Life just flying by...

[blueskydriver]

Guess what? I am sitting in the cockpit flying today and its only been a few months! Life is just flying by anymore and I bet most of you are in the same plane (could've said boat). Really, it seems like flying and/or postings are down here on CB and likely that is due to Spring weather for some people, but postings have been down from my point of view for a long while. I know folks are still talking, but in years past people were posting all the time about everything.

Plus, I don't see that many posts from the old timers (not counting Jack); I was surprised to see Bob post the other day. Then again, it's probably the same seeing me post...lol. All I can say is I am into the RC planes now and I just got a DJI Quadcopter Drone. Have not flown it yet, but will soon enough, as I am waiting for some other items to arrive.

Still, I managed to get time to do the sim. Flying KMSP-KAFW on VatSim. It's nice too be in here; although, I've forgotten a lot of simple things. How many of you have flown your sim in the last few days? How about everyone chiming in, if anything just to see if you're dead or alive!

John

Ps. Saw a rerun of Top Gun on a movie channel this morning, but turned it off within 5 mins of it starting. Fighters are nice, but prefer the old and slow Boeing 737-800NGX and that made me fire up the sim!

[jackpilot]

Of course alive and kicking... (so far)
Flying at least 2/3 hours a week and toying with small thingies like the "timer"
Still planning a switch to SimA and having my FO side functional
The problem is that I have right now a sim which fires up in no time, works fine with all bells and whistles, and it always take a good dose of courage to unplug something that works well !
Will do, will do!
Jack

[MLeavy737]

Hey guys,
  I'm still here somehow! lol. I know for sure I've been quiet however slowly coming back into sim building again. Luckily this year went by quick and by the grace of God i get to see another one! i found myself in the hospital at least 5 times of varying stays and wondering if was still going to have a career. What a wonderful feeling not knowing if everything you spent your life working toward was going to just disappear in an instant!

Not knowing if was ably to continue flying i had to sell a lot of my sim as a precaution to cover the  down time until  disability kicked in if that were to come reality.  It really hurt doing that however in my mind i knew i could always build a sim again someday.

Fortunately A) I'm still alive and B) still have a flying career! Things are under control and I'm happy to say I'm doing very good

  Now back to simming again! (I do honestly believe my wife was happy to see sim parts going out the door instead of arriving at the house btw! ) I still have all my panels and i started backlighting them as a way to ease back into the hobby.  I really don't feel like buying yet another set of panels just yet! I think i can say i have had every version of FDS panels they ever made! Im using the strip LED method and its proving to be a pretty darn cheap method, although its not perfect like the IBL ones. Good enough for now.  Next the plan will be to get the FDS MIP/Glare/CDU combo (very nice looking) and go on from there. I still have some wife convincing to do as most everyone here!

Hope everyone here is doing well! Sure hope to make Worldflight 2014 this year.  I watched the 2013 in a hospital bed! not fun!  Keep up the great work everyone, as usual you always provide great inspiration. 

Build #3 here i come!

Mike L

[iwik]

Hi Guys,
Nice to see you back up John, Mike i wondered what was going on but glad to see you
back to the Sim. Im not a Big iron Guy but just Ga and get to fly for about 3hrs a week.
Like John I have another hobby as well ,Audio namely diy Electrostatic Headphone amps.
Hard to decide what to allocate time to. Retired now so that's changing.
Les

[Caflyt]

I am on build number ?!&$&"?'$$
I'm eager to get this done!
I might actually finish it if I stop remaking things for the slightest little detail!?!?!

Now my son Collin is working on his airport ( with scraps of PVC from the sim build) so we have lots going on in the hanger today.

Haven't done any real world flying this year yet (need a bi-annual) but it's on my list! For now just trying to get this thing built before my wife changes her mind about the garage.
She's been VERY accepting of my insanity lately so I better start showing progress before she decides her convertible needs it's nest back.

[Trevor Hale]

I am sure many of us are still around. I am very busy at work and find myself lacking the time to get on here and post. But I do get on to make sure the site is running well and still in one piece.

Just seems like work has taken over my life lol. I am glad to see mike L is doing better health wise and more importantly he is out of the hospital and on the mend.

Our group just wouldn't be the same without any one of us.

Trev

[Bob Reed]

Yes tis true. I am still around and like Trevor I do check the site every day to make sure it is working. My promotion at work and the Grand baby and Daughter moving in and this really really tough winter we have had stole all my time. I gave up on the sim idea and at this time there is no changing that. So as of now I am looking at World Flight and thinking it is almost time to start working on that again.

[goof2092]

Still here and doing the build. Blog is at http://meditrak.me/zac. Currently making progress on the overhead wiring and did a small flight FLLS to FLND this evening.

Been a tough start to the year for me. My wife died recently (23rd Feb) and left me with three kids. Sim building helps me cope with the tragic event.

Anthony

[727737Nut]

Still here and doing the build. Blog is at http://meditrak.me/zac. Currently making progress on the overhead wiring and did a small flight FLLS to FLND this evening.

Been a tough start to the year for me. My wife died recently (23rd Feb) and left me with three kids. Sim building helps me cope with the tragic event.

Anthony

Prayers for you and the kids!  Hang in there.
Rob

I'm still around as well slowly building a half 737 pit.

[FredK]

Well....After getting my throttle quadrant conversion project completed and fully installed including some structural modifications and improvements at the end of last year I have very frustratingly not found the time to even fly the thing once since.

January and February were consumed with a doll house project....I fully renovated one of those grand Victorian kinds of dollhouses for my grand daughters, ages 5 and 7.  I had originally built it for my daughter and now it was time to pass it on down the line, but it needed some major renovation work (think two hundred feet of moldings (base, window, crown, gingerbread trim, etc.) along with other structural work.  I clocked over 200 hrs of work on that.  Then my wife and I were gone for almost a month touring Thailand and Laos.  This week we are leaving for a cross-country trip from Virginia to Colorado to deliver the damned doll house.....so that'll be another two weeks lost (and 4000 miles on the SUV).  And when I get back I am involved with the local upcoming LPGA golf tournament as an officials coordinator.  Then of course there is all the time I waste trying to improve my golf game (3 times a week).

In any event the next thing on my list is to install A/C ventilation into the cockpit using the portable cooling unit I purchased several months ago.  After that,  I plan to install my AFT overhead panels probably towards the end of the year.

I love cockpit building/flight simulation but I am damn frustrated I cannot find the time to pursue it!  And the thing is I'm retired........I really can't fathom how you guys with jobs handle it!  The thing I have found with this hobby is that you cannot pursue it in small bites.  It is not like stamp collecting or something like that where you can spend a half hour every other day to fit it in.  It takes that long just to plan a flight and boot everything up to get going!  Let alone the work involved with building and maintenance.

I do religiously check into this and some other forums daily though.  I enjoy that....but perhaps that is more time wasted.

Regards to all and see you at WorldFlight for sure,

Fred K

[fsaviator]

I'm still here too.
Haven't been doing any flying as I've been working on my pedestal.  Unfortunately it just seems as if I don't have any free time lately with work.  More work means more time with the kids when I am home and so I have been focusing on showing the kids a good time.  I hope to get my pedestal finished soon though.  I'll tell you last week if I had found a good deal I would have bought some panels though as I just can't find some free time.

London with the kids this week, Prague in May, and off to Greece in July.  After what I've spent in London so far though I am glad I didn't fork out the money for panels...  this trip will probably be the most expensive vacation I've ever done after all the mishaps and planning fiascos.

Oh well.

Warren

[tennyson]

Can I ask where Andre Nordheim is?
Does anybody know what happened to him?

He was so inspirational with his vids on youtube (I still watch them now) and having dealt with him, he's a really nice guy.
I haven't seen him on the forum here for ages and I had the feeling he may have lost interest late last year.
I really hope not, his build was sensational.

If you are out the Andre, let's hear what's going on in your life, mate?


Frank Cooper 

[Flyboyandre]

Hey Frank!

Sorry about the somewhat abrupt disappearance. All is well with me. As you said, I did lose interest late last year but I hoped it would come back at some point. Unfortunately this didn't happen and I made the tough decision to part out the components I had for the simulator, hoping that someone else could give them a good home. It was a tough decision as I truly loved the build, seeing it all come together.
Right now all I have left is the scratch built shell. Obviously not an item in high demand as I've been trying to give it away to a good home just to get my garage emptied out but haven't had a bite.
The really tough part will be to tear it all apart and haul it to the local dump. Too bad since I have 200 working hours into it.

You doing alright?

All best!
Andre

[tennyson]

I've sent you a PM, mate, instead of hijacking the thread.



Frank Cooper
P.S. Where is Nat at? R U here in Oz, Nat?

[sagrada737]

It sounds like a lot is going on with the various projects underway.  Maintaining a good balance in one's life is certainly an ongoing challenge with a full-scale Sim Project in process.

In my case, my goal of getting all the main modules for my Sim Project completed and integrated has largely been accomplished. and my Sim is flying nicely with FSX and Sim_Avionics.   Thanks again to the folks at FDS for all their help.   Although my Sim is flying nicely, it is still scattered in various sections around my Sim Room.  I am now in the process of designing the next logical system - the Flight Deck Base structure to support all the Sim goodies and the FDS Nose Section.   Although making up a simple flight deck base should be a fairly straight forward project, I decided that I should invest more time and consider some various possibilities concerning inducing vibration and motion into the Sim Platform.  As you can imagine, this has slowed my progress down considerably as I consider just how far I want to take this aspect of Sim enhancements.

At this point, I am fairly pleased with my current approach to inducing unique "flight vibrations" into the Sim so the pilot has a sense of activity.  What's missing is the motion component.  I have decided to make a functional (1/8th scale) concept prototype motion platform using the Stewart concept with 6dof in order to prove the hardware/software control systems.   If the reliability is good, I will then proceed to build up one full-scale segment of of the motor/actuators to test torque requirements under load.   If that goes well, then I'll make the investment needed to build up a full-scale motion platform with 6dof that will be capable of a 1,500 Kg payload.  This type of system will use a variable frequency drive system (VFD) with Inverter capable 220 VAC 3-phase Inverter duty motors that will be geared down 120:1 using the common lever/push-rod actuator approach.  In addition, I have decided to retain use of my 70" LCD monitor displays, which will ride along with the platform - at least in the initial platform design.   

All this should continue to be an interesting set of projects.  In the meantime, I'll keep on flying my Sim and sharing the joy of this hobby with others.  Great fun!

Mike

[XOrionFE]

Holy cow Mike.  That sounds really ambitious.  Will be interesting to see your progress.

Ok so where the heck has Scott been?   Well, I tested the heck out of P3D v2.1 and decided that FSX was still the way to go for best use of all my addon investment which includes about all of the Orbx software (except small airports).   I really like the Prosim/FSX which gives me full control and use of all my CP Flight hardware as well as full Phidgits and Flight Illusions control.     So in that regard I decided to rebuild all my installations on SSD drives across the five computers.  Running Wideview and FS Global Real Weather.     This is the most functional setup for me and the best eye candy running HD on 60" led tvs with options of using vatsim, pilot edge, radar contact, or pro-atc.

All that said, I still love X-Plane and so jeep that available and running and continue to test with Sim-A (Prosim and X-Plane still not working well together).  Sim-A is pretty good but I give up phidgets control of my tq, CP Flight fire handle support, and integrated Flight Illusion drivers.

In short, still having fun testing various software setups.   Hardware is all done in my sim and enjoying it.  FDS rudder pedals are fantastic addition and still pinching myself everythime I sit in the sim.

I am also vwry busy drumming (my other passion) and am planning on an inground pool install this spring for summer fun with the kids so lots going on.

Finally, work is really busy.  I merged a high end network security firm into my company in March and that is keeping me busy integrating those services (pen testing, vulnerabilty scans, forensics, and inceident response handling along with PCI and Hippa Compliance).   Brought my company to a new level.

Looking forward to World Flight this year!

Best regards,
Scott

[Nat Crea]

Gday Frank

I'm still here...have been away alot with FDS projects,
and when I'm in Oz,  its construction,  family and tinkering on
the Sim.
I hope to get some time to play with P3dv2 again soon.
How's the visuals going? Be sure to bug me

Nat

[jfuenmayor]

Hi to all.

I have been reading the posts of the old timers. It is always interesting to see how one shifts with time (no kidding ).

I started with  R/C planes, then moved to Helis, then a very crude sim 10 years ago with
early PM, nothing fancy, now I have slowly built a sim in a den in my house, rather narrow, so 180
screens are out of the question but the shell-less cockpit fits with one screen. I still have my helis to keep hand eye coordination sharp. All in all, I fly pretty much twice a week after switching to Sim-Avionics.

I have a couple of questions. I recently added the FDS ELEC panel with the LND and  FLT ALT to my FDS Overhead panel. I noticed that by default,  PMSystems LND and FLT ALT outputs are used by TkWorks ( no .xml files for this on SA ) but it takes many, many turns to get to lets say to 30k Ft. since it turns in 10's. For LND it's OK but for altitude is a pain. Any way out of this?.

The second issue has to do with my also newly added lower EICAS. I use one quad core computer with 3 monitors under Win7 for the main panel displays. The monitors are set as extended desktops.
I use another computer for the lower EICAS and the MCP.

Now here is the thing:
Each Avionics instance is executed separately for the CPT PFD and ND as well as for the FO ones ( 4 in total ). I have noticed that the engine page as well as other synoptics, cycle with numeric keys  0-9 as supposed, but only from the CPT ND, not from the EICAS page. The result is that in order to have the lower DU display the ENG or SYS information, it has to run as the CPT ND so both the main and the lower DU show the same data, which defeats the purpose of a lower DU. What am I doing wrong?. Thanks.

JF

[jfuenmayor]

Hi all

Seems like I posted the question part in the wrong section. It should have been a separate thread. Anyhow, in the same rush, I overlooked, and totally forgot that the values can be incremented or decremented by a factor in the settings within TeWorks.
I guess this is the result of rushing. Well, the second problem persists ( lower EICAS ). I will tinker some more tomorrow.

JF

[blueskydriver]

Hey All,

I have been away doing the RC stuff since this post. However, I was still thinking about everyone and after reading all the replies, I know the 'ole gang is still here...lol.

Thank you for keeping in touch,

John

PS I mentioned the RC stuff, Karen and I got a new 8ftx28ft Enclosed Cargo Trailer for all the RC planes. We had an 8ftx10ft, so it's a huge difference with the new trailer!

[Aerosim Solutions]

Hi guys, I just thought I would join in and say I'm still here everyday having a read! I haven't had much to post as the last three months I have been renovating our bathroom and ensuite. One more day and they will be finished then I'll be full on back at the sim building with the aim of having it ready for Worldflight. I should be posting progress again very soon!
Cheers Gwyn

[Caflyt]

Gwyn,
I'm glad you will soon be posting again!!
I really get some great ideas watching your build.
Thanks,
Craig in Florida

[Aerosim Solutions]

Gwyn,
I'm glad you will soon be posting again!!
I really get some great ideas watching your build.
Thanks,
Craig in Florida

Cheers Craig, thanks mate!!
Gwyn