Selecting a Flight
How do I find flights to fly?
From the Operations menu select Flight Schedules and enter your departure and arrival airports. All flights for the day will be listed. You can also limit your search to a specific aircraft or airline.
Can I fly flights for other virtual airlines?
No, only flights operated by SAA Virtual may be flown.
I just arrived in Cape Town. Does my next flight need to depart from here as well?
No, it doesn’t, although many pilots like to do so and we urge all pilots to fly from their last arrival airport.
SAA flights to the USA are routed via Senegal. Do I need to fly both legs?
No, you don’t. You may fly as many legs of the flight as you wish, although some pilots opt to fly the entire flight number.
What time zone is reflected in the schedules for departures and arrivals?
All times shown in the flight schedules are UTC or Zulu time.
The flight I want to fly only departs on Saturdays. Do I have to wait until then to fly it?
Yes, all schedules are modelled as close to the real world as possible.
Flying a Flight
The timetable says to depart at 23:00, but I don’t want to have to wake up in the middle of the night to fly?
You don’t have to, the only time that has to be the same as the schedule is the time in the flight simulator.
Do I have to depart at exactly the scheduled time?
No, but you do have to fly according to the schedule. You should try to depart at the scheduled time, but leaving a few minutes early or late is fine (ten minutes is a good rule of thumb). If departing more than a few minutes late, it’s a good idea to include comments in your PIREP to explain why.
Do I fly from gate-to-gate or from runway-to-runway?
As we simulate real airline operations, all flights and flight schedules are times between the departure gate and arrival gate, or pushback to engine shutdown.
How do I know which gates to use?
We have terminal maps for all destinations we serve is South Africa. Links, subject to availability, are provided for regional and international airports.
Do I need to fly with online?
No, but we certainly encourage it. Once you have flown online and had ATC coverage you will probably never want to be without it again.
Do you allow aircraft substitutions?
Yes, it is not always possible to have all the aircraft in your fleet and there is no expectation from us for you to purchase commercial addons.
What should my callsign be?
Your callsign should be the airline’s callsign followed by the flight number.
Twelve hours is a long time to fly can I accelerate the simulation rate?
No, we do not accept flights that are flown at simulation rates greater than 1x. PIREPS are specificaaly checked for this and will be rejected without further consideration.
Do I have to fly my flight entirely in one session?
Yes, our flight recording software does not support the saving of flights, once your flight has commenced you need to complete it.
Why do my flights tend to be early?
There are various reasons, low traffic volumes, weather and spped. Our schedules are based on real world schedules which allow for these contingencies.
Is there a maximum number of flights/hours I can fly?
No. In perspective though, FAA regulations allow a commercial pilot to fly no more than 8 hours on one flight, 30 hours in a seven-day period, 100 hours in a calendar month, and 1000 hours in a calendar year.