Canadian Xpress^® would like to invite all pilots to join us on Saturday February 18^th, 2012 at 20h30est (01h30z) for our February Monthly Fly-In where we will fly from Italy direct to Venice over the most famous Italian cities; Naples, Rome and Florence.

Departing from Palermo (LICJ) in Sicily, we will fly to Venice Marco Polo International (LIPZ) for the Venice Carnival. We will then take a gondola and cross the Canal Grande to Venice S. Nicolò (LIPV) where we will depart and fly over the Dolomites to Bolzano (LIPB), a nice town in South Tirol.

This is an open invitation to all pilots no matter what your flying experience to attend this Canadian Xpress^® sponsored event that will be flown on the VATSIM network.

More information regarding this event including charts and optional add-on scenery can be viewed by clicking here or by visiting our web site at http://CanadianXpress.ca .

See you on Saturday the 18^th.

Heavy traffic between Pittsburgh and Washington.

As Vella la Vella which is the home base of the Blacksheep does not exist in Flight Simulator, we will be departing from the next closest island Gizo (AGGN) and fly over Bougainville Island and land at Buka (AYBK) and then continue on north east flying the airport of Tokua to the north side of the bay and the city of Rabaul, where Pappy was shot down. We will then turn back and end our journey at Tokua (AYTK).

This is an open invitation to all pilots no matter what your flying experience to attend this Canadian Xpress® sponsored event that will be flown on the VATSIM network.

More information regarding this event including charts and optional add-on scenery can be viewed by clicking here or by visiting our web site at http://CanadianXpress.ca .

See you on Saturday the 21st.

NEW YORK, New York – Phoenix Virtual Airways (PVA) will be allowing all pilots to fly any of the 1,311 aircraft in the fleet from 17 December through 24 December so as many pilots as possible can get “home” for the holidays. For PVA pilots, home is one of the five crew centers located in the United States and Europe. This event also serves as an open house for new pilots to try out everything PVA has to offer without any restrictions on what aircraft can be flown.

“Typically we have some restrictions on the aircraft a pilot can fly depending on their rank,” commented Joe Espino, Executive Vice President and Chief Pilot. “Events like this allow everyone to stretch the legs a bit and try out larger aircraft.”

“We try to lift the restrictions on a semi-regular basis, but keep them most of the time to provide everyone a sense of accomplishment,” added Michael Moro, CEO.

PVA is coming up on two years of continuous operations and is one of the most complete virtual airlines available for the Microsoft Flight Simulator platform. They rely on heavy automation to make it easy for pilots to book and fly one of the more than 140,000 flights in the system. While pilots normally have to gain sufficient rank to fly some aircraft, PVA sponsors a number of events throughout the year to allow pilots to enjoy all of the flights available.

Said one new member of PVA shortly after joining, “I am really happy to have joined [PVA]. Indeed what I like most about it are the following things:

• You can fly [almost] any airline, which makes access to almost any airport in the world (and that’s a big plus!)
• The Acars system is really the very best with exhaustive features …. I have ever met (and I have met some)… Really Chapeau to Phoenix Team!
• The promotion system makes one wanna make more hours to fly new airplanes … excellent!
• The website provides the most exhaustive analysis and statistics compared to anything I know.
• The missions and Tours available! Really Good.”

Phoenix Virtual Airways provides virtual flight crew services to 312 airlines serving over 2,800 destinations worldwide. Built using a custom Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) and phpVMS, Phoenix Virtual Airways is a leader in virtual airline automation and realism. Flight Simulator pilots using either FS9 or FSX are encouraged to become part of their community of fun loving, dedicated, flight simulator fans. Find out more by visiting the PVA website at http://www.phoenixva.org.

Contact:
Chuck Topinka, Public Relations
chuck.topinka@phoenixva.org

Canadian Xpress® would like to invite all pilots to join us on Sunday December 18^th, 2011 at 20h00est (01h00z) for our December Monthly Fly-In where we will fly in Northern Ontario and up to Moosonee, the Gateway to the Arctic.

Departing from Sudbury (CYSB), we will fly north to Moosonee (CYMO). Aircraft such as the PC12, B190, AT72, JS31, JS41, etc. are ideal for this flight.

This is an open invitation to all pilots no matter what your flying experience to attend this Canadian Xpress^® sponsored event that will be flown on the VATSIM network.

More information regarding this event including charts and optional add-on scenery can be viewed by clicking here or by visiting our web site at http://CanadianXpress.ca .

See you on Sunday the 18^th.

As Christmas and New Year are only about a month away, Platinum Airways will be devoting its forthcoming Destination of the Week theme to what can probably be called the most ultimate gift: diamonds. Diamonds are forever will first take us to Kimberley, South Africa (FAKM), scene of the 19th Century diamond rush in the vicinity of the Big Hole and the de Beers farm. We will then continue to London City Airport (EGLC), not far from the Central Selling Organisation, the most important diamond trading institution. From London, it’s just a short hop across the Channel, to Antwerp, Belgium (EBAW), with its 500 year involvement in diamond cutting and trading. The final Diamonds are forever destination is Mumbai, India (VABB), another major trading centre not too far from India’s cutting industry capital, Surat. And Diamonds are forever will also take us to Santa’s home hub of Rovaniemi Airport, Finland (EFRO), where our pilots may find some diamonds for delivery. Diamonds are forever promises to be a very informative theme.

Last month’s introduction of a reward system for Military mission flights, with ribbons being awarded for completed flights, proved to be very successful. Military flights have increased dramatically and Platinum Airways management has responded by moving the Military section to the publicly available part of the virtual airline’s website. Still, significant website sections are only available to members, such as the forum and downloads.

About Platinum Airways:
Keen to deliver on its mission to keep the fun in the hobby, Platinum Airways is probably the only virtual airline to combine an Open Skies policy, allowing its pilots to fly any mission of their choice with the aircraft of their choice at the time of their choice, with a strategic hub network. The carefully selected hubs, Newark (KEWR), Dallas-Fort Worth (KDFW), Vancouver (CYVR), Perth (YPPH) and Brussels (EBBR), should be attractive to a global membership. In addition, Platinum Airways offers its pilots a Destination of the Week and Relief and Military Missions. Sticking to the KISS principle (Keep It Straight and Simple), Platinum Airways hosts an active forum and a screenshot of the week competition, with the winner providing the main picture on its home page for the next week.
For more information, please visit www.platinumairways.org or mail info [at] platinumairways.org.

Join us on Saturday November 12th at 8pm EST on Teamspeak and Vatsim for a special farewell event to mark the end of Washington Dulles’s 4 year service as a MetroAir Hub and to welcome Baltimore as our new East Coast home. The event will allow for a fly-out of IAD or a fly-in to BWI. If you’re feeling adventurous, do both!

If you do plan on doing both the fly-out and the fly-in, here are some suggested routes to allow you to complete all legs within the scheduled time for the event.

IAD>Chicago>BWI
IAD>Raleigh>BWI
IAD>Toronto>BWI
IAD>Boston>BWI
IAD>Detroit>BWI

If you are joining us for only the fly-out portion, try to fly out of Washington Dulles between 8 and 9pm EST. If you are joining us for the fly-in portion, try to fly into Baltimore Washington between 9pm and midnight EST. We are planning for the 777 ferry flight piloted by Mr. James Hepburn to be arriving at BWI around 11pm EST.

Washington has been MetroAir hub for 4 years and is one of the longest serving within the Airlines history. During its 4 year history Washington has flown more than 23,000 flights which acounts to more than 50% of the total flights metro air has filed during its 5 years. Many of the top filing pilots for Dulles are no longer with us, but some do remain such as Derrick Medlin, David Izzi, Tim Moskal, Diego Pedraglio and Michael Sarver. This is your last chance to be part of Washington’s legacy before Baltimore takes the limelight.

For those pilots who do take part in this Farewell event they will be given the new “iad2bwi” livery or reimbursed MetroMiles if already downloaded. So we hope to see you all there to fly the flag for Washington one final time.

Check MetroAir Virtual Airlines out at: http://www.metroairvirtual.com

The new "iad2bwi" commemorative livery

Canadian Xpress® would like to invite all pilots to join us on Saturday November 19^th, 2011 at 09h00est (14h00z) for our November Monthly Fly-In where where we ditch the cold of the Canadian Fall and head for Island Paradise in the French Polynesia.

Departing from Rarotonga (NCRG) on the Cook Islands, we head off for a 600 nm flight to Papeete (NTAA) which is the main hub for local island resorts. So plan the first leg with a CRJ7, A320, B737, or Citation X style of aircraft.

From Papeete (NTAA), you will need to switch to a smaller aircraft as we are only a short 150 nm from Bora Bora (NTTB) that has a 4,800 ft runway. White sandy beaches and grass huts are waiting for us.

This is an open invitation to all pilots no matter what your flying experience to attend this Canadian Xpress^® sponsored event that will be flown on the VATSIM network.

More information regarding this event including charts and optional add-on scenery can be viewed by clicking here or by visiting our web site at http://CanadianXpress.ca .

See you on Saturday the 19^th.

Platinum Airways has announced its November theme for its Destination of the Week feature. With “It’s the runway, stupid!” the very virtual airline will be visiting four very special runways and airports. The theme runs from 30 October to 27 November 2011.

“It’s the runway, stupid!” will be visiting some of the world’s most peculiar runways. Consider Barra, Scotland (EGPR), the world’s only airport offering a scheduled service with three runways located on the beach. Or Funchal, Madeira (LPMA), with a runway extension built on pylons over land and sea, and with a parking garage underneath, given the Outstanding Structures Award by the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering? The third destination is Wellington, New Zealand (NZWN), which guarantees rough landings and wonderful sightings for wind surfers within 100 m – 300 ft of the runway. The final “It’s the runway, Stupid!” destination is one of Asia’s man-made airports, Kansai, Japan (RJBB), located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay.

In addition to its very popular Destination of the Week feature, the Relief section has been very active over the past month. While continuing to service several airports in the drought stricken Horn of Africa, Platinum Airways is organising relief flights into Bangkok’s two airports, Central America and eastern Turkey. As with DOTW destinations, charts and scenery files are provided when available. Platinum Airways recently introduced a reward system for Military mission flights, with ribbons being awarded for completed flights.

About Platinum Airways:

Keen to deliver on its mission to keep the fun in the hobby, Platinum Airways is probably the only virtual airline to combine an Open Skies policy, allowing its pilots to fly any mission of their choice with the aircraft of their choice at the time of their choice, with a strategic hub network. The carefully selected hubs, Newark (KEWR), Dallas-Fort Worth (KDFW), Vancouver (CYVR), Perth (YPPH) and Brussels (EBBR), should be attractive to a global membership. In addition, Platinum Airways offers its pilots a Destination of the Week and Relief and Military Missions. Sticking to the KISS principle (Keep It Straight and Simple), Platinum Airways hosts an active forum and a screenshot of the week competition, with the winner providing the main picture on its home page for the next week.

For more information, please visit www.platinumairways.org or mail info [at] platinumairways.org.

Join us in Nelson to learn more about this great regional carrier, to get some insight into the operational side of Air Nelson, and to learn more about the Bombardier Dash8/Q300 aircraft and this fabulous airport and environment. Your turbo-prop sim-flying experience will never be the same again

Early birds will be arriving friday night for a quick catchup and intros. The event proper will run all day Saturday, with planned activities including talks by Air Nelson’s Ground Instructor, the Flight Operations Manager and other Air Nelson staff subject to rostering. We hope to get a tour of the Tower and other facilities during the day, and will have a BBQ or evening social event to wind things up.

To find out more about the weekend’s plans please download the PDF following….
http://www.virtualairnz.com/share/vANZ-Nelson-Get-together-2011.pdf

And if you decide to join us register your interest on the form on the following page:
http://www.virtualairnz.com/form-contact.php?who=events&what=nelson2011

We look forward to seeing you in Nelson.