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Welcome to a new year! We are excited about some things that we have in the works behind the scenes which should begin rolling out to you over the next 2-4 months, but we also need your help. We want to hear from you to help us serve you better and make sure that we put effort into the correct places to ensure that your experience with us is second to none. Our 2026 Pilot survey has just opened and will remain open for two weeks (survey will close at 2359 Central on February 27, 2026). To take the survey please utilize this link (https://forms.gle/qhkAXv27Y1yngbYE7) or utilize the links posted on the main website, our forums, and Discord. This survey is completely optional and anonymous, but will help us greatly with ensuring that we are keyed in to specific areas while we continuously look to improve! Staff Updates We have some exciting news and updates regarding some new additions to our team, as well as a few moves with members already on our team. Former Vice President of Training, Eric T., has been named the new Vice President of Technology. He will help oversee the finalization of web and development projects that have been ongoing for the past year as we gear up for a web refresh and some additional exciting technology. Current DC-9 Chief Pilot, Matt M., has been promoted to the first ever Director of Flight. He will be in charge of overseeing the FlightAcademy upgrade courses and ensure that uncovered courses are being handled in a timely manner to ensure your progression within the VA is smooth. Matt will remain the DC-9 Chief Pilot as well. We have two new additions to the Chief Pilot room with Eric B. joining us as the E175 Chief Pilot, and Jay H. joining us as the new DC-10 Chief Pilot. Please congratulate all four of these gentlemen when you see them on Discord! We are currently still hiring as well for Chief Pilots in the following programs; ERJ-145, CRJ-200/700/900, Saab 340, ATR-72, B707, DC-3, and A330. Please note that by volunteering for one of these positions, you are not limited to flying only in that program and will not lose any previously held ranks or type ratings (for example, a Group III Captain with a B777 type rating could be the ERJ-145 Chief Pilot). If you are at all interested in any of those positions, please utilize the “Career Opportunities” under the “Headquarters” tab on the main website, or visit the forums at https://forums.aalva.org for more information! Brand Store We have finally completed the move over to a new brand store supplier after many issues with the previous one (I am still waiting on an order from the previous store). The new store keeps active in stock tracking and not only communicates to us when a product is out of stock, but marks it as “Out of Stock” on the store so that you aren’t buying something they don’t have the ability to make right then and there for you. I have personally purchased items from the new store as well and can say that the quality of items are even better while pricing is even more competitive than before. Feel free to check it out at https://shop.aalva.org. I’ll leave with this teaser image of something cool we have been working on with the website refresh aimed at expanding your options, bringing more features, and incorporating more into the main website to make your life easier! Stay tuned for more, and blue skies to you in the meantime.

As we enter the last month of Q3 2025 and summer fades to fall, we have some pretty exciting things going on here at vAAirlines that we are ready to share! Over the past two weeks we completed server maintenance that should bring better speed to the website and allow you to continue to utilize our servers with minimal delay. I’d like to thank those who helped report and track down bugs as we brought the website back online. We’ve updated the crew portal website to version 1.2 bringing a few smaller updates to you, but more on that below. Website Updates We recently pushed new updates that should improve speed and performance for all users even when accessing large data pulls such as complex searches on the flight search page. We have also added a new “Airline Awards” under the “Activities” tab to give you an opportunity to see what awards are available, and how to get them. It also showcases past awards that users have earned! As always, you can see individual awards on a user’s profile (including your own). The update also allows for us to continue to update/upgrade the JetNet ACARS program as it continues to progress from it’s developer. X-Plane users may need to update their X-Plane plugin depending on their version of the ACARS (seems to be on 2.1 and later while the 2.0 stable release from the website should be unaffected). To do so, simply follow the X-Plane specific information on this page again after updating to ensure you are running the latest plugin. FOM Update We have also just released v2.7 of the FOM (fom.aalva.org) which adds a few new items to help out with our latest addition which is called the “Seasonal Series”. Partners are crucial in the airline industry and American Airlines’ OneWorld partners are global leaders in helping to connect the world. We wanted to help our members explore the virtual world of that partnership while not drifting too far away from our mission to be the most realistic simulate of American Airlines and also not venture into becoming just another “OneWorld Virtual Airline”. The idea was sparked to create a temporary exploration schedule featuring one of the OneWorld alliance partners at a time, for a limited time, to give our members the chance to unlock a few more destinations and adventures. These partners would have aircraft from our existing fleet added (sorry, no A350 or A380, etc) to a small sample size of the schedule from that partner unlocking anywhere from 20-50 new flights. Some of the airports will still connect to our current schedule to allow for a connected logbook if a user wishes to keep one, and a special Tour or two will be added to allow you to earn special award badging to be displayed on your profile. Welcome to the vAAirlines Seasonal Series! Our first series will kick off tomorrow, September 1, 2025, featuring Iberia and their A319, A320, A321, and A330 fleet. To find these flights, simply use the “OneWorld Seasonal” airline operator on the flight search page. These are not CAT FREE unless vAAirlines as a whole is currently in a CAT FREE period, so if you do not have the A32F or A330 type ratings you will not see the flights until you earn the type rating, or are able to take part in a CAT FREE timeframe if one is announced! The schedule for each series is set and will be as follows; • vAAirlines Spring Series – 01 March thru 30 April • vAAirlines Summer Series – 01 June thru 31 July • vAAirlines Autumn Series – 01 September thru 31 October • vAAirlines Winter Series – 01 December thru 31 January The associated tour(s) will be posted at the same time that the flights go live to kick off each series, and will remain open for the same duration. We hope you enjoy exploring some more of the world with our new Seasonal Series, and can not wait to see your screenshots in Discord! If you have not yet joined the Discord, use any of the links in the Pilot Portal (crew.aalva.org) to get started and to get connected with your fellow pilots. Thank you for taking the time to read this update and we will be back soon with new adventures, updates, and information!

Join us on June 29, 2025 at 1500 Central (2000 Zulu) for a birthday celebration of the ages! Sponsored by PMDG, Flight1, Imaginesim, and Verticalsim, we are gathering to celebrate 5 years of vAAirlines operations while giving back to our members by giving away copies of some of the most popular addons currently available on the market. PMDG has brought the heavy lifting by giving one lucky winner a copy of their brand new 777 for MSFS20/24 and Flight1 is taking the excitement to the MAX with a copy of their stunning 737 MAX8 for MSFS20/24. American Airlines and KDFW go hand in hand, so Imaginesim has decided the party could not be complete without giving out a copy of their newest scenery for MSFS20/24, KDFW, and Verticalsim has come through in a major way to make flights more scenic with some of their top-level sceneries, KRSW and KTPA for MSFS20/24, going to our members as well. The vAAirlines staff will also be providing gift cards to stores like Simmarket, Contrail, and more! Interested in winning? All you have to do is be an active vAAirlines pilot and join the group flight from MIA to DFW on June 29, 2025 with us on VATSIM and our Discord. Winners will be selected around halfway through the flight via our Discord. To enter for the drawing, make sure you’re a member of the Discord before 1500 Central (2100 Zulu) on June 29, 2025 to express interest in items that you would like to win via a poll posted. The poll will close at 1500 and entries will be locked in at that time! Pilots who were on the seniority list prior to this announcement will be eligible to triple their entries and receive three entries per addon that they have expressed interest in instead of the normal one entry for those who join after this announcement as an extra “thank you” for helping us get to year 5. Rules: No purchase necessary. All specific addon products have been graciously donated to us directly from their creation companies. Staff members are not eligible to enter the drawings and winnings are reserved for general pilots only. Drawings will take place roughly halfway through the flight and randomly spun via a live video feed for transparency. Members on the seniority list prior to the announcement will automatically have any entry they make for a product doubled and there is no need to enter twice. Good luck, and we look forward to celebrating with you all very soon!

It’s almost hard to believe that it has already been 5 years since we first officially started up our operations with just a few pilots, a few beta testers, and a few staff members eager and ready to see if we could make a vision come true. That vision was to create the most realistic simulate of American Airlines operations with an emphasis on creating an environment where users could continue to learn about our hobby, aviation in general, and experience a virtual career as if you were a pilot for the real world airline. As someone who first got my start in aviation with home flight simulators and flying on the VATSIM network, and who now is lucky enough to get paid to fly one of my all time favorite aircraft for an amazing company with even better people, I wanted an opportunity to hopefully inspire some to follow in my footsteps or give an opportunity to those who may not be able to do so, to still get a glimpse into some of the day-to-day operations and experiences. Over the past 5 years we have been truly blessed to have had such an amazing team of staff volunteers continue to join the ranks and allow us to grow into the largest American Virtual Airline by pilots as well as stay at the forefront of innovation with leading technological advancements, adoptions, and continuing to advocate for you all for a better future for flight simulation moving forward. Our training and progression program is still one of a kind and has continued to grow, evolve, and succeed thanks to the work of our VP of Training, Eric T., and his group of Group Chief Pilots made up of B737 Chief Jose P. (who also doubles as our Director of Marketing), A320 Chief Nathanael S., DC-9 Chief Matt M., B777 Chief Joe D., B787 Chief Algernon L., and B757 Chief Jadan J. who all also cover various other programs to try and get you all the fastest responses as you continue through your virtual career with us. Our Senior VP/COO, Alex B., and the remaining Executive Staff Team made up of VP of Human Resources, Taikwan B., VP of Strategic Growth, EJ D., (and of course the aforementioned VP of Training, Eric T.) have gone above and beyond during their time with us to ensure that operations continue to run as smoothly and seamlessly as possible, while also meeting and exceeding the high expectations set for each of them. We truly would not be where we are today without each and every one of them who often sacrifice their own free time to spend a few extra minutes every day to try and make vAAirlines just a little bit better- and it truly shows. The absolute bottom line though is that we appreciate each and every one of you who have decided to sign up with us and dedicate some of your own free time daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly, to help continue to grow the community and propel us forward into many more years of celebrating milestones. We could have all of the technology, real world schedules, a great staff team, and all of the other bells and whistles but would still be absolutely nowhere without each and every one of you who clicked on “Register” and started your journey with us. Regardless if you have been here for the entire 5 years, or just signed up 5 minutes ago, I can comfortably speak for each and every one of the staff members when I say, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being here and thank you for continuing to choose us to spend some of your very valuable time, experience, and passion with. As we wind down on our official birthday, I have 3 challenges for you; Get involved – join us on our Discord (Links can be found in the pilot portal) and share more of your journey with us and your fellow pilots! Our VP of Strategic Growth, EJ D., has taken on the task of getting our social media accounts running with more content of higher quality, so feel free to interact with those as we continue to expand. If time allows, consider volunteering some of your time as well and apply to one of our open staff positions which can be found here. Step out of your comfort zone – take advantage of some of our monthly and quarterly pilot challenges (currently we have a challenging airport competition open from DFW-EGE that ends at the end of the month – details are on our Discord), and hop on for one of our VATSIM group flights or just pop in to the voice chat to say hello if you see us flying but can not join in right at the moment! Take care of yourself and one another – in a time where it can often be easy to focus on our differences, take a moment to flip that script and connect with your fellow vAAirlines members while taking comfort in knowing that we all are here because we have fallen in love with aviation to some degree, and all have a deep passion for flight simulation. Make sure that you are taking care of yourself and your family outside of the flight sim world, and know that you do have over 600 other virtual pilots here in case you do ever need anything. We are very fortunate to have experience from all corners of the globe, all different industries, and all different ages that come together with a common love for what we do, and it has truly been amazing to see the community continue to grow and evolve. Thank you again for everything you personally have done to help keep us around, and I personally look forward to getting to know you more and (once I start to get some seniority and a better schedule ) fly with you as well! -Torrance