Sky Blue Radio will be celebrating VA Days the third weekend in January on the 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd, 2012. That weekend Virtual Airlines (VA’s) will have the opportunity to promote their airlines for free! on Sky Blue Radio and can enter to win one year of advertising if selected as the Sky Blue Radio Virtual Airline of the Year!

Airlines must submit their intentions no later than January 17^th 2012. If they want SBR to produce their on-air promos they must submit copy no later than January 15^th, 2012.

To be considered for Sky Blue Radios VA of the Year. VA’s must submit a one page summary of what makes their VA unique, and how does it best promote the feeling of community within flight simulation. VA’s do not have to be affiliated with any online network. Each summary will be evaluated by our panel of judges with a winner selected from the submissions. Submissions must be made no later than January 17^th, 2012.

This opportunity is open to all VA’s, however space is limited. Please submit your application to vadays@skyblueradio.com. For more information please go to www.skyblueradio.com/Promotions/Sky Blue Radio VA Days_public.pdf.

Sky Blue Radio broadcasts 24/7 around the world. Listeners can tune in to Sky Blue Radio by accessing our website at skyblueradio.com. Listeners may also tune in via their com 2 radios on 123.45 with our Wee Tune Beastie application available for download on our website. We are now available via Black Berry or iPhone through radiotuner.mobi/SkyBlueRadio; Android listeners can access Sky Blue Radio by downloading Retro Radio, then search for Sky Blue Radio. The station can also be streamed via vRoute and our facebook page.

PilotEdge, the new online flight sim network aimed at student pilots, instrument students, and the commercial market, has announced a free two-week trial. You can now try out our service, which provides guaranteed 15 hours a day, 7 days a week top-quality controllers, for free! See if the network is right for you before spending a penny. PilotEdge is compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, Flight Simulator X, and X-Plane and still has a small number of discounted charter memberships available.

·         Just had that hard day at work?
·         Does the Monday Night Football game feature two lousy teams?
·         Do you want a great ATC filled event?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then come fly in the Moncton/Gander FIRs weekly event, Moncton Mondays starting at 23h00z on the VATSIM network! Each Monday, several airports including Halifax (CYHZ) & Moncton (CYQM) will be staffed within the FIR from top to bottom along with Moncton Center to provide you with a fun and laid back Monday event.

All kinds of traffic are welcome and pilots of all skill levels are invited.

Hawaiian VA is an exact replica of the real world Hawaiian Airlines with matching routes and fleet. The current fleet is composed of Boeing 717-200 and Boeing 767-300, both in freeware and payware models. Hawaiian VA’s route structure offers hundreds of short, under one hour of flight time, hops to breath-taking scenery of the Hawaiian Islands combined with long-range flights to the westen coast of the US, South Pacific, Australia and more.

Hawaiian VA is part of the interMation alliance, allowing its pilots to fly for partner VA’s while being part of Hawaiian. This partnership will allow Hawaiian pilots access to a wide range of flights and aircrafts around the world.

“Our electronic flight bag, is one of the best featuring ACARS, flight assignments, weather, routing, aircraft history, type ratings and much more, ” a company spokesman said.

Employing a highly skilled team of Technical Advisors from the aviation field, PMDG’s development team has daily input from MD-11 Captains, First Officers, Field Technicians, Training Managers and even engineers involved in the design/build of the airplane at Douglas nearly twenty years ago. All of this technical expertise means that the PMDG MD-11 precisely matches it’s majestic real world counterpart.

The aircraft comes in both an FSX and FS2004 edition.

Features include:

• 3DSMax MD-11 Model
• Passenger and Freighter Version
• Airplane Animations
• Dynamic Virtual Cockpit
• Various Panel Perspectives
• Complete Avionics
• Internal Lighting
• Interactive Load Manager
• Flight Management Computer (FMC)
• Complete Systems (FMC, Auto Pilot, etc)
• Customizable Options
• Accurate Flight Model
• Failures Module
• Realistic Sound Set
• Many Liveries

For more information, visit the PMDG MD-11 product page

Have you bought this aircraft already? Tell us your experiences in the comments

Their website is still under construction and they hope to have a Public Affairs Officer in place shortly after the beginning of the year. As the agency grows, the Director has a list of available position as follows:

- Director of Flight Standards
- Training Coordinator
- Director of Operations
- Human Resource Administrator
- Public Affairs Officer
- Member Relations Officer
- North / South American Division Leader
- Chief of Intelligence and Analysis

Interested applicants should visit their website at: www.virtualcia.org, or email the Director directly at: Director@virtualcia.org

“Developments within Vertigo have been coming at pace in recent months primarily focused on upgrading custom scenery packages (of North Sea Oil / Gas platforms) originally designed for FS2004 for use in FSX.  As part of this process “flight scenarios”, again originally designed for FS2004, will be upgraded to FSX missions.  Further plans include a series of enhancements planned for the extensive fleet pages on the Vertigo website along with additions to the fleet to be announced shortly.”

In 2009, Vertigo will be looking forward to celebrating its tenth year of operation and will continue to offer a detailed virtual operation for flight simulator aficionados.

Interested pilots can find more information at the AirWeGo Virtual Airline Group website at:www.airwegogroup.com

Myles Knight, when talking about the new v2.0 release said, “We have now also included vaBase flight planner into the package at no extra cost giving [the consumers] the opportunity to build a feature rich virtual airline at minimal cost.” He went on to say, “[this enables the consumer] to keep up with today’s competition! We have also taken the approach of building a one-stop-shop for VA entrepreneurs with our new design service.”

This move puts vaBase in direct competition with leading VA software provider, Virtual Airline Financial System (VAFS), with vaBase offering more services and capabilities, personalized support and service, and even a webhosting service for virtual airlines looking for a new home on the web– all at a significantly lower cost than the competition. Interested airlines should check out the new vaBase website at www.vabase.com.

The Hawaii Express was an innovator in the Hawaiian inter-island market maintaining two version of its operations– a historically accurate rendition and a contemporary adaptation, both proudly displaying the spirit of The Hawaii Express name.

McKay will take this opportunity to refocus his efforts to revive and relaunch the popular Air Fresno brand name alongside his daughter, Sarah. “Using our tried and true Raytheon/Beech 1900D fleet, and some of the more popular routes,” said the elder McKay, “[Air Fresno] airline is now back in operation with a slim schedule for now.”  Interested pilots can visit Air Fresno’s new website at: www.airfresno.com. Pilots for now-defunct The Hawaii Express wishing to transfer over to the new airline are asked to contact: airfresno@gmail.com for LOA requests or more information. McKay closed his last The Hawaii Express press release saying, “I look forward to returning operations to Air Fresno as we close out our 10th year since it’s creation. I hope to see all of you as well.”

Everyone at VAFlash.com sends our best wishes to everyone at The Hawaii Express and we wish Air Fresno and its newly revitalized management team the very best.

Me ka `oia`i`o aloha ‘oe a hui hou.

“We are very happy with the performance and capabilities the [XB-70] can offer to both our customer and our pilots,” said SynerJet Airline Manager James White, “this aircraft will hopefully bring a boost, not only to the airline’s profitability, but to pilot morale as well.” 

The North American XB-70 was conceived as an answer to the U.S. Strategic Air Command competition for a high-speed, deep-penetration, nuclear-capable delivery platform able to out-fly or outperform any known anti-aircraft weapons or aircraft of its day. Designed in the late 1950′s, the Valkyrie faced a multitude of obstacles from its inception and the program was eventually cancelled in favor of the cheaper intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. Only two (2) XB-70′s were completed. Even after the bomber competition was cancelled, the fully-operational prototypes were used throughout the 60′s and 70′s to study high-speed aero- and thermodynamics and laid the groundwork for projects such as the Rockwell B-1 Lancer and Boeing SST.

The aircraft has a reported ceiling in excess of 77,000 feet at a cruising speed of more than 2,000 kias (mach 3+). Powered by six (6) General Electric YJ93-GE-3 engines, the Valkyrie’s engines were designed to use JP6 jet fuel; however, when the XB-70 program was cancelled, the JP6 standard was cancelled as well. Luckily, through the magic of VAFS, the aircraft now runs on standard ‘fuel’ significantly cutting its already high operating costs.

SynerJet Virtual is using the aircraft for high-speed, high-priority cargo, charging up to $1000.00 US per pound of cargo. “If we depart Singapore at 6:00 am local time,” explains SynerJet Airline Director Alex Garcia, “we can potentially deliver a package to Los Angeles at 6:00 pm- the previous day.” 

Pilots interested in flying the legendary aircraft should check out their website for more information.