Merry Christmas wishes to all our readers new and old.  If you are a new member or just visiting then you may wish to skip the next paragraph as it wont mean much to you! It is aimed at the old stagers and is just recapping on our VA’s recent past.

 In preparing to write this edition I referred back to the last one I wrote; wow - has it really been 3 years?  Well, after so big a pause where do we start? Looking at the last few Directions there was a large amount of churn in staff and eventually the last website went offline!  I presume our CEO’s personal circumstances proved too much for him to continue running the website, unfortunately along with the website we also lost the forum leaving us all out of touch with each other for most of the year.  Rob 192 has been in touch and says he has most of the old website available for reference which may come in handy.  In the resulting power vacuum I decided now is my time to usurp the throne, well not really but as a long-time member of the VA I found it hard to watch it slowly die.  I must admit to having been busy myself and putting things off but it was the last straw when Ruud finally quit due to the inactivity within the VA.  So it was against this backdrop of uncertainty I decided to build a new website.  I don’t want to dwell on this too much but I would be doing Simon 131 Dobby a massive disservice if he didn’t get any recognition and thanks for all his efforts in keeping the spirit of UKD alive at FSAirlines.net. without which we would have absolutely nothing.  I would sincerely like to thank Dean for all he did during his time in charge and wish him good luck and good health in the future - err, and if you haven’t left then hello and ffs please get in touch!!  Also Ruud deserves a special mention, he had been with UKD for many years, getting involved with past adventures and flying round the world in a 737, he now has his own rival cargo airline but we wish him well all the same!  Keep in touch matey.  And now onwards and upwards!

With our usual lax timing UKD is being dragged kicking and screaming into the FSX world probably just about in time for the next wave of flight sims and even a Microsoft patch (Flight) to render it all out of date again, nonetheless UK Direct’s fleet was showing it’s age so with new painters hired at the UKD workshops the process of dragging the fleet up to modern standards has been started.  UKDirect aircraft are not known for their luxuries (back in days gone by the pilot considered himself lucky if he got a seat!) but these newest additions to the UKD stable have all the latest mod-cons such as working lights, retractable landing gear and even autopilot functions!

Further down the page you will find some competitions, news, pictures and some light-hearted Christmas fun.  I’m writing this before I’ve done these so if they’re not below then you know I forgot to edit this bit out!

Merry Christmas everybody and a peaceful, Happy New Year in 2012.

All the past Directions are still available to read although some links no longer work (specifically some YouTube videos) so if you have nothing better to do then you can help yourself to some more.
Look out for Directions again next year and happy flying!

Newshound (aka Mark 171)

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Best Screenshot Compo

With only myself entering I was up against some pretty stiff competition. It was a close fought contest, the judges decision swayed one way, then the other. At one point I thought I was going to lose to myself, but in the end I won by one vote!
To enter in the next e-magazine send your entries to Newshound: mark[at]planecrazy.me.uk

When work began on constructing a new UKD website it became obvious that something needed to be done regarding the fleet. All the effort involved in recruiting new pilots and showing them how great and friendly our VA is would be undone by the joining requirement of owning a copy of Flight sim for Windows ‘82, along with an Intel 386-Steam to run it! So all the pre-FS2002 aircraft were archived (ie. stored in a field at Bournemouth) and all the more ‘modern’ planes that I have access to uploaded just to get us going.

By the time your reading this we should have made a start of repainting UKD liveries on most of the default FSX heavy metal birds and work is ongoing to cover more. Some of the default planes were really thrown together by Aces (the developers) and the repainting process exposes their weaknesses; low-resolution textures being the order of the day to improve frame rates. It’s no exageration to say that a lot of the freeware titles that are created are better made. The CRJ-700 is a good (or bad) example of this where the front and rear fuselage textures on the sides dont even line up!
“So why bother?” I hear you cry!  Well, everybody has them which is a very big plus point but as we find better quality replacements they will be uploaded alongside them.
There is a list below of the latest planes to have the UKD stripe proudly thrown on but if there is a specific model anyone wants then I’m open to suggestion. I intend to cover a broad spectrum of types including helicopters and re-introduce the UKSun, World Cargo and Pacific Direct liveries in time. I will also be keeping one eye on the new wave of flight sims to be released. All new repaints will be on the Fleet page.

After Microsoft announced the disbandment of their flight simulator development team ACES, the future looked uncertain.  The good news is since then they have announced their intention to return into the market with a new sim to be known simply as Flight.  While Microsoft couldn’t decide to stick or twist they sold to aviation company Lockheed, the development rights to FSX, who then hired some members of the ACES team to work on their simulator now known as Prepar3d (pronounced ‘prepared’).  Just to add a little more spice into the mix, Laminar Research is to release version 10 of their sim X-Plane on 26th January 2012.
Features:

• Super accurate flight characteristics using a virtual wind tunnel
• Includes 30 aircraft, from gliders to the Space Shuttle
• Online flying with other virtual pilots
• Air Traffic Control actually controls the other aircraft around you
• Detailed terrain for the whole world including very accurate altitude data
• 'Plausible World' auto-generated scenery that includes almost every road
• New rendering engine with innovative global lighting system (first for flight simmulation)
• Totally flexible and extendable with thousands of existing add-ons (and many more to come)
• European version includes highly detailed scenery for Nice (LFMN), Paderborn-Lippstadt (EDLP) and Faro (LPFR)

A press release from Aerosoft said: Aerosoft will exclusively enhance the global edition of X-Plane 10 with airport sceneries and typical landmarks. The airports of Innsbruck, Nice, Paderborn- Lippstadt and Faro will be extremely detailed whereas airports such as Frankfurt, London, Paris and Zurich and others will receive a make up to a high detailed standard with customized buildings.

A demo is available to download now by going to their website http://www.x-plane.com/

Take On Helicopters

As is that wasn’t enough another stand alone simulator has been released this time aimed at rotorheads by Czech development team Bohemia Interactive, here’s another press release:
“Bohemia Interactive, the award-winning independent Czech development studio, is thrilled to announce that their groundbreaking new PC helicopter flight game Take On Helicopters makes a smooth landing into a digital download provider near you today.

Initially the English version of Take On Helicopters will be available for purchase from Bohemia Interactive's digital download partners with an estimated availability of October 27th.
A retail boxed version of Take On Helicopters is due for release at the turn of the year (depending on territory), further details regarding boxed publishers can be found on the official Take On Helicopters web site: distributors.

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An edition of Directions wouldn’t be complete without a quiz and this one will be no exception! The aim is to identify as many of the aircraft types as you can from the pictures below of aircraft that have flown the virtual skies in service with UKDirect and its subsidiaries! There is a list of aircraft types below to help you choose:

Answers on the back of stamped, self-addressed email! Send to me at mark [at] planecrazy.me.uk

Choose which 5 from the following 10 you think are in the pictures:
737-300,  BAC 1-11,  757-200,  Do328,  Dash 8,  Saab 340,  ATP,  737-800,  S-61, ERJ-145.

Points gained for each correct answer go towards your UKD mug!  (And yes, some of those aircraft were state of the art in their day.)
As a bonus the winner of this competition gets to name the UKD A380! which is going back into the paintshop to have its engines painted in dove grey with the UKD logo applied.

As mentioned elsewhere in this rag there are some new planes being released about the time your able to read this. Now on the Fleet page of the website you will find several repaints of SkySpirit’s Boeing 767’s. Skyspirit I believe is the name of one of the splinter groups from when Project Opensky split up and is a further development of the ‘Posky’ model.  It is principally an FS2004 model but I only have FSX and can confirm it works perfectly (haven’t tried with DX10 preview). The sound will be aliased to default 737 but a more suitable sound file will be available on the fleet page as a separate download - for CF6-80C engines which all of ours  have. The roll-call is as follows:

Boeing 767-332ER G-UKIC ‘County of Yorkshire’ with winglets
Boeing 767-332ER G-UKIN  without winglets with Orchid logo
Boeing 767-432ER G-UKOR ‘Simon Dobby’ with Orchid logo

The last aircraft above is named after Simon 131 as recognition of all the hard work he has done building up UKDirect on FSAirlines and keeping this va going, it may not have been his intention but he his damn well getting the recognition!   Well done matey.

Bird strikes were a natural hazard Airbus engineers had to contend with, but they never expected to deal with smaller aircraft getting trapped on the tail fins!

Another aircraft to receive the UKD colour scheme is the giant Airbus A380-800. It is a Project Airbus  model for FS2004 which works and looks great in FSX but may be a bit over-powered? Its available to fly now but it will be released again in updated colours - the engines will be painted grey, logos added and the aircraft will be named by this e-zine’s lucky competition winner! Whhoooo :p

Other repaints which you may not have noticed include the FSX Default Cessna Caravan, Boeing 737-800 and Bombardier CRJ-700.

All available on the Fleet page.

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So what is this Orchid thing about then? Well just like the real world airlines our airline has adopted a charity. As we cant raise any money directly the aim of this will be solely to provide an improved awareness and raise the profile of this charity and the work they do, so you will see some of our fleet sporting their logo.  Orchid was chosen specifically because they are a UK charity and (at the time of writing at least) all of UKDs pilots are male and so it is relevant to us!  I wont get too heavy on this so if you want to make a donation or simply find out more please visit their website, details below.

Orchid exists to save men's lives  from testicular, prostate and penile cancers through pioneering research and promoting awareness.

Over 37,400 men will be diagnosed  with a male-specific cancer in 2011; from sons to grandfathers all men  face the risk of prostate, penile or testicular cancer. Orchid plays a  leading role in the fight against male cancer through research and  awareness and by supporting patients.

Be male cancer aware!Our website has all the latest information, so please don't delay in getting 'checked out' by a GP if you are concerned.

http://www.orchid-cancer.org.uk/

‘Nuff said!

Like A Lead Balloon

Hopefully some funnies I found on the net!

A large two engine train was crossing America. After they had gone some  distance one of the engines broke down. "No problem," the engineer  thought, and carried on at half power.
Further on down the line, the other engine broke down, and the train  came to a standstill. The engineer decided he should inform the  passengers about why the train had stopped, and made the following  announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad  news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for  some time. The good news is that you decided to take the train and not a plane!"

Ever wonder why they never show the film ALIVE in-flight?...... It's  not because of the film's content, it's because the people in the film  are eating better than the people on board.

As migration approached, two elderly vultures doubted they could make the trip south, so they decided to go by airplane.

When they checked their baggage, the attendant noticed that they were  carrying two dead raccoons. "Do you wish to check the raccoons through  as luggage?" she asked.

"No, thanks," replied the vultures. "They're carrion."

An airliner was having engine  trouble, and the pilot instructed the cabin crew to have the passengers  take their seats and get prepared for an emergency landing.

A few minutes later, the pilot asked the flight attendants if everyone was buckled in and ready.

"All set back here, Captain," came the reply, "except the lawyers are still going around passing out business cards."

Elf Bowling 2 is even funnier than the  first.  Instead of bowling, this time you are on a cruise ship playing shuffle board with elves as the pucks.  Watch as the elves make funny comments and insult your shuffle board playing.  A good number of  surprises are in this one, too.
Click on picture to download

Directions Word Search

Find the words listed below if you feel inclined, something to do while your flying maybe?
Or print out and keep the kids quiet!
Words can be arranged backwards and diagonally.

The next Directions will have more on the website and what we anticipate for its future, more news and repaints. The past editions of Directions are available to read with more games and Christmas goodies to try. The link is on the Directions page or click this line.