Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations |
Document Library - Updates Planned? |
DVA10032
Captain, B777-200
Joined on July 31 2011
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Warwick, RI
84 legs, 188.8 hours
82 legs,
184.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
August 12 2011 10:16 ET by Greg Germanowski
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Good day, folks!
As a new Delta VA pilot (*but not necessarily a new pilot to VA's), I'm enjoying my first few flights here at Delta. I've been out of the big metal tube flying for some time, but I thought it would be a nice diversion to get back to button pushing and adherence to standards, as opposed to the simulated bug-smashing I've been doing for some time now.
One thing I always try to do is read up on new ventures! I don't like being a new kid on the block and asking questions with easily found answers in the manuals, documents, and resources available. I was initially very impressed with the document library - very few VA's have such a wide variety of well-written documents available to their members.
I took time to read through most of the relevant documents that would affect me here at DVA, but something struck me as being a little off or incomplete. After reading a few more manuals, I realized that it wasn't necessarily that I was missing information, it was that the information I was reading was quite old. The majority of manuals, especially the more broad-based all-VA documents, appear not to have been touched in many years....
Some examples:
* DVA Pilot's Manual - January 2007
* The FAQ - January 2004
* Promotions Guide - January 2006
* Boeing 737-800 Manual - August 2003
The document library website has an "Updated" date next to the PDF link, but the the majority of the documents themselves seem to belie that information with an older date on their cover, as well as older references in the material itself.
As an example, the Boeing 737-800 Ops Manual contains the line "At this time, there is no fleet installer available for the Boeing 737, although one is scheduled for creation in late 2003." - the document cover date is Aug 2003, but the webpage says it was last updated in November 2008. Some of the aircraft-specific operations manuals were more up to date and in-sync with their website listed dates, but many others were 3, 4, or more years old. In addition, there seem to be no references at all to FSX in any of the documents I surveyed.
I recognize (*and GREATLY appreciate!) how DVA allows pilots of all interest levels to fly. Some pilots only want a modest amount of structure and role playing with their armchair pilotage, while others are going to rigidly follow real-world procedures, performance metrics, and processes. On my first flights, I found myself lacking the knowledge of what is actually expected of me from a flight reporting and standards level.
One particular experience comes from ACARS - For my third flight, I used ACARS for the first time and flew a mid-range ~1500 mile trip. During this flight, I discovered that ACARS only accepts up to 4x time compression. This was not documented anywhere that I had seen. My flight report approval notice also indicated that the flight was not eligible as a promotion flight as a certain amount of time compression was used. This too was not found in the Flight, ACARS or Promotions Manuals. While I am not concerned with the fact these items cropped up in my flight, I am curious where I could have found these rules documented. The experience has left me with the feeling that there are lots of other rules or scenarios which might have an affect on my flying which aren't documented in the manuals and FAQ's.
Has there been any discussion about updating the manuals used here at DVA? The document library is a huge asset to the virtual airline and is a unique gem in the VA world - it would be a shame to let it fall into irrelevancy with a lack of maintenance.
By no means am I looking to be fussy about all this, because from what I've seen, this VA is a well-run and enjoyable community to fly with! I'm just curious if any energy is going to be directed towards the documentation in the near future, and what other surprises might be in store for me!
Thanks,
-Greg / DVA10032
(And more acutely, what are the rules/standards regarding time compression, ACARS, and flight reporting as it relates to promotion eligible flights and such?)
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DVA5929
Senior Captain, B747-400
OLP
Joined on May 10 2008
Million Mile Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Everett 500 Club
Globetrotter
Six Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"It's buried under a big W!" TX USA
651 legs, 3,806.1 hours
472 legs,
2,922.9 hours online 565 legs,
3,319.5 hours ACARS 8 legs,
18.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 12 2011 13:12 ET by Nicholas Carpenter
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Greg,
First of all, welcome to DVA! It is known that the document library does need some updating, but as of yet I am unsure of any projected timeline for update completion.
As far as your flights go, a leg is a valid leg if it is within the aircrafts capabilites (ie range with reserves) and you are rated in the aircraft you use to fly it. You may use any aircraft on any leg provided it fits those two requirements. Time acceleration up to 4x is allowed, but it will not count for promotion.
From the notams, this is the required standards for a flight to be eligible towards promotion:
"DVA “Raising the Bar” on Advancement and Achievement -- Flight Requirements for Promotion
Delta Virtual Airlines continues to seek enhancements to its promotion structure and pilot development programs to maximize virtual aviation enjoyment. Our strategy to achieve this is through experience and knowledge.
The requirements for flights eligible for the 10 advancement flights to Captain are changing. In order to be eligible, the flight must be flown meeting the following criteria:
1. Completed using equipment that is part of the stage program
2. Flown and logged using ACARS
3. The flight is from our schedule that is at least
a. 150 NM for Turbojet Programs
b. 100 NM for Prop/TurboProp Programs
4. Flown in Non-Accelerated Flight (no use of time acceleration)
The new requirements are effective immediately only for flights eligible for advancement to Captain. Non-eligible flights will continue to have no distance restriction, accelerated flight is permitted and manual flight reporting is permitted, however, pilots are encouraged to use ACARS as it is feature rich, producing valuable information about the flight. More details will become available in the weeks to come as we roll out a new promotion and advancement manual. Should you have questions, please feel free to raise them with your Chief Pilot or create a Help Desk issue."
Once again, welcome to DVA Greg!
Nicholas
Nicholas CarpenterSenior Captain, B747-400
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DVA10032
Captain, B777-200
Joined on July 31 2011
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Warwick, RI
84 legs, 188.8 hours
82 legs,
184.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
August 12 2011 14:25 ET by Greg Germanowski
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Thanks for the information, Nicholas...
You've also illustrated my newcomers point quite well - although I glanced at the NOTAMs, I noticed they were all quite outdated (8 or more months old), so I paid them little attention. I thought that any relevant information in them would have been amended into the manuals and procedures by now - alas, that is not the case!
In the 16-month old NOTAM you've referenced, a new "promotion and advancement manual" is spoken about. Should I assume is still pending development, considering it is not in the doc library?
Perhaps down the road if I establish myself as a regular pilot here, I can assist whomever is responsible for the documentation... but I don't yet know what I "don't know", so it's a bit early to throw my hat into the ring for that. As someone who works in a very policy and procedurally oriented industry, I am keen to keeping documentation up-to-date and functional.
Thanks once more for both the info, and the validation of my observation!
-Greg
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DVA7956
Captain, A320
OLP
Joined on November 05 2009
50 State Club
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
Everett 250 Club
Quatercentenary Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"Swing on a star" Manassas, VA USA
478 legs, 905.6 hours
259 legs,
494.7 hours online 473 legs,
893.0 hours ACARS 70 legs,
123.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2011 09:12 ET by Scott Bradley
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On the bright side, they built a new course for a VATSIM certification rating and are working to develop on-line courses for private and instrument ratings. Remember - in a policy driven or process oriented organization, there is little room for innovation - and [the organziation is] rarely ready for a new or unexpected challenge. Unless of course your policy is based on adopting change...but change isn't necessarily innovative, which would...uh oh, now I'm confused.
Scott BradleyCaptain, A320
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DVA1730
Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 17 2004
50 State Club
Online Double Century Club
B737 100 Club
Triple Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Tucker, GA
309 legs, 799.6 hours
281 legs,
739.4 hours online 244 legs,
603.6 hours ACARS 36 legs,
83.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 19 2011 08:30 ET by Lee Barber
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I'm not exactly new here, but just got myself reinstated after a 5 year hiatus.
I agree with Greg, the library is in need of updates. I was thinking last night as I was logging a flight with the amazing NGX that it would also be nice to see some kind of "primer to advanced simming" that covers DVA Ops using some of the fantastic payware addons out there (PMDG, FeelThere, LDS, etc) as well as third party flight planning (FSBuild, TOPCAT). As someone who almost exclusively flies payware aircraft, I don't find the Ops manuals to be much use beyond taking the exams. I don't think this document would need to cover the same ground as the AOMs for these aircraft, but would serve as a general policies and procedures guide specific to DVA Ops.
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DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic" Marietta, GA
2,240 legs, 8,963.0 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,898 legs,
7,756.1 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,276 legs, 9,097.9 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
August 19 2011 15:32 ET by Luke Kolin
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I will raise this as an issue at the next staff meeting. There's been some effort put into the manuals in the past, and it probably just needs a little more emphasis.
Cheers!
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA8152
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on December 28 2009
Online Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
Millennium Club
"By George, we did it!" Jacksonville, FL USA
1,159 legs, 2,921.6 hours
698 legs,
1,755.8 hours online 1,033 legs,
2,466.9 hours ACARS 1 legs,
11.8 hours event 136 legs dispatched, 40.7
hours
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Posted onPost created on
August 19 2011 17:08 ET by Dan Turner
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If any help is needed in updating the manuals, Id be happy to help were I could....
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DVA2370
Senior Captain, B737-800
OLP, COMM, VFRADV
Joined on May 26 2005
Online Triple Century Club
Commuter Conquest
Six Century Club
Stage 1 Prop Triple Century Club
50 State Club
US Coastal Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Flagler Beach, FL USA
675 legs, 726.8 hours
319 legs,
311.4 hours online 179 legs,
146.1 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.6 hours event 0 legs dispatched, 4.0
hours
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Posted onPost created on
August 20 2011 09:49 ET by Scott Clarke
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Sent you an email.....thanks for raising your hand!
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DVA9677
Captain, B737-800
OLP
Joined on April 11 2011
50 State Club
Online Double Century Club
Quincentenary Club
"American 1482, your APU is leaking baggage." Kissimmee, FL USA
543 legs, 735.9 hours
247 legs,
299.2 hours online 538 legs,
725.6 hours ACARS 2 legs,
2.8 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 20 2011 12:11 ET by John Anderson
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After 17yrs in the Army, Research is second nature to me.
I would love to help as well.
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DVA9655
Senior Captain, B747-400
OLP
Joined on January 01 2011
50 State Club
Everett 500 Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Golden State Club
Two Million Mile Club
Globetrotter
Online Double Century Club
Nine Century Club
"DAL9655, you are cleared for takeoff" New York, NY
942 legs, 4,891.8 hours
234 legs,
857.2 hours online 742 legs,
3,950.9 hours ACARS 12 legs,
40.6 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 20 2011 12:42 ET by Remy Mermelstein
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greg, finally!!!!!!!! your the person we need, thanks so much for bringing this up because it has been a problem for me too, i have been here since 1/1/11 and have been asking this ever since. so, thanks for bringing it up and hopefully we will get updated manuals soon!!! and welcome, to DVA.
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DVA7897
Captain, B767-300
Joined on October 14 2009
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
Online Triple Century Club
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Bezau, Vorarlberg AT
363 legs, 1,291.5 hours
331 legs,
1,160.2 hours online 343 legs,
1,173.5 hours ACARS 2 legs,
12.8 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 20 2011 15:07 ET by Mathias Ratz
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as an 767 Catain/Freak i would do my best to help updating that manual!
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DVA8752
Captain, B767-300
Joined on January 01 2010
50 State Club
Triple Century Club
Sedalia, CO
338 legs, 1,236.8 hours
31 legs,
181.3 hours online 37 legs,
232.7 hours ACARS 2 legs,
8.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 20 2011 18:22 ET by Brandon Howell
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I would be intrested in helping out as well, mainly as an editor.
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DVA8152
First Officer, B767-300
OLP
Joined on December 28 2009
Online Six Century Club
Million Mile Club
Millennium Club
"By George, we did it!" Jacksonville, FL USA
1,159 legs, 2,921.6 hours
698 legs,
1,755.8 hours online 1,033 legs,
2,466.9 hours ACARS 1 legs,
11.8 hours event 136 legs dispatched, 40.7
hours
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Posted onPost created on
August 20 2011 22:44 ET by Dan Turner
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Scott Clarke wrote:Sent you an email.....thanks for raising your hand!
Replied Scott, happy to help where I can!
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DVA2969
Captain, B737-800
OLP
Joined on March 08 2006
50 State Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
US Mountaineer Club
Everett 250 Club
US Coastal Club
Six Century Club
Online Double Century Club
""Fly With A Passion"" Crestwood, KY USA
656 legs, 1,398.0 hours
243 legs,
416.1 hours online 652 legs,
1,391.5 hours ACARS 3 legs,
15.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 21 2011 23:31 ET by Keith Braley
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DVA staff: I would also like to contribute to the this project. With 20 years in the Army and five years as a Quality Control Manager with Motorola, you develop an appreciation for well written SOPs. Currently a full-time student working on my Masters, I would also offer my services as an editor first, researcher/writer second.
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