¶ Rating system
Newsky includes very advanced auto rating system covering all phases of the flight and it's still developing. Due to that complexity it might be confusing to pilots and airline managers what is rated and what are the penalties. On this page we will discuss how each flight phase is rated, possible penalties and how to avoid them.
¶ Flight abandoned
If for whatever reason Pilot can't perform booked flight they must delete it on My Flights page no later than 60 minutes after scheduled departure time. Otherwise such flight is treated as Abandoned Flight and will cause financial penalty of 200$ for every booked passenger.
This penalty won't be applied if Pilot starts the flight. That means you won't be penalized for abandoning flight before takeoff. Reasons can be multiple including CTD, private matter, power shortage and we can't hold Pilots accountable for that.
¶ Emergency
This option was added to handle emergency situations. Declaring emergency allows to try out your skills without risking your rating as emergency flights don't count towards airline's or pilot's average.
Declaring emergency zeros out financial report meaning there will be no penalties, revenue or expenses. Flight balance will be 0.
¶ Crash
If no emergency was declared and aircraft landed with:
- touch down force greater than 3Gs or rate greater than 2000 ft/min
- bank angle greater than 20° either way
- pitch higher than 20° up or lower than 3° down (nose wheel landing)
- positive vertical rate
it will be considered a crash landing with total loss of the aircraft. Flight score will be zeroed and 1mln$ penalty will be applied.
Newsky is not dealing with crashes caused by scenery errors or aircraft bugs. Please consult your Airline Manager to use their delete quota to remove the flight.
¶ Cheating system
If any cheating is detected that flight will be zeroed. It means that no rating will be given, no money earned and flight will not be counted in any statistics.
¶ Aircraft change
As soon as flight is started no change to the aircraft type is allowed.
¶ Time acceleration
Depending on Airline SOP settings time acceleration can be banned and will be treaded as cheat or allowed, in which case it will result in proportionally reduced revenue. There is a tolerance build in for that so do not fear any short accidental time acceleration.
¶ Teleport and slew mode
Moving your aircraft is allowed only on ground. Any unnatural movement in the air will cause flight to be zeroed.
¶ Midair refueling
You can't refuel mid air, you are not Air Force One! In case you miscalculated your fuel or it suddenly disappeared treat is as an emergency or find nearby airport to land.
¶ Midair Zero Fuel Weight change
You can't drop items from your plane so your Zero Fuel Weight (ZFW) should never change when airborne.
¶ Incoherent log data
Newsky tries to detects suspicious data in the log to avoid penalizing Pilots for simulator errors. If you have no idea why your flight was flagged as error please contact Newsky support via email or Discord.
¶ Basics
This section covers flight basics that span across all phases of the flight.
¶ Altimeter
Correct altimeter setting is important for valid altitude reading. Tolerance of +-2mb is accepted on takeoff and landing (to account for live weather update) and +-1mb for cruise standard QNH of 1013mb/29.92inHg.
¶ NAV lights
Navigation lights or position lights (green/red on wings and white on the tail) are used whenever electrical power is on in the aircraft. Newsky requires them whenever aircraft is moving.
¶ BEACON lights
Beacon lights or Anti collision lights (red blinking beacon no top and bottom of the aircraft) is a signal to ground crews that it's unsafe to approach the aircraft. Newsky requires this light to be on when aircraft is moving or any of the engines is running.
¶ STROBE lights
Strobe lights or sometimes called high intensity lights (white blinking lights on wings and tail) are required on runways (even when crossing) and in the air at all times. Newsky requires it to be on when in the air.
¶ LANDING lights
Newsky only requires pilots to turn landing lights OFF when above altitude set by the airline (10000 ft by default). Below that altitude landing lights are to be used at pilot's discretion.
If using hardware panels (or any hardware assignment software like SPAD.neXt) you are responsible for proper assignment of buttons, toggles, rotaries and levers. MSFS default assigned functions need to be removed if not used because MSFS will always prioritize hardware controls over virtual cockpit buttons and toggles. In case of some advanced aircraft (like PMDG or Fenix) real simulator state of lights or altimeter (reported to Newsky) may be different to what's shown by the aircraft on displays and outside model. Always test panel assignments using Newsky Sim Data window (to open hold CTRL key and left click on round Newsky icon in top left corner of the app window).
¶ Stall and Overspeed
Both of these conditions are extremely dangerous. While there is no tolerance for stall condition and Newsky will penalize every second of it we recognize that in cruise sudden change of live weather can cause short overspeed, therefore tolerance of 30 seconds in total was introduced.
¶ Max and min G forces
These are not the min/max design forces of the airframe. This rating refers to passenger comfort and safety. Allowed G force range in real life is usually 0.5-1.5 Gs but in Newsky we took a little more lenient approach and allowed range is 0 to 2.0 Gs. Exceeding these values in normal stable flight is very unlikely.
Stall, overspeed and G force checks are inhibited for 60 seconds after wind shear detection.
¶ Takeoff and Landing
Takeoff is the most intense moment of flight, second only to Landing. It's very easy to make mistakes in that time and we are here to explain and help you avoid them in future!
¶ Early or delayed departure
As time is very important in aviation Newsky requires pilot's to depart within +-15 minutes from planned departure time. Every minute beyond that will be penalized with 0.05 point and 0.50$ per passenger.
¶ Gear retraction
Gear should be retracted immediately after "positive rate" call out. In practice this means as soon as we are sure aircraft is safely climbing. Newsky allows gear to stay down for up to 15s after liftoff - above that penalties will be applied. This of course does not apply to aircraft with non-retractable gear.
¶ Late configuration
Full landing configuration (flaps position and gear extended) is required below altitude set by airline in their SOP (default is 500ft above landing runway). Any change to that configuration below this altitude will result in penalty.
Late configuration does not apply to General Aviation aircraft where it can be normal to extend final flaps low over the airport
Late configuration will not be penalised if Go Around is detected even if wheels touch the ground
¶ Crosswind and tailwind component
Each aircraft has maximum component values for tail and side wind. If that values are exceeded takeoff or landing is considered as dangerous and will be penalized.
¶ MTOW/MLW exceeded
Every aircraft has MTOW (Maximum Takeoff Weight) and MLW (Maximum Landing Weight). These are design weights and under no circumstances can be exceeded so avoid overloading your aircraft!
¶ Incorrect flaps
Correct flaps setting must be used during takeoff and landing. Not every flaps are suitable for both maneuvers.
Here are 2 examples:
Airbus A320 can takeoff using flaps 1+F, 2 and 3 but can land using 3 or FULL.
Boeing 737 can takeoff using flaps 1, 5, 10, 15, 25 (depends on version) but can land using 30 or 40.
¶ Tail or wing strike
Occurs when part of aircraft fuselage or engine comes into contact with ground. This is a very serious incident resulting in costly damage to the aircraft. To avoid it keep your rotation rate low (around 2-3 deg/s) on takeoff and avoid aggressive flare on landing while keeping wings level at all times. See the video below for more in depth info from a real world pilot!
¶ Unstable approach
Every approach must be stable below certain altitude above runway. For General Aviation that's 50ft, for small aircraft type it's 200ft, for medium 300ft and for large 400ft above runway elevation. Stable approach means that aircraft is in landing configuration, on runway extended centerline and on proper descent profile. Newsky considers approach to be stable if bank angle stays under 20° and vertical speed is within 0 to -1500 feet per minute. Anything beyond that requires pilot to go around and attempt another landing.
Unstable approach will not be penalized if Go Around is detected even if wheels touch the ground
¶ Runway excursion
Veering of runway during takeoff or landing is extremely dangerous. Newsky uses time to determine if aircraft is during takeoff or landing roll based on touch down/lift off ground speed. Formula is GS/10 in seconds so 120KT GS on landing gives 12s.
¶ Speeding when vacating runway
Vacating runway with ground speed higher than 50KT will result in penalty based on how fast you were going. You can vacate runway with a maximum of 50 KT using Rapid Exit Taxiways and should never exceed 20KT in case of more popular 90 degree turnoffs.
¶ Off centerline
There are 2 conditions for deviation measurment window:
- Time based on 10% of ground speed at touch down/take off in seconds (130KT ground speed results in 13s window)
- Ground speed above 50KT
As long as any of the above is met Newsky records deviation from the centerline.
Accepted deviation from runway centerline is 4m during takeoff and landing for maximum rating. Accepted value becomes 8m in case of challenging conditions (when crosswind component is >=10KT, headwind component is >=15KT or runway is wet, covered with snow or ice).
Centerline deviation will not be penalized if Go Around is detected
¶ Takeoff beyond runway end
This happens usually due to bad performance calculations or wrong takeoff configuration and is very dangerous. Overrunning the runway should be avoided at all costs as it poses risk of colliding with airport infrastructure or buildings and trees just outside airport perimeter.
¶ Long and short landing
Every commercial runway has TDZ (Touch Down Zone) markings like the image below. Any landing between 20% and 80% of TDZ is considered perfect. Landings beyond that (even if still within TDZ) are considered unsafe and before runway threshold are considered dangerous. Newsky accounts for bounces, meaning a bounced landings may count as long landing if last touchdown was too far down the runway.
Newsky uses special formula to determine TDZ based on runway length. Table below gives rough idea of TDZ length.
Long and short landing does not apply to General Aviation aircraft where it is quite normal to extend landing on long commercial runways to expedite vacation or to land short on challanging small airports
Long and short landing will not be penalized if Go Around is detected
| Runway (m) | TDZ (m) |
|---|---|
| 1000 | 485 |
| 1500 | 650 |
| 2000 | 765 |
| 2500 | 850 |
| 3000 | 910 |
| 3500 | 960 |
| 4000 | 1000 |
| 4500 | 1050 |
| Runway (ft) | TDZ (ft) |
|---|---|
| 3000 | 1500 |
| 4500 | 2000 |
| 6000 | 2400 |
| 7500 | 2650 |
| 9000 | 2900 |
| 10500 | 3050 |
| 12000 | 3200 |
| 13500 | 3300 |
¶ Fuel used below estimated minimum
Due to simulator features like "Infinite fuel" or aircraft bugs Newsky must check used fuel against a conservative estimate based on aircraft type. If used fuel reported is lower then the estimate then the estimate will be used instead.
¶ Insufficient fuel reserves
If you land with less than 25 minutes of fuel or less than 90% of reserves calculated in OFP it is considered you did not manage your fuel correctly and there was not enough fuel in case of a go around. In case of landing with less than reserve fuel an emergency should be declared saving you one point on the rating.
¶ Landing rate
Contrary to most ACARS systems Newsky uses touch down force (measures as multitude of G) to evaluate landings rather than vertical speed measured in ft/min. Reason behind that is passengers and aircraft fuselage are affected by forces not speeds. Further more from all supported simulators only MSFS provides reliable vertical speed reading for touchdown and our aim is to support all simulators equally.
With that out of the way let's discuss what is considered good touch down. Table below explains each landing rating for normal or challenging conditions (when crosswind component is >=10KT, headwind component is >=15KT or runway is wet, covered with snow or ice). Score for landing is interpolated through the ranges.
¶ Landing G ranges
| Rating | Normal | Challenging | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greased | <1.05 | <1.05 | Butter, silk, smooth operator... Whatever you call it it's bad! Such soft landing may delay activation of ground spoilers, auto brakes or thrust reverses. Furthermore it promotes floating over runway increasing risk of long landing and extended touch down time causes more wear on tires. Try to avoid greasing your landings. |
| Great | 1.05-1.40 | 1.05-1.50 | Perfect touch down. Smooth, controlled and comfortable yet firm enough to activate all systems and avoid unnecessary wear and tear. |
| Average | 1.40-1.70 | 1.50-1.80 | Not great, not terrible. Average. Nothing special. |
| Uncomfortable | 1.70-2.00 | 1.80-2.00 | Some passengers complained. It was safe but certain Irish airline comes to their mind  |
| Hard | 2.00-2.20 | 2.00-2.20 | That one passengers will remember for some time. Nothing they'd want to repeat. |
| Bad | 2.20-2.50 | 2.20-2.50 | That one your aircraft will remember for some time when it's undergoing checks. |
| Terrible | >2.50 | >2.50 | Well... Keep practicing?! |
¶ Go around
You can always go around... 🎵🎵🎵
As the classic goes You can indeed always go around (assuming engines are in working order) and it can be beneficial for your rating if you happen to make some mistake or weather was harsher than anticipated. If you decide to go around following viloations will be ignored:
- Late configuration
- Unstable approach
- Off centerline landing (within runway limits)
- Long/short landings (within runway limits)
- Hard landing under 2.2G limit (anything above 2.2G will still count as it means potential damage to the airframe or undercarriage)
- Too strong tail or cross wind for given airframe
If a mistake was more serious (very bad landing, runway excursion etc) it might be a good idea to go around and declare an emergency. That way the flight will not be counted towards any ratings but will still provide information about mistakes and potential penalties for them.