Installing and using ACARS

The Vaeroly app is a desktop app that records your flight from the simulator and files the PIREP when you park. One app covers all your airlines.

Download and first start

Open the ACARS page (or Flight tools → Get ACARS in your airline's menu). Anyone can open it and download; the page shows the current version of each app.
Windows 11: press Get it for Windows (Microsoft Store), then Get in the Store. The Store installs the app like any other and keeps it up to date. Start Vaeroly from the Start menu and choose Sign in with your browser. A copy you downloaded from the site before keeps working and updating by itself.
Windows 10 (the Store app needs Windows 11): press Download the zip under the Store button (or Download for Windows, if that's the Windows button), unzip the file and double-click VaerolyACARS.exe. If you see "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway.
Mac (Apple Silicon): press Download for Mac and open the file. In the window that opens, drag Vaeroly onto the Applications folder, then open it from Applications and choose Sign in with your browser. It's signed by Vaeroly and checked by Apple, so macOS opens it like any other app.
Linux (64-bit, Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 36 or newer): press Download for Linux, unzip the file, keep the folder somewhere you can write to, such as your home folder, and start VaerolyACARS from it. Linux is for X-Plane. To have Vaeroly in your desktop's app menu, run ./add-to-menu.sh in a terminal from that folder (ACARS 2.8.66 downloads and later; ./add-to-menu.sh --remove takes it out), then keep the folder where it is.

A Windows or Linux download from the site made while you're signed in comes ready to use with your account. Otherwise the app asks you to sign in the first time: on a Mac, choose Sign in with your browser.

The Mac app runs on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and newer); there's no download for Intel Macs.

Signing in

A Windows or Linux download made while you're signed in to the crew centre is already signed in as you, so there's nothing to type. Otherwise ACARS asks you to sign in:

Sign in with your browser (recommended): the crew centre opens at Connect ACARS. Type the code ACARS shows (for example ABCD-1234), press Continue, check the app's name and press Allow. Go back to ACARS: it signs in by itself and loads your booked flight. Never type a code someone sent you: it would connect their copy of ACARS to your account.
Or enter your email and password (and your two-step code, if you use one) and press Sign in. If many people on the same connection have mistyped their passwords recently, ACARS may ask you to use Sign in with your browser instead.
Or Use a code from the website (ACARS 2.8.82 and later): signed in on the website, on this computer or on your phone, press Sign in a phone or ACARS on your profile, then Show a sign-in code. Type the code into ACARS and press Sign in. See Scan to sign in.

Each new sign-in sends you an email, so you notice one you didn't make. Every signed-in copy is listed under Signed-in computers on the ACARS page, with a Sign out button. A copy that isn't used for 90 days is signed out by itself. Sign out of every other browser and ACARS on your profile signs out all of them at once (so does turning two-step login on or off).

Several computers, one recording. You can sign in on more than one computer. A flight is recorded by the computer that started it: another computer that tries to send the same flight is told so and stops. If that computer crashes or loses its connection, wait 10 minutes and carry on from another one. The phone app isn't affected.

Your simulator

Pick it under SIMULATOR in the app, or leave Detect automatically.

MSFS 2020 and 2024 (Windows)

Works out of the box through SimConnect (MSFS 2020 / 2024 (SimConnect)). You don't need FSUIPC. FSUIPC7 7.5 or later (the free version is enough) is optional: when it's running, ACARS reads through it and falls back to SimConnect otherwise. Run ACARS, FSUIPC and the simulator all normally, or all as administrator.

The Vaeroly panel inside MSFS (ACARS 2.8.8 and later): ACARS adds a Vaeroly button to the simulator's toolbar by itself. It opens a small window with your flight, its phase, block time, altitude, speed, the checks tripped so far and the latest remarks, so you can stay in the simulator. The button appears the next time you start MSFS after ACARS has run once.

Your EFB in the panel (Vaeroly app 2.8.30 and later): the panel's window has tabs. Checklist shows your flight's EFB checklist: tap an item to tick it or clear it, and it shows the same on the web EFB and on your phone. Messages shows dispatch's messages and datalink uplinks, and Plan your flight plan: departure, arrival, alternate, aircraft, route, cruise level, block fuel, enroute time and distance. Your airline needs the EFB switched on, and the Vaeroly app must be signed in.

Prepar3D (Windows)

Install FSUIPC for your Prepar3D version and choose MSFS / Prepar3D through FSUIPC (or Detect automatically).

X-Plane 11 and 12 (Windows, Mac and Linux)

Nothing to install: ACARS uses X-Plane's own network data (UDP port 49000). Choose X-Plane 11 / 12 (direct). The Mac app is for X-Plane on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and newer).

X-Plane on another computer at home works too (ACARS 2.8.14 and later): ACARS finds it on your home network by itself and shows Connected to X-Plane on computer name. Nothing to set up; if it isn't found, check that both computers are on the same network and that a firewall isn't blocking UDP.

No simulator handy? Choose Demo flight to try ACARS with your booking in about a minute. It files a test PIREP that earns no points, hours or pay and goes to staff, and it doesn't move you or your aircraft. The booking counts as flown.

Flying a flight

Book a flight on the crew centre. It appears under YOUR FLIGHT within a minute, or press Refresh. With bookings at several airlines, ACARS 2.8.26 and later shows Your bookings: pick the one to fly (the newest is picked first). Older versions fly the most recent one. From ACARS 2.8.62, Next flight counts down to the booking's planned departure, with the time on your computer's clock and in UTC ("Departs in 1 h 25 m · 14:35 your time · 11:35 UTC"). Past that time it says how long ago it was, calmly: you can still fly the booking until it expires. A booking whose route has no set time says so, and with nothing booked the page says No upcoming flight.
Load the aircraft on the ground at the departure airport (within 5 nm of it), with the engines off. From ACARS 2.8.40 the flight doesn't start while you're elsewhere or while an engine is running: ACARS tells you which, and starts tracking by itself once it's fixed. Your airline can let flights start with the engines running (Staff → Operations → Scoring → Checks & penalties).
From ACARS 2.8.46, tracking starts by itself once the aircraft is parked at the departure airport, once per booking. Otherwise press Start flight. If the simulator isn't ready yet, ACARS keeps trying.
Fly as usual with the ACARS window open. Reply to staff messages under MESSAGE DISPATCH. In the air, a message from staff doesn't pop up over the simulator (ACARS 2.8.26 and later): it shows in the log and the dispatch panel, with a sound, and the taskbar button flashes.
At the gate, stop, shut down the engines and set the parking brake. After about 10 seconds, the flight ends and the PIREP is filed. Or press Finish flight: the PIREP is filed once the aircraft stands still.

From ACARS 2.8.43 the engines off alone don't end the flight: parked without the parking brake, ACARS says so and waits for the brake or for Finish flight (for example to keep the engines running). If you closed the simulator at the gate first, press Finish flight anyway: the flight is filed from the last reading. Older versions end the flight about 10 seconds after you shut down the engines, brake or not. Stop tracking abandons the flight: nothing is filed and your booking stays open. After that, the flight doesn't start by itself again until you reopen Vaeroly.

Connected flights (ACARS 2.8.43 and later): as the flight ends at the gate, ACARS asks whether you fly a connected flight next. Answer Fly a connected flight, then book your next flight from that airport on the crew centre: ACARS starts tracking it as a new PIREP by itself (it waits up to 30 minutes, Stop waiting cancels it, and with more than one new booking it asks which). The flight you just landed is filed either way.

EFB in the menu on the left (ACARS 2.8.90 and later; from 2.8.27 a button at the top that opened a second window) opens your airline's EFB in the same window, already signed in: checklists, weather, loadsheet and your live flight, if your airline has switched it on. The window keeps the last copy of your EFB, so your flight stays readable if the internet drops. The ACARS menu stays beside the EFB: press Flight or any other entry to go back. On Linux the EFB opens in your browser instead. See The pilot EFB.

The new window (ACARS 2.8.29 and later, on Windows and the Mac): a side bar leads to Flight, Dispatch (messages with your airline), Log, Simulator and Settings. After landing you can type notes for staff; they're sent with your PIREP. The compact button keeps a small strip on top of the simulator. Linux keeps the classic window.

While the new window is minimised or hidden behind the simulator, it updates every 30 seconds instead of every second, to save your laptop's battery (from 2.8.32). Tracking, position reports and your PIREP don't depend on the window, so nothing is lost; only the sound of a new dispatch message can come up to 30 seconds late while the window is hidden. It updates at once when you bring it back.

In Arabic (ACARS 2.8.27 and later on the Mac, 2.8.29 and later on Windows in the new window): the app follows the language you chose on the website, and its screens then read right to left. To pick another one on this computer, open Settings › Language (Same as the website, English or العربية; from ACARS 2.8.92 also Deutsch, Français and Suomi, from 2.8.98 Italiano, and from 2.8.103 中文); the new window changes at once, the classic one the next time Vaeroly starts. The flight log's technical lines stay in English. From ACARS 2.8.47 the checks under Checked for you on the summary after the flight are in your language too, while the flight log and your PIREP keep them in English for staff.

Voice: with Settings › Voice on, you hear the arrival weather read aloud at the top of descent (wind, visibility, clouds, temperature and QNH), and a short warning when ACARS notes something such as a stall warning, more than 250 kt below 10,000 ft, an unstable approach or an aircraft that isn't the booked type, plus your landing rate once you leave the runway. It's on from the start unless you turned it off (older ACARS versions start with it off), and the first flight with it says where to turn it off. No warning is spoken while the simulator is paused. It has its own volume and a Test button, and always speaks English, aviation's language. It uses the speech your computer already has (on Linux, install speech-dispatcher or espeak-ng); without it, the setting says it isn't available on this computer.

Captain's announcement: turn on Settings › Voice › Captain's announcement in the cruise and, a few minutes after you level off, a cabin chime plays and the "captain" speaks to the passengers: your cruising altitude, about how long until landing, and the destination's weather in plain words (rain, clouds, wind, temperature). It's said once a flight, waits while a cabin announcement plays, and is skipped when the flight is almost over. It has its own setting, so it works with the warnings off; it's off until you turn it on and uses the same speech and volume as Voice.

Faults at the gate and System faults in flight (ACARS 2.8.94 and later for faults in flight): when your airline has Faults on flights on, tick them under Settings. Now and then a harmless light fails at the gate, or a system like a generator or the slats fails in the cruise. Both go into the aircraft's tech log, and never happen on VATSIM or IVAO. See Technical log.

New arrival weather (ACARS 2.8.43 and later): in the air, ACARS checks your destination's weather every 10 minutes. When the wind, QNH, visibility or the weather itself changes, a soft chime plays and the Flight page says what changed, for example "New weather at LIMC: wind 270/15 (was 240/08), QNH 1009 (was 1012)". Nothing is spoken, so it works with Voice off. Turn it off with Settings › Voice › Chime when the arrival weather changes.

Discord status (ACARS 2.8.94 and later): tick Settings › Discord › Show my flight as my Discord status and, while you fly, your Discord status shows the flight number and route, the phase and the aircraft type, with a timer, for example "VAE123 · EGLL → LFPG" and "Cruise · A320". Nothing else is shown: no position, altitude, pilot ID or airline name. It goes away when the flight ends, when you sign out or close ACARS, and when you untick it. It's off until you turn it on. ACARS gives it only to the Discord app on your computer; it sends nothing to Vaeroly or to Discord's servers for it. Discord then shows it to your friends, the same as a game's status. If Discord isn't open, nothing happens. To hide it from someone in Discord, use Discord's own activity settings.

NOTAMs (ACARS 2.8.43 and later): the NOTAMs for your departure, arrival and alternate show on the Flight page before you start and beside the flight while you fly: Vaeroly NOTAMs for every airline (for example a closed runway), your airline's own, and the runway notices from your SimBrief plan.

Airport map (ACARS 2.8.64 and later): before you start, the brief shows a map of your departure, arrival and alternate airports, with the runways, taxiways, stands and names, drawn from Vaeroly's own map. The same map has its own place in the menu, Map (ACARS 2.8.70 and later), there before, during and after the flight: it fills the window and opens on the airport you are at, with your aircraft on it, which helps on the taxi. In flight, Airport map on the altitude card takes you there too, and Flight in the menu takes you back. After landing it keeps the flight you just flew. It needs the internet, and when the map can't be read it is simply left out.

Ready to start (ACARS 2.8.65 and later, in the new window): before you start, the list on the Flight page also says whether the booked aircraft is loaded (or which one is), whether it stands at the departure airport, and whether the booking has a flight plan. The flight plan is optional: a flight can go without one.

If it can't tell which aircraft is loaded (an add-on with its own name), the list says not recognised. You can still start and fly. Your staff can add the name under Fleet.

In-sim panel shortcut (ACARS 2.8.65 and later, on Windows): pick a key combination under Settings › Window › In-sim panel shortcut (Ctrl+Alt+V, Ctrl+Shift+V, Ctrl+Alt+F12 or Ctrl+Shift+F12). Press it while you fly to hide the Vaeroly panel's contents in MSFS, and again to show them. MSFS keeps the panel's frame. If another program already uses the combination, ACARS says so: pick another.

Not your arrival (ACARS 2.8.66 and later, in the new window): on an approach with the gear down, coming down or with flaps out, more than 15 nm from your booked arrival, the In flight page says Not your arrival with the distance. Landing there files the flight as a diversion (more than 5 nm from the arrival); see After a diversion. After such a landing the summary says so too.

Text size (ACARS 2.8.66 and later, in the new window): Settings › Window › Text size makes the whole window larger (Large or Larger), and the window grows with it; on a small screen the page scrolls. The window works with the keyboard alone and with a screen reader, in every language the app has: a question in a dialog takes the keyboard (Tab stays in it until you answer), the side bar says which page is open, and notes that come and go on the In flight page (the simulator paused, a diversion ahead, new arrival weather) are read out.

Stream overlay for OBS (ACARS 2.8.94 and later): tick Settings › Stream overlay (OBS) and press Copy the address. In OBS, add a Browser source, paste the address (http://127.0.0.1:39510/overlay) and set the size to 800 × 120. A see-through strip then shows your route, flight number, phase, altitude and ground speed, and your landing rate after touchdown, updated every second. It shows nothing else: no name, email or key. Only this computer can open the address, so OBS must run on the same PC as ACARS; for a second streaming PC, use the link in Profile › Stream overlay on the website instead. The strip is empty when no flight is tracked, and while you hide Vaeroly with the in-sim panel shortcut. It's off until you tick it.

Your flight on your phone

If your airline has turned on Second screen, you can follow your own flight on a phone or tablet next to the simulator. While ACARS is tracking, your dashboard and your booking say Open on your phone with a short address (for example vaeroly.com/mine). Type it on your phone, sign in, and the page shows in large text:

the flight phase, altitude, ground speed and heading, with Paused when the simulator is paused or Sim rate 4× when time runs faster (ACARS 2.8.90 or newer);
the distance to go and the arrival time (UTC);
the next stable-approach checks (usually at 1,000 and 500 ft above the runway), each turning green or red once you pass it;
right after touchdown, the landing rate and G load, big on the screen.

It updates every 10 seconds, and stops asking while the page is in the background or the phone is locked. Where the browser allows it, the screen stays on while the page is open. It works in portrait; turn the phone sideways for a wider view. Only you see this page for your flight.

What gets recorded

Flight phases from boarding and pushback to arrival, and block time from first movement to parking. A go-around is logged with its height ("Go-around, 1,000 ft above the ground"), and the circuit after it stays the approach.
Landing rate, G load, touchdown speed and any bounces.
Fuel at the gate, take-off, landing and parking.
Your position every 10 seconds on the airline's Live map, and the full flight path.
A flight log: each engine's start and shutdown by number, lights, flaps, gear and parking brake. Flaps are named as on the real lever (Airbus 0, 1, 2, 3, FULL; Boeing 737 UP, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 25, 30, 40, and so on) when the simulator reports the same number of positions; otherwise as a percentage.
Checks such as overspeed below 10,000 ft, stall warnings, steep bank, pause, slew, time acceleration, refuelling in flight, position jumps and crashes.
The aircraft loaded in the simulator. If your airline has turned on Aircraft check, a flight in a different type than booked goes to review.
From ACARS 2.8.65, the flight data for the PIREP: time at night and in IMC, time on autopilot, the cruise's averages, take-off thrust and centre of gravity, reverse thrust, the autobrake, the autopilot and the ILS on the approach, and the cabin. See How flights are measured.
From ACARS 2.8.66, holds: all the way round at a level held, for a lap or more, at least 2,000 ft above the ground and outside a circuit. The flight log says "Holding at 7,000 ft" and "Left the hold after 8 min (2 laps)", the summary shows the time held and the PIREP lists each hold under Flight data. A single orbit isn't a hold, and nothing is judged.

Speed above 250 kt below 10,000 ft

Every stretch over 250 kt below 10,000 ft is logged and counted. If ATC or the SID/STAR you flew allowed it, say so in a comment on the PIREP: staff see each stretch in the flight log and can accept it when they review the flight.

Teach Vaeroly an add-on aircraft

Some add-ons run their own systems, so a switch or the flap lever can read differently from the cockpit. Load the aircraft at a gate with the engines off, then on the app's Simulator tab press Teach Vaeroly this aircraft.... In the new window (ACARS 2.8.45 and later):

Work the cockpit as you normally do, in any order. Each switch ticks the moment Vaeroly sees it move. Switches Vaeroly already knows for this aircraft show as Known and need nothing from you. If a switch isn't on this aircraft, press Not on this aircraft.
In MSFS on Windows, Vaeroly also reads the aircraft's own variables: if a switch never ticks, press Find it, then turn that switch on and back off.
The flap lever: for a type Vaeroly knows, move it through every position, and each one is named from the type's own lever. For any other type, set the lever to each position in turn, type the name printed on the lever and press Record position. From ACARS 2.8.48, if some positions read the same, Vaeroly can't tell them apart: the flap lever is left out for this aircraft, and the window says so.

There's nothing to wait for and nothing to send: what you teach is saved to Vaeroly by itself (without a booked flight, it's kept and sent when your next booking loads). Press Close when you're done. The classic window works as before: press Doesn't show for a switch that never ticks, and Send to Vaeroly at the end.

Once Vaeroly has checked it, every copy of ACARS uses the profile: switches the add-on doesn't report are never counted against you, and flaps are named as you recorded them.

Filing and problems

When the PIREP is filed, ACARS shows its status and points. See What the PIREP statuses mean. From ACARS 2.8.63 the summary also shows What to work on: up to two things to do better next time, from this flight's own figures (for example "You were 14 kt over the target speed at 500 ft"), the score lines that cost the most points and, when it has something to say, the landing coach's tip. The EFB shows the same for your last flight under Reports.

No connection to the crew centre: the PIREP is saved on your computer and sent when the connection is back. Send now retries. Positions that couldn't be sent are kept with the flight (about 50 minutes' worth, even through a restart of ACARS or the computer) and sent with their own times when the connection is back, so the live map and the track have no gap.
ACARS closed mid-flight: the flight is saved on your computer as you fly. Open ACARS again and it asks: Continue it (load the aircraft where it was), Start a new flight or Decide later (Yes, No and Cancel in the classic window). Before the saved flight is thrown away for a new one, ACARS asks once more, with Keep it as the first choice. The PIREP then says how long ACARS was closed: that time wasn't tracked, but it still counts in the block time.
A saved flight stays saved (Vaeroly app 2.8.31 and later): a flight kept on your computer, after a crash or with Keep it to continue later, is kept even when you have open bookings at other airlines, or when its booking can't be flown for a moment. It's thrown away only once its booking is gone (filed or cancelled) or the flight is too old. When you open the app with no booking picked, it picks that flight's booking and offers to continue it.
ACARS stopped on an error: the next time it starts, it offers to send the error report to Vaeroly. The report holds the error, the app version and your system, never names, emails, file paths or keys.
Report a problem (ACARS 2.8.63 and later, in the new window): Settings › This computer › Report a problem... sends what you write, with the last lines of the app's log, the version and your account number, to Vaeroly support, so support can look into it and reply. Names, email addresses, file paths and keys are taken out of the log first. Nothing is sent until you press Send report.
Your own record: every flight is also written to a file on your computer: what the ACARS window showed, a position once a minute and the PIREP's result. Flight logs opens the folder; the newest 30 flights are kept. (From ACARS 2.8.3.) The logs and the PIREPs waiting to be sent are encrypted, and a changed one isn't used. On Windows their key is locked to your Windows account, so a copy on another computer or account can't be read. On the Mac the key is kept in your login keychain, and on Linux in your desktop's keyring (through secret-tool), so a copy of the folder on another computer or account can't be read either. Where there's no keyring to use (a Linux without one, or a keychain that stays locked), the key stays in a file next to them, and someone who copies the whole folder can read them. Only Vaeroly can read a log you send it for a problem.
Stopping to continue later: press Stop tracking and choose Yes (Keep it to continue later in the new window) to keep the flight on this computer. Next time, Start tracking offers to continue it. No (Throw it away) throws it away, after asking once more. Nothing is filed either way.
Couldn't track at all: see My flight wasn't recorded.

The Microsoft Store copy is updated by the Store, so it never shows Update now and has no Beta version. When a newer version is out, it tells you once at the top of the window: press Open Microsoft Store, then Update on the Store page (or Library › Get updates in the Store). If the Store doesn't show it yet, Microsoft is still checking that version; try again later. For a copy downloaded from the site: when a new version is out, press Update now in the app; your sign-in and saved flights stay. On the Settings tab, Updates chooses which version you get: Stable (the normal version) or Beta (new features first). The ACARS page lists what changed in each version. From 2.8.83, the first time ACARS opens after an update it also shows what changed since the version you had, once, in your language.

Removing ACARS

The Windows app is a single program file, with no installer. To remove it (ACARS 2.8.9 and later), press Remove from this computer... on the Settings tab (under Options before 2.8.12): it takes the Vaeroly panel out of MSFS, signs you out and deletes the app's settings and flight logs. Then delete the program file. Send any PIREPs still waiting on your computer first; the button waits for them. Your flights on the crew centre are not touched.