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Network & Co-pilot section on the booking page Network & Co-pilot section on the booking page

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Fly Together, Earn More

Some flights are better with two people up front. A shared cockpit flight puts you and a friend in the same aircraft, linked through a tool like YourControls or SmartCopilot, splitting the work the way a real crew does: one pilot flies, the other monitors and handles the radios. Every shared cockpit flight earns +200 points for each pilot, on top of your normal flight score.

+200 Points

Added to your score for every shared cockpit flight

Both Pilots

You and your co-pilot each get the bonus on your own PIREP

Automatic

Applied when your two PIREPs match up, with nothing to claim

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How the Bonus Works

The bonus is not tied to a single booking. Each pilot books and flies their own copy of the flight, and when your is scored, vAMSYS looks for a matching PIREP from one of your friends. It counts as a shared cockpit flight when the other PIREP:
  • Belongs to an accepted friend who also flies for vACA
  • Has the same departure and arrival airports as yours
  • Has a takeoff within 5 seconds of yours
  • Has a touchdown within 5 seconds of yours
Takeoff and touchdown times come from the events Pegasus ACARS records, not from the scheduled times on your booking. Both have to match. When they do, the +200 is written to both PIREPs. If your co-pilot’s PIREP was already scored, it is updated automatically.
Selecting a friend in the Shared Cockpit Co-Pilot dropdown does not earn the bonus on its own. It does not notify them or create a booking or PIREP for them. To earn the points, both pilots must book the flight and fly it with Pegasus ACARS.
A few more things worth knowing:
  • Once per flight. The bonus is awarded once per PIREP, however many friends fly with you.
  • Network does not matter. The online network is not part of the check, so it works on VATSIM, IVAO, SayIntentions, or offline.
  • Aircraft are not compared. Only the airports and the takeoff and touchdown times are matched. Booking the same aircraft is still the right call (see below).
You can see every active scoring rule under Documents → Scores in the Pilot Portal.

View Scoring Rules

Check the Shared Cockpit rule and every other way points are added or deducted.

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Add Your Co-Pilot as a Friend

You can only fly a shared cockpit flight with a friend. Friendships live on your vAMSYS account, so once you are friends it works across every virtual airline you both fly for.
1

Send a friend request

Use either option:
  • From their profile: open your co-pilot’s pilot profile in the Pilot Portal and click Add Friend
  • By email: go to the Friends page in your vAMSYS account and use Invite Friend with the email address on their account
2

Your co-pilot accepts

The request stays pending until your co-pilot approves it. Once they do, they show up in the Shared Cockpit Co-Pilot dropdown on the booking page.
Friend requests are on by default. If yours is not getting through, ask your co-pilot to check Allow Friend Requests under My vAMSYS Account → Global Preferences → Privacy.
If your co-pilot is missing from the dropdown, click Missing Co-Pilot? above it for a reminder of the same steps and a shortcut to send friend requests.

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Booking a Shared Cockpit Flight

The steps below use the Pilot Portal. The Pilot Hub desktop app shows the same screens.
1

Pick the flight together

Agree with your co-pilot on the flight you are going to fly. You both need the same departure and arrival airports.In the sidebar, expand Flight Centre and find the flight through Book Flight Map, Flights From your current airport, or My Rosters. Select it to open the booking page.
If your co-pilot is based somewhere else, they can Jumpseat to your departure airport before booking.
2

Review the booking details

Work through the sections on the booking page as you normally would:
  • Aircraft & Callsign: the aircraft registration and callsign for the flight
  • Schedule & Route: departure time, flight level, and cost index
  • Payload: passengers and freight
  • SimBrief Settings: OFP options if you plan with SimBrief
3

Select your co-pilot

Network & Co-pilot section with the Shared Cockpit Co-Pilot dropdownNetwork & Co-pilot section with the Shared Cockpit Co-Pilot dropdownExpand Network & Co-pilot:
  1. Choose the Network you are flying on
  2. Under Shared Cockpit Co-Pilot, change None to your friend
This adds your co-pilot to the booking so the crew is on record.
The dropdown only lists accepted friends who have a vACA pilot account. If you added a friend while the page was open, reload it.
4

Create the booking

Click Create Booking. Use Preview OFP first if you want to check the flight plan.
5

Your co-pilot books the same flight

Selecting a co-pilot does not notify them, so let them know you have booked. You can send them the link to your booking page so they can see the details.Your co-pilot then books the same departure and arrival from their own account, following the same steps. They can select you as their co-pilot too.
Book the same aircraft type. Pegasus records the aircraft you actually fly, so if your co-pilot books a different type their PIREP gets flagged for review. See Substitute Aircraft for how mismatches are handled.

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Flying the Flight

1

Link your simulators

Start a shared cockpit session so both simulators fly the same aircraft. YourControls is the usual choice for MSFS and SmartCopilot for X-Plane. The Shared Cockpit guide covers setup for both.
2

Both pilots start Pegasus ACARS

Each pilot opens their own booking in Pegasus ACARS and starts tracking as usual. Keep the simulators linked through takeoff and touchdown so both clients record those moments within 5 seconds of each other.
3

Connect to the network

On VATSIM, only one aircraft should be visible. One pilot connects with the flight callsign (for example ACA123), and the other connects in observer mode with a letter suffix (for example ACA123A). Agree beforehand on who talks to ATC. The Shared Cockpit guide walks through it.
4

Both pilots file a PIREP

After the flight, each pilot files their own PIREP from Pegasus. The +200 is added to both once they are scored.

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Troubleshooting

Either the friend request has not been accepted yet, or your friend does not have a vACA pilot account. If you added them while the booking page was open, reload the page.
Check that both of you filed a PIREP, that both flights had the same departure and arrival airports, and that you are accepted friends. Then check the timing: if the simulators desynced or one of you reconnected around takeoff or landing, the events may have been recorded more than 5 seconds apart.If everything lines up and the points are still missing, contact support with links to both PIREPs.
Selecting a co-pilot does not send a notification. Send them the link to your booking page directly.
No. The bonus is awarded once per PIREP, however many friends fly the same flight.

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Need Help?

If you have questions about shared cockpit flights or a missing bonus:

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