RED MOUNTAIN AIRLINES
Welcome to RMA. First conceived in 2006, Red Mountain Airlines was run as a virtual airline for MS Flight Simulator 2004/X until 2009. There have been many re-imaginings and refinements to the concept, over the years. RMA was flying the Boeing 757 from a Phoenix Mesa Gateway (KIWA) base to Hawaii a full five years before Allegiant Air did the same. It was eventually decided that an airline was not a workable concept, unless it was very small scale. The website was rendered dark, in 2019, after a few years of dormancy.
The real world, and developments in the world of MSFS have served to show that RMA operations at Gateway work best as a fixed-base operator of GA aircraft, with FSX/P3D as the primary simulators involved, and the flexibility for both FS2004, MSFS2020, and X-Plane (v10+) users to find ideas for enjoyment and adventure. With that in mind, the website was re-launched in 2022. RMA itself does not operate as a virtual airline, however. The RMA operation might simply be a virtual FBO, and as such, flights would be mostly charters in and around the home State of Arizona, and around the American west. The striven-for service level would be an ability to offer "on demand" service to southern California (Van Nuys, Orange County, Carlsbad and all 3 Palm Springs area airports), Las Vegas (all 3 airports), the Salt Lake City area (including Ogden and Provo) and Denver (Broomfield or Centennial).
A partnership between RMA and a small operator in Key West operates light jet charters under the brand name and callsign of Sunchaser. Simply put, there's no flight trackers, no PIREPs, NOTAMs, or virtual economics involved with RMA operations; just imagination and fun. Pilots are able to fly RMA or Sunchaser charters and earn flight hours as personal flights within FS Hub. That's as simple as it gets.
There was a Hawaiian operation conceived in 2007 known as Mauna Rua Air (yes, that's Red Mountain in Hawaiian). After much evolution, it became a GA operation using King Airs and the Daher Socata TBM 850, with bases in Kona and Lahaina. After further deliberation, this operation was taken down from this website in July of 2023. Then came the Maui wildfires, which devastated Lahaina. The concept is suspended indefinitely.
If you like having a callsign and flight number, and are familiar with the EditVoicepack utility, a Red Mountain callsign is available. You can see that this website is "no-frills," written in a blog style to pack as much information into as little space as possible. A thorough reading should set the mind of the properly motivated flight-simmer to racing through the possibilities, finding the fun, and perhaps a new VA. It's just about tapping into what one man's imagination has come up with, and creating your own adventures within the presented frameworks from there. Click on the links and prepare to taxi.
