Hello All,

As part of an effort to help keep fellow pilots informed and tuned into our professionalism, I wanted to take a quick moment, as the Maintenace Manager, to explain the "maintenance" program included in the VAFS system. Under the VAFS system, our aircraft experience damage like that of a real world aircraft. With that being said, if the real world aircraft would get damage from say a "hard" landing, the same would occur in our system if the same landing was made. The VAFS damage system rarely misses a beat...so please be careful when flying to avoid damage to the aircraft, as it does cost our airline a considerable amount of "virtual cash" to fix damaged aircraft. Below are a few of the common damages that VAFS will record if the aircraft is pushed outside the flight envelope:

Flaps extended beyond 395 knots
Landing gear extended beyond 395 knots
Vertical Landing Speed of greater than 500FPS

There are many other damages that can be recorded, however those seem to be the most popular. As they occur I will update the list for quick reference. If any damage occurs, a message should appear inside flight sim telling you that you have created damage to the aircraft with the reason how. IF you create damage to the aircraft, the next time the aircraft is flown, a message will appear before the flight indicating you are trying to fly a damaged aircraft and additional damage may occur if you continue. It is possible that maybe flaps wont come up due to prior flap damage, or gear wont retract if prior damage was placed on the gear....IF you get this message, please send an email to Maintman@eravirtualairways.org or CAO@eravirtualairways.org and please let us know that you are trying to fly an aircraft that has damage. The fleet is constantly being monitored and we strive to keep them in tip-top shape, but if you do get an error message in regards to aircraft damage that hasn't been addressed yet, please do not fly that aircraft until it is repaired, in order to help us keep the aircraft from additional damage. Email us ASAP! We will put the aircraft through the proper maintenance channels and get it back up generally within 24hrs unless the aircraft has extreme damage. We do investigate all damage that is substained much like the NTSB would. We know that damage will happen, its all part of flying but please be vigilant when flying to avoid damage at all cost. If you have any questions or concerns regarding aircraft damage, please feel free to comment or email us. We try to be on Teamspeak as much as possible if you have any questions as well....feel free to hop on and chat with us!

****UPDATE: Please review your flight report prior to shutdown! Once you shutdown the engines, the flight report gets logged. If you damage aircraft this is the only way to avoid recording the damage. The flight can be closed out without harming the aircraft or your rating ONLY if you you closed it before shutdown. Hopefully that makes sense....