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Minimum Requirements

To qualify make sure you meet the following minimum criteria:

• You're 14 years old or older
• You must submit real identity with full name
• You're able to write and understand English
• You have a legal copy of Flight Simulator or X-Plane
• You have a valid email account (please avoid Hotmail, Yahoo!, MSN or other free-like accounts, you'd better use one from your internet access provider), we must be able to contact you shortly via this email
• You know the basics in flight simulation (taking off, landing, navigation, NDB, VOR, routes, etc.)
• You know the basics of flying theory (aerodynamics, airspaces, rules, squawk codes etc.)

To enjoy our community, in case you're not sure about the last two points, you should go to the Learning Center in Flight simulator. In any case you can even try to pass our entrance exam and see your status.

Minimum Activity Expected

In VPA, you'll have to file PIREPs (Pilot Reports) for each of your flight. These reports are what is included in real flight plans plus a few more information.
We operate a 14 day first valid PIREP policy which means pilots must submit a valid flight within the first 14 days after admission.
After that, we operate a 60 day active flying policy which means pilots must submit a valid flight at least every 60 days.
Piots who are inactive after one of those period may be removed without notice from the roster and forums.
If you have difficulties with using our system please contact HR by email or send a message in the forum as soon as possible so that we can assist you. If you don't contact us, our system will automatically delete you from our database. Of course, the website shows you your status and you'll receive at least one reminder email to inform you that you may be removed.
There is an option within your Pilot Data which enables you to be placed on leave.
We ask you to carefully consider before applying whether you are able to fulfil this basic commitment.

Pirep Operations

The main objective and purpose of the Virtual Pilots Association is to provide virtual pilots with a fun and professional environment.
Accordingly our operationnal rules are quite simple as our objective is not to have pilots racing for high rank or number of flight hours.
Here are our basic rules:

• You'll simulate airline flights according to reality which means you have to fly them according to real schedules and conditions
• You'll try to avoid Accelerated time even if we accept it (for very long cruise for example)
• General Aviation is accepted and you can do any flight as long as it is realistic
• You cannot file more than 20 hours of flight per day and 200 per month
• You'll use FS Real Time for all your flights to avoid FS time problems or any other tool (software or not) to follow correct timezones
• You'll file your PIREPs with all required information carefully reviewed
• You'll not fly Airline flights or IFR with "DIRECT GPS" or "DIRECT", you'll have to prepare your Flight Plan with realistic route and file it (this is a required field in our PIREPs)
• You'll have to choose your flights on your own. We will not provide you an assigned flight to fly. But you can use our forum to ask people great flights you can do or browse our schedules and flight list.

Application Procedure

You've read carefully and you agree to the above?
Then you can fill out the form on the right of this page and then access our Entrance Exam by clicking on APPLY - you'll then receive an email containing a link taking you to the exam..
This exam is a 20 random questions MCQ (Multiple-Choice Questionnaire). These questions are based on real aircraft operation, flying rules, airspaces, navigation and flight preparation.
You'll have 15 minutes to take the test.
You'll be able to join if you have 12 good answers.
If you fail, you'll be able to take another test after 48 hours.
Do not try to have more than one application at a time. If you tried to bypass the rules above by having multiple applications, we'll remove all your applications and will remove your from the roster if it's the case, without notice.

Membership Limitation

In less than two years the Virtual Pilots Association has grown both larger and more rapidly than anyone anticipated. This has led to concern that our ability to innovate and sustain services to members will suffer as a consequence. Even more importantly, there is a question as to whether we can maintain our sense of community with an ever larger membership.

While it is inconsistent with our philosophy to exclude qualified pilots or to appear exclusive or elite, it is absolutely inconsistent with our mission to cease to be a real community or to diminish the innovation and quality of services VPA offers.

For these reasons, enrollment will be closed when membership reaches 500 pilots. At that point, a waiting list will be established and new members will only be accepted to fill vacancies.
When you've successfully passed the exam, you'll be put on the waiting list and will receive an email when a membership slot is available to you. Please note that this slot is only open for 48 hours. After that you'll be removed from the list and will have to pass the exam again.

For your information, there are currently 85 people who succeeded in our entrance exam and are waiting to join. After a successful exam, it will take approximately 62 days before you receive our email to finish your registration.