considering a 'frequent flier' program

[spaz926]

actually sounds like a pretty good idea.

[Keith Smith]

Had a chance to drill further down on this program...

Here's what we settled on. The FF program is a 'thank you' offered to a finite number of users (don't sweat that part too much, we won't be hitting that limit for quite a while, I would think), as an acknowledgment that they are providing a value back to PilotEdge. Note, there will be a time when having additional users participate in the program will not provide value to the venture, and basically represents lost revenue to PE, hence, the need to limit the number of users.

The program itself is simple. The standard subscription fee for PilotEdge will be around $19/mth. Qualifying pilots (ie, those who have completed a certain number of ratings in the Pilot Edge Training Center) who met the hourly requirements in a given month will receive their next month of service free (ie, they will not be charged).

If a pilot does not meet the hourly requirements in a given month, they will not receive the credit the following month, hence they will be charged their normal subscription rate in that next month.

The initial program was going to be far more complex with all sorts of allowances for a bunch of edge cases that had the potential to make 100% of users happy 100% of the time (well, close to it), but would've been a bear to design, implement and administer. This version is incredibly simple. I think it makes sense if you picture it as an earned credit for a paid service. If you don't earn the credit, absolutely no harm, no foul, you're billed for the service just like any normal user. No surprise or ill-will (I hope). All of this will be spelled out in detail in the Terms of Service, of course.

My goal is to make it easy to understand, and to provide incentive for people who would've otherwise said, "I would love to fly there, a lot, but I just don't want to (or can't comfortably) pay for it."

Once the program has reached its goal for PilotEdge, NEW users will not be eligible for the credit. Users who had earned the credit in the past would remain eligible (although I suspect we will reserve the right to completely discontinue the program at our discretion).

If I were looking at this as a consumer, I think I'd be satisfied with the choices.

I should also note that PE will retain the right to discontinue someone's service. I say that not to dissuade anyone from joining but more to let people know that we are going to do our best to make sure that the 'right' people are flying on the network.

[TheMadDocMD]

Sounds Great Keith!

[Maj.BLOOD]

Hi everyone,

As a real world pilot I like everything PE has to offer. That being said I believe the frequent flier program is a great idea. As for virtual pilots I welcome them and would like to see the responsible ones here.
After all that is how most of us got started. I do agree with the certification process to weed out those that don't want to be professional. For those of you that fly real world you know that even real world coms can be less than professional. LOL. And this is a place to learn and hone your skill. So some virtual pilots will make mistakes as do we all.

Thanks
Maj.BLOOD
U.S.M.C.

[arb65912]

Frequent flyer is a nice idea but as far as myself, I will not race to get some discount.

I am willing to pay whatever it costs to learn proper way which PE excels in.

The fee set is very cheap for the professionalism you get in my humble opinion.

[ASUJake]

This sounds like an awesome place - this is just the kind of thing collegiate aviation needs!

[Tony Rogers]

I think the idea is good, the problem may be in standardization and enforcement. The idea of ratings is good, but also a clear standard must be set and maintained. Those of us that are familiar with VATSIM have had the experience of the person who completely disregards ATC and other pilots, and nothing is done about it. A constant is people stepping on one another in an attempt to kick out or get on the ground before the other guy. It's unrealistic things like those that will deter real world folk like myself. Nothing however is done about it so as to "be nice people". The one real world controller that told me to land and call the tower was not very nice about it. ( I did get an apology from him after I pointed out from my GPS data logger how wrong he was). If you keep it real, and enforce it, the "real" people will come, and best of all, they'll tell the other "real people" about it.
That brings up another issue, advertisement. How do we get the word out? Flight schools to start? People who want to train, who want to learn and are serious about it. Next, real world pilots. Not all of 'em read AOPA, let alone every article in them, and many are adverse to simulators unless they can log it legally.
Bottom line is, it's a good idea, now we just need a good product that will cause people to spend time.
Tony Rogers
Instructor Pilot
General Dynamics Corp

[Keith Smith]

Tony,

Rest assured, the core vision of this environment is to have a place for real world pilots to sharpen their skills, it's just that simple. We absolutely welcome and encourage sim enthusiasts, too, however, those that come for the ride generally need to be performing at at least the real world student pilot level, otherwise, the suspension of disbelief goes away and the pilots are all reminded that they are not actually flying 'in the system', but are instead at home on their computers, or in one of their flight school's simulators.

A training path might be provided for well-meaning pilots who are here for all the right reasons but aren't quite up to the standard yet.

I think the way this gets out is through word of mouth, started by the real world pilots that have adopted this already. There will be flyers that can be printed and distributed at flight schools, flying clubs, airport restaurants, etc. Liveatc.net saw a lot of their members join the site through those mechanisms. Speaking of, we will be working with liveatc.net in the near future once the new web site is ready and we're ready to have large numbers of eyeballs hitting the site.

There will be a mechanism for listening (hopefully in real time) to on-network radio transmissions via the web site (similar to liveatc.net, in fact). I think that will bring a LOT of fence sitters over once they hear what's actually going on. Last night was a great example, we had people being put into holds at CMA (non-radar, one in, one out) as each pilot shot their approach into the field, one at a time. This is IFR GOLD for pilots. It's not about building radio skills, about increasing the level of immersion to the point where you use your 'flying brain' instead of your 'sim brain.' If you can engage your flying brain for $19/mth, that's going to be a game changer for flight training and for maintaining proficiency, it's that simple.

So, to address your concern, I agree 100%, if we don't keep it real enough, the "real" people won't come. Don't dismiss the sim enthusiast crowd, though, there are plenty of high quality pilots there who bring a different value to this network. They are more likely to be flying the heavy metal between the Class Bravo airports, and that IS traffic that we need (for a number of reasons, one of which is that it makes the network more attractive to some heavy hitter commercial customers that we'd like to see on this network).

Lastly, I'm going to work hard to build a relationship with SAFE and NAFI. Getting this out to a wide base of flight instructors seems like a great way of it trickling down to those who could benefit a great deal from this program: student pilots and instrument students.

If you have any ideas for helping to spread the good word, Tony, I'm definitely open to hearing about it.

[Keith Smith]

The Air Safety Institute runs a number of seminars every year, all across the country. They're about to run a series of seminars called "Say Again: Radio Communication Done Right."

I've reached out to them to see if they're interested in hearing about PE and integrating it into the material at all.

I've attended a few of these seminars in the past. They usually have several hundred current pilots in attendance, and they're held week in, week out, all across the country. We could not hope for a better audience.

[Simon Ambrose]

Tony,

There will be a mechanism for listening (hopefully in real time) to on-network radio transmissions via the web site (similar to liveatc.net, in fact). I think that will bring a LOT of fence sitters over once they hear what's actually going on..

Keith,

You may be able to get PilotEdge ONTO "LiveAtc". This would give great exposure to an existing aviation interested market.

LiveAtc already has at least one FS network's ATC on their Network, so it's not out the question that you would consider Pilotedge.

Simon