5 April 2004
To All Of Our Pilots,

Unfortunately, we were not able to reach all of our goals during March, as we fell short in the area of correct PIREPs. I encourage everyone to read this post in our Message Boards, which discusses what sort of problems are most common, and how they can and should be fixed. If you fly for Continental, Delta, or Northwest, please be sure to read the "Incorrect Flight Number" section, as this was a problem that was far too common last month. Hopefully we'll be able to add Copa Virtual to our operations next month. However, this was still a good month. Sabena tied its previous high in PIREPs, and Virgin had its most PIREPs since November 2002.

I would like to commend Marlin Yoder and suggest that pilots follow the strong example he has provided. Not only is Marlin our third-longest serving pilot with over 1500 PIREPs, but his last incorrect PIREP was on June 27, 2003, and he has filed 451 correct PIREPs since then.

Air Tahiti Nui Opens Strong
Air Tahiti Nui Virtual, our thirteenth virtual airline, had an excellent first month of operations, with 55 PIREPs, an excellent figure, especially considering the length of its flights. Thanks go to all pilots who supported this opening and have made it a success so far.

Donations
So far we have raised $80 (U.S.) from four pilots to support our financial needs for the rest of the year. These needs include paying for our web hosting and, if all goes as planned, an improved PIREP system for the future. The total cost to implement these is $85, so we have a reasonably healthy balance of funds at this time. If you are interested in making a contribution, please let me know and I will provide you with instructions on how to do so. Thanks go to Chuck Cohen, Michael Kauzlarich, George Meton, and David Velez for their contributions to ensuring our future.

Management Hiring
At this time, we are only hiring for the position of Aircraft Developer, which involves repainting aircraft into liveries that are not currently available. Vacancies that opened up in our management team during March were quickly filled.

Flight Project International
We are planning on joinining FlightProject International (FPI), an online ATC organization similar to eSkyWorld, IVAO, and VATSIM. I encourage you to visit FPI and formulate your own opinion of them should we decide to use them for future events or services.

Paris de Gaulle Fly-In Results/Future Events
Very few pilots showed up for our Paris de Gaulle Fly-In, so, as announced in January, we are not currently planning on having any further fly-ins this year. However, we are planning a live tutorial on flying using VATSIM in May, with further details to be announced next month.

El Al Codeshare Replaced
Our former partner for El Al codeshare flights appears to have closed, so we have reached a new agreement with the El Al division of Israel Airlines. This agreement unfortunately does not cover El Al flights between Brussels and Tel Aviv. However, codeshare flights between Tel Aviv and both Geneva and Zurich will remain, and new routes, between Tel Aviv and both Newark and New York Kennedy will be added on April 5.

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.

Virgin Express To Merge with SN Brussels Airlines
In mid-March, Virgin Express and SN Brussels Airlines reached an agreement to merge their operations into a single airline. Presumably this will include dropping the Virgin name. However, we will continue to operate our Virgin Express flights with all schedules available.

KLM-Air France Merger
The long-term effects of the KLM-Air France merger have become more clear, and it's been predicted that the KLM brand name will be discontinued and that most of the operations on the combined company will be concentrated around Paris. Should that happen, we have decided that KLM Virtual will remain open regardless without any change to their operations.

Our website may experience some downtime this month as we make an upgrade to our server, but we will announce it in advance. Thank you for your continued support of SimAirline.net. Let's make sure to reach our goals this time around.

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