WELCOME TO THE NEWSROOM - Full update once or twice monthly,
Important News as and when it occurs.
This Full Update 01/06/00.
UK Direct is seeking new active members - apply now !
Caribbean Direct Sunset.
Virus Alert !
If like me you don't know your Active X from your elbow then the mention of a virus alert either strikes fear into your heart or you think it'll happen to someone other than you. Well the bad news is that Richard Gosling has unknowingly been sending out emails with a little friend hiding away on board. I cannot speak for others but my anti-virus protection, Norton V5.0, regularly updated, certainly didn't pick it up. An advantage of belonging to UK Direct is that we have some very clever people who on discovering problems are only too willing to help us lesser mortals. One such person is Jonathan Fenech our Cargo manager who kindly wrote out a set of checks for this virus. Please note that he can accept no responsibility! Please use this link to view his virus findings/advice.
Introducing Scottish
Regional Services.
Summer in the Faroes.
The DASH 8 has been well received by the prop flying fraternity and following successful trials Scottish Regional services are now being operated from our Edinburgh hub. The flightplans are ready in FS Nav format, all of the freeware scenery required for FS98 can be found at the usual flight-sim. sites, including a reasonable representation of the Faroes ! So make the most of the long summer daylight hours and get some hours in north of the border !
Dubai, Dubai, Doo.....
Our B757-300 arrives in Dubai.
For all of you long-haul masochists our B757-300 now flies for 8 hours from Gatwick to Dubai once a week and return.The flights numbered UKD824 and UKD825 can be found on the Routes pages and are the perfect accompaniement to Pilot 103 Andy Bakers' scenery, omdbv71.zip for Dubai which can be downloaded from flightsim.com . Please note that there are other files that need to be downloaded also for this scenery to work.
Andy has created and uploaded other airports in the same region using the same textures, including Bahrain, Dhahran, Doha, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah so why not download these to give a better class of alternate arrival airports ! We've got such a lot of clever people flying at UK Direct !
and talking of clever people......
Pilot Paul Gulliver has achieved a SATCO controller status, well done Gully, but had a baptism of fire during last weeks Jersey fly-in fiasco! Undaunted, Paul maintains he will stick with it and I'm sure we'll all benefit from having another pilot able to step-in and help with controlling during online events.
Good luck with the A' Levels lads !
I'm sure you'll join with me in wishing all the very best to Pilots Paul Gulliver and Chris Baker who are working hard to get through their exams and anyone else who I haven't mentioned too !
Notice Board.
With a membership of 100 pilots I am surprised that there are currently only 38 registered users. Please don't be put off by a little bit of form filling to register, it really is very straightforward. (Even I could do it !) and you can air your views on anything from Bagpuss to air-misses ! (please don't mention too many TV programs as Mark(178) gets all carried away, as do others who will remain anonymous....) All very sad really.
Other Routes News.
Route re-scheduling is still taking place, The ATP flight from EGSS has been extended to the Isle of Man and Newcastle and as previously mentioned the Scottish regional services are up and running. The Route Index is coming together nicely and hopefully by the time you read this the assigned flights system will be back. I , for one, will be pleased to see its return as it makes you delve into the unknown depths of our route network and can give a change of scenery literally ! Mark has stated that if any pilot has a preference for their assigned flights (which of course are not mandatory) then a cold bottle of Pils left from the HQ Pilots Lounge Bar is a good start !
From the Cargo section, you will all by now be aware of the loss of the Royal Mail contract for our Shorts 360's although we are trying to win it back with an improved tender when it comes up for renewal later in the year. I have heard on the jungle grapevine that a night time express mail contract is being actively persued which would involve using our 737's......look out for news soon !
Hero Time !
The bad weather for the British F1 Grand Prix was a nice little earner for UK Executive. A charter was already lined up but with the car parks closed we were able to provide a last minute shuttle service using the duty stand-by pilots. Pilot Dave (164) was the hero of the day logging all of the 14 flights in and out of Silverstone including a very dodgy landing at the circuit in falling light with no runway lighting available ! This was entirely the fault of the Routes manager who set the flight times. Who was (naturally) sitting at home with his feet up watching it all on telly!
More Thank You's.
Big Thank You's go out to our Fleet manager, Dave Finney for his work with Mark during the past weeks in getting us back to normal operations and whipping UK Sun back into shape so quickly.
Thanks also to Pilot 164 Dave for digging through mountains of logbooks and data to producesome very valuable statistics which will once again make other V.A's look in envy ! The Taxman will naturally be very interested to see the other set of books...!
Finally, thanks to Pilot 123 Chris for his piccy of the Kingair, now used to adorn the history pages of suitably qualified people ! I supplied a couple of other pics but well you know how it is in management....nobody notices what you do until you don't do it ! mutter...grumble....
The axe continues to fall....
With the Roster coming under closer scrutiny the sackings continue to make way for new active pilots to join in our success. So if you are on the short list for removal and wish to stay a member of UK Direct then contact Mark soonest giving a reason why he should keep you on the payroll or get some hours logged quick !
Caribbean Comment.
As a result of Paul having to study hard for his exams CDA will naturally be ticking over with 'business as usual'.
All fairly quiet here this month....sh !.....Dave's on nights !
Gambian Arrival.
UK Suns' BAe 146 and Boeing 737-300 still remain in storage in the short term (an expensive business !) but as they have been compared to citrus fruits with a yellow waxy skin by the few pilots that attempted flights with them, there they will remain until model improvements are made. I noticed that a couple of pilots actually passed respective checkrides in them. To you brave men I salute You ! Contrary to a story being over heard in the Clubroom bar the man who hi-jacked and then robbed the passengers of an airliner recently and then jumped out in a home made parachute was not Dave Finney. He was at home alone on the night in question honestly officer......
Those Magnificent Men !
An apology has been issued following the Adventure Program V4.7 mix up, whereby the Captains Checkride got sent out twice. Some pilots had a very hairy ride, some others said that there was little difference as our aircraft fall apart on every flight ! One new recruit had a very interesting exam flight with bits of 1-11 dropping off continually and multiple systems failing making the exam more like a real life pilots simulator training ! He passed with honours. In the comments section he merely asked if all of our aircraft were as (un)reliable. Mark assured him this was an exception. A red faced Mr Finney was unavailable for further comment.
It's Back !
For those of you who still have a shirt left after taking 'impartial' advice on the buying and selling of shares from some bloke called Kidd the VASX is back up and running. So if this is your bag then get and buy some UK Direct shares and make us one of the top quoted V.A's. I don't like to worry you but Mark has a dartboard in his office with the names of companies pinned to the edges. Some of the bits of paper have dart holes in them. These 'coincidently' are the same companies Mark is urging people to invest in ?.......and what is his pet chimpanzee doing with the Financial Times and a pen?...all this and more will be revealed !
Just Visiting ? Want to read the last update ? Then click HERE.
Newsroom Manager