Aircraft

Manage individual aircraft registrations with optional overrides for capacities, SimBrief settings, and images.

Staff
Last verified: January 29, 2026

Aircraft represent individual registrations within your fleet. Each aircraft belongs to a fleet and inherits its capacities, SimBrief settings, and image -but can override any of these when needed.

Accessing Aircraft Management

In Orwell, go to Fleet → Aircraft. You need the Manage Aircraft permission.

Aircraft Settings

General Tab

Field

Description

Name

Display name (e.g., "B737-800 'Spirit of vAMSYS'")

Registration

Aircraft registration code (e.g., "G-LUJA")

SELCAL

Optional SELCAL code

Fin Number

Optional tail/fin number

Hex Code

Optional Mode S transponder hex code

Fleet

Which fleet this aircraft belongs to (required)

Passengers

Override fleet passenger capacity (leave empty to inherit)

Freight

Override fleet cargo capacity in kg (leave empty to inherit)

Container Units

Override fleet container count (leave empty to inherit)

Internal Remarks

Staff-only notes, not visible to pilots. Shown as tooltip in aircraft list.

Hide in Phoenix

Hides this aircraft from pilots (e.g., for maintenance)

Capacity fields show the inherited fleet value as a placeholder. Only enter values if this aircraft differs from its fleet.

No Uniqueness Requirement

Aircraft registrations do not need to be unique. You can create the same registration (e.g., G-LUJA) multiple times, each assigned to a different fleet. This is useful for split fleet structures.

SimBrief Integration Tab

Override SimBrief settings for this specific aircraft. These take priority over fleet-level settings.

Available overrides match the fleet settings:

  • OFP Layout

  • Airframe Equipment (performance code, weight category, ETOPS, ICAO equipment)

  • Airframe Weights (OEW, MZFW, MTOW, MLW, max fuel)

  • Fuel Planning (contingency, reserve, minimum fuel values)

  • Performance (fuel factor, climb/cruise/descent profiles)

Only set overrides where this aircraft differs from its fleet. Empty fields inherit from the fleet.

Image Tab

Upload a custom image for this aircraft. This overrides both the fleet image and any Planespotters image.

Images are displayed in:

  • Pegasus during flight

  • Live Flight map when viewing flight details

  • Phoenix aircraft resource pages

  • Orwell aircraft management

Field

Description

Aircraft Image

Upload image (recommended: 400x300 pixels, highly optimised)

Author/Attribution

Required if image uploaded

LinkBack

Optional URL to original image source

Image Cascade

vAMSYS uses a three-tier image cascade:

  1. Aircraft image - If set, always used

  2. Fleet image - Used if no aircraft image

  3. Planespotters - Automatic fallback based on registration lookup

The same cascade applies to image attribution and linkback.

Bulk Operations

Change Type

Reassign multiple aircraft to a different fleet:

  1. Select aircraft using checkboxes

  2. Click Change Type from the bulk actions menu

  3. Choose the new fleet

  4. Confirm the change

Inheritance from Fleet

Aircraft inherit settings from their assigned fleet:

Setting

Behaviour

Capacities

Uses aircraft value if set, otherwise fleet value

SimBrief settings

Aircraft overrides → Fleet settings → Airline defaults

Image

Aircraft image → Fleet image → Planespotters

Hide in Phoenix

Both fleet AND aircraft must be visible for pilots to see it

Tips

  • Use internal remarks - Notes appear as tooltips in the aircraft list, helping staff identify aircraft quickly

  • Hide for maintenance - Use "Hide in Phoenix" to temporarily remove aircraft from bookings without deleting them

  • Override sparingly - Only set capacity or SimBrief overrides when an aircraft genuinely differs from its fleet

  • Favorites tracking - The aircraft list shows how many pilots have favourited each aircraft

  • Same registration in multiple fleets - You can create the same registration in different fleets for split operations

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