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Staff Contact

Regulations

*New Members Probationary Period*

When new members join, they are given a 30-day or 5 flight introductory period (whichever comes first) where flight report managers are more sympathetic of errors in flight reports. Guidance may be offered to the member instead of rejecting the flight. UK virtual expects new members to accept the guidance and not exploit the privilege of having an introductory period. Those who exploit the introductory period will be treated like existing members.

General Regulations

At UK virtual our rules and regulations are minimal but fair. We want everyone to enjoy UK virtual's community together, so please read the page below before you complete your first flight

Age Restriction

You must be 18+ years old to join UK virtual.

Conduct

  1. All Members are to treat each other with respect and courtesy.
  2. Directors and staff are responsible for the operations of UK virtual, their guidance and instructions should always be followed. Directors can take any action they feel necessary without warning but this will always be followed by an explanation.
  3. Members can fly for multiple VA's but are not allowed to track any flights for another VA while flying for UK virtual.
  4. All members personal details are safeguarded and will never be sold or given to third parties. Removal of any account details can be achieved through an email to [email protected]

Discord

  1. All members are required to sign up to Discord when joining UK virtual, and monitor it for news and changes. Members are encouraged to use Discord to meet our online community, however it is not mandatory while logging a flight for UK virtual.
  2. Members are required to log in using their Union number and First name, eg: UNI100
  3. Members will only receive member status by a moderator once they have flown their first flight.

Vatsim

  1. You are representing UK virtual on the network and therefore must behave in the manner expected of UK virtual members. Any poor behaviour will be reported to us immediately and action will be taken.
  2. When using Vatsim please use your union number with the callsign of your choice. For example if flying for British Airways you would use "BAW" followed by your union number. This is so we can identify your vatsim flight.
  3. Please enter into your comments "UK virtual" or "www.ukvirtual.co.uk" when flying on Vatsim for UK virtual.

Contacting Support

  1. If you require technical, pirep or general support from us at UK Virtual please either use the #support channel on Discord or email us at "[email protected]". These are the only channels you will receive support through.
  2. Please avoid sending DM/PM's to members of staff unless the issue is critically urgent. This is to preserve and respect other commitments staff members have outside of UK Virtual when they are not online.

Flying Regulations

Flights Generally - Schedule and Aircraft usage
PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND

  1. You MUST use a scheduled flight if available for your chosen route before flying a charter mode flight UNLESS your flight falls into one of the two exceptions below. Flights submitted which use charter mode instead of an available schedule will be rejected.

    Exceptions to the rule:

    • If you wish to fly a GA aircraft on a route that has a schedule, in this instance charter flight may be used
    • If a flight has restrictions to a specific aircraft you do not wish to fly, you may fly a charter flight instead - Restrictions can be found in the Flight Dispatch Centre under the Flight Operations Notices
  2. Aircraft listed on flights are suggestions (unless restricted in the Flight Dispatch Centre Flight Operations Notice) so you are able to change them to your chosen flight in the flight tracker. Schedules are not inclusive of the airline therefore, for example, you are able to fly a British Airways aircraft/livery on an Air France Route. Schedules should always be used if available unless you fly under any of the exceptions mentioned in Rule 1.
  3. If you have the Terminal open to track your flight on the website, make sure you have selected the Flight from your Booking queue which matches the Flight you select on the Tracker.
  4. Diversions for emergencies or otherwise are not permitted on tours. You may divert on a normal schedule or charter flight but you must have good reason (eg: Adverse weather/aircraft fault) and this must be shown on your PIREP by adding a divert airfield and a divert reason via the Tracker before you file your flight. Failure to do this could result in a rejected PIREP.
  5. Flights can be recovered if the Tracker crashes (Sim crashes can be resumed in the Tracker as long as the Tracker is kept open while you reposition your plane in the Sim), using our flight dispatch centre, see the Getting Started page for more details on how to use this feature. If you recover a flight please add a comment for the reason, or you flight may be rejected on the face value of the pirep.
  6. Generally, flights can only be accepted with a flight completion of 80% or more but under certain circumstances we may use discretion.
  7. We recommend you keep the flight dispatch centre open during all flights as it provides audio warnings for AFK's and flight problems.
  8. It is members responsibility to check their pirep after submitting for any issues that could lead to a rejection. If in doubt, add a comment!
  9. Pauses are allowed provided they are not excessive. We understand that life can sometimes get in the way of a flight so we will allow reasonable pauses, but flight rejection for excessive pauses is at the discretion of staff. As a guide, we would class an excessive pause to be a pause which exceeds 50% of the total flighttime, ie: an hour pause on a 2 hour flight.
  10. LANDING RATE EXCEEDED - please see the table below for our maximum allowed landing rates for Jets and Props. We understand that from time to time, you may have simulator issues which affect landing rate, for example, Elevation issues or simulator freezes. We are more than willing to apply an exemption on a landing rate limit exceeded for such reasons but to avoid abuse of this goodwill, we must insist that you supply video evidence of the issue by using the Instant Replay system of the simulator you are running. Failure to do so will result in the PIREP being rejected. Please note that windshear or low surface gusts are not valid reasons for a high landing rate. In this situation you are expected to execute a go around procedure.
    Evidential videos can be emailed to our Support address at [email protected]

Tracking and AFK

  1. You are required to be in the cockpit for the majority of the flight. We do allow for periods of time away from the flightdeck, but not exessive absences (30 minutes max per time).
  2. An AFK will pop up after 3 hours of flight and then every hour thereafter (or longer if you are a UK virtual Supporter). Flight time will automatically be deducted until you click the AFK box.
  3. For all flights, any AFK which is not acknowledged within 30 minutes will result in the PIREP being rejected. Pilots should not be away from the Cockpit for longer than 30 minutes at a time.
  4. Staff have discretionary powers to reject a PIREP if they feel overall AFK time has been excessive.

Double Tracking Policy

  • Please note, we have no problem with flight logging software such as SimToolKitPro/ProjectFly/Volanta and others but we ask that you do not track for another Virtual Airline while tracking a flight for us. We run spot checks every now and again to ensure pilots are not double logging so please do not do it. We don't like having awkward conversations as we're all here to have fun and enjoy the social side of Simming.

UK virtual Airline Regulations

  • UK virtual liveries can be used on any scheduled or charter flight. The only exception to the above is if it’s a forced aircraft tour flight where a specific airline livery must be used. Details of this will be found on the Flight Dispatch Centre page.
  • Any callsign can be used on Vatsim/IVAO as long as “UK virtual” is including in your comments.
  • When flying a UK virtual livery online you are to use your Union ID.

Flight Quality Regulations

All flights must be performed fairly to comply with UK virtual regulations. Flight quality requirements are very lenient because UK virtual accommodates for a wide range of experience levels. Generally we employ the following guidelines.

Aspect Guideline
Landing Rate (See Flying Regulations for exceptions) Less than 750 f/m in jets.
Less than 500 f/m in propellers and rotary aircraft.
Slews & Crashes Not permitted
Simulation Rate Must be 1x
Stalls Not acceptable in jets or rotary aircraft.
Occasional stalls in propeller aircraft are allowed.
Overspeeds Should be dealt with appropriately.
Flight reports can be rejected due to excessive overspeeds
AFK Rejections Flights over 3 Hours, each AFK must be acknowledged within 30 minutes
Under 3 hours, you will not get any AFK checks
Schedules and Charter Mode Schedules must be used if available
Using Charter Mode where a schedule exists will result in flight rejection

PS. Breaking of flight quality rules is the most common cause of flight report rejection.
Please do not inconvenience yourself and your staff by filing flight reports that do not meet flight quality regulations.