mischka Posted January 4, 2013 Report Posted January 4, 2013 I've been thinking for some time now about making a search engine for virtual airlines, but before starting development I'd like to have some feedback what I have in mind is a phpvms based site where VA's can register and upload their schedules file. From this the site then knows where the VA flies and with which aircraft. Apart of this there would be a small questionnaire to fill out about the features they provide eg is there a jumpseat system, type of simulator, cargo or pax, how many minimum hours, free to fly any aircraft or restricted by rank... you know, the kind of stuff that really matters to a pilot who chooses an airline I haven't found anything like this on the web. IMHO vacentral isn't useful for pilots who look for an airline and I personally had no registrants from there. From my experience and reading the forums, pilots select an airline based on the airports/region and aircraft they can operate at that va, and of course the general "idea" of the airline.. not whether it has a certain rank in relation to other va's I personally think this could be a useful site both for va's as well as pilots, but maybe im the only one Let me know! 12 Quote
BaRBeR Posted January 4, 2013 Report Posted January 4, 2013 I believe this would be a brilliant idea and very useful for potential pilots. I would be interested in helping PM me Quote
mattsmith Posted January 4, 2013 Report Posted January 4, 2013 I also think this would be a great idea! Quote
Stealthbird97 Posted January 7, 2013 Report Posted January 7, 2013 Or there is this. Feel free to sign up http://www.va-list.com/ Quote
mischka Posted January 7, 2013 Author Report Posted January 7, 2013 the discrepancy between my plan and the concept of va-list has clearly passed by you, stealthbird 1 Quote
Stealthbird97 Posted January 8, 2013 Report Posted January 8, 2013 No I'm saying your proposal is not as useful as you may think due to the fact VA List provides Adequate Advertisement. By allowing airlines to have a profile and explain their airline. You do not need to put a list of your Schedules as it will never be up to date, unless you never add new routes and change nothing. Most phpvms sites already have, but all have the ability to, add the timetable module which would eliminate what you're trying to do as all a prospecting pilot would need to do is read a description. Click a link and view the site in more detail. If they like it they join. Despite the fact you may think that VA List is just for Ranking VA's and letting people vote on it. It still works just as well as a place to advertise.your VA. Quote
Tom Posted January 8, 2013 Report Posted January 8, 2013 No I'm saying your proposal is not as useful as you may think due to the fact VA List provides Adequate Advertisement. By allowing airlines to have a profile and explain their airline. You do not need to put a list of your Schedules as it will never be up to date, unless you never add new routes and change nothing. Most phpvms sites already have, but all have the ability to, add the timetable module which would eliminate what you're trying to do as all a prospecting pilot would need to do is read a description. Click a link and view the site in more detail. If they like it they join. Despite the fact you may think that VA List is just for Ranking VA's and letting people vote on it. It still works just as well as a place to advertise.your VA. The idea isn't just supposed to be advertising for VAs - it allows pilots to find an airline better suited to what they want to do. For example having schedules details available from this site would make it possible to search for a particular airport you're interested in flying from, same with other details, which is far better than the search system provided by VA List. 1 Quote
Stealthbird97 Posted January 8, 2013 Report Posted January 8, 2013 The idea isn't just supposed to be advertising for VAs - it allows pilots to find an airline better suited to what they want to do. For example having schedules details available from this site would make it possible to search for a particular airport you're interested in flying from, same with other details, which is far better than the search system provided by VA List. In otherwords its advertising that encourages pilots to leave when they get bored and then find another airline. Thats just what I think will happen and so will not want any involvement. Do it if you want. But I won't be signing up for it. Quote
mischka Posted January 8, 2013 Author Report Posted January 8, 2013 Tom understood very well and said most important things in a nutshell. However I'd like to elaborate a bit more on this. While VA-list certainly provides hits and signups for VA's (ie it serves our needs as CEO's) the downside is that if you're not on the first page you almost get no traffic from it. People sooner reach for google than go through 20 entries on va-list. This is not what I think or believe: I can see it in my website stats! This is why va-list doesn't quite completely and effectively fill the needs of pilots. Pilots are not interested in how many votes an airline has. When looking for a VA a pilot generally looks for: - certain airport(s) he likes to fly to, or certain regions. - certain aircraft he likes to use and/or has installed - a certain simulator he uses - other features, like he may come from a VA with a jumpseat arrangement and he doesn't want that, or the other way around. For example, somebody who only uses flightgear would have to trawl through quite a few VA-list entries and possibly also websites to find out the VA is best for him. At my website he'd just select "flightgear" and whatever other criteria he needs, and he gets a list of VA's that suit his needs. THEN he can look for features, size or whatever. Really, the amount of votes or a score on phpvms doesn't say much about the airline except it's size. It'd be much better to have a kind of "ISO certificate" for an airline, which airlines only get when certain quality criteria are met. Lack of spelling mistakes, for example, or a CEO that doesn't start new VA's every other day This is certainly something I'll look into later on. You do not need to put a list of your Schedules as it will never be up to date The import of schedules will not serve as a VA-wide schedule search (although it might be an idea) but rather to facilitate an easy way for CEO's to enter their featured airports and aircraft. Nobody will want to click/select 100 or more airports and aircraft from a list! In other words its advertising that encourages pilots to leave when they get bored and then find another airline. I don't see why this would accelerate bored pilots leaving more quickly than they do already. If they are bored, they will leave. Pilots who stay with you just because they can't find a better airline are pretty useless. Do it if you want. But I won't be signing up for it. I'm quite sure this search engine will be a success and a welcome addition to the VA world. I foresee a stealthbird begging at my virtual door to be let in when everyone else signed up 1 Quote
Stealthbird97 Posted January 8, 2013 Report Posted January 8, 2013 Ahahah. no. You won't see me begging. You may see my Chairman though. I doubt it though. That is, If its any good. Although I must admit. I had an idea like this ages ago. Facebook can verify that as I created a group. I did ask for someone how much it would cost for them to create the site. It was in excess of £150. The way I wanted it at least. Quote
mischka Posted January 8, 2013 Author Report Posted January 8, 2013 Although I must admit. I had an idea like this ages ago. Facebook can verify that as I created a group. you crack me up... first saying an idea is bad and than saying you had that idea ages ago I'm so tired with your bull**** .... go away! 2 Quote
Stealthbird97 Posted January 8, 2013 Report Posted January 8, 2013 No, It was a similar idea with the same ultimate goal. My idea was more of a Voting, Advertisement and Search thing, Neither would it have been based of the phpvms system, which for this kind of thing, would be a setback as it is not really suitable. In fact I can't see how you'd be able to do that without significant editing to the phpvms and a lot of modules. Quote
mischka Posted January 8, 2013 Author Report Posted January 8, 2013 No, My idea was more of a voting a airline airline search thing. Now THAT would be a waste of time, since its exactly what va-list already does the phpvms system(..) as it is not really suitable. In fact I can't see how you'd be able to do that without significant editing to the phpvms system. Well, I'm earning a living with programming, so maybe I can see possibilities you can't Quote
Stealthbird97 Posted January 8, 2013 Report Posted January 8, 2013 Now THAT would be a waste of time, since its exactly what va-list already does Many people make things that other people make. You never know. what i could have had made could have been better than VA-List. Well, I'm earning a living with programming, so maybe I can see possibilities you can't Well I did say without editing the system. If you are a programmer then you would be editing the system if you used it as a base. Actually after looking at it VA-List does have search functionality as well as the top list that is always displayed on the homepage albeit not as elaborate as you want to do, eg Schedules. But it does do Simulator, IT supports more than just phpVMS, Location by Country. This could be expanded quite easily. Shall I get in contact. Quote
Ariel Posted January 9, 2013 Report Posted January 9, 2013 you crack me up... first saying an idea is bad and than saying you had that idea ages ago I'm so tired with your bull**** .... go away! FINALLY some one told him like it is.....becareful hes a bit fragile LOLs 2 Quote
Strider Posted January 9, 2013 Report Posted January 9, 2013 This almost sounds like VACentral. I will not be going for it, sorry. 1 Quote
Ariel Posted January 9, 2013 Report Posted January 9, 2013 I second the notion for this project!! va-list is not as appealing ...left the second i saw the website!! Quote
James142 Posted January 11, 2013 Report Posted January 11, 2013 Doesn't sound like a bad idea. Good luck if you go for it! Quote
Stealthbird97 Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 FINALLY some one told him like it is.....becareful hes a bit fragile LOLs Excuse me! 2 Quote
mischka Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Posted January 22, 2013 Right... some time has passed by and it got a bit busy at my VA, so I've been up to other things. This project is not cancelled though! So far, I've been thinking about a list of "features" to include in the search engine Supported simulators (Flightgear, FSX, FS9, X-plane) Airline name Airline description Inauguration date Type (Passengers/Cargo/Charter/Theme) Fictional airline (Yes/No) Aircraft restricted to ranks (Yes/No) Fleet ICAO region(s) covered (first letter of airport icao code, selectable from a map) Countries covered Jumpseat system (Yes/No) Entry exam (Yes/No) Vatsim (Not supported/Optional/Mandatory) IVAO (Not supported/Optional/Mandatory) ACARS system (None/kACARS/Xacars/FSacars/FK/VAF/Other The way I envision it is that, when a pilot does a search, an airline gets a certain score based on the amount of criteria that match the search, and the results are then sorted by that score. Let me know what you think guys 1 Quote
Toyuko Posted January 25, 2013 Report Posted January 25, 2013 Right... some time has passed by and it got a bit busy at my VA, so I've been up to other things. This project is not cancelled though! So far, I've been thinking about a list of "features" to include in the search engine Supported simulators (Flightgear, FSX, FS9, X-plane) Airline name Airline description Inauguration date Type (Passengers/Cargo/Charter/Theme) Fictional airline (Yes/No) Aircraft restricted to ranks (Yes/No) Fleet ICAO region(s) covered (first letter of airport icao code, selectable from a map) Countries covered Jumpseat system (Yes/No) Entry exam (Yes/No) Vatsim (Not supported/Optional/Mandatory) IVAO (Not supported/Optional/Mandatory) ACARS system (None/kACARS/Xacars/FSacars/FK/VAF/Other The way I envision it is that, when a pilot does a search, an airline gets a certain score based on the amount of criteria that match the search, and the results are then sorted by that score. Let me know what you think guys Right... some time has passed by and it got a bit busy at my VA, so I've been up to other things. This project is not cancelled though! So far, I've been thinking about a list of "features" to include in the search engine Supported simulators (Flightgear, FSX, FS9, X-plane) Airline name Airline description Inauguration date Type (Passengers/Cargo/Charter/Theme) Fictional airline (Yes/No) Aircraft restricted to ranks (Yes/No) Fleet ICAO region(s) covered (first letter of airport icao code, selectable from a map) Countries covered Jumpseat system (Yes/No) Entry exam (Yes/No) Vatsim (Not supported/Optional/Mandatory) IVAO (Not supported/Optional/Mandatory) ACARS system (None/kACARS/Xacars/FSacars/FK/VAF/Other The way I envision it is that, when a pilot does a search, an airline gets a certain score based on the amount of criteria that match the search, and the results are then sorted by that score. Let me know what you think guys Sounds brilliant! Quote
mischka Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Posted February 18, 2014 I had this idea some time ago but never the time to realise it. Now though, I've put my shoulders under it and here is the result: http://www.virtualairlines.eu There's probably still a few details to fine-tune but I won't find out until a couple airlines register and put their data in, so please sign up! It's totally for free and setting up your VA shouldn't take much time. There is also a forum so if you have any questions or problems or suggestions you can post it there or contact me directly. Any registered airline can send me a press statement which will be published right on the homepage. If you upload a banner it may appear right on the homepage as well, depending on your click-through rate I'm looking forward to your registrations and remember: no matter at how many other sites like vacentral or va-list you advertise, any extra publicity means extra pilots in a tough competitive VA world Quote
Toyuko Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 I like it but why .eu? Virtual Airlines are around the world not just in europe. Quote
Tom Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 I like it but why .eu? Virtual Airlines are around the world not just in europe. The site I run uses a .eu but the vast majority of our users are from the US. Also my personal site is .tt but I have no affiliation with Trinidad and Tobago. Location-based TLDs don't really carry much meaning anymore. Quote
Caporrella Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 You missed LIBP Pescara - Aeroporto d'Abruzzo "Pasquale Liberi" as Hub, for moment I selected LIBD, but our is LIBP! Quote
mischka Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Posted February 18, 2014 You missed LIBP Pescara - Aeroporto d'Abruzzo "Pasquale Liberi" as Hub, for moment I selected LIBD, but our is LIBP! Just added it now. And about the .eu: as tom already said its not eu specific, just like a .com is not USA-specific Its just the tld that I chose at the time for various reasons. I'll probably remove the EU emphasis at some point in the near future though, but at the moment its just a detail Quote
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