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What a change - only 2 months ago I was buying fans to cool my pc down, now I'm turning on the central heating.

This issue is heading out a lot later than I had hoped and I really need to start on the Christmas edition soon now so if I don't upload it now it will probably never see the light of day! Consequently this will be shorter than usual, my apologies, but it will be only a few weeks until the next one!
I also haven't forgotten about Phil’s Africa Safari and I will be finishing what he started before the next edition.

Dragged through the mud...
Regular flyers would have noticed our VA's reputation took a massive hammering recently, down to about 70% at one point which is probably the lowest we've ever seen since our arrival at FSA 14 years ago.
It coincided with the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator leading to many new pilot recruits over the summer. A few of these rookies have turned out to be very capable pilots and hopefully will have a long association with UKD. However... it transpires one is a trainee kamakaze pilot, with 13 unsuccessful missions under his belt!
For his safety and to try to rebuild our reputation we didn't banish him but assigned him a training role. I will spare his blushes by not naming and shaming and hopefully demonstrate that we do try to help and encourage our less experienced members. I'm glad to say our reputation is back where it belongs.

Firsty Work!
UKD started the handover and receipt checks of its first Airbus A320 Neo on 13th September at Lourdes-Pyrenees. The maiden flight by G-UKNO was back to its home-base in Birmingham by then-newbie pilot Rupert Evans achieving his first 100% on FSA and flown using MSFS2020, the first UKD recorded flight using that simulator I believe.

In a financial escapade that would even make the Ryanair CEO blush we managed to cram 163 passengers into the delivery flight and turn a profit of
 439.325v$

Well, I better start work on the Christmas edition if I expect to have it ready before 2021!

The P key is your friend!

Here is a Mandatory aircrew training video for all our new pilots on how to handle an out-of-control situation :p
(Not really but you should watch and learn all the same! Lol)
Just like in this clip - PRESS PAUSE before you hit the ground!

Newshound aka Mark UKD171
If God had meant for man to fly, He would have given him more money.

Captain Phil Elliott Boeing 737-800 approaching Darwin, Australia (P3D5), PMDG738 NGXu. Gone but not forgotten.


Do you have a screen shot you are proud of? Please send it in and share it with us.
To enter in the next e-magazine send your entries to Newshound: mark[at]planecrazy.me.uk 

Don't worry about editing pictures, sending them as a full size bmp is best and I’ll edit them for Directions

 Our second X-Plane model for UKDirect is the Jar Design A320neo being flown by Glenn UKD675. Available for download from the Fleet page.

Boeing

Boeing slashes another 7,000 jobs after $3.5bn loss

Boeing plans to cut another 7,000 jobs after sinking to a $3.5bn loss for the three months to September.
The embattled aerospace giant expects to lose about 30,000 staff by the end of next year, with about 4,000 coming from attrition, bringing the total workforce down to 130,000.
It burnt through $4.8bn of cash in the quarter, slightly better than expected.
Boeing delivered just 28 aircraft in the period.

BRITISH AIRWAYS Negus 747 LAST EVER LANDING: FINAL TOUCHDOWN & SENDOFF - Kemble (Cotswold Airport) [8:31]

British Airways retired their last two Boeing 747 aircraft 8th October 2020, with G-CIVY heading to St Athan, Wales for scrapping, and G-CIVB heading to Kemble with rumours circulating that it may well be preserved at the airfield. Large crowds gathered to watch the Queen of the Skies arrive for the final time, however it was rather touch and go, with the aircraft holding for half an hour waiting for a gap in the weather. Had this break in the clouds come any later, the aircraft would've diverted to Cardiff, but thankfully the clouds parted and allowed G-CIVB to make her last ever landing. Due to the heavy rain all morning, the 747 kicked up a good amount of spray as it slowed down on runway 26. You may remember from when Corsair retired their last 747 the crew could be seen waving the French flag out the roof hatch? Well, a similar thing happened today, with the crew waving the Union Jack out the hatch as the aircraft was towed off the runway - a very poignant moment indeed.

 

Who needs the Boeing 737MAX NOW? Airline economics lesson

The Boeing 737MAX is due to return to the skies within a few weeks from now. But it is returning to a reality which is very different from the one that existed at the time of its grounding in Mars 2019.
Right now the Aviation business is going through its greatest crisis in history so WHY are we not seeing more orders of the Boeing 737MAX being cancelled.
In this video I will give you 4 good reasons to why Airlines are keeping their orders of new aircraft instead of cancelling them.

 

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Coronavirus: British Airways owner IAG slashes 10,000 jobs as it plunges to £5bn loss

The owner of British Airways has nosedived to a €6.2bn (£5.6bn, $7.2bn) pre-tax loss for the first nine months of the year, compared with a profit of €2.3bn a year ago, as the pandemic continues to create turbulence in the travel industry.

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG.L) has so far slashed 10,000 jobs across the company in a cost-cutting exercise, with most of the losses occurring across British Airways and Aer Lingus. The group also owns Iberia and Vueling.

The FTSE 100 company said the results were “significantly impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19, which has had a material impact on the global airline and travel sectors, particularly from late February 2020 onwards and with no immediate signs of recovery.”

The group added that passenger capacity in its third quarter was 78.6% from last year, and 64.3% lower for the nine month period compared to 2019.

It expects capacity in the fourth quarter to be no more than 30% compared with 2019 and forecasted that it will take until at least 2023 for passenger demand to recover to 2019 levels.

“Overhedging” fuel and foreign currency, as well as locking in prices for higher volumes, cost the company €1.6bn.

 

Owl Flies Inside Helicopter To Join Pilot Battling Massive Wildfire

From The dodo.com

Dan Alpiner is a helicopter pilot who’s been helping battle the massive Creek Fire burning in the central California wilderness.

The other day, while dropping bucketload after bucketload of water on the blaze, Alpiner got a stunning reminder of whose habitat he and other fire crews have been working so hard to save.

Alpiner was hovering about 200 feet above the ground in his helicopter, readying to unleash a bucket of water on the fire, when he noticed a quick movement from an open side window.
"I saw this flutter out of the corner of my eye," Alpiner told The Dodo. "I looked over, a little spooked, and we locked eyes."
Amazingly, a wild owl had suddenly entered the aircraft, coming to rest on the seat next to Alpiner.
"He just kind of chilled out," Alpiner said. "I was really surprised. He was super friendly — like he just wanted to say hi."



Determined to continue the task of fighting the fire, Alpiner carried on as normal, telling his new copilot: "Well, let’s go do some work here, buddy."
The owl remained by Alpiner's side for two refillings and drops. He then flew out the window not far from the spot the helicopter had been when he entered.
Alpiner's not sure what to make of that unbelievable encounter, but it's one he'll never forget.
"I’m still trying to comprehend it. It was just unreal," Alpiner said. "It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime kind of things."

46 years ago on this day:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday 20 November 1974   Boeing 747-130    Lufthansa   D-ABYB   C/n: 19747/29  First flight:  1970-03-30 (4 years 8 months)
Total: Fatalities: 59 / Occupants: 157       Aircraft fate: Destroyed

Boeing 747 D-ABYB was taking off for the last leg of the Frankfurt (FRA) - Nairobi (NBO) - Johannesburg (JNB) flight when the crew felt vibration or buffeting following lift off. The captain, suspecting wheel imbalance, raised the gear. A lack of acceleration forced the crew to lower the nose in order to maintain airspeed. The Boeing continued to descend however and contacted the ground 1120 m past the end of runway 24 and struck an elevated road 114 m further on. The aircraft broke up and caught fire before coming to rest 454 m past the initial point of impact.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The accident was caused by the crew initiating a take-off with the leading edge flaps retracted because the pneumatic system which operates them had not been switched on. This resulted in the aircraft becoming airborne in a partially stalled condition which the pilots did not identify in the short time available to them for recovery. Major contributory factors were the lack of warning of a critical condition of leading edge flap position and the failure of the crew to complete satisfactorily their checklist items."

Although this was the 3rd loss it was the first fatal accident involving a 747-100. It was the deadliest aviation accident (at the time) and remains the worst in Kenya.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 NOV 2020   British Aerospace BAe-125    private    registration unknown    C/n: ?   First flight: ?
Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: ?  Aircraft damage: Destroyed

A burnt BAe-125 jet was found by Guatemalen law enforcement officers at an illegal airstrip close to the border with Mexico. It had been used for transporting drugs. After unloading the drugs, the twin engine plane was set on fire.

Antonov AN-124 Engine Failure and runway excursion in Novosibirsk! 13/11/2020

Today, on Friday the 13th 2020, a spectacular un-contained engine failure struck a mighty Antonov AN 124 on departure from runway 25 in Novosibirsk, Russia.
From initial reports it seems like the engine disintegrated and caused a lot of damage to the body, left wing as well as the electrical system of the aircraft. The 14 person crew managed to get the aircraft in for a safe landing but without working brakes, spoilers or thrust reversers, the aircraft exited the runway and came to a stop about 200m after the runway end.

 

Time to get that grey matter working!. Email answers to mark “at” planecrazy.me.uk or use the message facility on FS Airlines.  Answers will be posted in the next Directions but if you email me your guesses I will reply straight away (in confidence - so no need to worry about embarrassment).

1. When You’re “On Cloud Nine” What Type Of Cloud Are You On?
   
   a) Cumulostratus
   b) Stratocumulus
   c) Pyrocumulus
   d) Cumulonimbus
    
2. What Is The Only Insect Known To Navigate Using Stars?
   
   a) Centipedes
   b) Locusts
   c) Dung Beetles
   d) Monarch Butterflies
    
3. 8-Track Music Players Were Originally Invented For Use In What?
   
   a) Aeroplanes
   b) Automobiles
   c) Submarines
   d) Satellites
    

Answers are at the bottom of the page.

Flightsim News

Lockheed Martin Releases Prepar3D v5.1 plus Hotfix

Lockheed Martin has released Prepar3D v5.1, bringing trueSky out of beta and improving performance for the platform itself.
The most significant changes with Prepar3D v5.1 revolve around the enhanced atmospheric engine. Using trueSky, the world of Prepar3D looks visually impressive using more advanced weather rendering. It is enabled by default and no longer considered a beta option. In addition, developers will now be able to build guages, panels and scenario objects using HTML5 and JavaScript and a new auto-exposure to HDR has been added too.

As for improvements, the list is quite considerable. Sky and PBR reflections are now supported with the enhanced atmospheric engine, and the whole engine has been improved to deliver improved performance, smoother rendering and also how the lighting and shadows are produced. Scrolling through the fixes and improvements list, we can also see that that there have been changes to fix issues of various crash to desktop problems. This is alongside improvements to the DX12 engine which further optimise performance and add extra stability to the platform itself.

STOP THE PRESS: Lockheed Martin has released Prepar3D v5.1 Hotfix 1. The new hotfix addresses many issues such as cloud issues with Enhanced Atmospherics, rendering issues and other weather-related issues.

Looking at the changelog of client fixes and improvements, Enhanced Atmospherics (EA) seems to have a large number of changes based on feedback. Issues with cloud aliasing have been reduced, along with flashing clouds, and shadow flashing. Furthermore, there has been additional configuration options to how clouds are generated. Other fixes include changes to fog/haze implementation, ambient lighting and also how some forms of vegetation is drawn in the simulator.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 - LATEST UPDATE

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Latest update is here, we decided to take a closer look at update 6 including Where Closed VR Beta is at. We will break down each part of this weeks update and discuss how it will improve the sim.

 

Infinite Flight 20.2 Released

An updated version 20.2 of the Infinite Flight flight simulator for mobile devices is now available. This is the second major update of the year. It now includes a wide range of B777 aircraft along with many liveries. Also included are reworked user authentication, easier flight plan sharing, and more."

https://infiniteflight.com/blog/
 

DC Designs Concorde

Compatibility: P3D v5, P3D v4, P3D v3, P3D v2, P3D v1, Flight Simulator X, FSX: Steam Edition

The new P3D/FSX Concorde developed by DC Designs features a highly detailed 3D model based on extensive research and visits to museum-exhibit aircraft, with a fully animated exterior model including all access doors, engine inlet ramps, thrust-reverse buckets and control surfaces.

Concorde's famous, multi-stage 'nose droop' and windscreen animations have been recreated via custom coding and features include PBR textures (P3D v4/v5 only), a crew-controlled Ground Power Unit and boarding steps, and full interior and exterior night lighting.

Thrustmaster - TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition

Get ready for takeoff with the first Thrustmaster joystick to combine magnetic technology with flight controls inspired by the world of civil aviation (the Airbus A320 family).
Enjoy the unique feeling of piloting an Airbus A320, thanks to the ambidextrous and modular design (with swappable joystick head button modules) of the TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition.
This ergonomic replica of the Airbus sidestick (A320/A320neo type, 1:1 scale) features 12 remappable action buttons offering a multitude of possibilities, plus a built-in throttle axis with thrust reverser mechanism (a unique feature on airliners).

Fully ambidextrous and modular joystick, with 4 swappable joystick head button modules that let you choose between 4 different configurations (right or left seat of an airliner, narrow or wide center stick configuration for small aircraft)
Ergonomic replica of the Airbus sidestick (A320 type), with built-in throttle axis and thrust reverser mechanism

Laminar Research Updates X-Plane to V11.51b

after many iterations in Beta, in September of this year, Laminar Research – creators of X-Plane – released a crucial update, Version 11.50 which included support for Vulkan and Metal API engines.

Since September, Laminar Research has worked closely with the X-Plane community to identify some of the persistent issues that users may be experiencing since they updated to V11.50. In a blog post by one of  X-Plane’s lead developer, Ben Supnik describes the latest changes to version 11.51 which will initially be released in Beta form and will address a multitude of bugs that users have reported including crashes when changing between liveries, opening the map, generating aircraft icons as well as providing a much more stable platform for users in general.

Although version 11.51 will have a primarily limited focus on bug fixes to 11.50, users will also see the addition of new joystick and input control configuration files which may elude to new hardware now available including the Honeycomb Bravo and TCA Throttle quadrants. There will be no gateway airport additions this time around but Ben expects this beta to be relatively short.

The post does describe where the team are taking X-Plane over the next few updates and their focus will be on what is drawn using the new API rather than how the simulator draws it. In simple terms, the team will focus on graphic enhancements and new features such as those requested by the community, here.

The team will also look at how the simulator accesses and utilises multicore functionality, meaning it will be able to render multiple views in parallel, making it faster at drawing shadows, water reflections and in-cockpit views resulting in an overall faster experience. This will only be limited to CPU usage, multi-GPU features may follow.

Finally, Ben commented that following on from the news from Apple and the announcement of Big Sur, the new operating system for Mac users, there will be a separate post after the team have a chance to test the platform.

To obtain Beta version 11.51, simply run the installation for X-Plane and ensure you have the Beta box ticked.

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UK2000 Scenery Bringing All Airports To MSFS

 UK2000 say “We will be making ALL of our UK airports for MSFS 2020. This will take approximately 2-4 years to complete, we can't say in which order. We are getting daily emails/comments/messages about 'When are you going to make airport X'.

We can't reply to all these, because we just don't have an answer as to when these will be released.

P3D sceneries will still be released as normal, so P3D folks, you're not being abandoned. New P3D scenery will be released in December/January hopefully.

X-Plane support is looking to be dropped.
 

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Between 13th and 23rd of November 2020 Navigraph is conducting a FlightSim Community Survey together with several major addon developers and organizations within the flight simulation community. The survey, the largest of its kind, aims to gauge the prevailing flight simulation trends and users' requests for future development.

Like previous years, this year’s survey has an emphasis on the major flight simulators such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D and Laminar Research X-Plane, but now also includes questions about simulators on mobile devices, combat simulators, and helicopter simulation.

Take the survey here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/flightsimsurvey2020?partner=navigraph

PMDG Development Update; Boeing 777 Family News

Over on the PMDG forums, PMDG’s Robert Randazzo has given us another status update regarding their development projects. In summary it will come as no surprise that for MSFS the news here is rather ‘there is no real news’ with nothing expected to be released within the next year.

Boeing 777 Family
After months of being teased with updates about what the team has been working on, Robert is now reporting that the 777 update will hopefully go into beta testing later today (20/11/20). If all the testing goes well, it can be delivered as a product update hopefully some time in December. This update would concern the PMDG 777 200 LR/F and 777-300ER products.

Following these products, PMDG hopes to finally release one of the most requested expansions for the 777: the 777-200ER – including 3 different engine options (Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce and GE) with each their own performance and sounds. The release of the 777-200ER will also see the addition of an EFB to the 777 product family, something PMDG will show us more of at a later point.

Last but not least on the 777 front, Robert announced that PMDG is ‘laying the groundwork’ for the Boeing 777X. He quickly follows this up by saying that the team does not have the data needed for it yet, but that they are working on that.

Prepar3D v5.1
Very brief news for Prepar3D v5.1: internal testing has not shown any reason to issue compatibility updates, indicating that you should be able to update to v5.1 and use PMDG’s supported products just fine.
 

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