Operations
Guide I. General Section 1. Introduction Emerald Air was founded in 2001 as an Irish Virtual Airline with the aim of offering flight sim enthusiasts a chance to fly "as real as it gets" in a challenging Virtual Airlines environment. In order to achieve this aim Emerald Air has developed a first-class company fleet, an extensive route network, and an operating environment that allows its members to report their flights, log their hours, and advance in the company hierarchy based on their performance as a virtual pilot. In 2002 we extended our operations to the whole of the British Isles, with a special focus on its most ‘Celtic’ parts: Ireland, N. Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Currently we have 9 "major" and 2 "focus" hub airports located in Ireland and Great Britain, from where our pilots are flying routes across the British Isles, Europe and beyond, with aircraft ranging in size from the fabulous DHC-6-300 "Twin Otter" to the majestic Boeing 747-400 "Queen of the Skies". Besides
the routes to fly and the aircraft to fly them with we provide our
pilots many other things they might need to fly “as real as it gets”,
including aircraft manuals and checklists, up-to-date flight plans and aeronautical charts, and a complete pilot training program. In addition to this we offer them a friendly atmosphere and a great VA pilot community. Our pilots can share their ideas and experiences on the Emerald Air Forum, and meet each other in the virtual sky at our regular online events. In exchange Emerald Air only requires its pilots to fly at least one Emerald Air flight every month, and to behave in a friendly and gentlemanly manner in order to further the good reputation of our VA. 2. Management Structure The Chairman – the founder of the airline – is the owner of the VA. The prevailing CEO has got the overall responsibility for running the VA and determining its policy. The CEO is responsible to the Chairman. The airline's main decision-making body is the Management Board that comprises the CEO, the directors, and the airline officials. The HR Director and the Technical Director are responsible for the effective day-to-day running of the airline. Other airline officials work under the immediate guidance of and are responsible to the directors. The Emerald Air management structure is described in more detail in Appendix 1. 3. Pilot Ranks Our unique pilot ranking system that combines First Officer and Captain ranks with Turboprop, Light Jet, Medium Jet and Heavy Jet ratings provides our pilots the opportunity to build a truly unique VA pilot career: • Pilot Rating is based upon accumulated flight time. A pilot’s rating determines what aircraft the given pilot is entitled to fly. Pilots can fly all Emerald Air aircraft with a pilot qualification category equal to or less then their pilot rating (e.g. a Medium Jet First Officer is entitled to fly all turboprop, light jet and medium jet aircraft). • Pilot Rank is based upon the pilot’s willingness to and performance at flying checkrides. In order to be promoted to a First Officer rank, no checkride is required. The promotion is automatic once the required number of logged hours is achieved. In order to be promoted to the honourable rank of Captain, however, the candidate must successfully complete the checkride specific to his pilot rating. (e.g. a Medium Jet First Officer who wants to become Captain must fly Checkride 3A). A pilot’s rank determines his bonus factor. The additional effort and skill required from Captains are rewarded by a Captains’ bonus (a 1.25x multiplier that applies to all their reported hours) – a virtual counterpart of real world Flight Captain’s salary bonus. Therefore pilots not wanting to fly checkrides can still go up the hierarchy as First Officers, achieving higher and higher ratings and thus flying bigger and bigger planes as they accumulate more and more hours. Those who are ready to test their skills by flying checkrides, however, can build up hours and advance through the hierarchy faster than First Officers due to the Captains’ bonus. The exact requirements for each pilot rank and rating are described in Appendix 2. 4. Fleet Structure The Emerald Air fleet consists of a full set of freeware (and some additional payware) aircraft models ranging from small turboprops to heavy jets repainted in the beautiful Emerald Air livery. In order to allow our pilots as much freedom of choice as possible without losing the VA feeling, we have developed a unique aircraft categorization system that allows our pilots to fly the aircraft of their own choice out of all the Emerald Air aircraft suitable for the given route. We have achieved this by assigning aircraft categories rather than individual aircraft types to Emerald Air routes. Each Emerald Air aircraft has two category listings: • Pilot Qualification Category determines whether a pilot is entitled to fly that particular aircraft or not. A pilot is entitled to fly all aircraft at or below his pilot rating (e.g. a Medium Jet Captain can fly all turboprops, light jets and medium jets). • Route Utilization Category determines whether a particular aircraft is a valid choice for a given route or not (e.g. the CRJ-200LR is a Cat 1-2 aircraft that can be used on our regional and short-haul routes). The pilot qualification and route utilization categories are specified in Appendix 3. 5. Route Network Emerald Air has 9 "major" and 2 "focus" hub airports located in Ireland and Great Britain. All Emerald Air flights depart from or return to one of these hubs. Each flight is classified either as a scheduled or a charter flight: • Scheduled Flights have got a fight number, a departure and arrival time, a frequency (showing the days of operation) and a route utilization category number (showing what aircraft are available for the given route). • Charter Flights have got only a flight number (always beginning with 9) and a route utilization category number. Charter flights not included in our timetables will also be published in our Forum as Flights of the Month (FOM) or may be requested on a one by one basis from the Route Manager. Our pilots are entitled to fly the routes of our partner airline, Smile & Fly! Hellas VA, as if they were Emerald Air flights. These Partner Flights should be flown with the equipment specified in the schedules of our partner VA. The Emerald Air hub airports are enumerated in Appendix 4. 6. Training and Support In order to help our members improve their virtual pilot skills, we have assembled a training program. Our training program comprises several useful articles arranged into three categories: flight training, navigation training and communication training. • Flight Training articles contain useful tips and tricks about flying multi-engine passenger/cargo aircraft safely and effectively, as well as avoiding and dealing with emergencies. • Navigation Training articles explain the most important navigational procedures used by real world pilots, like flying SIDs and STARs, different kinds of instrument approaches, holdings, etc. • Communication Training articles introduce pilots to the standard communication procedures used in the live ATC environment provided by the VATSIM and IVAO networks. In our support section we provide our pilots a huge flight plan database containing prepared flight plans for almost 500 domestic and regional flights in FS Navigator, FS2002 and FS2004 formats. These flight plans are based on real world flight plans and SID/STAR charts. In addition to the above most Emerald Air aircraft are equipped with a detailed Operation and Flight Manual and a set of Checklists. These are based on the FS2002 flight models included in our aircraft packages and accurately represent the aircraft as they behave in FS2002. The use of the published flight plans, manuals, and checklists are not mandatory but strongly recommended, as they can save a lot of pre-flight time and contribute to (virtual) flight safety. II. Rules of Promotion 1. Application Emerald Air VA employs an “open door policy”. This means that we accept all applicants as members regardless of their experience or previous career as a virtual pilot – provided they are above 13 years of age, they accept our policy, observe the rules described in the present document, and don’t offend the good image of our VA. Pilots who wish to join Emerald Air must complete the Pilot Application Form placed on our website. Upon the receipt of his application, the new pilot will be appointed as a Flight Cadet, given a pilot ID, and displayed under that ID on the pilot roster. Shortly after his application will be reviewed and approved by the Management, he’ll be promoted to his initial rank, and he’ll be entitled to start flying our routes as an Emerald Air First Officer. Pilots starting their virtual pilot careers at Emerald Air will always start as Turboprop First Officers and slowly advance through the hierarchy towards higher ranks. Pilots coming from another VA, however, will be credited with the hours they logged at their former VA by the time of their application and they will be assigned an initial rank (pilot rating) that corresponds to their previous experience. New pilots must submit their first pilot report within one month from the date of their application or they’ll be removed from the roster without notice. In this case the assigned pilot ID will no longer be reserved for the applicant and he’ll have to re-apply for a new one if he wants to continue his career at Emerald Air. 2. Promotion Promotions to First Officer ranks happen automatically when the flight time requirement for the next pilot rating is achieved. Promotion to Captain rank happens when the pilot who wants to become a Captain successfully completes the checkride specific to his current pilot rating. The checkride prescriptions can be downloaded from our website. The prescribed task should be practised until you can fly it with confidence then recorded by FS’ internal video recorder and sent to the General Chief Pilot for evaluation. If you need help with one or more checkrides, you should contact the Training Officer or the General Chief Pilot. Checkrides are being evaluated by the General Chief Pilot. Checkride evaluation is strict but fair. If you feel that your checkride has been evaluated unfairly, please apply to the Human Resource Director and explain your points. The HRD’s decision on this matter is final and there’s no room for any appeal against it. 3. Inactivity There is no upper or lower limit to the number of hours an Emerald Air pilot flies a week or a month. When a full month passes without a single flight, however, the pilot not flying will be marked INACTIVE. Upon submitting his next pilot report, the inactive pilot will be automatically restored into ACTIVE status. If the pilot remains inactive for 3 full months, however, he will be removed from the pilot roster. In this case the assigned pilot ID will no longer be reserved for the pilot and he’ll have to re-apply for a new one if he returns to Emerald Air at a later dater. 4. Leaving There are three ways a pilot can leave Emerald Air. The first and most straightforward one is to announce one’s wish to leave the airline to the CEO or to the HRD. The second way is to be inactive for 3 full months. Pilots not flying for 3 consecutive months without explaining their reasons will be automatically removed from the pilot roster. The third way to leave is to violate our Rules of Behaviour. Pilots guilty of such an offence will be removed immediately and permanently. III. Rules of Operation 1. Choosing a Flight Emerald Air VA allows its pilots to fly whenever they wish, wherever they wish, and whatever aircraft they wish (within reasonable limits). Therefore pilots are not restricted to flying from a single hub only, neither are they compelled to request reassignment from one hub to another if they wish to fly from there, but they are free to fly to/from any Emerald Air hub. The only restriction is that all Emerald Air flights must either start or end at one of our hub airports. We do not assign any flight or series of flights to our pilots, but allow them to pick the flights of their own choice from among the scheduled or charter flights in our timetables (schedules database). In case they wish to visit a destination that’s not normally served by Emerald Air, they may fly our Flight of the Month or request a special charter flight from the Route Manager. Pilots with lower ratings, however, must confine themselves to flights that can be flown with the aircraft types they are qualified to fly. e.g.: A Light Jet Captain can fly our EMD3009 flight from Dublin to Lyon, as this is classified as a Cat 2 (short-haul) flight that he can fly with the CRJ-200LR, a light jet that’s allowed on Cat 1 and Cat 2 routes. He cannot fly the EMD3001 flight from Dublin to Paris, however, as this is a Cat 3 (medium-haul) flight that requires a B737, B757, or B767 that he is not allowed to fly yet. 2. Preparing for Flight Once they have chosen their flight, pilots should find an aircraft appropriate to the route, create a flight plan, and prepare for the flight. Thanks to our flexible aircraft assignment system, more than one aircraft type may be used on the same route. Emerald Air pilots can decide at their own discretion which out of the available aircraft types they want to fly – taking into account the aircrafts’ pilot qualification and route utilization categories, range, runway performance, and other factors. e.g.: Emerald Flight No. 1045 from Dublin to Galway is a Cat 1 (regional) flight. The chart in Appendix 3 shows that it can be flown with the Dash7-100, Dash8 (all variants), Avro RJ85, or the CRJ-200LR. All of these are turboprops or light jets, so they can be flown by our Light Jet Captain. The distance between Dublin and Galway is cca. 100nm, so range is not a factor here, but the runway length at Galway is only 4428ft while the aircraft manuals show that the min. takeoff runway length (at MTOW) for the CRJ-200LR is 5.800ft, and for the Avro RJ85 it is 4.920ft. Taking into account that sooner or later the aircraft will have to be flown back from Galway, the CRJ is not a valid choice. The Avroliner might be used, but with minimum fuel and extra care only, while the Dash7 and the Dash8’s are optimal for this route. The aircraft manuals that come with our downloadable planes contain all important performance data as well as takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, and approach profiles, reference speeds, and a fuel calculation formula. When flying offline, Emerald Air pilots can use any flight plan. The use of a valid, realistic flight plan is strongly recommended, but not mandatory. When flying online (either on VATSIM or on IVAO), however, a valid flight plan must be submitted, as this affects the reputation of our VA among virtual air traffic controllers. 3. Flying a Route Emerald Air pilots should observe the following rules while flying. First and foremost, any situation or practice that endangers the aircraft should be avoided, and the operational limits described in the aircrafts’ Operation and Flight Manuals should be observed. The use of checklists is recommended but not mandatory. Departure times specified in our timetables should be observed (if possible) – but only in the simulated world, not in the real world. This means that you can fly an early morning flight in the evening if you like, but you should set the date and time in the simulator program to match the date and time specified in the timetables. Our routes should be flown principally with the aircraft models published on our website, but other (payware or freeware) models of the same aircraft types are also acceptable. The ideal pilot flies with the realism settings set to the maximum, normal simulation rate and real world weather, but it is not mandatory to do so. You can fly as you wish and use whatever add-ons you have. 4. Reporting a Flight A If they wish to log their hours and obtain higher pilot ratings, Emerald Air pilots should report their flights to the Management, as the pilot roster and logbook are updated on the evidence of pilot reports. They can do this either by filling the Pilot Report Form placed on our website, or by using the EMDAcars Software. The same form is used for logging Scheduled, Charter/FOM, and Partner flights. First the basic conditions of your flight should be entered – whether it was flown Offline or Online (on VATSIM/IVAO), whether Real World Weather was used or not, whether it ended with a Normal, Emergency or Crash landing, etc. Then the Date of Flight, Flight Number, Departure Airport/Time, and Arrival Airport/Time fields must be filled, and finally the data should be sent by hitting the “Submit” button. Please make sure that all the input fields be filled, since incomplete pilot reports will be rejected. • Departure Time (Off Blocks Time) is the time of releasing your parking brakes at the gate/stand of the Departure Airport. • Arrival Time (On Blocks Time) is the time of setting your parking brakes at the gate/stand of the Destination Airport. The time that passed between these two are called Block Time. This time will be added to your flight log – modified by any relevant bonus factor like Captains’ bonus, Online bonus, or FOM bonus. Please
remember that all the above times are simulated times and not real
world times, so pausing or flying at an increased simulation rate won’t
affect your block time! 5. Flying Online Emerald Air VA would like to encourage its’ pilots to fly online as much as possible, as this is what we call “as real as it gets”. Therefore we reward the extra effort and skill demanded by the realistic live ATC environment by granting them on Online bonus (a 1.50x multiplier that applies to all reported hours flown on VATSIM/IVAO). This bonus represents the additional experience a pilot gains by flying together with other virtual pilots under live ATC coverage. The Online bonus is cumulative with the Captain’s bonus. Please remember that Emerald pilots’ official text callsign is EMD + your Pilot ID (e.g. EMD001), while its voice callsign is Emerald + your Pilot ID (e.g. Emerald 001)! We
wish that most of our pilots get familiar with and use the online ATC
environment provided by VATSIM and IVAO, because all the great
community-building online events organized by Emerald Air happen there.
Therefore we are always happy to help new pilots with advice and live
help if they wish to start flying online. 6. Flights of the Month Flights of the Month are special charter or cargo flights published each month by the Route Manager in the Emerald Air Forum that take you to exciting new destinations not normally served by Emerald Air. We reward the flying of each month’ FOM by granting our pilots a FOM bonus (a 1.50x multiplier that applies to the hours accumulated while flying the FOM). This bonus is granted only once per month and only for the flight (with all its legs) published as the FOM of that month. The FOM bonus is cumulative with the Captain’s bonus and the Online bonus. e.g.:
FOM December 2008 was a charter flight from any Emerald Air hub to
Rovaniemi, Finland, and back. Therefore a pilot flying from Dublin to
Rovaniemi two times and from Rovainemi to Manchester one time in
December, for example, received the FOM bonus for one of his EIDW-EFRO
legs (the one reported first) and for his EFRO-EGCC leg. 1. Home Affairs When you joined Emerald Air VA, you joined a community where friendly relations and mutual respect prevails. In order to maintain this friendly atmosphere, Emerald Air Pilots must always show due respect towards each other as well as towards members of the Management Board, and solve their conflicts in a gentle and civilized manner. If you are the subject of any offence from another member, please report to the Management. 2. Foreign Affairs Emerald Air VA values its good reputation highly and therefore requires its pilots to conduct in a civilized and gentlemanly manner whenever and wherever they represent the airline by carrying the Emerald callsign. We will not tolerate any improper misconduct towards virtual air traffic controllers, other virtual pilots or any other party. All reports of such behaviour will be investigated and sanctioned. 3. Sanctions The Emerald Air Management Board has got the right to suspend or terminate the membership of any pilot who violates our Rules of Behaviour or damages the VA’s good reputation in any way. The Management Board’s decision on termination of membership is final and there is no room for any appeal against it. Appendix 1 - Management Structure
Responsibilities:
The HRD and TD are responsible to the Management Board.
The OEM, PRO and TRO are responsible to the HRD.
The GCP, RM and WBM are responsible to the TD. Appendix 2 - Pilot Ranks
Appendix 3 - Fleet Structure
Appendix 4 - Hub Airports Irish hubs: Dublin (EIDW), Cork (EICK), Shannon (EINN), Belfast Intl (EGAA), Belfast City (EGAC), Londonderry (EGAE) British hubs: Manchester (EGCC), London Stansted (EGSS), Glasgow (EGPF), Edinburgh (EGPH), Cardiff (EGFF) |
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