BAW339 פורסם מאי 8, 2005 דיווח פורסם מאי 8, 2005 Hello gentleman! I have to apologize for a very rude and long post, please excuse me, but i have a questions that must be answered and discussed openly. I fully understand how furious will be ELAL VA pilots and executives. All i ask is to be merciful and reasonable. To discuss it, not to jump and attack, i think its important to every Israeli flyer on VATSIM. To the point: Recently due to invention of test system for our new pilots i was interested in ELAL VA admittance test. How it is built and what level of knowledge ELAL VA asks from its airman. To compare two systems, BAW's and ELAL's. I have to say i was very disappointed by ELAL VA test. I am not fear the word, but test was disgusting. Not because it was lacking the level of knowledge required from pilot. The level test required is actually very high. Even extremely high for virtual pilots. I had a feeling that ELAL VA executives took the real CAA (Civil Aviation Administration) theory test, slightly modified it and put online. Questions in the test... there is absolutely no way virtual pilot would know all the answers, many questions i had there not even implemented in Flight Simulator systems and useless to virtual pilot, he'll never meet them in FS. Some questions is impossible to answer without real life Ground School participation. Or without prior looking to answers in training test. There is two options how successful candidate can pass the test. First and as far as i see usually used way is to look at answers at training test and fill in correct answers. Second is to hold a Private Pilot license in real world which is i really don't think many ELAL VA pilots have. Which brings us to next point. My overall feeling from the test and website was something like "Look how good and professional we are. What an outstanding level you need to be our VA pilot". Feeling was that ELAL VA not trying to recruit new pilots and then train them to any level a pilot want to go, but trying to show any man who want to join that he is not good enough for ELAL VA. It make me laugh, all that cool knowledge the virtual pilot have, if at all...will not help him in any way in FS. It is also useless to him in real world. He lacks tons of supplement information and does not hold Pilot's license. Moreover, if such a pilot will ever go to Pilot's Course the information he learned will only hold him down. Because it is incomplete, learned without actual flying experience (real world) and inaccurate in some points, if not old. I have to say even more. It is painful for me because I’m Israeli too, and would love to see ELAL as best airline in the world but ELAL pilots at VATSIM many times receive "Any runway, Sir" (Personally hear'd it at Schiphol not once and not twice. How many times i hear'd it at Heathrow, don't ask. You don't want to know). I am not trying to say that all ELAL VA pilots are not so good flyers as we all would love them to be. I personally saw some ELAL VA flights that made me proud of the name they bear as callsigns. About the website: It is very beautiful. The man who built it is a very talented webmaster and true artist. I liked the website even more then real airline site. I have to admit, that before joining British Airways Virtual i come to a site of ELAL VA and searched for the information i am, as new pilot interested in. Like, how the ELAL VA built, what its ranks system, what career options is available, what destinations and aircraft i will be able to fly, what training they can offer me, what and how many events ELAL VA does, how many pilots fly online, if ACARS system present. I found some information on-site. But the most crucial for decision to join was nowhere. Only after long time one ELAL VA pilot told me that the information i was seeking then was on their forum. The last place new pilot would look for such information. But at time i wanted to join i had no idea where to look for it. Not even a clue on-site. I'm not even bothered then to go for a test, lack of information i was seeking for was enough for me to go away. On the website of British Airways Virtual i found extensive information about every aspect of Virtual Airline. Everything i was looking for was there. I joined. Today you know me as BAW339. It will stay that way forever i think. While ELAL VA had a chance to acquire a new pilot. You can't say a bad pilot. Now, after a veeeery long post, longest i ever wrote I’d like to ask ELAL VA executives few questions: What is the target ELAL VA trying to reach by putting close to real life test requiring knowledge that is nearly useless in FS world and impossible to pass honestly without prior real world training or extensive research and not providing important information that many prospect pilots would look for? Please, don’t tell me you looking only for the best. Look above about level of some pilots. Not all of them truly the best of the best. British Airways VA have a very, very good pilots, best of the virtual world and it have a very bad pilots too. It provides extensive training to these pilots, they become better and some of them become best of the virtual world. Nobody born with the knowledge of how to fly. Everyone learn. Please don't think that i wrote this post to show how cool BAV is and how bad ELAL VA is. That is not the meaning or intention of the post. Intention of it is to finally discuss openly some matters that people talk in private. British Airways VA started as 4 man group in 2002 (about the exact date i might be mistaken). Today it have 1250 members. Close to 800 of them registered as active pilots, meaning they fly few days a week. It is the largest airline in VATSIM, officially recognized by real world British Airways. It is the policy of BAV not to overcome 1250 pilots. Otherwise it would have much more. Reputation of BAV is as most professional virtual airline in the world. Why would ELAL VA with its great potential not become large and truly best airline? I have the courage to post this, definitely will receive a lot of angry and furious answers. If not banned at all from VATIL. Hope to get at least one reasonable answer from ELAL VA executives. Once again please excuse me for rude post, i am not intended to hurt anyone. Just a few things i noticed and sharing with you. Hope this will open a discussion on the matter This post was deleted 3 days ago without any reason. Reasons given to me was at best funny. It was promised after a scandal that the post will be back. I'm tired to wait so i posted it again. Also i've been informed that ELAL VA staff was interested in this messege, due to what posted here is new to them. Nobody before haven't told it to them. They did accepted that ELAL VA test is actually Private Pilot License test. I can't comment that. Becouse it would be very rude. If you have anything to say about ELAL VA then do so now. Either if its good or bad. Even the best managers have to recieve feedback to understand if what they do is right.
