I don't think anyone would join a 100% realistic VA. If you want to represent a major then you will want people with ATP and since there is not officially recognized vFAA, vEASA, or vICAO then only real world ATPs should count. Majors generally only hire people with Part 121 or military experience. Since no one can guarentee the quality of other VAs then only real world pilots with 5 years of part 121 experience of military pilots with 10 years of experience. You would need to complete a multipage application including a methodology of computing your flight hours that takes PhD to figure out, pass drug screening, and then be interviewed first by HR to include psychological profile, then pass a technical interview. If you get past all of that the real world will schedule you for a sim check most likely at 2AM since that is when their line pilots are not using the sim for training. If you want to be realistic then only a certified Level D simulator should count.
The realistic VA will then get back to you in about 2 weeks and would reject 60% of all applicants. Once the realistic VA gets back with you they will provide a training date in which we expect you to be avilable for the full 6 weeks of training and comit to 8 hours per day in the classroom and study for another 4 hours per day. Fail any stage check twice and you are fired.
You can expect to be checked out in only 1 aircraft and that is the aircraft you will fly for the next 5 to 10 years. After training, you will be assigned to a check Captain who will complete your training live. For the next 5 - 7 years the realistic VA will expect you to put in 70 hours per month connecting to shared cockpits and performing the duties FO. You can expect to touch the stick maybe 33% of the time.
Sounds more like a job than a hobby? You bet it is. It is a highly technical job that requires exceptionally qualified candidates. The average cost of an ATP has risen to well over 150,000 USD + College Tuition and cutting your teeth in the Regionals means living on Raman Noodles and saying goodbye to any social life. Your first 7 to 10 years will be spent earning a megar paycheck while paying back a huge debt. (Gee sounds like Medical or Law School?)
Somethings in the VA world we are stuck with. Someone decided that PREP means filing a report after a flight and NOTAM was the VAs method of sending out information to its virtual crews. You can complain about the misuse of termonology all day long but it is never going to change. The people who code software that allows VAs to run have embraced this incorrect lingo. There is also the HUB and Spoke system that died back in the 90s yet nearly every VA still operates this way. Anytime you decided to make a Fantasy Football League out of something, in our case we call it VAs, something has to give and that is reality. It is a part time hobby that most do for fun. Realism is how much time do you want to commit to your hobby and there are plenty of VAs out there that offer varying levels of 'realism,' but none are realistic.
Want realistic, I can recommend a few Aviation Universities.
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