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What's new

The changes airline staff and pilots notice, newest first.

Update 4

This release connects your airline to the tools around it (Discord, your own servers and apps) and lets you make the crew centre your own. Every feature is off until you turn it on in Staff → Optional features, so nothing changes for your pilots until you choose. Two changes apply to everyone: API keys are now stored in a form that can't be read back (see "Integrations"), and pilots' SimBrief settings can now follow them to any device.

Discord

  • Discord roles by rank (switch "Discord roles by rank"). On Staff → Ranks, choose a Discord role for each rank from your server's own roles. When a pilot is promoted, the bot swaps the role; "Sync everyone" in Settings → Discord server does it for all linked pilots. The bot needs "Manage Roles", and its role must sit above the rank roles in Discord.
  • Clean-up when a pilot leaves. With the same switch, a pilot who leaves, is suspended, is merged into another record or deletes their account loses the airline's roles and nickname. Nobody is kicked from your server: that stays your decision.
  • Arrival posts follow the review. An arrival posted to your channel is updated when staff accept or reject the PIREP, with the new status and points.

Integrations (Staff → Integrations)

  • Named API keys (switch "Named API keys"). One key per tool, each allowed to read only what it needs (flights, pilots), and revoked on its own. A key is shown once, when it's made; after that the list shows its name, what it may read and when it was last used. Up to 120 requests a minute per key.
  • Keys are stored hashed. The airline's Ops key and older ACARS keys can no longer be shown again. They keep working; if you've lost one, make a new one. Owners whose Ops key was affected got one email about it.
  • Webhooks (switch "Webhooks"). Your own server gets a signed JSON message within seconds when a PIREP is filed or reviewed, a pilot joins, leaves or changes rank, a flight is booked, cancelled or takes off. Failed deliveries are retried for about 15 hours; each webhook has a delivery log and a "Send a test" button. A webhook that has failed for three days is switched off and the owner is emailed. Up to 5 per airline.

Your airline, your look

  • Branding (switch "Branding", Staff → Branding). Upload a logo (shown in the menu, on your public page and in the airline directory) and a banner behind your public page's heading. Emails about your airline carry your logo, colour and name.
  • Your own pages. Up to 8 pages in Markdown, public or for members only, listed in your menu: a crew guide, SOPs, how to join.
  • File hangar (switch "File hangar"). Upload PDFs, text files and ZIPs of checklists to a document, up to 10 MB each and 250 MB per airline. A new upload keeps the older ones as earlier versions, with a note. "From rank" locks a document for pilots below that rank, showing the rank they need. Files are only for signed-in members; liveries and large files stay as links.

Pilots' pages

  • Badges page (switch "Badges page"). The Awards page (now in every airline's menu) shows each pilot's progress towards the awards they haven't earned ("12 of 25 flights"), when they earned the others, and how many pilots hold each one. Upload an image per award in Staff → Community. New award kinds: countries landed in, aircraft types flown, event flights and night landings.
  • Dashboard layout (switch "Dashboard layout"). Pilots hide the cards they don't use and put the rest in their own order ("Customise your dashboard", at the bottom of the dashboard), and can go back to yours. In Staff → Dashboard layout you set the default order and add your own blocks: text, an optional picture and an end date, for everyone, for one rank and above, or for pilots at one hub.
  • SimBrief settings follow the pilot (no switch). "Save these SimBrief settings" on the booking page now keeps them with the pilot's account, so they're filled in on any computer. Nothing changes until a pilot saves once.

Not in this release

Codeshares between airlines, your own domain name, sign-in for outside apps and a new design are planned for later. Navigraph charts and procedures at dispatch will follow once access is confirmed.

Update 3

This release adds community, dispatch and flight-analysis features. Every one of them is off until you turn it on in Staff → Optional features, so nothing changes for your pilots until you choose. The one exception is a rank rule that only applies once you set it.

Ranks and recruitment

  • Days in service on a rank. Next to hours, points and flights, a rank can now ask for a number of days since the pilot joined. Leave it empty and nothing changes. Pilots see "Days in service: 12 of 30" on the Ranks page.
  • Rank-transfer requests (switch "Rank-transfer requests"). Pilots coming from another airline ask on the Ranks page: where they flew, their hours, their rank there, the rank they'd like and a link as proof. You decide in Staff → Rank requests, granting hours and/or a rank floor, or saying no with a reason. They get an email either way.
  • Your own application questions (switch "Application questions"). Up to 10 questions on the join form: short or long text, yes/no, or a choice list, each required or optional. Answers show with the application in the review queue and on the pilot's page. Rewording a question later keeps the answers already given.
  • Merging duplicate pilot records (switch "Merge duplicate pilot records"). When someone joined twice, open the record to keep, choose the other one and read the preview: what moves, what's dropped as a duplicate (an award held twice) and anything that stops the merge. Nothing moves until you confirm. The folded record stays, marked as merged.

Scoring

  • Every change to your scoring rules is kept as a numbered version, with who saved it and when. Each new PIREP shows "Scored with rules v7". When you re-score a flight, you see the old and new points and exactly which rules changed between the two versions.

Community

  • Community goals (switch "Community goals"). An airline-wide target over a date range: hours, flights, distance, points or soft landings, optionally for one aircraft type or airport, with up to three tiers. Pilots see progress on their dashboard and a Goals page with the top contributors. When it ends, everyone who helped gets points per tier reached, the top contributors get extra, and you can add an award.
  • Team challenges (switch "Team challenges"). Teams by hub, by rank, a balanced random draw, or pilots joining a team themselves until the start. Standings update as flights are accepted; the winning team can get points and an award.
  • Public live map. If you opt in (Staff → Settings), your flights appear on vaeroly.com/live with the callsign, aircraft, route, altitude and speed, but no names. Pilots who hide themselves from your own live map are left out.

Dispatch

  • Suggested alternates (switch "Suggested alternates"). The booking page lists civil airports 50–250 nm from the arrival with a runway long enough for the aircraft, nearest first, with their current weather. The pilot's choice goes to SimBrief and into the VATSIM/IVAO flight plan. Set how much runway each type needs on the Fleet page (sensible values are built in).
  • Expected loads (switch "Expected loads"). Each route gets a demand figure from the airports' size, the distance and the day of the week, or your own figure on the route. Dispatch starts from that many passengers, and your finances use the same number.
  • Airport NOTAMs (switch "Airport NOTAMs"). Staff → Airport NOTAMs: write a notice for an airport (information, caution or closure) with an optional start and end. Pilots flying from, to or diverting to it see it on their booking, above the official NOTAMs of their SimBrief plan.

Flight analysis

  • Glide slope (switch "Glide-slope deviation"). Flight reports show the final approach against a 3° path to the runway the pilot actually landed on, with a band of one dot either side (as on an ILS), the deviation at 1,000 and 500 ft, the largest deviation above and below, and how long the flight was more than a dot off. It applies to flights filed after you turn it on; older reports keep the previous chart.

For pilots (so you can answer their questions)

  • They only see what you've turned on.
  • "Why is my alternate not in the plan?" After choosing an alternate, they need to generate the SimBrief plan again.
  • "Why no official NOTAMs?" They appear once the SimBrief plan is attached to the booking.
  • "Why no glide-slope chart?" It needs a flight recorded by ACARS that lined up with a runway; circling approaches and flights to airports without runway positions show the older chart.

Update 2

This release covers the business side of Vaeroly: clear terms, better emails, easier setup for new airlines and a demo you can send to anyone. Nothing about flying, booking or filing changes for pilots.

For airline owners

  • Getting started. A new airline opens on Staff → Getting started: first hub, fleet, routes, ranks, Discord, staff and billing. Each step ticks itself off once it's done, and any step can wait. Until everything is done, the owner also sees a checklist card on the staff overview. It can be hidden.
  • A standard rank ladder in one click. Six ranks from Cadet to Senior Captain, by hours. Smaller aircraft come first and the Captain ranks fly everything. Ranks you already have are left alone, and you can change them all afterwards under Ranks.
  • Invite staff by email. On the Staff page or Getting started, enter an address and choose a role. The person accepts within 14 days by signing in, or signing up, with that address. They join the airline as staff with that role. As before, you can only give roles with permissions you hold yourself.
  • Export everything. Staff → Ownership has a ZIP download of the whole airline: its setup, pilots, flights, bookings, events, awards and the activity log. Pilots' email addresses aren't included.
  • Terms and refunds. Creating an airline now asks you to agree to the Terms and the Refund & Cancellation Policy. In short: cancel any time, the airline stays open until the end of the month you paid for, and partial months aren't refunded.

For pilots (so you can answer their questions)

  • Terms at sign-up. New accounts tick "I agree" to the Terms and Privacy Policy. When the Terms change, signed-in users see a short notice once.
  • Deleting an account now waits 30 days. Pilots are signed out and hidden from rosters and boards straight away. Signing in during the 30 days lets them cancel the deletion. After that, their personal data is removed and their flights stay in your statistics anonymously, as before.
  • Download my data now also comes as a ZIP file, with a spreadsheet of their flights and their claim screenshots.
  • Email choices. Pilots can turn off news-type mail (announcements, comment notifications) on their Profile page, or with the link at the bottom of those emails. Account, security, billing and decisions on their own flights and applications are always sent.

Emails

  • Every email has a new look, with plain text included for mail apps that prefer it.
  • Addresses that bounce hard stop getting mail, so bad addresses don't pile up.
  • Big announcements go out gradually to stay within the mail server's hourly limit. Important mail (sign-in, resets, decisions) still goes first.

The public site

  • Pricing, questions and contact. New `/pricing`, `/faq` and `/contact` pages. The price and trial length come from the live settings. Contact messages reach the Vaeroly team, with spam kept out without a CAPTCHA.
  • Try the demo. `/demo` opens "Vaeroly Demo", a sample airline with about forty pilots and a year of flights. Anyone can look around it as a pilot or as staff without an account: flight reports with landing analysis, the review queue, the roster, the live map. Nothing in it can be changed, and it starts over every night. It's a good link to send to someone who's thinking of joining or running an airline.

Update 1

A behind-the-scenes release: Vaeroly is safer and faster, and staff access is now more precise. Nothing about flying, booking or filing changes for pilots.

Staff roles, redone

  • Roles are now sets of permissions. Staff → Staff roles lists your airline's roles. There are six to start with: PIREP review, Pilots & HR, Operations, Community, Settings, and Airline admin (everything except billing). You can change them or add your own, such as "Hub manager" or "Tour guide", by ticking what each one may do.
  • Nobody lost access. Every staff member has the roles that match what they could do before. Staff who had every tool now have Airline admin.
  • Several roles add up. Give a staff member any mix of roles on their pilot page (Staff → Pilots → their name).
  • Limit a role to hubs. A role can cover only pilots based at some hubs, for their applications, PIREPs, records, transfers and leave. Its other permissions are unaffected.
  • You can't hand out more than you hold. Staff who manage roles can only add permissions they have themselves.
  • Public titles. Each role has a title pilots see on the roster (for example "PIREP Reviewer"). Leave it empty to keep a role private.
  • Clear answers. A page your roles don't allow shows a short "not allowed" page saying which permission is missing, instead of sending you back to the dashboard.
  • New staff start with no roles. When you make someone staff, choose their roles on their page.

For airline owners

  • Hand the airline over. Staff → Ownership lets you offer the airline to one of its pilots. They accept or decline by email within 7 days. You stay on as staff with Airline admin.
  • Vaeroly support is read-only. Platform staff can look at your staff pages to help you, but can't change anything unless an administrator starts a support session with a reason. You get an email when that happens. It lasts an hour, and every change made during it is marked `[support access]` in your Activity log.
  • Two-step login for staff (optional). Staff → Optional features → "Two-step login for staff" asks every staff member to set up an authenticator app.
  • Activity log filters. Filter by person, action and date, and download the result as a CSV file.
  • Receipts. Each subscription payment emails you a receipt.

Behind the scenes

  • Encrypted backups. They run nightly, are kept for 7 days, 4 weeks and 6 months, and are stored off the server. A restore test is documented.
  • Safer updates. New releases are tried on a copy of the database before going live. Updates reload without dropping requests and can be rolled back with one command.
  • Health checks and error alerts, so problems are noticed before you report them.
  • Faster staff pages. The pilot list, review queue, dashboard, leaderboard and statistics now make far fewer database queries at large airlines. Statistics load about four times faster.