The Club now fully embraces Microsoft's FS2020, with a number
of members regularly and sometimes exclusively using this application
for their flights. Development seems to be slow, however, and
new features and aircraft seem to be less important than continual
correction of bugs and glitches. It is a complex tool, no doubt,
but, apart from the enhanced visuals we now see with scenery
and cloud textures, the number of available aircraft is still
quite limited. As we said last year, to have the broadest
possible appeal, the existing FSX and P3D developers who have
been creating superb aircraft and scenery over many years MUST
be included in Microsoft's expansion plans.
The Club has had a number of new members join us
recently, and a couple of dormant members return
to active flying. Welcome to them all. Join in and
have fun, because that is what we are here for.
It is with sadness however, that we have to report
the passing of our oldest Member, John Crockatt aged
101. John was a radio operator in the Merchant Navy
in World War II, a real world pilot who was the first
amateur pilot in the UK to obtain an Instrument Rating,
back in the 1950s. He was an active Club member up
to his 98th year, an achievement which will take
some beating. Blue skies up there, John. |
The Club runs informal group flights on
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays
at present. These are mostly tours of interesting
places with spectacular scenery, with the occasional
tricky landing thrown in. Whilst flying, members
enjoy informal chat and banter on our Teamspeak
channel, which makes these events very sociable.
New members are always very welcome on these tours,
and beginners are given all the help they need to get going.
The current tours are listed on the simple calendar
on the right.
On Thursdays, we operate "on demand" workshop
flights for new members and new pilots when there is a
request for them, to ease them into the world of
on-line flying with other pilots and Air traffic
Control (ATC). It's
the ATC that often gets new pilots all nervous, just
the same as in the real world, and these sessions
are designed to help overcome nerves. Similar
help is also available on our other weekly
flight nights, but the workshop flights concentrate
specifically on getting new pilots airborne and
comfortable in the on-line world. |
The April Star event was another visit to the infamous
Tenzing-Hillary
Airport at Lukla in the Humalayas. There are
many considerations for the pilot here, not only
altitude and runway length, but the limitations
on go-around / missed approach due to the geography.
Add poor visibility and / or high crosswinds into
the equation and things start looking slightly
more precarious! Real World flights are usually
scheduled in the early morning due to the equatorial
environment (clouds). Our
Club flights to Lukla try to incorporate those
enironmental conditions as realistically as possible.
You can read the briefing on the Monthly
Events page.
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