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About SunAir Express
Virtual Airlines
Company
Statistics:
-
Founded:
May
1992
-
Number
of Pilot ID Numbers Issued: 700+
-
Number
of Scheduled Flights: 1700+
-
Number
of Airports Served: 350+
-
Fly to
cities in the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii, Canada,
Caribbean, Mexican, South America,
Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Far East
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5
Hubs: Atlanta, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa,
and Zürich
Company
History:
SunAir Express was
founded by the late James
Martin Swanson (1936-1995) on the Prodigy Online
Service in May of 1992. SunAir Express was set up as a regional
airline with one hub at Tampa International Airport
(KTPA) serving some 20 cities in the southeastern
United States. SunAir
Express expanded beyond Prodigy to include
CompuServe and American Online and is now solely
based on the Internet. SunAir Express has expanded
to five major hubs with more than 1700 scheduled flights to most major
cities in the United States including Alaska and Hawaii,
flights to Canada, the Caribbean,
parts of Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia,
Africa, Australia, and the Far East. Over
700 SunAir Express pilot numbers have been issued
since 1992.
In the early days SunAir
Express based their operations on the flight simulator
"Flight Assignment: Airline Transport Pilot"
or "ATP" by SubLOGIC. ATP was superior
to "Microsoft Flight Simulator V3.0 and 4.0"
back then due to the advanced ATC, build-in airline
career assignments and more realistic aircraft flight
modeling. What has attracted
most sim-pilots to SunAir Express in the beginning was the popularity of
ATP and the desire to learn more about IFR flight and
airline operations.
SunAir Express
progressed from ATP to the ATP companion "3D
Advanced Graphic System" (3DAGS), then to
"Airline Simulator" (AS1) and
"Airline Simulator 2" (AS2), all by Nomissoft.
SunAir Express started to support Microsoft Flight Simulator
when FS98 finally caught up to AS2 by adding ATC. Most
SunAir Express pilots now fly using MSFS2004 (FS9)
or FSX.
We are fortunate to have some airline professionals
and air traffic controllers as SunAir Express officers
and pilots. Our members continue to contributed significantly
to the development of SunAir Express operation. Their knowledge and experience
have aided in our quest to simulate actual air
transport procedures.
SunAir Express Aircraft Types:
- Beechcraft 1900D
(B190)
- Canadair
Bombardier CRJ-200
- Embraer 190 E-Jet (E190)
- Boeing 737
(various types)
- Airbus 320-200
(A322)
McDonnell-Douglas
MD-83 (Retired from the fleet May
2007)- Boeing 767-300ER
(B763)
- Boeing 747-400
(B744)
- Boeing 777-200LR
(B772)
To join SunAir
Express you will need to meet the following
requirements:
- You
need to own "Microsoft
Flight Simulator" FS2004 (FS9) or FS2006 (FSX).
- SunAir Express
pilots use "FS Flight Keeper" to record flight events
and submit flight logs. New pilots that successfully
pass the New Pilot Evaluation Program will be
eligible to purchase FS Flight Keeper at a reduced
price.
- SunAir Express is open to any pilot who can demonstrate the ability to fly, navigate and land a Boeing 737 under instrument meteorological conditions.
This includes passing a short written test followed
by a checkride flight that includes an ILS approach and landing with a
touchdown rate of less than -500 feet per minute.
For more
information about joining SunAir Express please
visit the Join
SunAir Express web page. If you have any
questions or comments about SunAir Express you are
encouraged to Email us.
Company Officers:
- President / CEO: Dave Blake SAX212
- Past President / CEO: James Bond
SAX089
- Pilot Operations Center Managers: Dave Vega SAX702,
Marty Becker SAX054
- Flight Operations Manager: Dave Vega
SAX702
- Aircraft Maintenance Manager: Dave Vega
SAX702
- Human Resources Manager: Dave Blake
SAX212
- ATL Hub Chief: Lyle Kirgan SAX272
- SFO Hub Chief: Dave Blake SAX212
- STL Hub Chief: Dave Vega SAX702
- TPA Hub Chief: Dave Blake SAX212
- Zürich Hub Chief:
Marty Becker SAX054
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