Pilots

The Pilots section in Orwell is the central hub for managing pilot accounts. From here you can view pilot details and statistics, perform administrative actions such as bans and removals, manage pilot notes, and handle account merges.

Users vs Pilots

vAMSYS is a multi-tenant application — each Virtual Airline operates independently. Understanding the distinction between User Accounts and Pilot Accounts is key to managing your roster effectively.

User Account

A User Account is a person's identity on vAMSYS — it stores their name, email, password, and preferences. Each person has exactly one User Account (vAMSYS Terms of Service prohibit creating multiple user accounts). User Accounts are centrally managed by vAMSYS LTD as data controller. VA staff cannot edit user account details directly. The only exception is the Capitalise Name action, which standardises the format of a user's name (e.g. "john doe" to "John Doe").

Pilot Account

A Pilot Account is a membership token linking a User to your Virtual Airline. One user can have pilot accounts with many different VAs. Pilot accounts are created when a user registers with your VA, is invited by staff, or transfers from another airline. The Pilot Account is the conduit which enables VA staff to view user details like name and email.

Pilot Username

When a user joins your VA, a Pilot Username (sometimes called Pilot ID) is automatically assigned. Usernames are assigned incrementally and follow the format of your VA's ICAO prefix plus 4 digits (e.g. BAW1249). Pilot usernames cannot be edited, swapped between users, or otherwise reassigned.

Pilot List

In Orwell, go to Pilots → List. You need the Can View Pilot List permission.

The pilot table is a powerful interface that allows you to toggle which columns are shown, reorder columns, set up filters, and save your configurations as preset views for quick access later.

Columns

Default visible columns:

• Pilot ID, Username, Name, Rank, Honorary Rank, PIREPs count, Last PIREP date

Additional toggleable columns:

• User ID, Email (if your airline permits email visibility), Platform Ban, Airline Ban, Permanent Remove, Frozen Date, Holiday Allowance, Activity Grace, Activity Whitelist, Created date, Deleted date, Entry Route, Hub, IVAO/VATSIM/POSCON IDs, Twitch, YouTube, Discord, Staff status

Filters

In addition to the trashed filter (to show active, deleted, or all pilots), the filter builder supports:

• Rank — single or multiple rank selection

• Honorary Rank — single or multiple selection

• Staff status — has staff role, does not have staff role, or any

• IVAO/VATSIM/POSCON ID — has or does not have a network ID

• PIREP count — with comparison operators (equals, greater than, less than, etc.)

Preset Views

Several preset views are available for common tasks:

View	Description	Shown When
Deleted Pilots	Shows soft-deleted pilots with permanent remove, platform ban, and airline ban columns	Always
Activity Whitelist	Shows pilots who are exempt from activity requirements	Activity enabled
Unmet Ongoing Activity	Shows pilots currently under activity grace period	Ongoing activity enabled
Unmet Initial Activity	Shows new pilots who have not yet met initial activity requirements	Initial activity enabled

Pilot Profile

Click any pilot row to open their profile page. The profile displays comprehensive information across several sections:

User Information

Full name, email (if your permission level and airline settings allow), and the date the user registered their vAMSYS account.

Pilot Information

Username, current airport, rank (linked to the Ranks resource), honorary rank, entry route (how they joined — register, invite, or transfer), hub, frozen date, VA staff status, and when the pilot account was created.

Statistics

Total, accepted, rejected, and invalidated PIREPs. Hours flown, points, bonus points, unique airports visited, total distance, fuel used, day and night takeoffs and landings, average landing rate (FPM), and average landing G-force.

Online Networks and Third-Party Accounts

IVAO, VATSIM, and POSCON IDs, Navigraph link status, Discord ID, Twitch, and YouTube.

Bans and Removals

Airline ban status and reason, platform ban status and reason, permanent remove flag, and removal reason.

Activity

Holiday allowance, activity grace status, activity whitelist flag, grace start date, and activity type. Only shown if activity requirements are enabled.

Relationship Tabs

At the bottom of the profile page, tabbed sections show related data — a great place to quickly see a pilot's full activity in one place:

• PIREPs, Comments, Notes, Bookings, Claims, Holidays, Badges, Favourite Aircraft, Favourite Airports

Pilot Actions

A context menu of actions is available from both the pilot list (click the ... on a row) and the pilot profile page (click Pilot Actions). Not all actions are available for all accounts — availability depends on permissions and the pilot's current state.

Action	Description
Phoenix Profile	Opens the pilot's public Phoenix profile page
Refresh Rank	Recalculates the pilot's statistics and rank based on their current PIREPs
Create Manual PIREP	Awards hours, points, and bonus points to the pilot via a transfer PIREP. Processed after a 20-minute delay, giving you time to correct any mistakes.
Capitalise Name	Converts the user's first and last name to title case (e.g. "john doe" becomes "John Doe")
Edit Honorary Rank	Assigns or changes the pilot's honorary rank from available honorary ranks
Send Name for Review	Flags the user's name for Team vAMSYS to review. Requires a reason (max 250 characters). Use if you suspect the user has not provided a real name.
Activity Whitelist	Makes the pilot immune to activity requirements. Only shown if activity is enabled.
Ban	Issues an airline ban with a public message (up to 250 characters). Optionally escalates to a platform ban with a private note for Team vAMSYS.
Unban	Reverses an airline ban. Note: this does not auto-restore the pilot account — a separate Restore action is needed.
Remove Permanent Removal	Clears the permanent removal flag, allowing the pilot to rejoin (subject to other rejoin settings)
Restore	Restores a deleted pilot account with options to reuse the previous username and restore PIREPs and bookings
Delete	Soft-deletes the pilot account. Requires a removal reason (free text). Optionally sets permanent removal.
Erase Pilot Record	Irreversible hard delete. Removes the pilot and all associated data — PIREPs, comments, notes, bookings, claims, and event registrations. Only available to Airline Owner and vAMSYS staff.

Bulk Actions

Select multiple pilots in the list to access bulk actions:

• Merge Accounts — combine multiple pilot accounts (see Account Merging below)

• Restore — bulk restore deleted pilots using your airline's default rejoin settings

• Delete — bulk soft delete with a shared removal reason

• Erase Pilot Record — bulk hard delete (irreversible)

Removal and Permanent Removal

Pilot accounts can be removed in several ways — manually by staff, automatically due to activity requirements, by the pilot themselves, or as a result of a ban. When a pilot is removed, a removal reason is stored on the record.

Removal Reasons

The following removal reasons are set automatically by the system:

Removal Reason	Trigger
Activity Requirements Unmet	Ongoing activity grace period expired with no qualifying PIREPs
Initial Activity Requirements Unmet	New pilot did not meet initial activity requirements within the configured period
frozen	Pilot froze their own account and did not log back in within 2 days
User Account Deleted	The parent vAMSYS user account was deleted
(Staff-provided text)	Manual removal by VA staff — free-text reason up to 250 characters

Permanent Removal

The permanent removal flag prevents a pilot from ever rejoining the airline, even if the VA's "Allow Rejoin" setting is enabled. It is set in the following cases:

• Activity removals — only if the VA setting "Activity Removal is Permanent" is enabled

• Frozen accounts — always permanent (the pilot chose to leave)

• Manual staff deletion — optional toggle in the delete form

Staff can reverse permanent removal using the Remove Permanent Removal action, which clears the flag and allows the pilot to re-register (subject to other rejoin settings).

Account Freezing (Pilot Self-Deletion)

Pilots can freeze their own account from Phoenix → My Profile → Settings. The flow works as follows:

1. Pilot clicks "Delete Account" — the account is frozen but not yet deleted

2. A grace period begins until midnight UTC of the following day (roughly 2 days)

3. If the pilot logs back into the airline during this window, the freeze is cancelled automatically

4. If the pilot does not log back in, the account is deleted with removal reason "frozen" and permanent removal set

If the airline has rejoin disabled, the pilot sees a warning that they will not be able to register again.

Erase vs Delete

• Delete (soft delete) — the pilot record is retained with a deletion timestamp. It can be restored later. Deleted pilots appear in the "Deleted Pilots" preset view.

• Erase (hard delete) — irreversible. Removes the pilot record and all associated data: PIREPs, comments, notes, bookings, claims, and event registrations. Only available to Airline Owner and vAMSYS staff. Use with extreme caution.

Bans

vAMSYS has two levels of ban with an escalation path between them.

Airline Ban

• Issued by VA staff via the Ban action

• Requires a public message (up to 250 characters) explaining the reason — this is visible to the pilot

• Soft-deletes the pilot account and prevents re-registration with this airline

• Reversible by VA staff via the Unban action

Platform Ban

• Escalated from an airline ban — when banning a pilot, staff can optionally select "Escalate to Platform Ban" and provide a private note for Team vAMSYS

• Affects the pilot across all Virtual Airlines on vAMSYS, not just the issuing VA

• Can only be removed by Team vAMSYS — VA staff cannot reverse a platform ban

• The private escalation note is only visible to Team vAMSYS, not to the pilot or other VA staff

Ban vs Removal

A ban is different from a regular removal in several key ways:

• A banned pilot cannot rejoin regardless of the airline's rejoin settings or the permanent removal flag

• Bans store their reason in dedicated fields separate from the removal reason

• Unbanning does not automatically restore the pilot — both Unban and Restore actions are needed to fully reinstate a banned pilot

Account Merging

Two different merge operations exist — one for staff, one for users themselves.

Pilot Account Merge (Staff Action)

Available as a bulk action on the Pilot List. Staff select multiple pilot accounts within the same airline:

1. Choose the primary account — this one is kept

2. All other selected accounts become secondary accounts — these are erased

3. The VA setting "Discard Secondary PIREPs on Merge" controls whether PIREPs from secondary accounts are discarded or transferred to the primary account

Use case: cleaning up duplicate pilot accounts within the same airline (e.g. created through both an invite and a registration).

User Account Merge (User Self-Service)

The preferred method for resolving multi-accounting. Users merge their own user accounts via My vAMSYS Account → Account Settings → Merge User Accounts. This combines all pilot accounts from both user accounts under a single user identity.

Pilot Notes

Pilot Notes are internal staff-only notes attached to a pilot account. Unlike internal notes (which are per-PIREP), Pilot Notes are per-pilot — they appear on every PIREP from that pilot during review, making them ideal for tracking warnings, special circumstances, or ongoing issues.

Creating and Managing Notes

• Standalone page — go to Orwell → Pilots → Notes to view and search all pilot notes across the airline

• Pilot profile — the Notes tab on any pilot's profile page shows and allows creating notes for that specific pilot

• PIREP review — Pilot Notes are displayed in the right column during PIREP review, where staff can add and delete notes

Each note stores the note content, who entered it (auto-set to the current staff member), and the creation date. Notes can be edited and deleted. The notes table is searchable by pilot username, pilot name, note content, and the staff member who entered the note.

Reporting User Accounts

Name Review

If staff suspects a pilot has not provided a real name, they can use the Send Name for Review action. This flags the user account for Team vAMSYS to review. If confirmed, vAMSYS may lock the user account until the user updates their details.

Multi-Accounting

vAMSYS Terms of Service restrict each person to one user account. If you suspect a person has multiple user accounts:

1. Direct the pilot to merge their user accounts via My vAMSYS Account → Account Settings → Merge User Accounts

2. If the user is unable or unwilling to self-merge, report the issue to Team vAMSYS via Orwell → HQ → vAMSYS Support. Include details such as email addresses, names, and pilot usernames to help locate the records.

Permissions

Permission	What It Grants
Can View Pilot List	Access to the Pilots area in Orwell (list, profiles, notes)
Can Delete Pilots	Remove (soft delete) pilot accounts
Can Restore Pilots	Restore removed pilot accounts and clear permanent removal flags

The Airline Owner can perform all actions including Erase Pilot Record.

Related

• PIREPs — review PIREPs filed by pilots

• Pilot Registration — registration settings, review process, and registration links

• Activity Requirements — configure ongoing and initial activity requirements

• Rank Transfer — pilot transfers between airlines

• Badges — achievements awarded to pilots

• Holidays — pilot holiday allowance system

• Staff — manage VA staff accounts and permissions