VA Onboarding

This guide is for VA owners setting up an airline on Skyvex Software. By the end you’ll have a live airline, connected to your crew system, branded for your VA and with its first PIREP filed. If you don’t have access yet, request it at skyvexsoftware.com. VA access is currently invite-only while we’re in early access.

What you’ll need

You can fill most of this in later, but it’s quicker to have it ready:

Your VA’s website. We read your name, logo and colours from it.
Your crew system: phpVMS 7 (we’ll walk you through installing the Stratos module), or your own backend that implements the Stratos API.
Logos and icons (optional): a light and a dark logo, a light and a dark icon, and an app icon if you want one (PNG or SVG).
Brand colours (optional): a primary and a secondary colour for light mode and for dark mode.
Stratos installed on your own computer, so you can sign in and fly the first flight yourself.

The set-up journey

Setting up an airline is one guided journey with five waypoints: Create, Connect, Sign in, Take off and First PIREP. You can leave at any point and pick up where you left off. Your airline’s Overview shows what’s left, and Continue takes you back in.

1. Create your airline

Sign in at skyvexsoftware.com. With no airline yet, you land on Welcome.
Pick I run a virtual airline, then Create your airline.
Paste your VA’s website under Your VA’s website. We read your name, ICAO, logo and colours from it and check what it runs on. Check the details we found.
- No website yet, or running your own backend? Choose No website yet, or a custom backend? and type the airline name and ICAO code (2 to 4 letters) yourself, then pick what your airline runs on (phpVMS 7 or A custom backend).
Click Create your airline. You go straight into the next step.

2. Connect your crew system

Stratos sends your pilots’ flights to your crew system, so PIREPs land where your roster, ranks and schedules live. On phpVMS 7, Connect has three parts:

Install the module. Download the Stratos module for phpVMS 7 (a .zip; keep it zipped). In your phpVMS admin, open Modules, then Add New Module, upload the zip and enable StratosCore. If you’d rather use the server, unzip it into modules/StratosCore instead. Someone else runs your site? Copy the steps for them copies these instructions to send on. Full details: Stratos Core API.
Logbook API (optional). A read-only module that lets Stratos and the platform show pilots their phpVMS flight history. It files nothing: PIREPs still go through the Stratos module. Choose Yes, install the Logbook API to download it and install it the same way (it goes in modules/StratosLogbook), or No thanks if you don’t need it. You can add it later. Details: Stratos Logbook API.
Verify. Check the Stratos endpoint URL. On phpVMS 7 it’s your site plus /api/stratos (for example https://crew.yourairline.com/api/stratos), and we fill that in for you. Click Verify. We check that your site is reachable over HTTPS and that the Stratos module (and the Logbook API, if you chose it) answers. The address is only saved once the checks pass.

Not on phpVMS? Choose Use a custom backend instead, enter the address where your backend answers the Stratos API, and click Verify. Pilots sign in with their crew system username and password by default. To use OAuth instead, see OAuth on your phpVMS install once you’re set up. The journey now waits for the first sign-in, and the screen lights up the moment a Stratos connects to your airline. Do it yourself:

Download Stratos for Windows, macOS or Linux (it’s free for pilots).
Find your airline in Stratos. While your airline isn’t listed in the Stratos airline directory, choose Invite code in the airline list and enter your airline’s invite code (the journey shows it).
Sign in as a pilot with your crew system pilot account.

4. Make it yours, live (optional)

Upload your logos and icons and set your colours. Every change shows in each open Stratos within seconds, so keep Stratos open beside it and watch. If we found your logo and colours on your website, you start with those.

Branding: Light icon, Dark icon, Light logo, Dark logo and an optional App icon (without one, Stratos uses your light icon on white).
Colours: Primary and Secondary for light mode and for dark mode, plus the map plane colours (Light map and Dark map).

Click Looks good, take off to carry on, or Configure later to skip. Both live in your airline’s Settings afterwards.

5. Take off

Book a flight in your crew system, start it in Stratos and take off. The journey follows the flight on a departures board, from on the ground to wheels up.

6. File the first PIREP

Land and submit the flight. Setup finishes when your airline’s first PIREP is filed, and the journey shows the flight’s block time and landing score. Check the flight landed in your crew system with the right pilot, route and times. From here the journey points you to three next steps: Invite your pilots (copy the sign-in steps for your Discord or website), Check your look and Add plugins.

Everything you set in the journey can be changed later in your airline’s Settings. Get the first flight through, then come back and refine.

Your airline’s Settings

Open Settings in your airline’s menu. The tabs are:

Tab	What’s on it
General	Airline name, ICAO code and website, and the airline’s 6-character invite code. New code stops the old one working; pilots who’ve already joined stay joined.
Branding	Logos and icons.
Colours	Light and dark colours and map plane colours, with a live Stratos preview.
Connection	The Stratos endpoint URL and Verify, how pilots sign in (including OAuth set-up and Test sign-in), and Require pilots to sign in again.
Listing	The Stratos airline directory inside Stratos, and the Skyvex Software airline directory on skyvexsoftware.com (on Pro and Pro+).
Staff	The people who help run the airline, and their roles.
Activity	A log of changes to your airline.
Plan	Your airline’s plan. See Plans and billing.
Transfer or delete	Hand the airline to someone else, or delete it.

See How changes reach your pilots for exactly when each kind of change lands in Stratos.

Letting pilots in

There are two ways for pilots to find your airline in Stratos, and you can use both:

Share your invite code from Settings → General. Pilots choose Invite code in Stratos’s airline list and enter it. This works whether or not you’re listed, so it suits staged rollouts and private VAs.
List your airline on Settings → Listing by turning on Stratos airline directory, so any pilot can find it. You need light and dark logos uploaded first, and on the Free plan your airline needs some completed flights with Stratos before it can be listed. The tab shows what’s left.

Plugins

Your pilots’ features in Stratos come from plugins. New airlines start with Dashboard, Flight Tracking, Landing Analyser and the Logbook plugin already installed for every pilot, so there’s nothing to install before your first flight. Open Plugins in your airline’s menu to see them:

To add more, click Browse, pick a plugin, choose All pilots or Specific pilots (on Pro and Pro+), and click Add to your airline.
Drag the handle on the left of a plugin to change its order in your pilots’ sidebar.
Flight Tracking can’t be removed.

Pilots get plugin changes straight away, or when their current flight ends.

Plugin settings

Click a plugin on the Plugins page to open it. Its tabs hold the airline’s settings for it, which apply to every pilot. The plugin’s ⋯ menu also has Reset settings to defaults. It puts the plugin back to how it ships: every setting, event rule, additional field and scoring band. It can’t be undone, and pilots get the change straight away.

Dashboard

Dashboard has two tabs:

Welcome: the welcome message in the “From the Team” panel (Markdown), the banner style, and where announcements come from (your crew system’s news, or written here).
Quick access: up to 10 tiles linking to the tools your pilots use (dispatch, route maps, training pages), each with an icon, a title and a subtitle.

Flight Tracking

Flight Tracking’s tabs are Settings, Event rules and Additional fields. These settings change how every pilot’s tracking behaves:

Setting	What it does
Can Delete Bookings	If on, pilots can cancel their own booked flights from the booking list. Off by default.
Allow Aircraft Changes	If on, pilots can change the aircraft on a booked flight before tracking starts. The dropdown only offers aircraft eligible for that flight (rank, type rating and location rules still apply). Off by default.
Restrict Submit to Arrival	Pilots can only submit once the flight reaches Arrived or Deboarding; until then the Submit button explains why. On by default.
Allow Start Override	If on, pilots can use “Start Anyway” to bypass a failed pre-flight check (for example, the aircraft isn’t on the ground) and start the flight regardless. If off, the “Start Anyway” button is disabled with a tooltip telling the pilot the restriction is set by your airline, and every pre-flight condition must pass before a flight can start. On by default. Some aircraft don’t report the simulator’s “on ground” flag correctly, so turning this off can make starting impossible in those aircraft. This setting also governs the VA confirmation dialog: when your flight-start API returns a `confirmation` message, the “Start tracking anyway” button follows the same rule, and your API can return `can_override` (`true`/`false`) on `/flights/start` to override this setting for an individual start (`true` always allows the bypass, `false` always blocks it, omitted falls back to this setting).
Tracking Interval	How often Stratos sends a position report: `15`, `30` or `60` seconds. Lower means a smoother live map and more API traffic. Faster intervals come with paid plans. Typing your own value in seconds, and splitting the cadence at an altitude between 1,000 and 10,000 ft (one interval below it, another above), come with Pro+. While a flight is paused, reports slow to one every 30 seconds; an interval of 30 seconds or longer is left as it is.
Time Capture	How flight time is measured for PIREPs: `Block Time` (pushback to arrived at gate) or `Air Time` (takeoff to landing).
Starting Fuel Capture	When the flight’s starting fuel is locked in for fuel-burn calculations: `Pushback` or `Takeoff`.
Time Compression as Real Time	If on, a 4× sim rate multiplies accumulated flight time by 4. Off by default, because most VAs reward only real wall-clock time.
Capture Network Presence	Shows a Network dropdown while tracking so pilots can report which online network (VATSIM, IVAO and so on) they’re flying on. The choice is sent with the completed flight. Network Options sets the list.
Additional Fields	A per-phase matrix choosing which optional fields are appended to position reports and which are included in the completion PIREP. Has no effect on what Skyvex Software stores. Edit it on the Additional fields tab. Full reference: Additional Fields.
Submission Fields Placement	Where the Additional Fields ticked for the PIREP go on the completion PIREP. `Top level` sends them as flat keys (the original shape, which the stock Stratos phpVMS module ignores). `Nested under additional_fields` sends them, plus Simulator Version, as one `additional_fields` object that the stock module writes to `pirep_field_values` as custom PIREP fields. Keep top level if another module already writes custom PIREP fields for Stratos flights. New airlines default to nested.
Event Rules	Rules controlling which flight events get logged into the PIREP (engine on and off, flap changes, stalls, phase changes and so on). Edit them on the Event rules tab.

The defaults are sensible. Most airlines won’t need to change anything beyond Time Capture and the event rules. Pilot settings (Auto-Start Tracking, Auto-Submit Flight) are set by each pilot in Stratos.

Landing Analyser

Landing Analyser’s tabs are Weighting and Scoring bands. See Landing score for what each one changes. Custom scoring bands come with Pro and Pro+.

What pilots see

Once your airline is live, the pilot experience is:

The pilot downloads Stratos from skyvexsoftware.com/download.
On first launch, they find your airline (in the directory, or with your invite code) and select it.
They sign in the way you set up on Settings → Connection.
Stratos installs your airline’s plugins: Dashboard, Flight Tracking, Landing Analyser, the Logbook plugin and anything else you’ve added.
They book a flight, fly it and submit it, and the flight data reaches your crew system.

The pilot Getting Started guide covers their side of this in detail. It’s worth skimming so you know what your pilots are reading.

Next steps

Running phpVMS 7? Our open-source Stratos API Modules are drop-in phpVMS modules: start with the Core API, then add the Stratos Logbook API.
OAuth sign-in: the full guide is at OAuth on your phpVMS install, including PKCE, refresh token rotation and the security controls your crew system must enforce.
Custom plugins: build airline-specific dashboards, livery browsers or dispatch tools with the Plugin SDK.
Plans: see Plans and billing.
Contact us: use Contact us in your account menu on skyvexsoftware.com, or email support@skyvexsoftware.com. Use it for integration questions, bug reports or feature requests.

Getting Started

Simulator Setup

Virtual Airlines

Stratos API Modules

Flight Analysis

What you’ll need

The set-up journey

1. Create your airline

2. Connect your crew system

4. Make it yours, live (optional)

5. Take off

6. File the first PIREP

Your airline’s Settings

Letting pilots in

Plugins

Plugin settings

Dashboard

Flight Tracking

Landing Analyser

What pilots see

Next steps

​What you’ll need

​The set-up journey

​1. Create your airline

​2. Connect your crew system

​3. Sign in as a pilot

​4. Make it yours, live (optional)

​5. Take off

​6. File the first PIREP

​Your airline’s Settings

​Letting pilots in

​Plugins

​Plugin settings

​Dashboard

​Flight Tracking

​Landing Analyser

​What pilots see

​Next steps

What you’ll need

The set-up journey

1. Create your airline

2. Connect your crew system

3. Sign in as a pilot

4. Make it yours, live (optional)

5. Take off

6. File the first PIREP

Your airline’s Settings

Letting pilots in

Plugins

Plugin settings

Dashboard

Flight Tracking

Landing Analyser

What pilots see

Next steps