Staff

Staff members are pilots with elevated permissions to manage your Virtual Airline. Each staff member can have customised access to different parts of Orwell and Hangar based on their role.

Accessing Staff

In Orwell, go to HQ → Staff. You need the Can See Staff permission or be the VA owner.

Staff Types

VA Staff

Your team members. You control their permissions, visibility, and can remove them at any time.

vAMSYS Staff

Team vAMSYS members who provide platform support. They appear in your staff list but:

• Cannot be removed

• Always have full access for support purposes

• Are hidden from your Team Page by default

• Have usernames like HTA-Lukas or HTA-Robot

You can give vAMSYS staff a title, staff email, and image if they are also part of your VA team.

Adding Staff

Click New Staff and search for an existing pilot by name or username. Only pilots who are not already staff can be added.

Staff Details

Field	Description
Title	Role displayed on the Phoenix Team Page (e.g., "Chief Pilot", "Operations Manager")
Staff Email	Contact email shown on Phoenix Team Page. Can be different from their personal email.
Hidden	When enabled, staff member is not shown on the Phoenix Team Page
Staff Avatar	Profile image for Team Page. Cropped to 1:1 aspect ratio. Recommended size: 300×300 pixels.

Permissions

Permissions control what each staff member can see and do in Orwell and Hangar. Permissions are organised into categories.

Subsystem Access

Controls access to the main vAMSYS subsystems:

• Can Access Orwell - Required for any staff management functions

• Can Access Hangar - Access to file storage system

Pilot Actions

Permission	What It Controls
Can View Pilots	Access to pilot list, profiles, and pilot-related pages. Also shows New Pilots and Recent Bookings on the Orwell dashboard.
Can Delete Pilot Profile	Ban or delete pilot accounts, including merge functionality
Can Restore Pilots	Restore previously removed pilot accounts
Can See Flight Centre - Bookings	Access to the bookings list

Announcements

Permission	What It Controls
Can Manage Alerts	Create and manage pilot alerts
Can Manage NOTAMs	Create and manage NOTAMs

PIREP and Livery

Permission	What It Controls
Can Manage Liveries	Review and approve/reject aircraft liveries
Can Manage PIREPs & Claims	Review PIREPs and claims, add comments, adjust points

Operations

Permission	What It Controls
Can Manage Activities	Create and manage events and tours
Can Manage Aircraft	Create, update, and delete aircraft and fleets
Can Manage Airports & Hubs	Create, update, and delete airports and hubs
Can Manage Airport Managers	Assign pilots as airport managers (requires Can Manage Airports)
Can Manage Scenery	Create, update, and delete scenery recommendations
Can Manage Load Factors	Configure passenger and cargo load settings
Can Manage Containers	Create and manage cargo containers
Can Manage Routes	Create, update, and delete routes at airports where assigned as Airport Manager
Can Manage All Routes	Manage routes at any airport regardless of Airport Manager assignment (requires Can Manage Routes)
Can Manage Airline Holidays	Configure VA-wide holidays if enabled in Pilot Activity settings

Settings

Permission	What It Controls
Can Manage Airline Settings	Activity settings, basic airline settings, modules, pilot registration/review/transfer, PIREP settings, route settings, SimBrief integration
Can Manage Design Settings	VA branding and visual customisation
Can Manage Score and Preset Settings	Scoring groups, autoreject rules, point and comment presets
Can Manage ACARS Settings	Pegasus ACARS configuration
Can Manage Discord Integration Settings	Discord bot and notification settings
Can Manage Callsign Parameter Settings	VDS callsign configuration
Can Manage Airline Share Settings	Pilot sharing agreements with other VAs
Can Manage API Settings	API tokens and webhook configuration

Data

Import and export permissions are granted separately. Enable Can Use Exporters and/or Can Use Importers, then toggle which data types they can access:

• Aircraft

• Airports

• Badges

• Containers

• Fleet

• Hubs

• Load Factors

• Routes

• Routings

Others

Permission	What It Controls
Can See Airline Statistics	Access to VA-wide statistics
Can See Staff	View the staff list
Can Manage Staff	Add, edit, remove, or restore staff members (requires Can See Staff)
Can Manage Ranks	Create and edit pilot ranks
Can Manage Badges	Create and edit achievement badges
Can Manage Pages	Create and edit Phoenix pages

Team Page

Staff members appear on the Phoenix Team Page unless marked as hidden. The order of staff on the team page can be changed by dragging rows in the staff list.

For each visible staff member, pilots see:

• Staff avatar (or default if none set)

• Name

• Title

• Staff email (if provided)

Managing Staff

Removing Staff

Click the delete icon next to a staff member to remove them. This:

• Revokes their Orwell and Hangar access

• Removes them from the Team Page

• Removes their staff honorary rank if one was automatically assigned

The VA owner and vAMSYS staff cannot be removed.

Restoring Staff

Use the filters to show deleted staff, then click the restore icon. Restoring a staff member:

• Restores their previous permissions

• Re-adds them to the Team Page (unless hidden)

• Restores their staff honorary rank if applicable

Tips

• Create role templates mentally - Common roles like "Route Manager" or "PIREP Reviewer" need specific permission combinations. Document your standard roles.

• Use Airport Manager assignment - For route managers at specific hubs, assign them as Airport Manager and give Can Manage Routes (without Can Manage All Routes).

• Hidden staff for backend roles - Use the hidden flag for staff who handle backend operations but should not appear on the public team page.

• Staff honorary rank - Consider creating a Staff Team honorary rank and configuring it in your VA settings to automatically assign to staff members.

Related

• Ranks - Configure ranks including honorary ranks for staff

• Pilot Registration - Pilot Invites for adding team members during setup