«Virtual Airlines of Central Asia» simulates in VATSIM and IVAO environment operation of real Airlines of Centar Asian Countries.:

Airlines		ICAO	IATA	Callsign	pilots	flights	hours
	Air Astana	KZR	KC	ASTANALINE	74	1,276	2,468
	Berkut State Air	BEC		BEC	20	486	1,085
	SCAT Airlines	VSV	DV	VLASTA	62	557	1,112
	Air Kyrgyzstan	LYN	QH	ALTYNAVIA	9	433	985
	Avia Traffic Company	AVJ	YK	ATOMIC	18	204	355
	Somon Air	SMR	SZ	SOMON AIR	37	394	929
	Turkmenistan Airlines	TUA	T5	TURKMENISTAN	83	5,750	13,722
	Uzbekistan Airways	UZB	HY	UZBEK	89	4,714	10,298
	Centrum Air	MFX	C6	WHITE BIRD	27	344	1,028
	FLYONE Asia	AUV	7Q	ASIA UNION	--	--	--
	Aero Nomad	ANK	KA	AERO NOMAD	--	--	--
	Qanot Sharkq	QNT	HH	SHARQ	10	118	482
	FlyArystan	AYN	FS	ARYSTAN	1	2	2

Airline Fleet consists of airliners used by real airlines and includes, Airbus A319/A320/A321/A332, British Aerospace 146-200, Boeing B737/B757/B767/B777/B787, Bombardier CL600/Dash 8-400/CRJ2/CRJ7, Embraer ERJ190; Fokker F100, Hawker Siddeley HS-125, Antonov AN-2, Ilyushin IL-114 and Tupolev Tu-154.

Route network and schedule based on real world network and schedules of Airlines of Centar Asian Countries.

Pilots – enthusiasts of virtual aviation, real pilots and air traffic controllers.

Pilot Software is developed by VAU (www.vau.aero) creators and provides the following information to a pilot:

• Calculation of passenger and cargo load, total payload for particular aircraft for each flight, updated daily
• Flight route calculation including Flight Plan according to latest AIRAC
• Fuel calculation for each scheduled flight for major aircraft types
• Automatic booking of flight into VATSIM
• Upon completion of flight, information is logged into pilot logbook on website

Virtual Airlines of Central Asia system provides sufficient information to perform flights within VATSIM or IVAO network.

Required Software to fly with Virtual Airlines of Central Asia:

• Microsoft FS2004/FSX or Prapare 3D (X-Plane is partially supported)
• Registered version of FSUIPC
• FSInn, SB or vPilot for VATSIM flights or IVAP for IVAO flights
• Current AIRAC
• SOYUZ FDR, Pilot Client – downloadable from this website

Virtual Airlines of Central Asia is open for pilots with 50 or more online hours in VATSIM or IVAO.

• System Description
• Call Sign
• Booking and Flying
• Flying as a Crew
• Schedule
• Routes
• Flight Plan
• Dispatch
• Pilot and Plane Location
• Weather

Virtual Airlines of Central Asia emulates online operations of real Airlines of Central Asian Countries. in VATSIM or IVAO environment.

The basic sources of data for flight system are VATSIM or IVAO statistics and network client. The client utility (SOYUZ FDR) is designed to transmit to the website more detailed information about the flight.

The site uses the following units: feet, pounds, nautical miles, knots. All times are in UTC.

When performing scheduled and charter flights specified in the airline schedules pilot shall use a call sign corresponding to the Flight Number (for example TUA101).

Flying online with the pilot’s personal call sign (for example, ACA7777) allowed for group flights or fly-ins as well as when it is not possible to use Flight Number call sign (call sign is in use by another pilot in VATSIM or IVAO).

The booking is performed on the website. A pilot selects an available scheduled flight, specifies some flight parameters and confirms the booking. The flight is registered in EUROBOOK and Flight Plan could be registered in VATSIM.

To be able to register Flight Plan in VATSIM it is necessary to allow pop-up windows for site https://asia.soyuz.aero/ in Internet Explorer.

The pilot could book the flight in 24 hours prior to departure. But VATSIM keeps Flight Plan two hours only and, because of this, Flight Plan could be registered in 2 hours prior to departure. The airplane and the flight stay booked during 30 minutes after planned departure. But if the flight is not started by this moment, the booking is canceled.

To perform the flight it is necessary to start Flight Simulator (X-Plane) and SOYUZ FDR, login to VATSIM (via FSInn, SqawkBox or VPilot) or login to IVAO (via IVAP) with proper callsign, check the Flight Plan (if it was registered in VATSIM) or create a new one. VATSIM and IVAO renews its statistic every two minutes, so it could take a couple of minutes to confirm the flight in VAU system. It is recommended to make sure that the flight is accepted by VAU system before engine start, but it is possible by take-off.

If during the flight Internet connection is lost (or SOYUZ FDR is off) longer of 20-30 minutes, the flight is cancelled.

The flight is considered as completed, if the pilot entered VAU system before take-off, was airborne, covered 5 nm or more, landed, speed reduced below 20 knots, engines were off. Only online flights are registered by VAU system.

It is prohibited to change time rate during the flight. In this case the flight is ignored and will not be included to statistic.

A flight may be performed by two pilots: the captain books the flight and selects the second pilot in the «First Officer» field. The flight is credited to both. The crew pair is registered by the Group administration in advance — if the pair is not registered, the «First Officer» field does not appear during booking.

The second pilot must be online on his own, under the network ID set in his profile on the website (VATSIM CID, IVAO VID or the third network ID). He may connect in any way and with any call sign: as an observer, with a regular pilot client, or from a controller position. The system looks him up by ID, not by call sign, so matching the flight call sign is not required.

If the second pilot is not online, the SOYUZ FDR of the captain shows «offline» and the flight does not start. Presence data is refreshed once a minute, so it may take up to a minute after he connects.

The second pilot needs neither to book the flight nor to run SOYUZ FDR — being online is enough. The flight call sign and the flight plan are filed by the captain.

Flights schedule based on real airline schedule. Recommended commercial loading and number of passengers are generated daily for each flight considering that weight of passenger is equal to 170 lbs independent of aircraft type or cabin class.

Departure and arrival time, length of route are supplemental information and could be specified during flight planning. On each flight could be assigned one or more types of aircraft by ICAO code. The pilot could choose any aircraft from available.

The company could include charters in common schedule, but these charters system treats as regular flights.

Recommended routes for regular flights are checked by administration and validated by current AIRAC. During flight planning system suggests a recommended route and flight level, however the pilot could enter own parameters.

To provide normal work of the VA system, it is necessary to put aircraft tail number in Remarks field of a Flight Plan in standard format REG/EZA019 (without hyphen). It is strictly recommended to use flight number as a callsign. In case if callsign is not corresponding to flight number, it should be included to Remarks in special format RTE/TUA101.

Dispatch check route in accordance with current AIRAC and perform simplified fuel planning for some aircraft types. The total fuel quantity required to fly is the some of the following quantities:

• TAXI: quantity required for startup and taxi, including APU fuel within 15 min
• TRIP: fuel required from departure to destination including takeoff and climb on selected speed, cruise on selected speed, descend from cruising level to altitude 1500 ft, approach and landing
• ALTERNATE: fuel required to fly from destination to alternate airport. It includes go-around, climb to cruising level, cruise at long range speed, descend and approach procedure (minimal distance to alternate 200 nm)
• HOLD: fuel for 30-min holding at 1500 feet
• RESERVE: contingency fuel (5% from a trip fuel)

The system keeps the last landing airport as locations of pilots and planes. The company could allow flights of pilots and planes from current location only, or set more flexible rules.

The VA system registers weather conditions during take-off and landing: intensity of perceptions (by five-point scale), lateral component of wind, horizontal visibility. The weather conditions are treated as complicated if intensity of perceptions is higher of 3 points, or lateral component is 10-20 knots, or horizontal visibility is lower 1,1 nm.

Minimal horizontal visibility for last six months stated as RVR (runway visual range) for each pilot.

Flight Data Recorder is used for analyzing air safety issues.

For each aircraft type next operational parameters are defined and controlled:

• Maximum landing gear extended and retracted speed
• Maximum flaps extended speed
• Pitch limit during take off and landing
• Maximum landing weight

This parameters are published on aircraft page in "Limitation" part and on Dispatch page when flight is booked.

For all aircraft types next parameters are controlled:

• Overspeed (detected by simulator)
• Stall (detected by simulator)
• Vertical speed at touchdown. The landing treated as:
  • hard - if vertical speed is above 600 fpm.
  • accident - if vertical speed is above 700 fpm 
  • crash - if vertical speed is above 1600 fpm
• Bank limits at low altitude. Banks are limited to:
  • 20° below 400 ft
  • 10° below 100 ft
• Vertical speed limits on descend. Vertical speed is limited to:
  • 2000 fpm below 2000 ft
  • 1500 fpm below 1000 ft
  • 1300 fpm below 400 ft
• Unsafe terrain clearance - below 400 ft with retracted flaps and gear
• Landing on nose gear (negative pitch at touchdown)

  First Officer Trainee

Initially each new pilot is qualified as «First Officer Trainee»/ This rating allows to perform only training flights with according missions. No other permissions required.

  First Officer

After successful completion of four assessment flights the pilot gets promoted to the rank of «First Officer» with CIS clearence. Thins rank gives access to flights within the Commonwealth of Independent States. In order to achieve access to international flights, the pilot must pass both practical and theoretical tests (optional). The practical test implies a training flight under control by authorised VATSIM or IVAO ATCs with according missions (optional). This flight can be requested after at least 10 flights as a «First Officer». All tests are held by one or several authorised VATSIM or IVAO air traffic controllers with CTR rating or higher. The tests are performed at least once in two weeks. The details are distributed to the involved pilot(s) several days prior to tests. The necessary program includes radio commucation test with English phraseology, general ATC commands, ability to perform VOR and NDB approaches along with RVSM technics, METAR, NOTAM and other essential skills needed during online flights. After successful completion the pilot receives access to international flights (except VIP aircrafts).

  Captain

The «Captain» rank allows gives access to all international flights using any aircraft type. The pilot can request this promotion after successful completion of 100 hours as a First Officer.

These shoulder straps meet overall online hours: up to 500h, up to 1000h, up to 1500h, up to 2000h, above 2000h