Flight Operations
Introduction
There are four [4] types of flights available at Walker Air Transport:
| Cargo | Charter | Scheduled | Tours |
To learn more about each of them, scroll through this document.
Location and Home:
When you signed up for Walker Air Transport, you were asked to provide a Home Base location. This location is at your discretion and only affects one thing; where your career begins in the 'Scheduled' and 'Cargo' module.
Aircraft Available:
Each flight type has a specific fleet available. Visit our Fleet page by clicking here.
Notice About Worldwide Persistence:
As you read further into each module, remember that our 'Cargo' and 'Scheduled' operations require Pilots to depart from their last arrival airport, unless a Jumpseat to another airport is purchased.
We also have an option called 'Worldwide Persistence' which enables Charter flights to be operated in the same manner. Read more here.
Notice About Diversions or Crashes:
When you divert and land, or crash, our system will use your last known coordinates to determine the airport (or closest) where you are. Your PIREP is then marked as 'Diverted' and you have an additional icon placed on the map. In order to maintain our persistence system, we do one additional task based on having Worldwide Persistence enabled or not (see note above about Worldwide Persistence).
WWP is ON | ENABLED:
You'll remain at the airport we identified.
WWP is OFF | DISABLED:
If the airport where you are has no Cargo or Scheduled flights, we'll identify another airport closest to your location that does have flights and relocate you so you may continue on your journey.
If you're on a Tour flight, you'll be required to re-fly that leg.
Cargo
The Cargo Flight Module gives Pilots an opportunity to experience life as a 'Freight Dog' for a major Cargo Operation by using real life flight routes, schedules and aircraft.
There are currently 213,542 routes available to you worldwide.
If you wish to depart from another location, purchase a Jumpseat Ticket to transfer to another airport.
Finding a Cargo Flight
Upon arrival, you'll be presented with a map. You'll see a departure icon (Green Map Pin) and 1 or more arrival pins (Black Dots), as well a Toggle Weather, Toggle VATSIM and Select Random Arrival buttons at the bottom left of the screen.
The map seen above represents its default view. To see the rest of the world, place your cursor on the map and, with your control wheel, zoom in or out.
The departure location for your next flight is set as follows:
| New Pilots | All Other Pilots |
| New Pilots taking their first flight depart from the Home Airport they requested on registration. |
The Arrival Airport of your last Cargo or Scheduled flight. |
Mouse over pins/black dots to see the names of the airports with flights available from your departure airport.
Once you find a place to which you'd like to fly, click on its black dot. Lets use KIAH > KSEA as an example.
| IMPORTANT :: You may only Bid a new Cargo flight when no other Cargo Flights have been bid. If you have already bid another flight – or – that flight is already in progress, you'll see this message. You must complete the flight or cancel it in order to bid a new one. |
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You'll then see your Flight Bid appear listing the Flight Number, Distance and Estimated Time Enroute.
The Estimated Time Enroute is only an estimate and does not reflect the time in the aircraft you select.
Bidding a Cargo Flight
Click the Bid Flight button to bid on the flight.
After doing so, the confirmation window below will appear.
From the drop-down, select an Aircraft Type.
We allow our Pilots to chose their preferred aircraft type rather than restricted them to one assigned to the flight.
After selecting your aircraft, click Book.
The Pilot Briefing will appear signifying the flight has been added your My Bids page.
| For both the Departure and Arrival Airports, the METAR (Meteorological Terminal Air Report) will be displayed. |
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| Click TAF and the Terminal Arrival Forecast will be displayed. |
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| Click Runways and those available at the airport will be displayed. |
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Map Features
Flight Status – A number of informational items regarding the real-time status of your current flight are displayed on the map.
- When smartCARS 3 or FlightTrackerXP has not been started – meaning you did not click 'Start' – this reminder will be seen;
- When you're in Preflight, the Network Status is displayed as a means of reminding you to set the flag for the ATC network you're using;
- When in the various phases of flight, your altitude, ground speed, time remaining, network and phase will be displayed. If you're successfully in Cruise, the phase indicator will turn green (useful for mistakes with cruising altitude or low pressure problems.); and,
- Once you've arrived and the PIREP is ready to be submitted, the status shows only Arrived (in green).
NOTE: The data updates every 10 seconds.
Once you've reviewed the details of your flight, you're ready to go fly it...
Charter
Leveraging a list of all airports around the world, the Charter system allows a pilot to create a flight schedule without the constraints of having to adhere to the company's route map. The only limitation is selecting an aircraft with the range to complete the flight, and that will fit in the airports.
If you find an airport missing from the list, please send in a ticket.
Creating & Bidding a Charter Flight
On the Charter Page, there are (2) ways you can create a flight. You can choose to use the Create a Flight option listed below -- or -- read below that and you can use the Interactive Map.
Using the Create-a-Flight, there are seven (7) steps you must complete in order to create and bid a Charter flight.
| 1. | Departure – Enter the Name or ICAO Code of any airport from which you wish to depart. |
| 2. | Arrival – Enter the Name or ICAO Code of any airport to which you wish to arrive. |
| 3. |
Aircraft – Click the drop-down and select an aircraft from our Cargo, Charter, or Scheduled fleet.
If you wish to return and pick another fleet, click on the 'Reset Aircraft' to the right of the drop down box.
You can view our entire fleet by operation by visiting CrewOps > Company > Fleet. |
| 4. | Departure Time – Select a departure time – and remember this is UTC time, not local time. You can just leave this as-is, as you do not need to set this time in your flight sim for your flight to count for Walker. |
| 5. | Passengers or Cargo – Choose who or what will be accompanying you on your flight – passengers or cargo. |
| 6. |
Worldwide Persistence – Toggle On or Off To learn more about Worldwide Persistence, click here. |
| 7. |
Click the Create Charter button. |
Using the Interactive Map, please note the following details.
- The map automatically displays airports by type, based on your zoom level and panning.
- Further out you are: large airports
- Closer you are: large, and medium airports
- Closer closer you are: large, medium, and small airports
- CLOSE you are: large, medium, small, seaplane, and heliport
- The map now includes icons and ICAO labels.
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= Airport -
= Heliport -
= Seaplane
-
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You can zoom in to any icon, hover over it, and then left mouse click. You will be presented with a box that will enable you to add that airport to either Departure or ICAO. Just click the button as you wish.
The airports can be replaced by simply clicking, and choose the right slot. Over and over. |
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It will automatically update the Create-a-Flight section, and then simply pick your aircraft and finish out the rest of the flight information. Lastly, click 'Create Charter' and you are done. |
You'll be directed to Flights > My Bids where the newly-created flight appears.
To view the Pilot Briefing for this flight, click the yellow button. Use this information to assist you in planning your flight and its flight route.
To delete this Bid, click the red button.
Find a Flight - Random Flight Generator
The Random Generator is an easy way to address the 'Where am I going to fly today?' question... Input a few items and generate a random flight.
If you're using Worldwide Persistence, your departure airport will be filled in automatically. Otherwise you can fill as many or as little of the following boxes and the system will generate a flight that fits within the constraints you have selected.
Note that if you do not tick any boxes for the runway surface selection and the airport size selection, the system will take this input as allowing all of the options.
You can click on the Find a Flight button as many times as you like until you get a satisfactory result, then you can proceed to hit Transfer Flight to send the airport information to the charter module on the top of the screen.
To clear all entries, click the Clear Generator button or simply refresh the page.
Scheduled
The Scheduled Flight Module gives Pilots an opportunity to experience life as a 'Line Pilot' for a major Passenger Airline by using real life flight routes, schedules and aircraft.
There are currently 426,503 routes available to you worldwide.
If you wish to depart from another location, you may purchase a Jumpseat Ticket to transfer to another airport.
Finding a Scheduled Flight
Upon arrival, you'll be presented with a map. You'll see a departure icon (Green Map Pin) and one [1] or more arrival pins (Black Dots), as well as Toggle Weather, Toggle VATSIM and Select Random Arrival buttons at the bottom left of the screen.
The map seen above represents its default view. To see the rest of the world, place your cursor on the map and, with your control wheel, zoom in or out.
The departure location for your next flight is set as follows:
| New Pilots | All Other Pilots |
| New Pilots taking their first flight depart from the Home Airport they requested on registration. |
The Arrival Airport of your last Cargo or Scheduled flight. |
Mouse over pins/black dots to see the names of the airports with flights available from your departure airport.
Once you find a place to which you'd like to fly, click on its black dot. Let's use KIAH > KPDX as an example.
| IMPORTANT :: You may only Bid a new Scheduled flight when no other Scheduled Flights have been bid. If you have already bid another flight – or – that flight is already in progress, you'll see this message. You must complete the flight or cancel it in order to bid a new one. |
|
You'll then see your Flight Bid appear listing the Flight Number, Distance and Estimated Time Enroute.
The Estimated Time Enroute is only an estimate and does not reflect the time in the aircraft you select.
Bidding a Scheduled Flight
Click the Bid Flight button to bid on the flight.
After doing so, the confirmation window below will appear.
From the drop-down, select an Aircraft Type.
We allow our Pilots to chose their preferred aircraft type rather than restricted them to one assigned to the flight.
After selecting your aircraft, click Book.
The Pilot Briefing will appear signifying the flight has been added your My Bids page.
| For both the Departure and Arrival Airports, the METAR (Meteorological Terminal Air Report) will be displayed. |
|
| Click TAF and the Terminal Arrival Forecast will be displayed. |
|
| Click Runways and those available at the airport will be displayed. |
|
Map Features
Flight Status – A number of informational items regarding the real-time status of your current flight are displayed on the map.
- When smartCARS 3 or FlightTrackerXP has not been started – meaning you did not click 'Start' – this reminder will be seen;
- When you're in Preflight, the Network Status is displayed as a means of reminding you to set the flag for the ATC network you're using;
- When in the various phases of flight, your altitude, ground speed, time remaining, network and phase will be displayed. If you're successfully in Cruise, the phase indicator will turn green (useful for mistakes with cruising altitude or low pressure problems.); and,
- Once you've arrived and the PIREP is ready to be submitted, the status shows only Arrived (in green).
NOTE: The data updates every 10 seconds.
Once you've reviewed the details of your flight, you're ready to go fly it...
Tours
A Tour provides an opportunity for a pilot to discover the world in a new and unique way. Each one is themed, and unless specified differently, can be completed in an aircraft from any of the company's fleets. They are comprised of planned legs, each of which must be flown in the order specified. Once all legs have been completed, an award is posted to a pilot's Logbook.
You do not have to be at the airport location in order to start any leg of a tour.
Tour flights do not change your location upon landing.
To explore our Tours offerings, click Tours.
The default view is for all Tours to be displayed. Once you begin flying them, though, you may find it useful and/or convenient to be able to sort them. In the Text Box to the right of the magnifying glass icon, you can select any sorting option from the drop-down menu.
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All Available In Progress Completed |
Beneath the Title Bar above are our Tours. These are from the All view – as you can see from the Text Box in the Title Bar.
They're also displayed in alphabetical order.
The Tours shown below are only a small portion of the entire offerings. Please proceed to the Tours page in CrewOps for the whole list
Each Tour has a status. It's either Available, In Progress or Completed – and each is anchored by a colored bar providing you a visual indicator of its status.
| Tour Status: | Available | In Progress | Completed |
| Completion Status: | Grey | Yellow | Green |
Below are samples of what you may see in your tours page.
| Available | In Progress | Completed |
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Available
Referring to the Tour Page image above, you can see the Airbus Tour is Available because the Sign Up bar is Grey.
To learn more about this Tour, click its image on the Tour page.
After doing so, the screen below will open. In it, there are three areas on the page.
Area 1 | Tour Description
Click Tour Description beneath the Tour Image. After doing so, its description will appear. This will provide an narrative overview of the Tour.
If you wish to sign up for the Tour, click the Sign Up bar. After doing so, you'll note two new things in the page that opens.
| 1. |
If you change your mind about completing the Tour at any time after signing up for it, click the Leave this Tour? button and you'll be removed from it.
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| 2. |
The Tour's First Leg will now have a grey aircraft icon button. That means you may bid this leg. |
Tour Legs must be completed in the order they're sequenced. You will not be able to skip around once you begin.
To bid a Tour Leg, click the grey aircraft icon button.
Afterwards, the screen below will open.
If you are a member of the Patreon program, you may use any livery you want for the tour.
From the drop-down (click the chevron in the right corner of the text box), select a Fleet – Cargo, Charter or Scheduled (as appropriate - some tours will not have a fleet available due to the tour restrictions.)
Once selected, the dropdown will refresh with the aircraft available in your selected fleet.
Select the aircraft you wish to fly from those in the drop-down menu (click the chevron in the right corner of the text box).
In this example, a Beechcraft Baron 58 from the Charter Fleet will be flown for this Tour Leg.
If you wish to return and pick another fleet, click on the 'Reset Aircraft' to the right of the drop down box.
Otherwise, click "Bid Flight" to continue.
You now have three options regarding this Tour Leg.
| If you want to... | ... then do this. |
| Fly | Click the Bid Flight button. |
| Change | Change the Fleet and/or Aircraft – and then click the Bid Flight button. |
| Cancel | Click the 'x' in the upper right corner of the box and the Leg will be canceled. |
After clicking the Bid Flight button, the Tour Leg will appear in My Bids. You may then operate the flight.
To view the Pilot Briefing for this flight, click the yellow button. Use this information to assist you in planning your flight and its flight route.
To delete this Bid, click the red button.
And about the colored buttons... Here's another example of a Pilot currently flying a Tour we can use as an illustration:
Leg 26 has a green check mark icon indicating that leg has been Completed.
Leg 27 has a red aircraft icon indicating that leg has already been bid and is available to be flown. It cannot be bid again.
Leg 28 has a yellow clock icon indicating it may not be bid upon unless/until Leg 27's flight has been completed.
This color coding has been implemented for all Tours.
Area 2 | Tour Map & Legs
In this area of the Tour Page, a map identifying the Legs and their location is presented.
To its right is the list of Tour Legs. Each is numbered and must be flown in that order. The Aircraft Type allowed in this Tour can be seen by clicking the green Cargo, Charter and Scheduled buttons.
Area 3 | Pilot Status On Tour
In this area, the status of all Pilots flying the Tour are noted – Pilot Name, Location, Last Flight, Last Aircraft and Progress. If desired, you can measure your progress against others flying the Tour and view their most recent PIREPs.
In Progress
Referring to the Tour Page image above, you can see the Around The World Tour is In Progress because the Sign Up bar is Yellow.
All other visual elements of an Available Tour exist for an In Progress Tour – with two notable exceptions.
- A Tour may be canceled at any time. In the image above, clicking the red button will do that.
- An In Progress Tour is underway, so when it's opened to place a bid, the Legs area will look slightly different. In the example below, Leg 26 / 32 has been completed. Leg 27 has been bid; Leg 28 will not be available to bid until Leg 27 is completed. Once it is, it will have a green check mark beside it. Once a Leg has been flown, it cannot be flown again.
Completed
Referring to the Tour Page image above, you can see the Alaska Milk Run Tour has been completed because the Sign Up bar is Green.
All other visual elements of an In Progress Tour, exist for a Completed Tour – with two notable exceptions.
ONE
A Tour may be re-flown at any time. In the image above, clicking the green button will do that. To re-fly a Tour, you'll need to purchase a Tour Pass – and there's a cost for doing that.
After clicking the Green button, the screen below will open. There, you'll see what it'll cost you to re-fly the Tour.
Clicking the Cancel button at any time will cancel the transaction.
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If your Wallet Balance is greater than that cost, the transaction will be approved. You will be allowed to re-fly the Tour.
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TWO
All Tour Legs have been completed. There are no more Tour Legs to fly, so each one has a green check mark.
Tour Pause due to Time Compression // Cleared To Fly
Pilots are allowed to use time compression on tour legs with our new Tour Pause system. When you use TC on a leg, the amount of time remaining after your compression is used to put you in pause mode on that specific tour. This means that on that one tour, you cannot start the next leg until the real-time equivalent has passed. You can, however, move on to another tour and do a leg in time compression. The goal here is to keep pilots from speed running one tour within a few hours, but also allow them to enjoy the longer tours without having to sit at a PC for 8 hours or leave it running overnight.
Example: you fly a 4 hour leg in 2 hours time compressed. You will be paused for 2 hours on our platform and after that 2 hours expires, you can bid the next leg. If you happen to pause the simulator for those 2 hours because you had to step away, when you land the required time is met and you'll immediately open up the next leg.
When you are not cleared to fly, you will see this icon and the clearance time (in UTC) will be presented to you in the tooltip.
Please note: you will still be deducted points for time compression per our policy and point chart here: Rank & Points
Jumpseat
When flying Cargo and Scheduled flights – and Charter flights, though only when Worldwide Persistence is on/enabled – your departure airport must be the same as the arrival airport of your previous flight.
A Jumpseat enables you to change that.
With a Ticket, you can move from the airport where you currently are to any other one in the world. With Worldwide Persistence on, this also includes Charter flights.
Jumpseat tickets, though, are not free. They cost money. They're purchased using the virtual money you earn as a Pilot.
EXAMPLE: You're currently at KSEA - Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and wish to get to KJFK | New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. When you go to Flights > Jumpseats, you'll be presented with the screen below. Your Current Location will already be noted. Enter the airport where you want to go in the Transfer To box. In addition to a distance between the airports, a price will appear below it. If you want to purchase the seat, click the Purchase Ticket button. Repeat the process as many times as you wish before making a purchase decision.
If the price of the Ticket is more than the balance in your In Your Wallet account, you will not be able to purchase it.