Fly UK AI & VATSIM Model Matching Pack Update

As a fictitious virtual airline, Fly UK has some unique challenges in ways which virtual airlines that model real-world operators do not have; in as much as we have to paint our own liveries, and we also have to consider Offline AI / Online Model Matching.

Long-standing members are aware that we've always historically provided an "Offline AI Pack" for FS2004, FSX and P3Dv1-5 which provides in-sim Fly UK traffic, replicating our current schedules. This package has always proven popular with our members as people enjoy flying into populated airports, as well as being able to accurately represent "company" traffic on Online Networks, such as VATSIM.

Our Summer 2022 release would have been more of a "routine" release, deserving far less pomp and circumstance than what it's getting, if it wasn't for one minor detail... The support of Microsoft Flight Simulator! To my knowledge, this is yet another "world-first" for Fly UK in that no other VA has a similar offering.

Even before the simulator's official launch, members of staff were turning their attention to "how we can support" MSFS within Fly UK... How we're going to continue to deliver liveries, and what the future held for Offline AI / VATSIM Model Matching. Painting liveries required brand new tooling, brand new packaging techniques, but being able to deliver Offline AI and "fleet-complete" model-matching was still somewhat of a mystery up until early 2022. An interim model-matching solution was provided, however it was less than ideal given the limited aircraft-types at our disposal, and also due to the fact that it required members to have all Fly UK liveries installed, as well as the associated freeware/payware aircraft.

I'm delighted to say however, we are now able to deliver both Offline AI, and near "fleet-complete" model-matching; including recent fleet additions such as the A321neo, B772 and B737-MAX8. The only unfortunate marked absence from our fleet currently is our Avro RJ100, however is a situation that may change in the future.

The Summer 2022 Offline AI and model-matching pack is online and available to download NOW from "SkyTrack & Downloads > Misc Downloads".

As is tradition, this pack has been made available to public visitors of our website also, so even non-members can enjoy seeing Fly UK aircraft online.

To install this into MSFS, there are some external dependencies and prerequisites for this to work correctly. We would ask that you take care reading the supporting "Fly UK AI Manual" which can be found in your "Start Menu" after installation. The past week has been comprised of setting up a lot of supporting documentation to guide members through these prerequisites, however if you get stuck, please post on our forums for support.

For members using our current MSFS vmr, this is no longer required and should be removed from vPilot. Please use the vmr contained in this package.

We genuinely hope that you enjoy the solution that we've provided as this is the culmination of over 6 months worth of development.

My thanks to our AI Team; Colin Gray for his tireless efforts in transposing our schedules. Adam Bartlam for his work compiling the Fly UK AI Installer, and for putting up with my incessant updates, Matthew Lewis for his painting skills, and to the members of staff involved in testing.

Happy Flying!

Matt C