WELCOME TO THE NEWSROOM - Full update monthly,

Important News as and when it occurs.

This Full Update 02/10/00.

UK Direct Still has a couple of vacancies for pilots !

Shannon Sunrise.

UK2000 South West Released !

The big news this month has just got to be the release of Gary's latest instalment of UK2000 for both FS98 and FS2K ! If, like me, you are a principle user of FS98 this might just be the push you need to think about making the move to FS2K for your UK Direct flights. As a resident of the area I can assure you that these are the best representations of the South West's airfields ever to be produced. Not only are they geographically correct but the buildings really do look like and create the atmosphere of the originals ! If you think that the sheep up on Davidstow airfield are just a bit of fun then I suggest you go up there and plot your course carefully through the sheep sh_t for yourselves ! So get your pennies out and register your copy NOW !

Safety Manager Appointed.

Ever at the forefront of creating a ' Closer to Reality ' v.a. experience UK Direct is pleased to welcome the appointment of James Cheetham (Pilot 154) as the Safety Manager.

Why have a safety manager ? Well, those of you that take more than a passing interest in our v.a. will have noticed that we have a steadily growing team who are collecting and interpreting data so as to be able to create the illusion of how our virtual business is performing and give us a better score in a Virtual Aviation Safety Audit. Reading through the statistics from the Pireps can give valuable performance information. Lets face it, if you've just flown in some passengers from Brussels and in that 1 hour flight you've managed to collect 3-4 errors and bounced them all the way down the runway on arrival the virtual passengers are less likely to want to fly with us again ! Would You ? So your performance matters ! If you have any tales of heart-stopping moments like the time you lost an engine just as you were on short finals, or the time you got settled into a flight only to realise Dave Finney has left his Indian take-away cartons under the rudder pedals or anything else relevent that you might like to pass on to the Safety Department then drop into James' office and get a report filed !

One final note... DON'T SEND JAMES YOUR PIREPS !!!!! just tell him of any problems !

Fleet News.

The ATR 42 is back ! (UK2000 FS98 Scenery )

The fleet manager has been hard at work to produce an all new ATR42 aircraft . G-DJUK " City Flier " . No more hair raising moments as the aircraft drops out of the sky during autopilot turns or pushes its nose skyward in an attempt to compensate for its lack of grace in the turn ! In fact this one is as pretty as a picture, well mannered and has moving parts as well !

The UK Sun B767-3YO ER has now received it's full UK Sun paint scheme see UK Sun Fleet for download !

Not exactly new(s) but the Taesa 727 has been safely ferried back to Exeter by our intrepid volunteers and will be receiving refirbishment as I write ! Watch out for news on this aircraft soon !

Taesa 727 arrives at Exeter - Picture courtesy of S.W Aviation Enthusiast Magazine.

Scenery Department Overhaul !

Mark Greenough has been hard at work to achieve quicker download times for his scenery pages . The result is a very pleasing presentation of the sceneries most used and recommended by our pilots. Do you have a favourite that is worthy of sharing ? Do you have preferences amongst the listed sceneries ? Mark will, I'm sure, be pleased to hear from you.

Share Prices Continue to Rise !

Well until today anyway! BUT I have a note from Mark telling me that the VASX is closed until further notice. So I can't really add anymore to that really.....oh well.....

Screenshot Competition.

A little while ago I asked if there was anyone who would like to submit a screenshot to the newsroom for inclusion at the head of the page each month. Well thanks to the overwhelming response I'm pleased to announce that the winner was me by default (as no one bothered !). So if any pilot would like to send a jpeg screenshot for next month then please do ! ( No larger than 200kb please).

Just Visiting ? Want to read the last update ? Then click HERE.