VA Crew Room

[RAF_Quantum]

We are bound to have a few glitches with aircraft distribution whilst I am still building the routes.

Regarding 'poaching' of aircraft. It is easy to check if the aircraft has recently been flown.

If the aircraft has recently arrived at the airport, check and see which pilots are also still at the airport.

If there's one aircraft at the airport and one pilot then common sense prevails.

Lets put what's happened behind us now and enjoy the flying.

We are still very much at early days here. As far as I am aware there have only been a couple of occasions where an aircraft was used that someone else had had their eye on. If you are going to 'swap' aircraft, a check of the maintenance status and then a log check of the aircraft should enable you to have an idea that someone else is probably going to continue onwards with that aircraft or not.

One thing to bear in mind is that most routes A to B only have one flight scheduled. If someone makes a booking and holds it for 24 hours, as well as reserving the aircraft, it also reserves the route and stops anyone else flying that route. Most routes are a short flight time so if someone is going to fly it, within a short time the route will become available again for the next pilot.

A little planning beforehand can also save you some 'grief'. If the aircraft you are going to be using is coming up for maintenance, then it makes sense to fly to another airport where there is an aircraft of the same type that will be 'fresh. This will enable an 'aircraft change' to allow the 'virtual engineers' to maintain the aircraft. This was the case with the Viscount at Jersey - it is on maintenance until this evening.

We are all learning how to 'work' the system and as I have said in another thread we have not finished our aircraft acquisitions. It's very hard to second guess what aircraft types people will want to fly, the Viscount might be 'flavour of the month' today but another aircraft will be 'flavour of the month' tomorrow.

Paitience and tolerance is a virtue so lets keep calm about this. We are all grown-ups here and we are all here to have fun.

Rgds

John
Still on my 'hols', still somewhere in the Lake District, still keepeing my eye on you

[DaveB]

I want to know where Fraser is hiding (presuming it was he who flew the Viscount into Jersey). I've checked the bar and no sign of him!! :think:

On a more serious note, I don't like the idea of taking an aircraft just to get myself out of the crap. I certainly wouldn't do it on purpose and I'd expect the same courtesy from other pilots. To this end, I always try and get an aircraft back to it's home base (my home base) which at present is Jersey so I book the same aircraft back thus maintaining the status quo. There is still much to do for me down there.. newspapers and other sundry bits still have to be delivered to the other Islands and I make a point of repatriating at least 8 French citizens once a week
When the time comes for me to move on, I am more than willing to buy a ticket to my next chosen base (I expect to!) leaving the CI behind and all CI based aircraft in situ. Pity the system isn't setup so that you could hitch a lift off one of the visiting fleet aircraft. OK.. you may have to wait until the pilot is ready to go but at least you'd save the airfare

Having spent the virtual night in Norwich (home of 'The Quiz of the Week' and 'Colmans Mustard'.. I can't wait to drag the DC3 back to Jersey and have a pint with Bergerac tonight!!

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Chris Trott]

Of course the point in the "real world" MR Trott - is that crews are not asked to "pay" their way into their base - Whoever fed Konny that piece of garbage is an idiot and knows nothing of the workings of real airlines

All sarcasm aside, the "buy ticket" issue wasn't originally envisioned to be used as it is now. Konny put it in as a stop-gap measure for those who wished to change their VA or go on a "vacation" which would normally mean using their own money to get there. He is working on a module to non-rev for work purposes, but the problem we run into there is that it has to be on a "flown" flight and not just move them there and he has to figure out how to get the system to determine that there is a seat available and there's no-one else occupying the "jump seat" (each aircraft will most likely only have 1 seat just for ease of implimentation) to okay you (the jumpseater) to fly with the flight for free.

[DaveB]

Hi Chris,

I quite like that idea (not least of all as it runs parallel with what I was saying earlier).

An ideal use would be for a scenario where a pilot has time to fly an aircraft to a destination but not to fly it back. A note somewhere on here to the effect that .. pilot A has flown to destination A and can't fly the return - would anyone be able to pick the aircraft up.
Hopefully, a relief would accept the flight and use the jump on a scheduled flight to get to destination A. Outbound pilot could use the jump to get back to base on the return flight and relief could continue to wherever.

This may end up being rather complex for Konny to arrange but there is mileage in the idea me thinks. Should there be no takers for the relief.. there is no reason why the aircraft should not still be available at destination A when the original (outbound) pilot has time to do the return The theory is sound me thinks but making it work may be something else.

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Avant-Garde-Aclue]

The other problem I'm seeing is that people are walking in and taking aircraft from other pilots without asking. I recently flew to Rome in the Vanguard late one night with the intention of coming back and flying the return the next morning. However, when I came to make the return flight, the plane was gone and I was stranded in Rome. My choice? Either I buy a ticket back to London, or I wait for someone else to fly a plane back to Rome and take it from them. I don't know when the plane would be coming back, so I spent my own money (about 2 flights worth) to buy the ticket and get back to London so I could fly additional flights.

Just got back from New York, real time, real world and noticed this in the threads. May I just say Mr Trott, that you did the very same thing to me, snaffling the only available Vanguard at Heathrow, booking the flight and sitting on it for 13 hours before making the flight to Rome. I was then forced to purchase a ticket to the nearest available Vanguard.

So therefore I say, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Sean

[PeteP]

Amen to that, brother, Amen!
PP

[Chris Trott]

May I just say Mr Trott, that you did the very same thing to me, snaffling the only available Vanguard at Heathrow, booking the flight and sitting on it for 13 hours before making the flight to Rome. I was then forced to purchase a ticket to the nearest available Vanguard.

So therefore I say, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Sean

Okay, I seriously can't decide if I should be laughing or angry right now.

Sean, let's put out a few facts.

1) When I booked the flight, there was not 1 but FOUR available Vanguards at Heathrow. This doesn't include the Merchantmen that were also present. After I booked one, there were 3 remaining.

2) Heathrow is not an outstation as Rome is. It's an operating base for the airline. Whereas you may only see 1 Vanguard every 2 or 3 weeks in Rome, you see 3 or 4 a day at Heathrow. If one isn't available now, it will be soon enough.

3) Once you reserve a plane, by FlyNET rules, you can keep the airplane for up to 24 hours. If you don't fly the flight within those 24 hours, you loose the plane and pay the cancellation fee.

4) When you are at a base, the planes are first-come, first-serve. There are usually not problems with availability, but on the occasion there is, just wait a while and another will come home or (even better) you can ask John to transfer an airplane into the airport for you since not all have been transferred into the UK yet.

Look, there's a huge difference between me booking a flight to start a trip and having someone take the plane out from under me in the middle of one. The issue is not plane availability at the base (because that can be quickly remedied), but people taking the plane from you away from base where you have no other options but fly home unless you're willing to wait 3 weeks for someone else to decide to fly another down to you so you can "steal" it and get home and continue the viscious cycle.

[Chris Trott]

Oh yeah, and one more thing -

I had it booked for 13 hours becuase I had computer problems in-between and had to solve them before I could successfully complete the flight. When I signed off to go to work, there were still 2 Vanguards available at Heathrow for booking. I'm not going to pay to cancel a flight when I (by the rules) have enough time left to finish the flight without a penalty.

[Avant-Garde-Aclue]

There was only one Vanguard at Heathrow and apart from the F100 it was the only aircraft at that time I could fly, I'm not going to argue about how long somebody should book a flight in advance, just was making a point that common good manners and courtesy cost nothing, nada. So if you want to bitch about people taking 'your' aircraft you should think back and be more considerate. Also I do have a few points to take up with some of your posts in this forum. Your post are accusatory saying such things as 'I know what you've done wrong', 'You have'nt done such and such' all very negative and unhelpful in as much as you attempt to belittle people. Oh, and another thing that gets up my trunk is... if you fly for CBFS why do you persist in boasting about being president of Green Mountain whatsit???????

Get a life

[Avant-Garde-Aclue]

I humbly apologise to others who read this thread, none of which is directed at you

Regards

Sean