Planning is perhaps the most important part of a commercial Flight operation, especially VFR. This exercise will help you to practice those skills. You will need to know your aircraft's fuel use; range; load capacity as well as flight times for the commercial pilot, even VFR.

You are a small Air Taxi operation, "We move anything around the Western Isles". The established company with 5 Dash8s and 2 other aircraft has technical problems, grounding his Dash8s. He has come to you with a list of tasks to contract your services.
He has estimated a total flying time of 20hrs; fixed rate. He has arranged for you to obtain fuel on his companies account at 3 airfields. He will also pay for road transport availability as below. There are 3 priority tasks which must be completed by June 15th. (As soon as you can). You are NOT insured to carry passengers at night.

You are based at EGPK Prestwick, (Glasgow, far too expensive). You start and finish the list at EGPK. You operate from Apron ECHO. You have 10 EVENT DAYS to complete the contract.

ALL flight planning is up to you. Your task list is available separately. Your contractor has put in place the following arrangements, if you need any of them.

1. Fuel is available to you, on his account at EGPO; EGPU and EGPK.
2. A 10 seat minibus will transport passengers between EGPF to EGPK and return.
3. One lorry is available to transport freight (of choice) to EGEI or EGEO or EGEC.
4. Priority tasks must be completed by June 15th.
5. Each 'event day' equals a maximum of 4 legs, northwards or southwards, Max flight time 4hrs.
6. The contractor has made available Company, B&B accommodation, at each A/F, free.

Any single engine aircraft, or any twin engine STOL aircraft classified as GA (within the EASA "light" category) - See club rules for more details. Make sure you know your aircraft's fuel use/capacity; load carrying and Max T/O weight.

Before starting, check the weather. In accordance with VATSIM rules the wind direction should be the same as real-world. This event is strictly VFR, so all other aspects of the weather should be adjusted to avoid the disappointment of being rained or fogged in.

Remember to ANC (Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.) This event should be fun for all, both pilots and controllers. Bear in mind that other (non CIX VFR CLUB) traffic may also use the same airspace/airfields but everyone has equal priority (VFR).

Should your enjoyment become impaired due to "unsportsmanlike" ATC, let someone know so that senior club members can pass on your concerns.

Similarly, If you get something wrong, such as entering controlled airspace without authority, learn from the experience and follow instructions - even if requested to 'Disconnect'.

However, if you have a problem, ask ATC for help, a lot easier than flying on regardless causing confusion and mayhem! And don't forget your first call for help is other club members, that is how we all learnt to do it.

You should expect EGPF to be active, almost any time. So keep an eye on your controlled airspaces.

Take care not to let our TeamSpeak Chat cut across ATC. Stop any conversation immediately the R/T comes alive, and then continue if "he wasn't talking to us". This is difficult because when talking on TeamSpeak you cannot hear the R/T. So be aware that ATC might be trying to contact a member. If anyone hears R/T which appears to be ignored and it is a club member being called, on TS, say "ATC is calling XXXX/one of us". Then everyone stop talking until ATC calls again and makes contact. Remember that if ATC tells you "stand bye" It means "Wait, don't call me, I will come back to you as soon as I can.".

You are not insured to fly passengers at night.
You are not insured to carry fuel and passengers in the same A/C

The star award will be awarded as 2 x half stars for visiting 2 Airfields, not notified to members.

Printable list of tasks, including various helpful tables: Available here. Target: 6 flights.
Als, read the airfield data sheets as they have been updated.

Event Idea: N. Munro | Event Planning: N. Munro | Event Briefing: N. Munro