WELCOME TO THE NEWSROOM
This slightly later than usual update 04/12/01.
Editorial
Hello fellow flightsimmers and
curious browsers. Welcome to the pre-festive ramblings of UK Direct's newspage.
As usual I sit here in front of my monitor with 3 lines scribbled on a discarded
fag packet (that's a cigarette carton for our North American readers and not the
fleshy appendages that dangle between the legs of a male homosexual) and wait
for journalistic inspiration...........no, still waiting....
I know, lets start with a nice picture.
Screenshot of the month
Mark Greenough kindly supplied this atmospheric screenshot of James' superb 1-11
repaint.
It is probably more remarkable as its the only time you'll see Mark with a couple of Virgins...snigger...
UK2000
Part 4 Released (and EGBB)
Most of you will already be aware that Gary has
released his latest scenery add-on. Lets face it, how many screenshots posted
around the flightsim world have you seen lately using UK2000 scenery. Loads! It
really is THAT good.
Part 4 covers the East Anglia region and on down to the South of London with a
version of Heathrow updated for FS2002. Some 30+ airfields have been
painstakingly reproduced to an unmatched level of detail, let alone on this
scale. Below are a couple of screenshots taken from Gary's Scenery web site.
Please visit him, see for yourself and support this latest work. All 40Mb of it!
Massive discounts are available to anyone over 80 if they are accompanied by both parents at the time of ordering. You or I may be able to blag a fiver off.
A stunning version of Birmingham has also been produced and it can be downloaded from Gary's site.
Norwich at dawn
Duxford
Birmingham by day and....
...by night.
Simply fantastic. Go to UK2000 Scenery now ! (and then come back please!)
FS2002 Scenery add-ons begin to arrive
It was with pleasure that I noted that Aerosoft are releasing FS2002 versions of German Airports 1 and 2. These reference standard sceneries are a good enough reason to fly into virtual Germany. Details of these releases can be found at www.aerosoft.com and www.germanairports.net along with other product news from this quality software manufacturer.
Users of Simflyers sceneries will be pleased to note that the group is coming to terms with making their products FS2002 compatible. Visit them at www.simflyers.net download Newark then jump in the 747-400 to do some Christmas shopping in downtown New York.
VATSIM - UK Stocks and Shares News
Judging by the amount of internal mail on this subject I know that some really dodgy dealing is going on. As the limits of my financial wizardry are remembering my Internet banking password I am unable to comment. Just be warned that if some UK Direct tipster down at the Spit and Swallow pub offers you 'impartial financial advice' its probably a stitch up and they will be the ones making a packet. Psst...wanna buy a cheap plane ?
PIREP
.EXE
Dave Clover has finished tweaking the PIREP
program so that some of the dangerous pitfalls that be-fell our intrepid roster
manager, during melt-downs from duff reports, can hopefully now be a thing of
the past. Well come on lets be realistic, there's no chance that everyone will
fill out their Pireps correctly so the program has had to become pilot proof.
Anyway, thank you Dave, for updating the program.
Visit the files section to download this version, then find the original location of the folder where the old Pirep exists, take a hard copy of the contents, season to taste, chew and swallow.
Rank structure invented
If you ever wondered what to do with the seventy three pairs of defunct epaulettes in your locker, red stripes, silver, gold etc...you will be delighted to notice that we have all been assigned rank titles. This could only have been dreamt up by some government department or by some balding bloke with time on his hands. All we need now is a secret handshake, a funny signet ring and sheepskin flight-yoke covers hand spun from local Widnes wool and we can all meet down the Ma(sub)sonic lodge. How many hours do you need to become a Fleet Grand Poobah ?
'Tis the season to be infected...tra la la la laaaa la la la laaaa
On a more serious note, there are lots of virus thingys about at the moment, so please be careful when opening your emails, even from friends, with attachments that don't seem quite right. Make sure your virus definitions are kept up to date and if in doubt, delete don't open.
Picture kindly from Mark Greenough
Cargo manager Dave Frankland has been busy updating his site. Lastest additions are some proposed new routes for the DC-10,707 and 747-400F and some new mail routes for the SH360. Some fresh repaints should be turning up soon too.
For those of you that thought Aramis was a sophisticated 70's aftershave (along with Brut, Old Spice and Blue Stratos) the aircraft bearing the same name will be flitting between Bournemouth and Teeside, whilst Athos seems to be covering the rest of the country nightly! Sounds like a good sector for rebellious pilot types and those that escape abroad too often on company expenses. Frosty, foggy wet night mail flights. I hope Dave Finney has got the heater fixed, last year the pilots named it the 'flying fridge'
.......and finally
Our scenery manager, Mark is back at his desk for a while so please don't hesitate to let him know what has been released lately that's worth a look.
And that really is all for now, Look out for an all-singing festive update later this month.
Newsroom Manager