Please find here the instruction about the Special Operation Groups.
Special operations Groups are SO orientated organisations that have been recognised by IVAO Special operations HQ and meet the requirements listed in this document.
Once an organisation is recognised as a SOG, they receive special privileges that are not ordinarily available to IVAO Users.
Management of SOG’s is done via the SO-HQ portal.
Through the portal, it is possible to apply for SOG status and for active SOG’ they can update their information.
SOG’s via the portal can apply to host an international event for more information please refer to SOI 5.
Organisations that wish to apply for SOG status shall do this via the SO portal on the SO-HQ website. The organisation should also contact the division they wish to register with as their approval is required.
Founding users (heads of organisations) registered with division–less countries are not required to seek divisional approval.
Please ensure that any organisation meets the requirements below before applying.
- The Prospective SOG is not a commercial entity and is not pursuing any commercial goals.
- Prospective SOG is not intending to profit in monetary terms or equivalents whether directly or indirectly from using IVAO Network and from publicity (status) that IVAO network will create for that prospective SOG;
- Prospective SOG is not collecting any monetary funds for admissions, membership fees, or equivalents etc.
- Prospective SOG is not selling and is not acting as an intermediary for selling of any products or services including product placement practises by sponsoring organisations, etc.;
- Prospective SOG shall not use the same name (Full name) as an already approved SOG. (If the application has been made in a name another can not be made in that name, unless it is registered)
- Prospective SOG has been in operational existence for at least the previous 90 days;
- Within the last 90-days period, the majority of flights performed on IVAO by prospective SOG constitute SO Flights.
- Prospective SOG offers some form of verifiable and appropriate training to its users;
- Prospective SOG has a user base of at least 5 individuals, active users of IVAO;
- Within the last 90-days period each prospective SOG’s active user performed at least 2 SO Flights under SOG on IVAO of reasonable duration;
- Prospective SOG is not registered on IVAO Virtual Airlines (VA) System and is not listed as IVAO Virtual Airline;
- Prospective SOG complies with GDPR [European Union] legislation;
- Prospective SOG’s management is behaving in an ethical and moral manner in general, as well as towards IVAO users and its own users;
- Prospective SOG has an operational website, running and available continuously;
- No advertisements of commercial products or services are present, except for advertisements automatically placed by freeware website hosting;
- No inappropriate content is present;
- The website shall be appropriately structured and designed, as expected for SOGs websites;
At least the following distinct pages are publicly available, and information is provided in the English language:
- the main page - shall provide introductory information on the prospective SOG and the kinds of Special Operations it performs;
- Internal rules page (or equivalent) - shall list prospective SOG’s internal rules, including on admission procedure;
- Member list page (or equivalent) - shall list IVAO VIDs of prospective SOG’s active users.
- Flights list page (or equivalent) - shall list at least prospective SOG’s IVAO SO Flights made within at least the last 90 days, clearly displaying at least the following flight details; date of flight, call sign, and pilot IVAO VID
should such a page cannot be developed for technical reasons, the head of SOG shall provide the data mentioned above when requested by HQ-SOD.
- Founding user (head of the organisation) criteria:
a. Status within prospective SOG – acts as the ultimate head of the organisation and has unrestricted administration access to SOG website;
b. Years of age – at least 18;
c. IVAO usership – active, duration of at least 6 months;
d. IVAO suspension record – none within the last 3 months;
e. IVAO ratings – PP or ADC;
f. IVAO pilot activity – within the last 90–day period performed at least 2 SO flights on IVAO of a reasonable duration under prospective SOG;
g. Other IVAO related positions – not a designated administrator of any IVAO registered VA and not the head of any other registered SOG;
h. Command of English language – sufficient for the purpose of performing communication with HQ– SOD on administrative matters and understanding IVAO Rules, Regulations, and Policies
¶ Maintaining SOG Status
To ensure that SOG’s are active and are in keeping with the requirements, SO-HQ will without warning conduct audits of SOG’s. In the event of a SOG not meeting the requirements, SO-HQ will contact the SOG’s to assist them to correct the issues.
To keep the status of SOG, a organisation must maintain their compliance with the requirements stated above in the How to apply section, in addition to the extra requirements listed bellow.
HQ–SOD designated Special Operations Groups shall continuously comply with the following requirements:
- Neither the official IVAO logotype, nor the IVAO HQ–SOD departmental logotype is placed on a SOG website and on any SOG materials, unless explicitly authorised by IVAO PR department or HQ–SOD.
Only the “IVAO Special Operations Group status image” shall be used, as below in 13 (b)
- Website requirements:
- SOG has an operational website, running and available continuously;
- IVAO Special Operations Group status image (http://sod.ivao.aero/c_images/SOG_status_image.png) is clearly displayed at least on the index (main) page with underlying URL link for http://sod.ivao.aero; status image may be proportionally reduced in size, but shall not be changed in any other way.
Affiliation with IVAO is evident;
It is permissible to provide website content in other languages.
- SOGs tied to IVAO divisions: a positive approval from divisional authorities is maintained, at HQ–SOD discretion.
- Head of SOG shall ensure that there is no mismatch between SOG details and SOG details as maintained in the Register of IVAO Special Operations Groups; head of SOG shall file SOG data change request form at the earliest opportunity when there is any mismatch
HQ–SOD may revoke a status of Special Operations Group (SOG) under the following circumstances (references to “head of SOG” , refers to the person identified as the head in the SOG registry):
- SOG fails to comply with the requirements stated in this document and fails to resolve the issue within 30 days after being notified by SO-HQ.
- The SOG repeatedly does not follow/comply with the IVAO rules and regulations, especially the Special operations regulations.
- Head of SOG is not responding to two incoming emails from HQ–SOD sent to the SOG administrative contact email separated by at least 30 days;
- SOG is involved in an event (incident) requiring an immediate revocation of its status, at HQ–SOD discretion;
- For SOGs tied to IVAO divisions: a positive approval from divisional authorities is no longer maintained, (at HQ– SOD discretion);
- There is a server mismatch between SOG details and SOG details as maintained in the Register of IVAO Special Operations Groups;
- The Head of SOG is no longer an active IVAO user;
- The head of SOG changes IVAO division or division–less country;
- The head of SOG is not performing any SO flights under SOG in a 90–day period;
- The head of SOG abandons the SOG;
- The head of SOG fails to comply with reasonable requests from HQ–SOD;
- The head of SOG voluntarily requests revocation of this status.
| Ver. |
Date |
Name |
Overview of change(s) |
| 1.0 |
22 July 2024 |
Jan Weil (IVAO-SOAD) |
Migration to the Wiki |