As with any real or fictional enterprise, the creation of LewisAire Virtual Airlines was based on a philosophy --my own philosophy, in this case-- that it might be fun to have a virtual airline which operates (so to speak) several decades back in time...a time where pilots, not software programs, flew airplanes; a time where the auto-gadgetry simply did not exist, so pilots relied on their skills and a little good luck in finding their way from one place to another. Which doesn't mean I'm right or wrong, it just means that's the direction I chose for LewisAire...what it would be and how we'd operate.
So you'll see no glass-gauge jet cockpits in LewisAire, no helicopter squadrons, no F-18 carrier-wing operations, no experimental X-Planes. You'll see mostly older aircraft with gauges and instruments that will get you wherever you want to go, if you know how to use them. Often I am confronted with this: "But I've never flown with these manual gauges; why can't I use my GPS and FS Navigator, stuff I'm familiar with?" I generally reply to that with something like this, "For the same reasons I wouldn't get a very warm reception by showing up at a bowling tournament with my tennis racket because I'd rather play tennis." Nuff sed?
You'll note that absence of quizzes, tests, ratings, rankings, or schedules throughout this training material. There are none, because the purpose of it is solely to provide material that will give you a basic understanding of equipment and procedures that support the LewisAire principles. So we're not ever going to test you or make you move up through through the ranks...and in return for this liberal attitude, I ask only that you please spend a little personal time and effort learning the basics.
Keep the blue side up...
Cap'n Merlin
The LewisAire Philosophy
