WELCOME TO THE NEWSROOM
This update 03/02/02.
Malaga Departure (FS2k)
Editorial
Well if you are one of our UK based pilots you are probably sat at home wondering if your roof is going to come off in the Storm force winds currently sweeping the country. But why sit in the gloom of Winter? The sun always shines at 35,000 feet, So get some hours in !
Whilst at Bristol Airport the other day, meeting
a foreign client from Italy, I had a terrible bout of jealousy as
I watched expectant people queuing for the Airtours check-in for
Arrecife. It just wasn't fair! Why should they escape the gloom
when I can't. Grumble, grumble...
I was however feeling more than pleased when I looked out of the
terminal glass, through the horizontal rain driven by near gale
force winds, to see holidaymakers returning from Malaga (why do
they always wear shorts and sandals on the plane when they know
that back in Britain its 15-20 degrees cooler and raining!) being
lashed by the English weather as they struggled down the steps
and on to the waiting buses. Ha!
Wiped Out ! (or holiday-makers revenge?)
Steady at FL350, Over SAM on UR8, on my way to Finland, or so I
hoped. Darren, UKD124 on his way to Palma just out of range.
Ittai, UKD180 getting set up at Jersey for his flight to EGLC. A
good turn out for a Saturday afternoon online.
Computers are indeed strange things. 12 hours
have passed since I started to write up the news. There I was
flying into Rovienimi getting set up for the Sunday online
flight. The 747-400F had effortlessly flown online for just over
3 1/2 hours (at 1x) and I had just spoken to approach to expect
vectors for the ILS runway 21, descending nicely down to FL70,
speed 200Kn.
That's when the screen went black, a buzzing started in my
headphones and a box informing me that FS2000 module had caused
an invalid page fault in unknown. Bugger! I took a deep breath
knowing that my last 3 hours would not receive an adventure code
and hours logged and pressed the reset button. Would it reboot?
No.
A calming cup of tea, I set to work. After an hour of
investigating and system failures and noting that a lot of
programs just didn't want to work and caused Windows to crash I
resorted to good ol' Doctor Watson. He politely informed me that
Voice Modem Control Interface has altered Windows system files.
Module Name: VMODCTL.DLL. Golly, I'm in trouble here but not to
worry I still have Windows ME System Restore!
Choosing the last restore point (yesterday
morning) I pressed the key and held my breath............Yes it
rebooted.......fantastic......Thats when I realised that many
small utilities had small files missing, Norton Utilities was
telling me it couldn't find a .dll file and that my registration
period had expired! Grrrr..... Internet Explorer didn't work, nor
Outlook Express and most of MS Office 2000 has simply
disappeared, including MS Front Page.
Perhaps one of you is a computer wizard and can offer an
explanation for this because quite frankly I'm about to call in
Mulder and Scully.
Only due to Front Page Express 'borrowed ' from Windows 98 am I
able to write this. If WS_FTP works is another matter.
On with the News, if I can find my notes and pictures.
Crivvens?
Sandy Sandford looking suitably ...........?
Picture courtesy of the roster page. All it needs are some suitable captions from YOU. Send them to me at the usual.
By the time you read this Sandy will be on his way to his next thousand hours - amazing ! and can someone tell me what Crivvens means? I've led a sheltered life.
A Pilot Writes....
Following my request for tales of the UK Direct kind a pilot writes.(Could he be after my job? - I'm not that lucky!)
Who are you calling ugly - big nose! (ed.)
I flew the ATP from
EGSS to Brussels (route 202) but I got the times mixed up - I was
looking at route 200 which is
identical except for diff times and a/c. (so really its not even
nearly identicle :o)) I
flew using real downloded weather - thought the gales we've been
having might be a challenge, lol My takeoff from Stansted was abit of a let down, no
incident at all. The ATP
behaved beautifully (the opposite to its looks!) - an FS98 flight
and visual model in FS2k2!! The wind was still and the skies clear,
a pleasant 14 degrees and unlimited visability ffs!! Due to my early departure (8 hours early
lol) I witnessed a fantastic sunrise over the North Sea as I
crossed the Thames and headed out towards the Dover vor. The
cloud started to appear as I crossed into Dutch airspace at FL230
and began my descent. About 20
miles north of Brussels the clouds which had steadliy thickened,
become more dense now starting to turn grey and then black. I
plunged into the vapours tops around 4000 ft AGL and my brightly
lit purple skies were instantly replaced by a dark shroud.
After several minutes of instrument only flying I emerged
beneath the monsters belly and turned right groping for the
localiser, flaps 15 called the co-pilot and as I slowed my
descent I lowered the undercarriage. The rain started pelting the
windscreen and streaking around the edges as the cabin crew took
their seats for landing and I lowered the flaps to 40.
Waiting for the autopilot to find the glidescope, I was starting
to run the missed approach proceedure through my head.
I heard the middle marker bleep, not
far now, visibility must be closing down to about a single
mile at best. Then suddenly runway 27L's lights could
be seen penetrating the rain as I crossed the inner marker.
I switched off the autopilot thinking it time for a bit of manual
control and realising the wind had started shifting
around, it was going to be a crosswind landing then. The
automatic cockpit altitude annunciator started counting
down the quickly dimishing gap between my wheels and
the ground in its electronic voice, startling me partly
as I wasnt expecting it at all and partly due to my
altimeter being set wrong - the pressure must have dropped
dramatically. The rain
and noise intensified as the wind started gusting
slightly at 40kts from 230degrees. Then suddenly it was
all over as the wheels grasped the deck with a squeel, another
smooth landing to add to my tally. There was one further moment
of anxeity waiting for me and I discovered it when I tried to
taxi off the runway, one of the throttles wasnt responding and
was threatening to throw me into the grass verge. One swift mouse
click later and the drama was all over however as I taxied
over to the terminal and came to a stop a gust of wind over 35kts
caused a 5% penalty to my final score - f....in' b....t'd adv !!!
Lol, that wasnt meant to be an
epic, I was only asking if you could add 5% onto my 90% score -
but only if it isnt a lot of hassle.
Mark 171
Please send in your tales of hardship and woe and if they are more pitiful than my own then I'll publish them!
Screenshot of the Month
Some really nice piccys this month
sent in by Mark Greenough courtesy of his persistence with FS02.
He must be an expert by now !
Any pilots having teething troubles just contact Mark (snigger)
he must have all the answers by now. Come to think of it , I've
got a whole heap of questions to ask. Mark? Mark?
Somewhere over the Rocky Mountains heading for Denver, during a practice run for the Rockies Rumble Event. Beautiful......
Fleet News
A month doesn't seem to pass without our fleet department producing more stunning work. So why should this month be any different? It's not, but come on, lets give credit where it's due. Never take their great work for granted. Write and thank them.
All new DC10 freighter for FS2k. Release date very soon.
New ERJ145 at Edinburgh, (FS02 Scenery by Iain Gallacher) picture from Mark 171.
VATSIM - UK Sundays
For those of you contemplating dabbling in online flying I would offer the following advice. (Contrary to what might appear as words of encouragement from the online department). Don't fly the most popular route during a large gathering in the UK! Ask Brian how long it took him to get away from Dublin the other night, (40 mins Brian?) Join in by all means but try to pick somewhere less popular. The atc will be less frantic and the controllers will be PLEASED to see you arrive at their lonely outpost. If you are of a nervous disposition look away now!
Just passing North East of London
Ooo errr....
Whilst on the VATSIM subject, our best wishes go to Neil 138 who is studying hard at EGCC to be a qualified virtual controller. Good luck Neil.
and finally......
Promotion At Last
Congratulations to pilot 140 (hey, that's me) who has become the first (and probably last) member of UK Direct to be promoted to the rank of Fleet Grand Poo-Bah. Pilot 140 is now desparately trying to achieve enough hours to move out of this exclusive catagory of 500 - 525 hours logged. Although he has a funny feeling that goal posts will be moved to ensure that he has to wear this funny hat indefinately. Don't worry Mark, I'll get you at playtime! I will get you.
Newsroom Manager