is due to aircraft type and not add-on quality.
MSFS FlyByWire/Default A320neo and iniBuilds A320neo:
Alaska/Virgin America did not operate the A320neo, so it is not an acceptable substitution for an A320ceo.
MSFS Bravo Airspace/Horizon/Kuro 787-8 and Default/HeavyDivision 787-10:
Hawaiian/Alaska do not operate the B788 or B78X and they are not a valid substitution for the B789.
MSFS LatinVFR Airbus Family (even when combined with the Horizon mods):
This add-on's quality is too poor to be approved.
MSFS Bredok3D Boeing 737 MAX:
This add-on's quality is too poor to be approved.
MSFS Virtualcol ERJ-170/175/190/195:
This add-on's quality is too poor to be approved.
XP11/12 Toliss Airbus A320neo:
Alaska/Virgin America did not operate the A320neo (A20N), so it is not an acceptable substitution for an A320ceo (A320).
XP11/12 Toliss Airbus A321ceo:
Alaska/Virgin America did not operate the A321ceo (A321), so it is not an acceptable substitution for an A321neo (A21N).
A few other things…
Time Acceleration during flights is strictly prohibited
In-flight Refueling is strictly prohibited
Our Discord is restricted to people eighteen (18) years of age and older
Members must comply with our Bylaws and Code of Conduct at all times
We do not require all flights to be flown on online air traffic control networks like VATSIM, but pilots who do fly on the networks are expected to be competent, knowledgeable about their aircraft, and familiar with the regulations and procedures of the country in which their simulated flight is operating