Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations |
ACARS Build 63 (1.2) released |
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
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
February 11 2006 22:45 ET by Luke Kolin
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I am pleased to announce the release of ACARS Build 63, with the improved messaging options and the Sterile Cockpit functionality. Build 63 also introduces an automatic flight persistence mechanism, saving your flight every 4 minutes and 50 seconds allowing for a restore in case of an FS9 crash. It is the only software I know of that can successfully persist and restore flights using the Lonny Payne panel.
It is currently available in the Fleet Library. I have tested this build extensively, with numerous flights where I terminate the FS9.EXE process in mid-flight to ensure we can survive an FS crash or BSOD. I believe this is the most reliable, best-tested ACARS version yet (which is why it took a month to be released) and with that introduction I am confident someone will immediately find a bug.
My goal is to deprecate ACARS client builds 60 through 62 within the next few days once I am confident that Build 63 is reliable. Please use and test it, and provide feedback. Since this build implements a number of features used to manage ACARS chat, we will be deprecating the old clients sooner rather than later - and you do NOT want to be the person mid-flight who sees the ACARS server get bounced, only to be unable to connect again when it is restarted.
Cheers!
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA1267
Senior Captain, B777-200
Joined on July 09 2003
Triple Century Club
"Tactless, Understood, Right" Colorado Springs, CO USA
368 legs, 1,943.8 hours
47 legs,
192.9 hours online 54 legs,
217.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 12 2006 01:05 ET by Matt Reamy
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Luke,
Excellent work. I truly appreciate your taking care of those runtime errors (I played with that first!). Thanks for your hard work!
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DVA2548
Captain, B767-300
Joined on August 20 2005
"Step on the ball" Stanhope, NJ USA
95 legs, 187.6 hours
76 legs,
134.2 hours online 87 legs,
171.6 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 12 2006 11:07 ET by Trevor Sherba
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My Pilot Center is showing in the description that it is Build 62. Maybe a little error?
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DVA613
Senior Captain, B727-200
OLP, VFRADV
Joined on June 17 2002
50 State Club
Events Century Club
Million Mile Club
US Coastal Club
US Mountaineer Club
Commuter Conquest
Globetrotter
Everett Millennium Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Online Twenty Century
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Beware of the Green Baron!" Charlotte, NC USA
2,416 legs, 3,903.2 hours
2,239 legs,
3,527.0 hours online 2,050 legs,
3,065.5 hours ACARS 130 legs,
238.7 hours event 165 legs dispatched, 103.9
hours
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Posted onPost created on
February 12 2006 13:49 ET by David Keech
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Webpage error, it is buld 63
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DVA1267
Senior Captain, B777-200
Joined on July 09 2003
Triple Century Club
"Tactless, Understood, Right" Colorado Springs, CO USA
368 legs, 1,943.8 hours
47 legs,
192.9 hours online 54 legs,
217.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 12 2006 14:44 ET by Matt Reamy
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Trevor, Mr. Keech already explained it but here it is in the final paragraph!
http://www.deltava.org/notamedit.do?id=0xA
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DVA2411
First Officer, B777-200
Joined on June 22 2005
Everett 250 Club
Eurocap Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Six Century Club
"Semper Volans" Clayton, NC
653 legs, 1,795.5 hours
92 legs,
203.6 hours online 581 legs,
1,640.8 hours ACARS 6 legs,
22.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
February 12 2006 15:36 ET by John Richardson
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What is the sterile cockpit function again?
John RichardsonFirst Officer, B777-200
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DVA2253
Senior Captain, DC-8-61
COMM
Joined on April 01 2005
Everett 250 Club
Online Century Club
Eight Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"I'd rather be flying!" Church Hill, TN USA
862 legs, 1,344.5 hours
108 legs,
165.2 hours online 299 legs,
485.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 12 2006 20:40 ET by George Lewis
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Here is the NOTAM reposted
I am extremely pleased to announce the release of Build 63 of the ACARS client. This is version 1.2 of the Delta Virtual ACARS client, and introduces a number of new messaging options, including a "Sterile Cockpit" option to hide messages when below 10,000' MSL.
ACARS 1.2 introduces a number of enhancements designed to assist in keeping ACARS a friendly yet appropriate communications tool for Delta Virtual pilots. It also introduces a number of reliability enhancements, as well as a flight save feature when using Flight Simulator 2004. ACARS will automatically persist your flight data to disk every four minutes and fifty seconds, and is the ONLY software package that can save and restore flights using the Lonny Payne 757/767 panel without crashing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004.
You can download ACARS 1.2 from the Delta Virtual Fleet Library. We are currently experiencing a problem that prevents us from updating the Fleet Library descriptions, so please disregard the description stating that this is Build 62. It is, in fact, Build 63.
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DVA1651
Senior Captain, MD-11
Joined on April 25 2004
Everett 250 Club
50 State Club
Globetrotter
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Million Mile Club
Eight Century Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
White Pearl Accomplishment
"DAL1651 heavy is type MD-11, ready for blastoff" Nashville, TN
879 legs, 3,275.4 hours
436 legs,
1,621.5 hours online 626 legs,
2,413.4 hours ACARS 28 legs,
89.5 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
February 13 2006 12:45 ET by James Marshall
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Can we choose which airline we're flying the flight for (codeshare)? In the past I haven't used the ACARS on codeshare flights (as much as I've wanted too) because I'll fly a flight for, say, KAL, but I can't PIREP it as a KAL flight; it automatically says I flew a "DVA" flight.
James MarshallSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA2018
Chief Pilot, ERJ-170
OLP, 737-ATP
Joined on November 23 2004
B757 100 Club
50 State Club
Globetrotter
DVA Fleet Master
US Mountaineer Club
US Coastal Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Everett Tri-Millennium Club
Eight Millennium Club
Ten Million Miles and Beyond
Online Thirty Century
Ralston, NE
11,333 legs, 26,371.4 hours
3,951 legs,
7,571.5 hours online 10,098 legs,
21,785.3 hours ACARS 4 legs,
10.7 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
February 13 2006 13:18 ET by Matthew Whitaker
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James I will usually just post it was a codeshare flight in the comments center. Usually the staff will change it to reflect that on the approved PIREP
Matthew WhitakerChief Pilot, ERJ-170
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DVA1909
Captain, B757-200
Joined on September 18 2004
Century Club
"Ang!" Lakewood, CA
167 legs, 500.3 hours
3 legs,
5.8 hours online 104 legs,
337.5 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
February 13 2006 17:37 ET by Colin Stave
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I figure if you put the entire flight code in the "flight number" box (for example: "KAL163") it will be more than clear to your reviewer. Is this an acceptable procedure guys?
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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
2,241 legs, 8,967.3 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online 1,899 legs,
7,760.4 hours ACARS 75 legs,
196.3 hours event 2,277 legs, 9,102.2 hours total 91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
February 13 2006 17:42 ET by Luke Kolin
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That's the best way to do it. If it's a recognized airline code, then it should be accepted - if not, it's a bug. Please note that the code for Air France is AF, and for Korean is KAL, not AFR or KE. It gets converted to DVA in some cases because the flight code field is free form, and if the ACARS server doesn't recognize the airline code on PIREP filing it sets it to DVA, the default.
To ensure accuracy when filing your PIREP, it never hurts to add a remark in the comments.
Cheers!
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA1651
Senior Captain, MD-11
Joined on April 25 2004
Everett 250 Club
50 State Club
Globetrotter
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Million Mile Club
Eight Century Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
White Pearl Accomplishment
"DAL1651 heavy is type MD-11, ready for blastoff" Nashville, TN
879 legs, 3,275.4 hours
436 legs,
1,621.5 hours online 626 legs,
2,413.4 hours ACARS 28 legs,
89.5 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
February 13 2006 22:35 ET by James Marshall
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Alright, thanks! I didn't know that!
James MarshallSenior Captain, MD-11
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