1 March 2004
To All Of Our Pilots,

As you probably know, our website was unavailable from 21 February to 25 February. These problems were caused by an issue involving the renewal our website hosting package, and have since been resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we are glad to report that operations have resumed and are proceeding normally. Several small changes will result, and they are outlined below.

Donations Requested
Our website host reported that they are no longer able to supply full hosting, and that they are asking for $25 (U.S.) per year to continue our current hosting, which has been paid for. However, we would like to ask for your financial support to help offset this cost, in recommended amounts between $1 and $5, payable by mailed check to me. If you are willing and able to help, please email me and I will provide you with further information. Funds received above the $25 will be used to remove advertisements in our Message Boards and in our numerous forms, such as the PIREPs.

Air Tahiti Nui Virtual to Open
As a result of the website shutdown, we don't have an accurate count of how well our monthly goals were fulfilled this month, but because we were on pace to reach our goals, and in appreciation for your support during our downtime, we will be adding our thirteenth virtual airline, Air Tahiti Nui Virtual, today. Our monthly goals this month will be to try to add the operations of Copa Airlines.

Management Hiring
We are currently hiring for four management positions, and we need the last three filled to reach our monthly goals. These positions are Copa Fleet Manager, Sabena Fleet Manager, Scenery Manager, and Schedules Manager.

Changes to Alaska
Alaska Airlines Virtual was forced to rebrand itself as Alaska Virtual last month because of a request from the real airline to dissociate us from them. This included removing their images and logos from our website, as well as renaming the airline. Our operations have not changed.

Monthly Operations Report
While we did not reach out monthly goal for retention due to the website downtime, we did meet all of our other goals, including an excellent performance in the one that was so elusive last month, the level of correct PIREPs filed. We did set a new high for Inactive Pilots, which helped our retention level.

Paris de Gaulle Fly-In
Our second fly-in of the year will take place at Paris de Gaulle on March 20, hosted by VATSIM. As a reminder, if we do not have at least 20 participating pilots, then fly-ins will be discontinued for the remainder of the year. Further information regarding the exact time and registration information will be announced soon.

Internship Help Requested
I am currently looking into summer internships with various U.S. airlines. If you know of any personal contacts that could assist me in obtaining an internship position, please let me know.

Personal Travel
I will be flying on Horizon and Northwest later this month, through Medford, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland, OR, and Seattle-Tacoma. If you wish to meet me at any of these airports, please let me know.

Once again, thank you for your support through the difficult days our website was unavailable this month. Your continued commitment to SimAirline.net and its virtual airlines is greatly appreciated. Thank you for flying for us, and I hope you enjoy our newest virtual airline.

Aaron Robinson
aaron.robinson@simairline.net
AOL Instant Messenger: SimAirlineNet