Runway 27* went on-line back in 1996 as a place
for users to download my scenery files for Microsoft Flight Simulator. At the time, I was creating UK scenery
as part of the UK Scenery Design Team (UKDT) whose goal was to provide high-quality, seamless, Freeware scenery
for the whole of the UK. That goal was never fully achieved but a commercial company, VFR Scenery Ltd,
was formed in order to market the final product -which was generally well-received.
Microsoft's updated versions of Flight Simulator (FS2000, 2002, etc) made our work
pretty well obsolete, and rather than re-learn the programming requirements and completely redesign my work
(which included all of Wales, SW England, East Midlands and much of SE England and other areas) I decided to
quit that field. I did not then nor do I now consider myself a programmer and only got into scenery design
because I wanted a version of Withybush (Haverfordwest) airfield from which to fly myself in Flight Simulator.
VFR Scenery made very little progress commercially and the scenery designers have received almost no return for their work.
Since then, I have maintained Runway 27 more for my own interest, nowadays with no flight simulation content. In fact, I don't actually use any flight simulator these days; I don't have the time.
We've moved around a lot in the past few years —as you can see from the photos— but I will keep Runway 27 going as a personal point of contact for some of the old —and not so old&emdash; crew.
Since I created the website, Facebook and other stuff has come along, so if you want really up-to-date information, that's where you'll find me.
I'm currently working as a freelance teacher of English as a Foreign Language both face-to-face and via skype. If you want lessons, or you know someone who does, follow this link.
Paul Michaels
*The name 'Runway 27' came from the runway at East Midlands Airport. I can't think of a better name, so I've kept it.
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