Contemplating new VA...

[raptorairlines]

Greetings all,

As you may have guessed from my username, I was originally the founder of Raptor Virtual Airlines based in Australia flying in FSX. That airline was founded in 2007 but closed early last year as the website hosting expired. Before then there had also been issues with operating clients which had caused a loss of pilots from 34 to 4. Just as I finally found a new stable system to use the funding went down and the airline was forced to close.

Since then I've been pondering starting again, though more likely than not under a new name which I have not been able to decide. Most likely the airline would fly a fleet of IAE engined A320s (Airbus X and Project Airbus models could be supported here) to holiday and charter destinations. The idea being that this carrier is not a traditional full service airline but a hybrid of the low cost (but not necessarily low fare) and charter airlines.

With the aircraft, some route examples (though not sure where to base it in Australia yet but either Melbourne or Brisbane could be good starting points), new knowledge in web design thanks to my university course and time available, I am curious if anyone would be interested in such a thing? I'm also asking to see if anyone believes I should re-start (again) Raptor Virtual Airlines or start afresh as (insert name here- Suggestions?).

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In addition to the above, this new VA will feature 'Connect', a regional VA and training school used to prepare pilots for flight simulator operations particularly in the online ATC environment through the use of 20-30 seat regional turboprops (aircraft not yet decided).

This division will be separate from the main airline but pilots can fly for both. Direct entry will be possible for either of the two divisions depending on pilot preference. Staff roles will be available soon once the details are worked out.

'Connect' will allow for our VA pilots to fly low and slow around the outback or up high at Flight Level 380 in the advanced technology Airbus.

Thank you for your time.

[CloverAirways]

Hey,

I've recently posted a thread here asking people what they'd like to see in a VA. I, along with 2 other friends experienced in development and Flight sim, are currently developing a VA that is based in and around Ireland and Europe. We'll be flying A320s, A318s, 738s and a regional ATR 72-200 (most of which are repainted already by myself).

I haven't officially opened staff recruitment, but then again, I might never open it as I may just find people I know that can help in some way. But I'd be delighted if you'd consider coming on board Clover Airways to help us with your experience. I quite like your ideas and feel we could use you.

Sorry for not really staying on topic, but I hope you consider it.

Thanks,
Joseph.

[raptorairlines]

Well it might be a possibility however I have no experience in operating in Europe other than a brief entry into that market with "Raptor Shuttle" in 2008 flying from Belfast to mostly holiday destinations.

On the other hand it might be of benefit to associate the two airlines to pool resources in an alliance style situation. Not sure how it could work considering as of yet I'm yet to re-acquire web hosting, the teamspeak server, phpvms and numerous other minor details required before I can consider re-commencing or starting afresh.

[CloverAirways]

An alliance would be good. Even better when we fly in different areas (could link flights, or something like that). I know a friend in the hosting industry that could get you cheap hosting and a good amount of space.

Let me know if you're interested.

[raptorairlines]

An alliance could prove quite good if we could have connecting flights but that would first require a common PIREP system most likely. In the past I used a number of them (Raptor Airlines started with VAFS until that went payware, then simfly.eu and finally phpvms). So far I have been pleased with the ease of customisation that phpvms provides and their hosting package for VAs also seems suitable.

Being an Australian airline, the distance could be a problem. Raptor Airlines never flew beyond a few Asian destinations when it was at its largest and the new VA will likely remain solely domestic until enough pilots are available to expand.

[CloverAirways]

Yeah, we're going to use phpvms as it seems the easiest one to use.

We don't plan to go too far east as we don't want to offer routes that won't be used. We'll most likely go as far east as Austria. I hope to have an emphasize on our regional flights, as it may bring more traffic to Ireland once we expand.

[raptorairlines]

Sounds like a good idea. Might actually be interesting to jointly develop a connector international airline flown by pilots of either airline using common equipment. That way we could have some form of connection as well as taking advantage of any alliance agreement.

[raptorairlines]

Alright I've been thinking further and Brisbane Intl seems like a good place to base what is intended to be a 'holiday' airline with its close proximity to Cairns, Townsvile, Rockhampton, Norfolk Island, Hamilton Island, etc. Still haven't decided between Airbus or Boeing NBs, both could be possible but not very realistic for an airline. Still not sure on an airline name but something associated with the Ocean or local culture in the area. I may not have a name but a logo is partially formed in my mind of a stylised conch shell with colours taking their inspiration from the Air Australia scheme perhaps.

What does everyone think?

[CloverAirways]

Sounds good. I can't help you too much with the development as I still have a lot more work to do on Clover Airways, not to mind my upcoming exams, so it will most likely continue development in July.

[raptorairlines]

Likewise here. I won't be doing much on it other than simple preparation and concept developing here until I have time to put everything in order.

[raptorairlines]

Whilst I don't have a name here's a logo of sorts that I've come up with for it. Obviously it's not a final stage as that wouldn't have solids but nice gradient shades and such.

CONCEPT LOGO CLICK HERE (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68343248/conceptlogo.svg)

It's supposed to be primarily a stylised sea shell but also could be interpreted as a leaf, a breaking wave, sails or even the design of the Sydney Opera House.

[CloverAirways]

Looks good. Give it a bit of a gradient and it should look great.

I've given a bit of thought about linking flights. I reckon it seems like a good, unique idea that could be beneficial for both of the airlines. Shouldn't be that hard of actually figuring out a technical way to make it possible.

[raptorairlines]

I was thinking the lower edges of the curves should have the darker shade and a bit of a highlight might help give the logo some form. Then it's just a matter of transforming logo into livery and choosing a name.

I agree too, if a reasonable way can be found to make it work I say give it a shot. This airline is technically a LCC/charter company so long haul may be unavailable until established but that's a question for later.

[raptorairlines]

Well with exams now over, Semester 1 of University is complete so I have time to return to (one of) my hobbies. With the logo completed more or less I decided to try and match it to a paint scheme. Still no name for the airline yet and as such the livery is very much a WIP but here's some shots of what I have so far;

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/1.png

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/2.png

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/3.png

In trying to keep with the low-cost theme, I have a maximum of three colours that I can use. So far I've used two (the lime and the off-white) so that leaves a single final colour available to use either for text, trim decoration or other.

Probably going to go for billboard-style titles (but more stylish) with the web address on the rear fuselage and a phone number somewhere (maybe).

Let me know what you think, I'm still open for names!

[russ1073]

Tropic Breeze

[1234plane]

Tropic Breeze

Mine is a little different, inspired by yours:
BreezyBird Airlines

[raptorairlines]

Due to popular request here's a PMDG 737-800NGX Winglet version of the WIP livery. There's been some interesting name suggestions so far but I'm still open to them.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/4.png

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/5.png

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/6.png


The NGX required a slightly altered livery to the Airbus X to better suit the airframe and also slightly adjusted the aspect ratio of the tail logo.

The airline probably will end up having both 737s and A320s so pilots can fly that which they prefer.

[CloverAirways]

Very nice livery. Bit of a coincidence that our livery is green too :P

Here's a picture of my second concept (first wasn't too nice):

http://uploadir.com/u/txbdxm8x

[raptorairlines]

Heh, looks nice too. Green makes sense for a holiday style airline flying in the tropics and makes sense for an airline named after a plant as well.

Whilst I don't have a final name yet I've been experimenting with font styles to use.

[CloverAirways]

Doesn't like as nice on my laptop, hah.

Can't think of any names right now but I quite like the ones suggested above.

[raptorairlines]

Only thing I think is missing from your liverY is a clover on the tail, possibly in the white section. Even if it cropped a fair bit or just a section it should look good.

[CloverAirways]

The logo that's on our website doesn't look to good on the tail, looks a bit out of place. I've updated it last night and added a bit of subtle clouds on the tail.

[raptorairlines]

Ah alright, sounds interesting. For the text I've been experimenting with having a shadow style version of the logo behind the text, kinda similar to the allegiant titles.

[1234plane]

Tropic Breeze

Mine is a little different, inspired by yours:
BreezyBird Airlines

The reason I had that idea was for two reasons:
1. russ1073 gave me the idea for beezy in breezybird
2. raptorairlines, your logo to me looks like a peacock's tail. I think if you tried a blue green pattern it would look a little bit more like one.
Good luck with you virtual airlines guys...
Sean

[raptorairlines]

breeze could be a possibility yeah or one of its variants. A peacock eh? Now that you mention it it does look fairly similar. Perhaps that can be a special livery in futures.

[1234plane]

Maybe,
Yeah, I meant like the tail. Maybe you could do a peacock as a 1 Year Anniversary livery.

[raptorairlines]

Maybe yeah, good idea.

As I've been working on the NGX paint some more (and really loving it's paint kit) and thinking of some other possible name ideas for the airline.

So far Wake, Breeze & Reach are names that sound appropriate for this kind of airline and are also fairly easy to remember. What are your opinions on these names and/or do you have any others that are of similar theme?

[vuldalm]

Very nice livery. Bit of a coincidence that our livery is green too :P

Here's a picture of my second concept (first wasn't too nice):

http://uploadir.com/u/txbdxm8x

That livery looks great.

Perhaps needs a clover on the tail and just underneath the cockpit window?

Can the same colour band be repeated on the tail and engine cowling or vice versa?

[CloverAirways]

Might put a clover under the cockpit window, yeah.

Not quite sure what you mean with the second question, elaborate a bit :P

[vuldalm]

Might put a clover under the cockpit window, yeah.

Not quite sure what you mean with the second question, elaborate a bit :P

On the engine there looks to be three bands of green (a little difficult to see as the image is a little dark), on the rear fuselage there are five bans of green...might be worth seeing how either three bands look on the fuselage or five on the engine?

[CloverAirways]

Ah, there's actually five on both but you can't see them much on the engine because it's the same image but downsized.

Edit: I've posted a couple of images here: http://www.cloverairways.com/forum/showthread.php?p=65#post65
Maybe they will help you see it a bit better.

[vuldalm]

Ah, there's actually five on both but you can't see them much on the engine because it's the same image but downsized.

Edit: I've posted a couple of images here: http://www.cloverairways.com/forum/showthread.php?p=65#post65
Maybe they will help you see it a bit better.

Yeah...I can see much better on the alternate images.

It looks great.

Just got to find a little something for the tail...

[raptorairlines]

Alright it's been almost a month since my last update here but now I have something to show; the livery on the PMDG NGX 737-800WL now with 'reach' titles, aircraft type and registration decals. This repaint is pretty much finished now in my opinion other than a few possible slight adjustments.

It's a simple but clean livery which is what I was after to reflect an LCC correctly. Whilst doing this I also had the idea of a special livery with whole fuselage green and white titles which I may or may not do.

Feedback is most welcome.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/rea1.png

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/rea2.png

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii294/raptorva/airline%20stuff/rea3.png

[tvieno]

I like it! The color scheme is good, it is not cluttered with fancy graphics, and the name is simple. You did good here.

[raptorairlines]

Thanks. Originally I had a silhouette version of the logo behind the airline titles but found it to be distracting and made the name hard to read so I abandoned it. Even if this airline doesn't 'take off' I've been using this livery for personal flying.

[raptorairlines]

Alright I've been busy so haven't done all that much visible progress. Been working on a rough website template to match the livery based upon one of the freely available phpVMS linked templates. I haven't got anything of that to show yet as I'm still trying to sort out the drop down menus and colour palette. I don't have a web hosting or domain name yet for Reach Airways either so progress in that side will be slow.

I have however done another aircraft in the Reach livery, this time it is Digital Aviations beautiful Fokker F-100;

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68343248/flightsim/rf1.png

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68343248/flightsim/rf2.png

I rather like how the livery looks on this already nice looking bird. These would be a part of the optional fleet used for FIFO (Fly-in, Fly-out) operations to places like Mount Isa as well as for charter and commercial flights to locations where a 737 either cannot get in or is too big for the route.

[raptorairlines]

Alright it's been a month since my last post. I've been busy with my University studies and as such haven't had terribly that much time to post updates. That said, there has been progress.

Most notable of all is that the VA now has a website; http://www.reachva.com

I'm still working on the website layout and design so it is very much a WIP at this stage. Many of the pages still need filling out but technically the airline is operational to a degree now.

I've also finalised my two PMDG skins for the 737-700 and 737-800 models and have now completed a repaint and extensive modification of the POSKY 738 model (including Alrots upgraded default 737 VC, better FDE, FMC, etc). Working on the -700 series before I'll be uploading these models and liveries to the site. Here is a screen of the POSKY 738;

http://www.simviation.com/phpupload/uploads/1346953010.jpg

And just for fun, here is the PMDG 737-700 which I did in a special inverted colours/all green livery;

http://www.simviation.com/phpupload/uploads/1346940872.jpg

[raptorairlines]

I have now set up the forums which are available to join from here; http://reachva.com/smf/index.php

Currently accounts for the website are not linked with the forums so remember to register on both.

Guests are only able to view a limited amount of the forums with the majority of it reserved for members only.