I’ve used OnAir for a very long time but I guess I’m getting a little bored with it and wondering if there is something better for generating jobs these days. In particular though I like to fly short regional flights in small aircraft (e.g. FSR’s Piper M500) or even taking things a little off the pavement in SWS’s Kodiak. Since I fly in VR, flights of around 1-2 hours are best. What I particularly like about OnAir is that you have to fly from the airport where you last left your aircraft, and it keeps track of fuel usage and you’ll have to buy fuel for your next leg if you need it (and if it’s even available at your current airport). Things I don’t like about OnAir is that it’s too easy to make a lot of money if you use AI pilots, but mainly also because the jobs are a little stiff and boring, and the whole thing seems to be geared towards airline operations. Hey, I’m a struggling small time pilot, I don’t mind the odd dodgy job (I promise not to look in the boxes).
Any recommendations for a different addon for this sort of thing? Most importantly, the addon must keep track of where I landed and must start off from there each time.
I’m currently using The Skypark by Parallell 42. What I like about it is the freedom to choose what plane to fly and the unique selection of flights to pick from. Some of those are handpicked by the devs to feature some nice approaches and beautiful destinations. It’s mostly focused on cargo operations in its current version but there’s a new upgrade on the horizon that promises passenger flights and a host of new features.
I still believe FSEconomy is the best for small aircraft. Unfortunately, their admins have almost no interest in adding new or updating existing aircraft, so you may very well find yourself unable to fly some MSFS aircraft. This leaves OnAir, NeoFly, and The Skypark, none of which check all of the boxes for me so I’m starting to slowly build my own prototype.
from my experience, I’ve always been able to fly all the aircraft I own. Sometimes, I just needed to modify the ‘title = …’ line in the aircraft.cfg file to match an expected livery name in FSe . For instance, I did this with the BS Baron 58 equipped with tip tank by renaming it as Baron 58 Dreamfleet. This adjustment allowed me to fly a turbo version with the tip tank. However, it seems that this is no longer necessary as the BS Baron is now recognized thought , since they replaced the “baron 58 (dreamfleet)” by Baron tiptank/turbo .
Regarding the A2A Comanche, they were relatively quick in updating their aircraft to ensure compatibility with SimConnect, and the FSe administrators were actively involved in resolving these issues.
If you require assistance, the best approach would be to reach out to them via their Discord.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll try out NeoFly and The Skypark (I actually own The SkyPark I think. As I recall I bought it ages ago when it first came out. I’ll look at it again).
Are their any “real life” virtual airlines (if that oxymoron makes any sense), I guess which are managed by a group of enthusiasts? Does such a thing exist?
The problem I have is that some aircraft do not have an aircraft.cfg file. For instance, I can’t use the Stationair that came out because the SimConnect client doesn’t support aliasing and there’s no file to edit. That said, I had no idea they had a Discord. Thanks for the link! Maybe they’re faster than I realized if I use the right channels.
You may want to check out Newsky. It lets you use whatever aircraft you want, and fly any route you choose. It doesn’t really revolve around making virtual money, but it does score your flight. Best of all it’s free! I fly it primarily with the BS King Air and the new PC-12 by SWS.
Long time OnAir user and like you, was getting a bit bored with it - after making my first several $Bn with a fleet of rented 747s flying cargo. I also prefer flying small GA (mostly JF warrior / Arrow / FSW C414) myself.
After looking at a few of the other options mentioned above, I’ve actually gone back to OnAir and moved to ‘Thunder’ world … much more challenging but renting small GA aircraft is fairly manageable. What I like about it is the way I can take on a long distance flights with a couple of ‘business people’, and making many short hops often over several days of VFR flying at low level. OnAir gives you more freedom to do this than most of the others do it seems.
In the end, not really using it as a game itself … just a way of solving that eternal problem - ‘I just want to fly, but (even with the whole world to play in), just can’t decide where!’
Please let us know what you change to and how you find it to OnAir!
So having had a look at The SkyPark (which I discovered I bought ages ago and never used!) as well as NeoFly, I’m back to OnAir. I like some of the aspects of NeoFly but when I discovered it would let me fly my FSR500 even though I had no pax loaded into the sim I decided nah (this was in freelance mode). Also, in NeoFly’s career mode, the thought of having to start with a puddle jumper like a C152 put me off. I can’t imagine ANY charter company, even a completely new start small one hoofing their paying passenger into a sewing machine like that. In the end OnAir still is the best despite its shortcomings. @ClayishCoast9 I think I’ll aslo go back to Thunder. I moved away from Thunder as AI pilots aren’t allowed and since I get to fly so seldom (once per week if lucky), it’s hard to keep the business afloat. On the other hand, in Stratus (where AI pilots are allowed), it’s simply too easy to make money, and expenses are too low. AI pilots in Thunder would be nice, but they should be costly.
Is it possible to team up with other real people in OnAir and run a joint operation?
After about 3 short missions in the Warrior, I had enough ‘cash’ to rent a Cessna 414. Not making much money but enough (how fiction imitates real life ).
Remember that in OnAir, you can suspend and resume your ‘company’ without penalty so if you’re not likely to fly for even a couple of days - you can just put it all on hold.
I purchased the A2A PA-24 Comanche and started looking for something different from FSEconomy
I wish A2A developed their custom addon with flight assignments and basic economy where airplane maintenance and ownership would cost in-game money, and airplane condition synchronized.
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