Leaderboards & Badges

The Community section in Phoenix includes leaderboards for tracking pilot rankings, a badge gallery for viewing achievements, and a team page showing VA staff. These features vary between Virtual Airlines — your VA decides which ones are enabled and how they are configured.

Leaderboards

Leaderboards rank pilots based on their flying activity. You can find them at Community → Leaderboard in Phoenix.

Ranking Metrics

Pilots are ranked by four metrics. You can switch between them using the sort buttons above the table:

• Flights — Total number of completed PIREPs

• Hours — Total credited flight time

• Points — Total regular points earned from scoring rules

• Bonus — Total bonus points earned

Time Periods

Leaderboards are broken down by time period. Use the tabs at the top to switch between:

• 7 Days — The last seven days of activity

• Month — The current calendar month

• Last Month — The previous calendar month

• This Year — The current calendar year

• Previous Years — Individual tabs for each past year the VA has been active

• All Time — Every flight since the VA was created

Your Position

A highlighted panel at the top of the leaderboard shows your personal ranking for the selected period, including your position out of total active pilots, your stats (flights, hours, points, bonus), and a trend indicator comparing your performance to the previous equivalent period.

Position Changes

For all periods except All Time, a Change column shows how each pilot's ranking has moved compared to the previous equivalent period. An upward arrow means the pilot has climbed in the rankings, a downward arrow means they have dropped, and a dash means there is no previous data to compare.

Leaderboard Types

Depending on how your VA is configured, you may see additional leaderboard types beyond the default global leaderboard:

• Global Leaderboard — Rankings across the entire VA (always available)

• Hub Leaderboards — Rankings filtered by hub. If your VA has enabled hub leaderboards, you can select a specific hub from the dropdown.

• Online Network Leaderboards — Rankings filtered by online network. Your VA may show a combined "Online Leaderboard" covering all networks, or separate leaderboards for individual networks like VATSIM, IVAO, or others.

Searching for a Pilot

Use the search box above the leaderboard table to find a specific pilot by name. Only pilots who have chosen to appear in lists will show up in search results.

Opting Out of Leaderboards

If you prefer not to appear on leaderboards, you can disable the Show in Flight Map, Lists and Leaderboards toggle in your privacy settings. When this is turned off, your name appears as "Anonymous" to other pilots. VA staff can still see your entry.

Badges

Badges are awards that recognise your achievements and milestones. Browse all available badges at Community → Badges (your VA may use a custom name for this section, such as Awards or Achievements).

The Badge Gallery

The badge gallery shows every badge your VA has created. For each badge, you can see:

• Image — The badge icon

• Name — The badge name

• Category — The group the badge belongs to (e.g., Events, Milestones, Airports)

• Description — What the badge is for

• Recipients — How many pilots have earned the badge

You can filter badges by category using the dropdown filter, and search by name. Click View Recipients on any badge to see the list of pilots who have earned it and when they received it.

How Badges Are Earned

There are two types of badges:

• Automatic badges — Awarded by the system when you meet specific criteria. These are checked each time one of your PIREPs is processed. You do not need to do anything special to claim them; they are awarded as soon as you qualify.

• Manual badges — Awarded by VA staff for things that cannot be automatically detected, such as competition wins, special recognition, or event participation.

Types of Automatic Badges

Your VA can create automatic badges based on a wide range of criteria. Common types include:

• Length of service — Membership milestones (e.g., 1 year, 5 years)

• Flight milestones — Total PIREPs, flight hours, or distance flown

• Point milestones — Accumulating regular, bonus, or combined points

• Airport badges — Landing at, departing from, or visiting specific airports

• Landing rate badges — Achieving a specific landing rate or landing within a certain FPM range a set number of times

• Event and activity badges — Participating in events, tours, or completing roster flights

• Transport badges — Transporting a total number of passengers or cargo

Automatic badges can only be earned once per pilot. Manual badges can be awarded multiple times.

Viewing Your Badges

Your earned badges are displayed on your pilot profile under the Badges tab. Badges appear in the order you received them, with the most recent first. Other pilots can also see your badges when visiting your profile (if your profile is public).

Team Page

The Team Page at Community → Team Page shows your VA's staff members. Each staff member card displays their name, title, photo (if provided), and contact email (if provided). This is a quick way to find out who runs your VA and how to reach them.