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Hello, I have been working on adding a new service to my "arsenal". This new one is pretty cool for VAs and other group organizations! It is a custom UI or "skin" for MSFSX. Attached are some screenshots of what I have been able to do for American Airlines Virtual. Each project is individually quoted, and spots are filling up quick as school is about to begin, and I am finishing up a repainting order for another VA. Please note that by ordering this product, you are paying for services and not buying any legal rights to the game or any copy of it. Users should backup their folders before installing the new skins. AAVirtual's UI was a basic test, and does not show any button customization. For more information on this service, please feel free to email me! Thank you for your time.

Here is the link for my original post that explains some of this. Thanks a bunch! That means a lot coming from such an amazing VA CEO!

I have to give credit where credit is due, I got the idea from a VA that was big a few years ago called SimB6. I did like the idea of it though and am very happy to be, as far as I know, the only VA to use the IATA to help our own "branding" and give us just one more reason why we are different! Thank you very much, Chase!

WN is actually their IATA code! United is UA, Delta is DL, Frontier is F9, etc. So we use that name instead of the usual "Southwest Virtual Airlines". Thanks a bunch! It isn't anything too fancy, but provides a great setup for some awesome things later down the road.

(07/03/2013) - vWN Airlines Headquarters | Dallas, TX I am very proud to announce that vWN Airlines has been fully up and running since 5:00 PM Eastern on July 1, 2013! It has been a pretty strong start, with 13 pilots joining and starting to get into the air with us on and off of the VATSIM network. A quick "history" lesson about us, and what we do; vWN Airlines was started in mid April of 2013 with the main goal of creating the most realistic, technological advanced, and active Virtual Airline representation of Southwest Airlines, available to virtual pilots world wide! With so many Southwest Virtual Airlines on the web, it was never a thought that the options would be so lacking in general terms. Searches returned many of these VAs, but all seemed to have something wrong with them. Some had out of date technology, some had out of date designs, and some even had incorrect information that rendered them "unrealistic". Most all of them were lacking activity, and the general sense of community that should be felt by Virtual Airline Pilots as they search for new homes on the web. This is where the idea of vWN began, with you, the pilot, in mind. vWN set out to provide the most realistic virtual representation of Southwest Airlines to our members. From crew bases, to routes, and even the codeshare and partner flights, we aim to be the best, most realistic option for you all! I encourage you to check us out at www.wnvirtual.org when you get the chance to, and see for yourself what makes us so unique. When designing the website, we wanted something that was clean, pleasing to the eye, and very easy to use. vWN is committed to providing excellent web services and technology to our pilots, so updates to the website will be made constantly if needed to provide such stated environment! We are still hiring for a few Staff Positions, so if you are willing to work hard in a very rewarding role, please check out our website and let us know! We are working on some bugs with the website, and will also be adding V1 of our fleet as well as some awesome documentation about our aircraft for pilot's use in the next three weeks. Again, our website is located at www.wnvirtual.org! Blue skies.

I'm no rocket scientist... But I'm pretty sure you have direct links to another United Virtual... On your home page: Here have hub images that are already the exact same as the ones found here: Here What's even worse is that you literally just copied the link off of their website, and hot linked it to your own. Here Really?

Yup! In the beginning of my PR I explain this, and why we are starting. Blue skies!

Nice website!

Check some of your links, it looks like you are linking to an old website! (Ryanair-virtual.com). Good luck, blue skies!

Thank you very much, Sher!

Chase, Looking good so far! If I were you, I would invest in a custom skin for your VA. It will make your airline look better, and will earn you a whole lot of respect in these forums and the vCommunity! They usually run between $50-$200, but do check around in the "Paid Services" section of the forums to find some developers and to get some quotes moving around. Good luck, blue skies!

Looking good, Daniel!

Maybe you forgot, but I ran Legend Air from 2008 until 2013.

1 Joeri, thanks!

(6/6) – Dallas, TX It brings me great pride and joy to finally publicly announce our secret project to the Virtual Community today! I have been working hard with COO Brandon Reeves to bring a new, fresh, and fast VA to this community to fill one of the major gaps. I am proud to announce vWN Airlines to you, and give you some of the details about what will set us apart from other virtual representations of SWA on the web today. The idea of vWN Airlines was hatched mid-April of 2013 as both myself and COO Brandon Reeves were searching for a new VA home in the name of Southwest Airlines. The search rendered a few major VAs, who all had some really strong points of operations. However, it quickly became obvious that the flaws of each one outweighed the benefits. “Not to take anything away from these VAs as I know they have all put in a lot of time and effort to make these, but it was just missing something.†– COO Reeves. Some had fantastic technology, but lacked activity by staff or pilots. Other SWA VAs had fantastic activity from the pilots and staff, but seemed out of date with either schedules and/or technology. Some had all of it together, but did not have their information correct and seemed “unrealisticâ€, so we decided to change that. vWN Airlines was born as an idea to bring all of the necessary items together under one roof, to create the most realistic virtual representation of the real world Southwest Airlines. We have been working hard behind the scenes to add all of the current SWA/TRS flights into our database by hand, to ensure accuracy. vWN Airlines has also made the moves to provide a custom SmartCARS ACARS system to our pilots on opening day, complete with full and automated flight logs, cabin announcements, and even GPWS callouts for those who do not already have them. Our custom ACARS system designed by TFDi Designs (www.tfdidesign.com) will also include features for pilots such as; an optional live streaming radio (Flight Level Radio), “In App†flight searching capabilities, and a live pilot-to-pilot chat system allowing you to interact with pilots, as well as see where/when they are flying, and how good their landing was! We wanted to bring something fresh to the community. We wanted a website that was easy on the eyes, functional, and easy to use. We are packing in features such as a web mail system, pilot training center complete with instructors and exams, and are looking to add advanced dispatching clients that will give us the most realistic feel for our pilots, out of any SWA on the web today! Our goal is to add all of these features, without making our website cluttered and confusing. You will see on release that we have one of the most advanced yet simple websites out there! The fleet is one of the most important aspects of a VA, but is often one of the most forgotten by VA administrators. We have made a fantastic effort to find the best of the best in terms of aircraft modeling, sounds, and panels. We have also begun work on hand painting our own aircraft to ensure accuracy and clarity on our aircraft. As of now, we will include the current aircraft and schedules from both Southwest and AirTran Airways. Installing these aircraft can also be a hassle, and that’s why we have custom Auto-Installers for each and every aircraft for both FSX/FS9. Once the market for X-Plane increases, we will do the same for all of our X-Plane users! Like we stated above, our main goal is to provide the most advanced systems and operations in a way that makes it simple to understand, and easy to use for our pilots. We have many more of these cool features in the works, along with some special talks going on behind the scenes about a possible historic/retro addition, and other cool items! No, we are not open yet for pilot applications. We did want to go ahead and share, publicly, some of the cool things that we have started to work on behind the scenes. Currently, vWN is on track (a little ahead of schedule actually) for a grand opening sometime this summer, however no release date has been publicly released yet! I do invite you to head on over to our website (www.wnvirtual.org) to bookmark it, and then move on to one of three of the provided networking options available. Our Facebook Group and Twitter will be the first places to receive updates over the next few weeks/months on progress, and will be the first to break the news of the grand opening date! You can also visit the Facebook Group to see our current staff vacancies, as well as the minimum requirements to hold one of the positions with us. I do welcome all comments, questions, and critique in a reply to this, or in personal email to (ceo[at]wnvirtual.org). Like I stated above, you can reach all of our networking information on our homepage (www.wnvirtual.org) and will be able to see more information about staff vacancies, and future news updates! From all of us here at vWN Airlines, welcome aboard and “Blue Skiesâ€! Thank you for your time.

Congrats!!!

Not a problem. Good luck on your endeavor!

As the CEO of a VA, you're going to have to put more than $44 into the project. When I ran Legend, I spent upwards of $200 for addon services and then getting good hosting. Most of the time the CEO will have to put up these kinds of numbers and by starting your own VA, you place that ticket right on your counter. Some VA's have donation buttons on their websits, but you have to be careful with those as the real world American could see that as potentially making money from their logos/etc, and get you into a lot of trouble. My message to you is simple, you can't go through life taking shortcuts and expect a good result. By taking shortcuts, you will only open yourself up to more and more errors. I know that you said you are working to get more money for a new host, but maybe you should have thought about the financial responsibility that comes with running your own VA, before you decided to open it. You've got to shell out some more money for this to give your members a reason to switch to you, to choose you. With the other American Virtuals on the web, nobody wi choose you and stay if your website load time is terrible, and you can not provide the basic things that a VA has. Keep planning, keep working hard, and you will succeed. Excuses and uncertanty won't create the "best VA out there"! Just my two cents, not meaning to sound mean or attacking. It is just honest talk from a former CEO to one that may be able to use some tips!

You should invest in a custom kACARS! You can get the application name to be whatever you want, the prices are so low, and the quality is so high! The link to that is http://www.fs-products.net/ Now, about turning pilots away. Generally, you will turn some pilots away because they do not want to hassle with the programs. Now, with Legend Air we were happy to have 40-60 pilots who loved to use our custom kACARS, and we never had to worry about a pilot submitting a fake PIREP to get some more hours. If I were you, I would definitely invest in the custom kACARS, and then offer pilots the opportunity to use that or to file a manual PIREP as long as it was flown entirely on the VATSIM network. This makes sure that you have 100% real and accurate flight logbooks for your VA and every single one of your pilots. Blue skies and good luck!

Good luck to you! I keep asking myself "why do these VA's keep starting up and when posting, not post the link to their website?" Always make sure you post a link, it makes you look ill-prepared and well... unprofessional when you don't add links in. Maybe vary your sentences a little bit, and add in some more "colorful" words that will make us, or possible applicants, excited to read your post and to get involved! Also, I wouldn't keep that signature (by the way, it links to a different United Virtual Airlines than the one you started up in February) when you are advertising your "new" airline. Best of luck...

There were other items that actually did come up as copied, but thank you to Mr. Smith for the quick reply and immediate change of those items. Blue skies.

Well... this is akward. *Looks at own site* hmm *looks at this one*..... http://www.legend-virtual.org

Thanks, yeah I knew this. I mean though, is there some way to modify this so that when the pilot is actually deleted (inactivity or other reasons), their flights stay so that the airline flight count doesn't go down. So, example, we have a member who has flown over 150 flights for us, but can not fly for us any longer. He will be removed later from the roster, so that we can keep it looking clean. I'd like for all of his flights to stay in the system but just blank out the pilots name on the report like what happens when an aircraft assignment changes. Take a look at my log book, http://www.legend-virtual.org/index.php/profile/view/1 , and scroll down near the bottom where there are missing planes. These planes have been changed so they no longer match up with the routes, and instead of removing them they show up as blanks. I know that it can't be done like this with the default phpVMS systems, but wondered if anyone had modified theirs to achieve this. Thanks!

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about retaining PIREPs of the pilots who end up getting removed. It kind of stinks having to delete pilots who have flown more than 10 flights for you, because you lose all that flight data. I know that when things are changed on the aircraft side (ie aircraft get assigned to different scheduled routes) the flight still shows in the system, but just leaves out the aircraft type/tail number. Is it possible to make this happen with the pilots? The flights stay, but the pilots name does not show up? Thanks!

Not sure if you are still looking for a fix to this, but in the aircraft.cfg for it they messed up on this line under [Flight Tuning]: "rudder_effectiveness" It needs to say "rudder_effectiveness=1.000" or rudder_effectiveness=1.250"