«Aeroflot Group Virtual» simulates in VATSIM environment operation of real Aeroflot Group:

Airlines		ICAO	IATA	Callsign	pilots	flights	hours
	Aeroflot	AFL	SU	AEROFLOT	587	55,613	142,021
	Rossiya	SDM	FV	ROSSIYA	434	18,592	48,823
	Pobeda	PBD	DP	POBEDA	366	12,339	26,063

Airline Fleet consists of airliners used by real airlines and includes: Airbus A319/A320/A321/A330, Boeing B737/B747/B777, Sukhoi Superjet 100.

Route network and schedule based on real world network and schedules of Aeroflot Group.

Pilots – enthusiasts of virtual aviation, real pilots and air traffic controllers.

Pilot Software is developed by SOYUZ Virtual Alliance (www.soyuz.aero) creators and provides the following information to a pilot:

• Calculation of passenger and cargo load, total payload for particular aircraft for each flight, updated daily
• Flight route calculation including Flight Plan according to latest AIRAC
• Fuel calculation for each scheduled flight for major aircraft types
• Automatic booking of flight into VATSIM
• Upon completion of flight, information is logged into pilot logbook on website

Aeroflot Group Virtual system provides sufficient information to perform flights within VATSIM network.

Required Software to fly with Aeroflot Group Virtual:

• Microsoft FS2004/FSX, Prepar3D, X-Plane, MSFS or MSFS2024
• Registered version of FSUIPC
• FSInn, SB, vPilot or xPilot for VATSIM flights
• Current AIRAC
• SOYUZ FDR, Pilot Client – downloadable from this website

 

Aeroflot Group Virtual is open for pilots with 100 or more online hours in VATSIM.

• System Description
• Call Sign
• Booking and Flying
• Flying as a Crew
• Schedule
• Routes
• Flight Plan
• Dispatch
• Pilot and Plane Location
• Weather

System Description

Aeroflot Group Virtual emulates online operations of real Aeroflot Group. in VATSIM environment.

The basic sources of data for flight system are VATSIM statistics and network client. The client utility (SOYUZ FDR) is designed to transmit to the website more detailed information about the flight.

The site uses the following units: feet, pounds, nautical miles, knots. All times are in UTC.

Call Sign

When performing scheduled and charter flights specified in the airline schedules pilot shall use a call sign corresponding to the Flight Number (for example AFL243).

Flying online with the pilot’s personal call sign (for example, AFL7777) allowed for group flights or fly-ins as well as when it is not possible to use Flight Number call sign (call sign is in use by another pilot in VATSIM).

Booking and Flying

The booking is performed on the website. A pilot selects an available scheduled flight, specifies some flight parameters and confirms the booking. The flight is registered in EUROBOOK and Flight Plan could be registered in VATSIM.

To be able to register Flight Plan in VATSIM it is necessary to allow pop-up windows for site https://afl-group.soyuz.aero/ in Internet Explorer.

The pilot could book the flight in 24 hours prior to departure. But VATSIM keeps Flight Plan two hours only and, because of this, Flight Plan could be registered in 2 hours prior to departure. The airplane and the flight stay booked during 30 minutes after planned departure. But if the flight is not started by this moment, the booking is canceled.

To perform the flight it is necessary to start Flight Simulator and SOYUZ FDR, login to VATSIM (via FSInn or SqawkBox) with proper callsign, check the Flight Plan (if it was registered in VATSIM) or create a new one. VATSIM renews its statistic every two minutes, so it could take a couple of minutes to confirm the flight in VAU system. It is recommended to make sure that the flight is accepted by VAU system before engine start, but it is possible by take-off.

If during the flight Internet connection is lost (or SOYUZ FDR is off) longer of 20-30 minutes, the flight is cancelled.

The flight is considered as completed, if the pilot entered VAU system before take-off, was airborne, covered 5 nm or more, landed, speed reduced below 20 knots, engines were off. Only online flights are registered by VAU system.

It is prohibited to change time rate during the flight. In this case the flight is ignored and will not be included to statistic.

Flying as a Crew

A flight may be performed by two pilots: the captain books the flight and selects the second pilot in the «First Officer» field. The flight is credited to both. The crew pair is registered by the Group administration in advance — if the pair is not registered, the «First Officer» field does not appear during booking.

The second pilot must be online on his own, under the network ID set in his profile on the website (VATSIM CID, IVAO VID or the third network ID). He may connect in any way and with any call sign: as an observer, with a regular pilot client, or from a controller position. The system looks him up by ID, not by call sign, so matching the flight call sign is not required.

If the second pilot is not online, the SOYUZ FDR of the captain shows «offline» and the flight does not start. Presence data is refreshed once a minute, so it may take up to a minute after he connects.

The second pilot needs neither to book the flight nor to run SOYUZ FDR — being online is enough. The flight call sign and the flight plan are filed by the captain.

Schedule

Flights schedule based on real airline schedule. Recommended commercial loading and number of passengers are generated daily for each flight considering that weight of passenger is equal to 170 lbs independent of aircraft type or cabin class.

Departure and arrival time, length of route are supplemental information and could be specified during flight planning. On each flight could be assigned one or more types of aircraft by ICAO code. The pilot could choose any aircraft from available.

The company could include charters in common schedule, but these charters system treats as regular flights.

Routes

Recommended routes for regular flights are checked by administration and validated by current AIRAC. During flight planning system suggests a recommended route and flight level, however the pilot could enter own parameters.

Flight Plan

To provide normal work of the VA system, it is necessary to put aircraft tail number in Remarks field of a Flight Plan in standard format REG/VPBVR (without hyphen). It is strictly recommended to use flight number as a callsign. In case if callsign is not corresponding to flight number, it should be included to Remarks in special format RTE/SU0123.

Dispatch

Dispatch check route in accordance with current AIRAC and perform simplified fuel planning for some aircraft types. The total fuel quantity required to fly is the sum of the following quantities:

• TAXI: quantity required for startup and taxi, including APU fuel within 15 min
• TRIP: fuel required from departure to destination including takeoff and climb on selected speed, cruise on selected speed, descend from cruising level to altitude 1500 ft, approach and landing
• ALTERNATE: fuel required to fly from destination to alternate airport. It includes go-around, climb to cruising level, cruise at long range speed, descend and approach procedure (minimal distance to alternate 200 nm)
• HOLD: fuel for 30-min holding at 1500 feet
• RESERVE: contingency fuel (5% from a trip fuel)

Pilot and Plane Location

The system keeps the last landing airport as locations of pilots and planes. The company could allow flights of pilots and planes from current location only, or set more flexible rules.

Weather

The VA system registers weather conditions during take-off and landing: intensity of perceptions (by five-point scale), lateral component of wind, horizontal visibility. The weather conditions are treated as complicated if intensity of perceptions is higher of 3 points, or lateral component is 10-20 knots, or horizontal visibility is lower 1,1 nm.

Minimal horizontal visibility for last six months stated as RVR (runway visual range) for each pilot.

Flight Data Recorder is used for analyzing air safety issues.

For each aircraft type next operational parameters are defined and controlled:

• Maximum landing gear extended and retracted speed
• Maximum flaps extended speed
• Pitch limit during take off and landing
• Maximum landing weight

This parameters are published on aircraft page in "Limitation" part and on Dispatch page when flight is booked.

For all aircraft types next parameters are controlled:

• Overspeed (detected by simulator)
• Stall (detected by simulator)
• Vertical speed at touchdown. The landing treated as:
  • hard - if vertical speed is above 500 fpm.
  • accident - if vertical speed is above 700 fpm 
  • crash - if vertical speed is above 1600 fpm
• Bank limits at low altitude. Banks are limited to:
  • 20° below 400 ft
  • 10° below 100 ft
• Vertical speed limits on descend. Vertical speed is limited to:
  • 2000 fpm below 2000 ft
  • 1500 fpm below 1000 ft
  • 1300 fpm below 400 ft
• Unsafe terrain clearance - below 400 ft with retracted flaps and gear
• Landing on nose gear (negative pitch at touchdown)

  First Officer Trainee

Initially each new pilot is qualified as «First Officer Trainee»/ This rating allows to perform only training flight. No other permissions required.

  First Officer

After successful completion of training flights the pilot gets promoted to the rank of «First Officer». Thins rank gives access to flights within the Commonwealth of Independent States. In order to achieve access to international flights, the pilot must pass both practical and theoretical tests (optional). The practical test implies a flight by a ATC guidance. This flight can be requested after at least 10 flights as a «First Officer». All tests are held by one or several authorised VATSIM ait traffic controllers with CTR rating or higher. The necessary program includes radio commucation test with English phraseology, general ATC commands, ability to perform VOR and NDB approaches along with RVSM technics, METAR, NOTAM and other essential skills needed during online flights. After successful completion the pilot receives access to international flights (except A330 and B777). There is an option to prove your english exam tests by providing screen report, using programs like Vpilot, FSinn and etc. A proper mark must be given by an ATC at this case

  Captain

The «Captain» rank gives access to all international flights using any aircraft type. The pilot can request this promotion after successful completion of 100 hours as a First Officer.

        

These shoulder straps meet overall online hours: up to 500h, up to 1000h, up to 1500h, up to 2000h, above 2000h

parameter	AFL	description
Guests may browse the site	Yes	A visitor who is not logged in sees the site (schedule, fleet, what is new, help) instead of the login screen. Pilot names are never shown to guests: the crew list, other pilots' profiles, the group flight list and who is online open only after login.
Reference period to flight number	99	During these days a pilot should perform the required number of flights
Minimal number of flights per period	1	Minimal numbers of flights required to fly during reference period to confirm a membership
Reference period to average rate	61	Numbers of days to count average pilot rating
Aircraft idle time out of hub	3	Maximum days of aircraft idle time out of hubs
Min flight time, min	4	Flights shorter than this (minutes) are not recorded
Auto divert-continuation	Yes	Offer to finish a diverted flight; count misses, penalise and suspend
Diversion miss penalty	20	Rating penalty for a 2nd+ miss (landing not at dep/dest/alt) in a flight chain
Misses before suspension	3	Number of misses in a chain after which the pilot is suspended (needs admin approval to fly)
Pilot should report low-rate flight	0	Pilot should report about flight if penalty is above specified value
Permit charters	No	If Yes, charters are permitted. The pilot could fly any available aircraft by any route.
Permit cargo charters	No	If Yes, CARGO charters are permitted. The pilot could fly any available cargo aircraft by any route.
Plane must fly from its current location	Yes	If Yes, the pilot could fly only airplanes located in departure airport. For example, the pilot cannot fly from UKCC using airplane located in UKBB.
Pilot must fly from his current location	No	If Yes, the pilot could fly only from his current location. For example, if the pilot is in UKBB, he cannot fly from UKCC.
Check route number (RTE) in flight plan	No	Require the booked flight number in the flight plan (as the callsign or RTE=...). Off = no check, and the prefile does not add RTE=. Does not change which route the flight is logged as.
Pilot can use any callsign	No	If Yes, the pilot could use any callsign. If No, the pilot should use flight number (for regular flights), or tail number (for private charters), or personal VA callsign.
Contact-loss minutes that send a flight to review	10	If the flight loses network/agent contact for more than this many minutes, it is flagged for manual review (it can still be flown to the end and is held, locking the aircraft/route, until reviewed). 0 = never flag.
Maintenance: износ и A/B/C/D-checks	Yes	Aircraft wear and A/B/C/D maintenance checks. Settings are in the Maintenance panel.
Permit landing to other airport	Yes	In general, any flight should be finished in destination or alternate airfield. If the parameter sets as Yes, the pilot could land to any airfield, but perhaps with some penalty (according to parameter 'Penalty for not arrival at destination'). If the parameter sets as No, in case of landing to not destination or alternate the flight will be ignored by the VA system.
Permitt time rate changes	No	If No, in case if timerate was changed during the flight, it will be ignored by VA system.
Plane is locked for flight task	Yes	If there is flight mission for the aircraft, other flights are not permitted
Average payload (%)	86	Average load of aircraft. Required to generate recommended aircraft loading.
Optional cargo loading	2	0 - No additional cargo, luggage only; 1 - Always maximum payload; 2 - Random
Crew member weight, lbs	0	Average weight (in pounds) of crew and cabin crew members
Passenger weight, lbs	187	Average weight (in pounds) of passenger with carry-on baggage
Luggage weight, lbs	44	Average weight (in pounds) of checked luggage
Book flight to VATBOOK	No	If Yes, booked flight is registered in EUROBOOK.
Register flight to VATSIM	Yes	If Yes, Flight Plan could be registered to VATSIM.
Minimum vertical speed for perfect landing	10	The minimum vertical speed of touchdown, when landing is still treated as perfect
Maximum vertical speed for perfect landing	300	The maximum vertical speed of touchdown, when landing is still treated as perfect
Maximum vertical speed for normal landing	500	The maximum vertical speed of touchdown, when landing is still treated as normal. If above the landing is hard.
Vertical speed of severe hard landing	700	If vertical speed of touchdown is above, the landing is severe hard: gear damage is possible
Fleet rotation: flights on other aircraft before r	0	How many of the pilot's most recent flights must be on other aircraft before the same tail can be booked again. 0 turns it off.
Bonus for accurate loading	5	Possible bonus if aircraft loading is equal to recommended within 10%.
Bonus for long range flight	5	Possible bonus for long range flight. The longer flight, the bigger bonus.
Bonus for perfect landing	10	Possible bonus for landing with vertical speed within 80-240 ft/min.
Bonus for bad weather takeoff	5	Possible bonus for take-off in bad wather conditions.
Bonus for bad weather landing	5	Possible bonus for landing in bad wather conditions.
Bonus for return back to hub	10	Possible bonus for return airliner to hub
Bonus for flight task	10	Possible bonus for the execution of the flight task
Bonus for completing a fly-in (event) flight	0	Rating points added when a pilot completes a fly-in (event) flight. 0 = off.
Penalty for crash	99	Crash is detected by signal 'CRASH' from FSUIPC, or in case of hit the ground with vertical speed over 1600 fpm.
Penalty for stall	80	Stall is detected by FSUIPC signal.
Penalty for overspeed	20	Overspeed is detected by FSUIPC signal.
Penalty for overspeed flaps extending	30	Exceeding flaps extending speed limit.
Penalty for overspeed gear operating	30	Exceeding gear operating speed limit.
Penalty for unsafe terrain clearance	50	Descending below 500 ft with gear up and flaps retracted.
Penalty for hard landing	20	Touchdown vertical speed is over 340 ft/min.
Penalty for landing accident	50	Touchdown vertical speed is over 700 ft/min.
Penalty for exceeded landing weight	80	Landing weight exceeds limit.
Penalty for not arrival at destination	0	Possible penalty if the plane landed to airfield, which is not destination or alternate.
Penalty for minor mistake	20	Possible penalty for non-critical pilot mistakes.
Penalty for sideslip on approach	0	Score penalty for sideslip (drift) detected on approach and landing. 0 turns it off.
Penalty for landing outside the touchdown zone	0	Score penalty for touching down outside the touchdown zone (first 900 m or one third of the runway, whichever is less) — both a long landing and an undershoot. 0 turns it off.
Penalty for a bounced landing	0	Score penalty for a bounced landing (the aircraft touched down more than once). Charged once per flight regardless of how many bounces. 0 turns it off.
Penalty for aerial refueling	99	Possible penalty for "refueling" during the flight.
Rosters: personal flight chains	Yes	Let pilots generate personal multi-leg rosters from the schedule and earn bonuses
Roster: bonus per leg	5	Points added to the flight score for each completed roster leg
Roster: completion bonus per leg	5	Points per leg, paid once on the final leg. Per leg, not a flat sum: otherwise a short roster beats a long one
Roster: minimum legs	3	Shorter rosters cannot be generated
Roster: days to complete	14	Hard deadline. Two weeks by default: a weekly flight gets only one chance inside a 7-day window
Roster: cooldown after drop, hours	24	Pause before a new roster after the pilot drops one or lets it expire
Roster: only the current leg	No	While a roster is active, the pilot may book only its next leg. Off by default: the roster is self-issued and should not become a cage