Visit us at www.vacanada.org and SimBrief at www.simbrief.com
Continuing to build on our success with the expansion of the current Flight Planning System, VAC is pleased to introduce our members to "SimBrief".
The new system sports a much cleaner and polished user interface, and introduces several new features that were previously impossible. The new system has been branded as "SimBrief", and will be accessible through it's own web address: http://www.simbrief.com/, working in conjunction with our main VAC website at www.vacanada.org.
Regardless of these technical changes, the way you use the system will remain mostly unchanged. The system will still be accessed via the "Paperwork" button found on your myVAC Flight Ops page, albeit the layout of the system has changed, more options will be available to you. There are of course several new features that have been added in this version, such as:
- Step climb planning based on actual aircraft weight
- Addition of FIR NOTAMs for every FIR you cross along your route, this was the only major thing missing from our current system. If you thought the flight plans were long now, just wait!
- NAT tracks are now detected, no need to replace the NAT track by it's waypoints when typing the route
- Selection of the Destination Alternate now checks that the weather is legal
- Selection of a Takeoff Alternate if the departure weather is below landing minima
- Faster ETOPS calculations
- The ability to manually specify a cruising altitude and alternate airport if desired. Manual stepclimbs can also be specified when typing in the route via standard notation (i.e. YUL/N0450F330)
- A much more streamlined interface, with an actual progress bar during generation
- A full user guide, containing an interactive flight plan which allows you to mouse over different sections for an explanation of each
- The ICAO Flight Plan section has been updated to the new ICAO 2012 standards, which basically implies new equipment codes and the addition of the PBN/ remark
In addition, the system's AIRAC cycle can now be updated if you happen to purchase Navigraph's FMS data product for your payware addons. Users who don't wish to update the AIRAC cycle can continue to use the same database that the current system has, but the option to update is available.
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Established in 1998, VAC (Virtual Air Canada) is a worldwide virtual airline community of real world pilots, flight simulator pilots and aviation enthusiasts who want more realism added to their flights by utilizing Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X. The virtual airline mirrors its daily operations on real world schedules, routes and flights. Comprised of volunteer staff who operate and manage the not-for-profit organization, VAC is Canada's largest operating and leading virtual airline, and awarded the Top10 virtual airline in the world.
Through our partnership with VATSIM (Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network) and VATCAN (Virtual Air Traffic Canada), VAC members can experience a more advanced level environment of online flying with other virtual pilots around the world where real world procedures apply. Online flying is encouraged for our pilots and a majority of flights are flown connected to the VATSIM network.
VAC is Canada's national virtual airline carrier since April 1998. VAC provides virtual scheduled services to more then 21 Canadian, 30 American, 54 in Asia, the Middle East, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South American cities. VAC operates more than 1300 virtual flights per day around the globe. Expansion in Canadian and foreign destinations are anticipated to add more selection and flexibility for our virtual pilots.
VAC is headquartered in Montreal with primary operations out of Toronto, Canada. Virtual pilots are based in one of four bases - Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
With hundreds of active virtual pilots around the world, VAC is a fully automated virtual airline. We are proud of our programs and services offered to our member pilots. They range from our very convenient and easy access programs, to a variety of automated services as well as our fine selection of high quality fleet models and liveries. Our performance standards of our members are high but our virtual pilots can count on superior member services from our staff during their virtual career with us.
At VAC, we are committed to our official languages of English and French in Canada. We are also the first virtual airline in North America to offer a bilingual website for our members. We are proud to promote our country's bilingualism and multiculturalism and strongly believe in serving our members in their official language of choice and its communities. Being the national virtual carrier of Canada, we are proud of our heritage and the only virtual airline in North America to provide our members information and services in both official languages.
Visit VAC - Virtual Air Canada at www.vacanada.org
