Are VAs too strict?

[Michael Blakely]

There are some intersting disucssions going on over at flightsim.com. There is a group of people postulating that VAs with checkrides, mandatory online flying, equipment limitations, and currency enforcement will eventually become unpopular and fail. The thought is people have to deal with rules and regulations at work and don't want to deal with them when they get home and enjoy their hobby. The authors believe the VAs that will be successful in the long term will provide a community for discussion and sharing of the hobby and a "reason" to fly but without the restrictions. Any comments?

Here are links to two of the stories.

http://www.flightsim.com/main/op-ed/ed427.htm

http://www.flightsim.com/main/op-ed/ed428.htm

[Theodore Martin]

All I can tell you is that checkrides and rank progression requirements are the exact things that brought me to this VA. When I started looking at VA's I specifically looked for those that taught you how to fly and forced you to accomplish something. I did not want a VA where I progressed simply by the number of hours I flew. I could do that without the VA!

My other criteria was a minimal flight requirement. I was not sure how much time I could devote to the VA so I didn't want one that required me to do a lot of flying if I didn't have the time. One flight a month seemed very reasonalbe to me, especially compared to some of the other VA's.

I'm sure there are those that just want to fly with a group of people with no rules, requirements, or restrictions, but I'm sure there are a number of people like me that want to learn as well as have a sense of accomplishment (as evidenced by the number of pilots AAV) along with the enjoyment of the hobby.

My 2 cents...

[Wayne Pierce]

Gee, Gosh, Golly (the 3G's)
I didn't know I was being so restricted by the AAV.
I didn't know that I was forced to go through a great and inclusive training process to learn how to fly A/C the correct way.
I didn't know that I was forced to fly my choice, on or off VATSIM for all my Flight requests and the online fun good times GFI's we have.
I didn't know that I was forced to take a Retro A/C test to be able to fly the A/C which aren't around anymore and that I could fly them with the timeschedules of yesteryear, and have a virtual ball doing it.

I quit 3 other VA's over my time flying on this computer game and have stayed with us here at AAV as it gives me exactly what I wanted to do and have a good time with good people.

This is my 5ȼ worth

[Harold Henderson]

Kids can go elsewhere.

[Todd Meek]

Well speaking as the new KLAX hub manager, the 30 day rule is just to keep pilots active and not have a bunch of pilots in your roster that don't participate. I'm a pretty relaxed guy so if you can't meet this requirement for some reason, just let me know that's all I ask. I also was brought to this VA for the challenge of the checkrides. Anybody can get into the simulator and fly from airport A to airport B following that pretty line in the GPS, but how many know how to actually fly departure and arrival charts while meeting crossing restrictions altitude wise and speed wise? I feel the checkride process we have in place now is very effective to challenge pilots. They are not there to fail pilots or hold pilots back in promotions, but to point out areas of weakness that need work and usually second time around they nail the checkride so it's a learning experience. My .02 cents is to keep it the way it is.