2 April 2006
To All Of Our Pilots,

I'm pleased to announce the opening of SimAirline.net's new roster system later this month (currently expected to be 10 April), which will allow more frequent roster updates and a personal online logbook for pilots. Special notes about what's different will be shown after logging in to the system.

Because time zone differences between Europe and North America were an hour greater than usual from 26 March to 2 April, if you flew a PIREP in that timeframe, please adjust your flight times when filing a PIREP so that the flight time and the arrival/departure time from the hub airport of that airline remain the same.

Thanks go to our those participating in the roster design and testing process for the past year: Kyle Bissell, Mark Hubbert, Brandon Jones, John Kay, Mike Lewis, Timothy Lincoln, Manuel Okolisan, Gabe Pfeiffer, Josh Plave, Aaron Shakin, and Andrew Vipond. Special thanks go to Ali Abou-Zeid for designing and programming the system.

Monthly Goals Adjusted for this Month
Recognizing that a perfect transition to the new roster system is impossible, and that it will be impossible to file PIREPs for the first third of the month, this month's goals for virtual airline expansion will only be to fill our vacant management positions. Please consider applying for the five open at this time.

Management Hiring
SimAirline.net is currently hiring for five critical management positions: ANA Fleet Manager, Downloads Manager, Korean Air Fleet Manager, South African Fleet Manager, and Varig Fleet Manager. These positions must be filled before we can consider expansion to our future virtual airlines: Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Cathay Pacific/Dragonair, China Southern, Frontier, Jet Airways, Pan American, and Thai. A string of unexpected resignations from the end of last year created a fall that we have still not recovered from.

More Contributions Needed
So far this year pilots have been generous enough to donate $308.98 to SimAirline.net, but that's still short of the $686.84 received last year, and well short of our goal of $1000 for the year. Please consider making a contribution to SimAirline.net to help ensure our future.

First Route Maps Available
The first of our route maps, for Air Tahiti Nui , Concorde, Hawaiian, and Virgin Nigeria, are now available. More will be added over the coming months, starting with virtual airlines with fewer destinations. Assuming a rate of one per week, all route maps should be available by late September. As a result of the Route Maps being added, Flight Requests will be eventually removed to reduce our financial costs, and because they are largely redundant with the arrival of Route Maps. Special thanks go to Josh Plave in the design process.

New AI Traffic Offerings
New AI Traffic Manager Yaroslav Malyshev has compiled AI Traffic for six of our virtual airlines airlines so far, with more coming soon. 

Sound Packages Added
Thanks to Don Geddes and Nick Anderson, dozens of sound packages have been added over the last two months, with sounds available for nearly every aircraft type and specially matched to ensure correct engine types.

El Al Codeshare Closed
Because of the disappearance of El Al Israel Virtual Airlines, we have had to end our codeshare agreement. Fortunately, the majority of codeshare routes are unaffected, as most of them are currently flown by our virtual airlines as well. El Al codeshare PIREPs will be accepted through the end of the month.

Virtual Airline of the Month - Continental Virtual
This month's featured virtual airline is Continental Virtual, which flies to the second most destinations of any of our virtual airlines. More information on Continental Virtual, including selected screenshots, can be found here.

World Tour - Asia/Oceania
This month's World Tour flies the routes of ten of our virtual airlines in a tour of eleven countries in Asia and Oceania.

The opening of our new roster system should help ensure a strong future for SimAirline.net and its virtual airlines. Thank you for helping create our success.

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