Seasons Greetings

ATAVS 7.6 was released today, on December 18th, 2010. This new version incorporates a lot of changes and is the de facto flight reporting software at AeroTexas beginning January 1st, 2011, but you can download it and use it today!

One of the features of the this version will be a new way to validate aircraft. In the past aircraft validation has required modifying aircraft.cfg files. No longer! Now members can make use of more aircraft through an aircraft verification system that has much more flexibility - during beta testing we catalogued more than 300 different aircraft. You can view the current list of approved aircraft at http://aerotexas.com/aircraftlist.html Requests for additons to this list are made only through the "Verify Aircraft" option in ATAVS.

Additional features of the new ATAVS include a customizable pre-flight function that will set the autopilots and heading indicator as well as the flaps and trim. Optional cabin and crew sounds, including pushbacks, checklists, and cabin announcements are also included. This requires some Realplayer components, which are included, but some users have reported they also needed to install Realplayer to get it to work. Finally, this new version of ATAVS includes an option to sync your FS clock to the real world clock. It has been tested pretty thoroughly in FS9 - not so sure about FSX. If you have any questions about the new version of ATAVS you can always send me or any of the Partners an e-mail. However, I have also created an ATAVS Support forum on the website that you may find helpful. Members of the beta team will be watching the Members Only forum over the next few weeks to answer general questions.Please note: after January 1st, 2011, flight reports sent using older versions of ATAVS will not be accepted.

WHERE WE FLY - YOU RETURN

This year the AeroTexas flight system was extensively revised, and route verification was reinstated. With route verification now back in place, you should check the website to see what flights are available before you begin your flight. Even with route verification you should still be able to log most, if not all, of your flights - no matter where you go or what aircraft you use. So cross-logging, exploration flights, and personal non-system flights can still be logged as long as you use ATAVS. However, and this is critical, Non System Flights (NSF) will not count toward official promotions, achievements, or awards.

What flights are valid?
1. All flights on the routes page, including flights for Trans Texas Airways.
2. All cargo flights.
3. Return flights.
4. Special Events

Return flights include any flight that when completed would result in the return of an aircraft to its original point of departure. Basically it's flying a stranded aircraft back where it belongs. Credit for these flights is granted only when flown with the specified aircraft equipment type. For example, if you flew a 737-400 from Austin to Houston, and then to Cancun, the return flight from Cancun to Austin would be considered a valid flight, even though it is not published on the website. Another example would be the return leg of a cargo flight, just remember to use the same type of aircraft to get credit. You may only fly your own return flights and you view the status of these flights from your Members Only page. Remember - return flights are your flights and can not be viewed or flown by anyone else.

FOR MEMBERS ONLY

Now when you login at aerotexas.com you'll find even more features and tools to help you move ahead with your career at AeroTexas. Included are two separate logbooks (more on this later), your own personal awards page with ribbons for various achievments, statistics on aircraft you've flown, a list of authorized return flights (more on this later too), special member's only routefinder, and of course links to our own fuel planning tools, dispatcher loadsheets, and more.

LIVE FLIGHT DISPLAY

inFlight has now been updated with Ajax! No that's not a cleaning solution, but it certainly has improved our live flight display. inFlight is our own flight tracker and it uses the latest web technology to display and update enroute aircraft without even refreshing the page. (Note: we're also working on a mobile browser version!) http://aerotexas.com/inFlight

TWO ROUTEFINDERS

That's right! One for us and another for all the rest. Seriously, though - the routefinder in the Members Only is capable of generating flight paths along airways, including Victor and Jet airways, Q routes, Atlantic routes and others. The one available to everyone else, which is on the home page, is for VOR and INS navigation only.

NORTH ATLANTIC TRACKS

AeroTexas Aviation International now keeps an updated map of the North Atlantic Tracks (NATs). NATs are heavily-traveled routes that connect North America to Europe across the Atlantic Ocean. There are west bound and east bound routes. These routes change daily. AeroTexas maps the NATs and updates track listings daily. http://aerotexas.com/natmap.html

SPECIAL EVENTS

Our new events page is your gateway to international routes, online fly-ins, and other special flights. Event flights, especially online events, are open to all members, and usually come with no equipment restrictions. WEecurrently have several events set up to support international service, including a tour of Austria.

MUCKY METEOROLOGY MADE MUCKIER

Mango Air Cargo is still delivering an hourly dose of the worst weather on the map. The dispatcher was tweaked recently to take advantage of all the rain and snow we've had, and it's been good!

NEW FLIGHT VERIFICATION PAGE

Use the flight verification page to see if your next flight is approved for corporate flight reporting, or to find connecting flights. Can also be used to explore hundrds of available flights that may no longer be on the website, yet are still valid. For example, cargo flights are issued hourly, adding literally hundreds of new flights to the system every month, but persist in the system indefinitely. Note that you do not need to use this if your flight is currently published on the website - those will always be valid flights.

ANNUAL FLIGHT CHECK

There was no annual flight check this year. Please note that beginning early next year members who have not logged a flight in more than three months will be removed from the roster. Also, members who have been on leave, or are still on leave and have not reported a flight in the previous year will also be removed from the roster.

TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Next year AeroTexas will celebrate 10 years as a virtual airline. I welcome any ideas you might have about how we can celebrate this anniversary. There is a topic on the forum dedicated to this as well.

Well that's it folks! I wish you a very happy and safe holiday season. I look forward to next year as we bring Lone Star Service to the World!

June Update

I hope you've had a chance to visit the website this year. If not, then you're in for quite a surprise. http://aerotexas.com was revamped with a fully CSS compliant new web design written in XHTML. As in the past the site is divided into two areas: public and private (i.e., Members Only). One goal of this design was to improve the experience for members. The private area is accessed though a login system as before, but now the login id and password is specific to each user. The result is each member has their own personal page. From there members can edit their user profile to update their e-mail address, location, and password. Members can also access fleet downloads and the latest version of ATAVS. Each member is highlighted on this page, and has private links to their logbook, flight statistics and endorsements, and even a map of the last 100 flights. There are still a few places that need some work, but it's coming together.

Fleet Changes: The AeroTexas fleet has changed incrementally over the years. In the past, space and bandwidth limitations forced us to focus on just a few aircraft. We now have access to more drive space and a higher bandwidth limit. What this means is that you are likely to see more aircraft packages added to the fleets pages. For support we will still focus on two official aircraft per service class (i.e., two turbocraft, two regional jets, two large jets, two heavy jets, etc.), yet I hope we can extend the number of available aircraft in every service. That's good news for you, because Tommie Wood continues to oversee aircraft acquisition, paints like crazy, and packages everything up in fantastic tidy packages for members. And those packages are so tidy that they really require very little actual support. Tommie recently completed some ATX textures for proprietary aircraft, and is working on a replacement for the Beech 1900 (it's an AT72), and a 747SP for international and cargo service. As a side note, I have created a set of textures for the POSKY Embraer 135 Legacy, and that will be available on the website by this weekend.

Partnership with FourFlights: Members can now log flights to destinations on the fourflights.com website, where one destination for each of the four flight rules are displayed: VFR, MVFR, IFR, and LIFR. Additionally, the 20 closest airports to each of the destinations are also displayed. Members can choose any route pair and log time flown on routes. Technically these will be denoted as charter flights, and can be flown as passenger or cargo type.

AeroTexas Forum: The forum can be accessed from your Members page. This is a new forum so you'll have to register to use it, but the upside is it now has the capability for you to upload and share screenshots from your flights, we well as chat with others about airline operations, online flying, and other topics.

Branding: A few months ago our newest partner, Ben Holzer, showed me some design work he had finished for a class project. I thought it was about the neatest thing I had ever seen - an AeroTexas vintage logo, based on an early TTA design. Tommie has added this logo to some of our newer aircraft and I think it looks great. Should we change our official logo? Maybe it's time to rebrand AeroTexas. What do you think?

RouteFinder: actually we have two of these now. One can be accessed by the public, has advertisements, and is limited to VOR navigation. The other dynamically finds routes along Victor and Jet airways, has no advertising, and is for Members Only.

VATSIM: We plan to have a multi-day fly-in sometime before the end of this Summer. I'd like to see some discussion about this on the forum, because I'd like as many folks from AeroTexas participating as possible. I know online flying is not everybody's thing, but if you're not doing it just because you don't know how, then that's silly - it's not that difficult, really. If you're wondering who is online, just check our VATSIM status page (http://aerotexas.com/vatsim.php).

Social Links: We are so connected - AeroTexas has an active RSS feed so you can keep up with NOTAMS without visiting the NOTAMS page every day. Also, we're on Twitter! Follow us at http://twitter.com/AeroTexas where you'll see tweets from every flight, cargo assignments, and daily charters.

International Schedule: This Summer we travel North - way up there - to Alaska. The new Summer schedule will be released in just a few days, so get ready to explore America's Last Frontier.

ATAVS is at version 7 - please download the full install, or if you have an early release then get the update. It helps with the new performance logging system - we now track descent rate at touchdown, and the weather.

Service Changes: The Explorer flight program is officially ended. It was a good program, but there was no pattern of flights that suggested additions or changes to the regular schedule. The addition of our partnership with Fourflights, along with existing daily charters and cargo assignments means lots of new places to fly. Also, there are plans for an Air Taxi service, and I hope we can roll that out before Fall. Policy changes outlined below open up even more flight options.

Policy Changes: Many of our members belong to more than one virtual airline. In the past we frowned upon logging time with one airline while flying for another. All that changes now, and we even encourage you to log time with AeroTexas (using ATAVS of course) while pursuing active status for other virtual airlines and clubs. A brief notation when you file your flight pirep is recommended - for example, "Codeshare Delta Virtual".

Luggage: Last year I worked out a deal with LuggageWorks to offer discounts to our members for their most durable, functional luggage. I'm not getting paid to say this (actually I paid LW setup fees for the AeroTexas logo). I purchased one of their Stealth rolling luggage. It's the same one used by pilots - just see what they're pulling around next time you're at the airport. Expensive, yes - slightly less with your AeroTexas discount. Worth it absolutely. http://www.luggageworksonline.com

We're not sponsored by LW or anyone else, but we are using some advertising on the site. Hopefully you'll find something to like and every click is worth a nickel or two - it all adds up. The ads will not appear on Members pages - just the public ones and no I'm not accepting donations - the ads aren't that bad.

Finally, your ideas and suggestions, comments and queries are always welcome. Without them we wouldn't be where we are - almost a decade of bringing Lone Star Service to the World!

AeroTexas Update

2008 Annual Flight Check
As promised, the annual flight check has returned. This year we've put together a solid check-ride from Austin to Waco and it uses a special version of ATAVS Version 6 (more on that later). The 2008 Annual Flight Check is a mandatory activity for all members, staff, and Partners. This is really important, because there is roughly a three-week window for you to complete the check-ride and make your report. The flight check period starts now, and continues until October 15, 2008 at 11:59 P.M. Members who do not complete the check-ride by then will be dropped from the roster on October 16th. Everyone must complete the check-ride in order to continue their membership. Fortunately there is no written exam, and it's actually a pretty fun and not a very long route, plus the check-ride will count as an active member flight - that is, it will be logged so you get credit for it. We really don't want to lose any members, but this is a sure-fire way for us to know if you're still interested in AeroTexas - all ya gotta do is fly.

http://aerotexas.com/checkride2008/


ATAVS Version 6
A new major version of ATAVS is in the very final stages of development. As noted above, the check-ride uses a special version of ATAVS 6, so you get a peek at the latest and greatest when you take the check-ride. With Version 6 you get a built-in logbook, ACARS-like automatic position reporting, and super easy flight reporting. Not so quick though! Only after the flight check you will get a link that will take you to the newest version of ATAVS. Until then, enjoy the check ride. Please note that after 11/1/08 all flight reports must be made with ATAVS 6.


Position Reporting System Display
The Position Reporting System is getting a facelift - actually it's getting much more than that! As you know, with every flight ATAVS sends packets of telemetry to AeroTexas where your flight is displayed online with everyone else at AeroTexas. This is a fun feature and by checking the display you can see who is flying right now in real-time. For past few years we've used a combination of tally systems and Google Maps to display position reports. The new display system, dubbed "PROTO-ACARS III" is a brand new Java-based presentation of aircraft in the AeroTexas system. Built with Processing, the graphics are superior and design intelligent - with stale self-sensing and standard ATC symbologies. Final development of PROTO-ACARS III should be finished in just a few days.


Off-site Notams
AeroTexas Notams are now delivered through an off-site web log and the result is much improved. Now you get all the NOTAMS when you want, even if AeroTexas servers are down (not that they go down much anymore - thank goodness!). The ATX blog also makes it easier to keep up with important news and upcoming events with RSS feeds and subscription services.


New Features

AeroTexas is working on a more personal online experience. This will likely begin with a login system and access to all the data in your online flight logs. Do you have an idea or suggestion to help improve AeroTexas? If you do, please feel free to send me or any of the AeroTexas Partners an e-mail.

Newsletter

This month AeroTexas is delighted to present to you our very first newsletter. In this inaugural issue we introduce our newest members, report on operations, details about our TeamSpeak server, and the revised ranking system. Visit the website to download the PDF version of our first newsletter.