FlightGear Newsletter June 2010: Difference between revisions

''MOJO'' is tuning the CH-47. He spent some time adding external cosmetics which main purpose is to add more detail to the Chinook. He added antenna and aerials, domed windows, pitot tubes, whinch, engine hub details and started with the internal cargo bay. He is going to be adding an animated refuel probe and will be doing some more liveries also, his main aim is to try and get the model more defined.

''jackmermod'' [http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8621 is developing a P-40 model]. It is already complete, and to be done are the animations and textures. Development is progressing fastly.

London Gatwick (EGKK) is being further improved and is in the second phase of development - night textures. All the buildings and features are currently being modified by ''karla'' to give suitable lighting and make London Gatwick even more attractive to FlightGear commercial flyers. Landing or taking off from Gatwick at night should add much to your enjoyment of the game - and most likely extend the hours you enter in your pilot's log.

Although no modelwork is done (yet) a big bunch of scheduled flights is now added to this important hub in the middle east. As Dubai is home port for Emirates Airlines (UAE) only Emirates flights are included. Within the next weeks more scheduled flights for AI traffic at Dubai will be added. During the process of creating AI traffic he tried to stay as close as possible to the real life timetable for Dubai International Airport querying several sources for double checking.

As Emirates Airlines (UAE) is one of the most important customers for the [[Airbus A380]] (UAE just ordered another 30 units of A380) the Emirates Airlines livery has been added to AI aircrafts A380. Additionally some minor errors in several traffic files concerning changed [[ICAO]] codes for some airports have been removed.

===Atlas Virtual Airlines' leaders recognised!===

[[Atlas Virtual Airlines]], FlightGear's most populated airline, has been a hit success in its inaugural months since opening in mid-April. The airline, however, couldn't have made it without the guidance of its two current leaders: ''MaverickAlex'' (Alex Park) and ''SkyWlf77'' (Jason Sheperd). Besides sinking their own cash into the airline for site domain and software, these two founding members have sorted out many mis-judgements of Atlas and helped to form a strong and community-bonding airline. Jason, the vice-chairman and moderator, helped revamp AVA's standing on the forums and turned many former anti-Atlas-ers into supporting members, which has been very beneficial for the FlightGear multiplayer community. Thanks to him, members can now feel confident to join an airline that was, just months ago, in the midst of intense controversy. Sheperd has taken a strong stand against arguments and flame wars on the Forums, intent on preventing the locked-topics and arguing members that degraded the VA Community during the VA "Dark Ages". But now, Atlas has flourised into a friendship-filled and happy organization that members find enjoyment and fun in.  

Meanwhile, Alex, the current chairman and administrator, independently designed an awesome and top-of-the-line VA website for Atlas pilots. He has also worked with nightmares of coding to get drawing-board ideas implemented. And on top of it all, Alex is finishing up his Bombardier Dash-8 400Q, designed especially for Atlas Express flights. This very nicely modeled aircraft will also be available to the public, underlining how Atlas Virtual Airlines is really benefiting all of FlightGear. Alex is the brains behind it all that makes Atlas so sophisticated. His partner, Jason, has the ideas and people-person skills that gives Atlas the openess and fun that attracts its 50-plus members. So, from all of Atlas and those who follow it, thank you, Jason and Alex!

The [[B-25]] served in almost every theatre in World War II. From Europe to the Pacific, the Mitchell was there. One of the most famous missions accomplished by B-25s was the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, when a group of 16 B-25s attacked the Japanese mainland, raising morale in the United States, and changing the priorities of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and possibly changing the direction of the war.

The flightgear model looks good on the outside. The author has done a lot of work on the textures, and this is improved even more by some excellent liveries made by Gooneybird that have been added to the B-25 base package by the author. The landing gear, engines and canopies are all carefully modelled, too.

How about having your own Copilot to help you fly your heavy metal? Imagine: You're at 3000 ft making a hand controlled descent to EGKK 26L in your [[Boeing 777-200|777-200ER]]: "flaps down"; check airspeed and altitude; you're now five miles out; "undercarriage down"; reduce speed a little more; "flaps down"; you seem to be slightly overspeed; "spoilers"; touch down "brakes" then "reverse thrust"; "flaps retract"; now take a look at the detailed scenery while taxying to your stand; "view" and "zoom out".