PIREP Approval Criteria

Simulation Rate

1. Pilots may use any simulation rate (time acceleration) during the CRUISE phase of flight ONLY, regardless of flight time. Cruise phase begins at top-of-climb (TOC) and ends at top-of-decent (TOD).
2. Time Acceleration is NOT permitted at any time during taxi, take-off, climb, decent, approach, and landing.
3. Pilots using time-acceleration without a logged TOC and TOD may have their PIREPs rejected.
4. When flying on VATSIM, pilots must receive permission from ATC
5. Any feature that allows you to jump between phases of flight (i.e. to the next waypoint, to top of descent, slewing, etc.) is strictly prohibited.

Landing Rate

1. Must not exceed -600 feet per minute (fpm).
2. If multiple touchdowns are logged for an individual PIREP (i.e. bounces, go-arounds), no touchdown shall exceed -600 fpm.

Routing

1. Routing must be entered in smartCARS. Direct (airport to airport) routes are not permitted.

Flight Errors

1. Stalls, overspeeds, and >250kts. below 10,000 ft. MSL violations may cause your PIREP to be rejected, depending on the severity and/or duration
2. If using FS2020, please note that using “Active Pause” will register as a stall in your PIREP report. Do not use this feature while trying to record your flight.

Fuel Guidelines

1. At the time of landing, fuel must be more than 2000 lbs. for all aircraft.
2. Reserve fuel should be added prior to departure in case of emergency, holding, or other unforeseen circumstances.
3. Using the “Unlimited Fuel” option within any simulator is strictly prohibited.
4. In-Flight refueling is NOT permitted at any time.
   

Staff

1. Staff may approve or reject a filed PIREP at their discretion. Should a PIREP be rejected, a reason will always be provided in the comments. Any member of the administrative team may overrule a rejection if they find the rejection to be unnecessary
2. No staff member may accept their own PIREP.

Diversions

1. A diversion airport and reason for the diversion must be notated in the “Comments” section of smartCARS if the pilot deems flight conditions are unsafe or if there is an emergency and must divert to an alternate airfield or that PIREP will be rejected.

Slew Mode

1. PIREPs that show slew mode toggled on for greater than 3 seconds after completion of pushback procedures, will be rejected.

Double Dipping

1. Accruing hours for another VA while using the same flight to accrue hours for UVA is strictly prohibited. Violators will have the offending PIREP(s) rejected and face possible disciplinary action, to be determined by the Executive/Administration Team.

Airline & Aircraft Type Restrictions

1. Pilots may fly any airline and aircraft type (including corporate jets and General Aviation aircraft) on any route they desire as long as the following general requirements are met:
   1. The aircraft must have the fuel range capable of flying the route (i.e. you can’t fly a CRJ- 200 on KSFO to EGLL as that aircraft doesn’t have the range capable of flying that route without fuel stops along the way).
   2. The aircraft must be an appropriate size to adhere to the departure and arrival airport restrictions, runway length, etc. (i.e. you can’t fly an A380 into or out of KLGA as KLGA runways aren’t long enough and the airport layout doesn’t support A380 aircraft).
   3. If the aircraft you want to fly is not listed on our site, pilots may choose the closest size and range aircraft to the aircraft they plan to fly for the flight on the Charter Ops page.
   4. If you substitute one aircraft for another, leave a comment in the “Comments” section of our smartCARS application before submitting your PIREP.
      

Keep in mind, Charters can only be created for routes that are not in our scheduling system already, so please search out your route in the Schedule Search page before creating a charter. Aircraft substitutions can be made through our smartCARS application and charters should NOT be created simply to change an aircraft type.