Does anyone fly anymore?

[blueskydriver]

Here I am sitting in the sim flying from KMSP to KMEM and I wonder how many members are actually taking the time to fly? With all the "Buy, Build & Sell" talk that occurs over this time of the year, which is normal, but how many flights are you getting in?

Even if you stop building for a while and just use your desktop to give her a go, it would help justify your building...yes, yes most of us don't need motivation, but flying does help put things into perspective. If you're not already on VatSim, why not join and give it a shot, or what about joining a Virtual Airline (VA)?

My point is, with me being an OCD type person, and knowingly there are many others here who are the same as me (some admit, some deny), I am just saying take time to fly or at least smell the jet fuel...uh, speaking of which, I need to order another patch of jet fuel scent!

John

[dc8flightdeck]

Now that I have a PilotEdge account I am flying more than ever. Having the live controllers to talk to has been the best sim upgrade yet.

Friday evening we flew the B-52 sim on PE for two hours. That was after three hours of flight planning.

[sagrada737]

Good post John.  I take it as encouragement for those that are in the building phase of putting their Sim Projects together.  Certainly it is the best of both worlds to be flying AND building, but there are periods of time where building by its nature takes priority.

By contrast, strictly building can indeed take its toll on even the most experienced builder in terms of time, resources, and even family/friend relationships that otherwise should take a front seat.  I would contend that this is one of the major reasons people get frustrated and tired of their project and part it out or sell out at what the market will bear.

There is no doubt that a balanced approach to building and flying can go a long way toward a fulfilling Sim Project.  One supports the other, and to a degree, offers some affirmation when you experience and share the fruits of your work.   It is always good therapy to drill some holes in the sky 

As for my Sim Project...   At this time, it is scattered all over the Sim Room, as I buid up the various modules.  Currently, I'm building up the Aft Overhead (great FDS Kit) - yet I have been careful to keep the Sim operational so I can still work on it as-well-as fly it when I want to, which is most every day - even for a short hop.  I am always amazed every time I start up the Sim from a Cold & Dark state, and see it "come alive".  It affirms just how special this 737 Sim Project really is, and how wonderful it is that we can experience this kind of technology and these kind of full-scale flight decks in this day and age.

So... when you get bogged down in the build phase - FLY.  When you get tired of flying - BUILD.  It all will balance out nicely 

Keep your airspeed up!

Mike

[MLeavy737]

Im sick of flying! Thats why i sold my sim maybe someday ill build again.

Mike L

[blueskydriver]

Mike...you're funny  ...lol.

Yes, I expect you would be sick of flying, but you have the real deal under your butt. However, like anything in life...when you make your hobby your job or your job your hobby, you're bound to get sick of one or both. So, I really see your point...

Maybe, you should take up a Race Car sim? You'll get the "Need for Speed" fix and it'll certainly be different. Although, if you were to do that, and then one day you start slamming the rudder pedals on one of your real flights, while turning the yoke madly back and forth; well, I think flying would be only a memory for you at that point.

Remember this:

Jumbo Jet Race

Best Regards,

John

[jackpilot]

Mike:
Build a chopper or a sailplane..a DC3 or... a Super Constellation
(jets are for kids)   
Even if I am partially away from the sim right now, I fly more than I build.
Building is minimal though with most of my components Plug and (¾)Play.
I improve more than I build really.
Hence my sweetspot for 1" gauges or refurbishing ACPs or a digital Gables Transponder like now.
Jack

[Kennair]

Good post John and a timely reminder (or even a new years resolution?).  I must confess to being a perpetual builder however since Worldflight last November I've stepped up my game considerably.  It really forces you to tackle those tricky subjects and flying skills you procrastinate over.  Since then I've joined a VA (Flying Tigers Group) to continue the journey and learning curve.  Now the team is setting up for regular training again in preparation for WF2014, there's nothing like the incentive that like minded colleagues give you.

Ken.

[miloguy]

 hope its ok to talk with you guys in this post
I had been out of the flying for some time during last year to family comitments etc,  but now back and loving it, most of the time and even though i dont have a home deck its a dream of mine to do one..

[blueskydriver]

Hi Milo,

I posted over your other thread, but no worries. Are you getting some flying time in? If not, try to take what you have for spin, as it will make you want to build all the more...it does for me. After two flights from start to finish, I am reminded of all the things that need fixing...lol.

John

[blueskydriver]

Hey Mike S and Ken,

Thanks for the kudos 

I know Mike L flies a lot "for real" and I wish I could be there with him, and Mike S certainly flies a lot in his sim. I wish could fly with him too. It is nice when they post about their flights and that is a primary reason of this thread...to hear from, as well as others talk about flying their sims. You know those good "old flying stories" are always great to hear or read about.

John

[matta757]

I fly ALL the time. Well, I hadn't been since August when the TQ restoration process began, but I finally got it mostly interfaced on Christmas, so now I have been flying like a maniac again.

[phil744]

Quite funny, everyone on here knows i build stuff for other peoples sims, i'm in the same boat as Gwyn in a way, spend most of my days building everyone else's sims apart from my own.

for the past 2 years all i use my 757 for is additional storage (i.e. a dumping ground).

One night, i was stood in  the workshop, coffee in hand looking at the sad state of the 757, maybe a little p**sed off that ive never actually flown it.  And I don't know why, but i recall that i actually said out loud " tonight, i will fly that thing"

I think the theme tune from the A-team started playing in my head on continuous loop from then on.

so, ingredients for throwing/bodging a sim together in one night.

Cockpit shell.... check.

Projector.. I had an old sanyo XE40 i bought for 99p of fleabay, i like buying shit,  listed as "spares or repair" its dead, never attempted to fix it... perfect then.

Flight controls... well i got a joystick, this will do.

instruments.. Need a screen, its saturday night, no one about. will pop into work and "borrow" one

computer...hmm, nothing decent, however the sim is propped up by a load of old servers, good enough for tonight.

Graphics card, got a 550ti in the computer that runs the CNC, i will sacrifice the CNC

autopilot.. got a very old CPflight serial type MCP...........somewhere.....

panels and stuff for cockpit....... stupid question really

Gaffa tape... lots off

So, first thing i did was use the forklift to lift the cockpit shell up, removed replaced the servers it was sat on with items of much greater value... couple of bricks and a used oil drum.

Give sim a good clean up, inside out, removed all crap from within, this is where i found the MCP, bonus, gaffa taped that the the glareshield, admired my awesome handy work with a coffee.

Story behind why i have 40 servers used as chocks for my 757 is quite simple, Im one of those types of people who thinks everything will one day have a use for something.  Walk into my workshop with some dog poo on a plate and say " phil, u want that" i would probably say yes.  Chap i work with has a friend, of a friend, of some random relation in the server computer game thing, i have no idea what, he said to me, would i like "a" server, of course i said yes, I had no idea what a server was, expecting  a nice girl who serves me coffee and stuff, not 2 consecutive van loads if computer crap.  However, i found a use for it all, something to level a 2 tonne chunk of Seattle's finest with.

so, selected the best server, and best bits from other servers and built 1 good one.  For the nerds its a HP DL360G5, 6X 15krpm 36gb SAS drives, raid0, 2 x quad core processors, xeon @3ghz, and some ram, don,t know what type but it had cool looking heat sinks on, so that must mean good...< check me out I sound like i know what im talking about... trust me i dont.

not exactly cutting edge i thought, however no dog either if you think about it.. however hit a problem.  The 360 is something called a 1U case, very slim,so cant fit graphics card in there, no problem i thought, cut 100 or so strips of copper wire, then soldered each PCIE tab to the riser board,  then bent the card 90 degrees so it stick out of the top of the server, brilliant cooling and doubles up as a handle to move server with. I was determined to fly tonight, I will win, ohh yes i will.

Banged a copy of Win7 pro, P3D (1.2) LVD767, all the UK2000 mega scenery and ORBX UK to boot, this server is going to sweat..

Had another coffee and admired once more my epic skills of all things fabrication.

Projector, again for the geeks, its a Sanyo XE40 shorthrow, boasts and impressive 1024x768 and a simply staggering 700:1 contrast ratio, 3LCD design... in other words its a total piece of shit. however, i dont care, for 99p and after 1 hour managed to fix it (thermal reset, common fault) and found out it had a brand new bulb.. well, happy days.

Made a projector mount from a special carbon based composite kevlar inter-weaved hybrid alloy.. MDF to you and I. Mounted (gaffa taped,) wired up ready to go.

Side note, anyone here ever tried the art of "sim sliding" its where u sit on top of a real nose end, to get down, simply slide off, hours of fun, new sport in the olympics me thinks. Never do it over an open window, hurts like hell.

Next step was to raid the workshop, anything fitted with Dzus will be used as panelware, everything from a galley microwave power panel, B1B nuclear armanent panel to a genuine piece of the space shuttle fitted, something cool about having a panel on the ped with only 2 buttons, "chaff" and "flair".. so cool.  fitted Ipeco seat (tonight, Ipeco and Ikea is the same thing).  Connected most of the back lighting up.

Once more, respect the skills of bodge with a coffee, flick switches, giggle like a little girl .

Next step was to move server and mount on random (and dead) chiller cabinate next to the sim, another piece that  finally found a use tonight, had it for years. taped "borrowed" monitor (still have it)
to MIP. I did spend 2 or so hours outside the sim tweaking the computer, setting bla bla.

Final step was to tape joystick to where the tiller should be in the 757 (yes i own the only boeing-airbus hybrid) and tape my desk light to the overhead as i could not see shit in there.  Make another coffee, go for a leak, lock the door, turn all the lights off.

I started mission impossable at around 5pm, it is now 2am, i was tired, filthy, stunk of airplane, and could not drink coffee anymore because of the grin on my face.

After 14 years of wanting, 6 years of actually making sim stuff, im now going to go fly.  Yes its a total piece of shit, thrown together with absolutly no care in the world, but you know what chaps, i could not care less, simply put, i was buzzing at this point.

Manchester UK to London heathrow was my first flight, didnt go smooth, i forgot to calibrate the damn joystick, between "rotate" and "gear up" it got very interesting, however recovered. 40 mins later touched down perfectly at heathrow with cramp on my face from the ever present grin.  This may sound a touch sad, but i will remember that for the rest of my life.

No idea now what time it was, made yet another coffee and for an hour i just stood at the back of the sim, all lit up, sat at the gate.  I cant put this in words, or even attempt to describe it, but i know all of you here will know when i say there was some sort of magic? epiphany?. maybe its the whole illusion factor of simulators, or i was hi on caffeine, but i think you know what i am getting at. and for me, its that 1 hour, the feeling that i will never forget. and its personally what keeps me going, have a bad day in the workshop, I remember that one point in time, then nothing a problem as its all worth it in the end.  And i know the stuff i make will one day give someone else that exact same feeling, will be honest i get a kick out of this, and that's the reason why i do what i do.

Did i power down the sim after this and go home to bed? nope, heathrow to new york laGuardia, little bit over 7 hours. I did actually fall asleep for a few hours at the controls, woke up circling lower Manhattan very low on fuel. Landed, went for a leak, breakfast at McDonalds looking like shit and actually feeling like i had just flown across the atlantic.  And dare I say, i felt like i had jetlag??. no problem, back to the workshop and flew back to manchester

So, in answer to the question, yes, i fly my sim practically everyday. come in, power sim, take off heading to Hong kong, put it on autopilot, go do some work and 8 hours later, land it, works brilliantly for me

Phil

[fsaviator]

Outstanding write-up Phil!!!  You've shown me what I have to look forward to.

My tale...  I haven't flown my sim in almost a month.  I have the attention span of a gnat, and my memory has unaccountable lapses after 25 years of war and eleven IED hits, and more concussions than I can remember (no pun intended).  NFL doesn't have shit on me.

So the last flight I took was pretty sweet.  My sim was fully functional, but lacked the aft overhead and the pedestal.  I'd been using the CDU to control the radio's and the instructor station to get rid of the IRS faults so things were working great.  The next day for some reason, I popped open the overhead and it has been hanging down that way ever since.  I can't remember why I did that and I'm scared that if I close it up, and try flying I will suddenly remember why I opened when a problem pops.  Usually not an issue, but with limited attention span, when I work on a problem it usually leads me off on tangent and I never get back to the original problem

The solution?  I avoid closing the overhead by find something else to keep me busy...  in this case, it was the pedestal.  I decided I would finally finish my pedestal.  In the course of that project I decided to solve backlighting and have finally learned how to use Diptrace, etch PCBs, learned how to use my CNC, mill PCB's, figured out how to to mill double sided PCB's and am now soldering SMT LEDs...  Still haven't finished the pedestal

During that process I went off on a tangent and also started work on the Aft Overhead (I blame Anders and his switches for that) and showing great restraint, I stopped myself from redoing the backlighting on my MIP (for now).

Earlier I took a look at the hanging overhead and was trying to think of why I took it down...  Now that I think of it, I may have just dropped it in order take pictures of the back of the Yaw Damper switch for Anders...  Wouldn't that be something!

Now I'm avoiding flying again by writing this very long message...  enough!  Time to get back in the pilots seat...  as soon as I finish the pedestal

[markfire]

Great read Phil. : )

[Sam Franklin]

Brilliant post, Phil!

[Karl737]

Totally awesome post Phil.
Laughed my head off over the bit about 'sim sliding' having actually done that myself, and gone arse over in the process lol!

[phil744]

little tip, strap a cloth to your ass next time, polishes the sim at the same time, and who says men cant multitask

[Karl737]

Lol, I like it! Gonna get some funny looks off the wife when she comes in the shed and sees me using my sim as a slide with a rag stuck to my ass, but hey, she already thinks I'm a nutcase, so no harm done 

[phil744]

**WARNING** to all cockpitbuilders.com members.

If you do decide to take up the sport of sim sliding a word of caution if I may.

Always always remember to remove Pitot tubes, you hit one of those bad boys on your way down you will first hand learn the true meaning to an "atomic wedgie"

There is nothing worse than finding yourself, suspended in mid-air supported only by your under wear, whilst your friends roll about the floor laughing and taking pictures to upload on facebook, meanwhile, you are totally powerless to do a damn thing about it.

to this day the memory still brings a tear to my eye.

Happy sliding

[phil744]

and another note, my sincere apologies to John (blueskydriver) for taking over his thread changing the theme from, "does anyone fly anymore" to, have you ever given yourself a wedgie with a pitot tube.

lets get back on track

phil (needs to lay of the caffeine)

[matta757]

Phil,

Finally some background behind your Flickr pics

Thoroughly enjoyed your recounting of finally getting the sim (somewhat) up and running!

Matt

[blueskydriver]

Hey Phil,

OMG! You are so crrraaazzzyyy funny    , I love it! I am laying here in bed reading your post and I almost fell out from laughing so hard!

I am very happy you posted your story because it not only says "All things Phil", but it gets us others folks to tell our own stories and leads us all to actually flying our sims...no matter what state they're in...which leads to more cockpit building in the long run. 

John

[ETomlin]

Phil

What you described there in your mad dash to make a sim, sounds like something I've done once or twice. It's amazing to look back and see what all you can do with so many bits and pieces lying around when you finally get the over whelming urge to kick into high gear and do not care what it looks like, only that you get to 'fly it'. Great write up.

[HarryZ]

Since I'm in the flight simulation software/visuals business, I try and fly at least 3-4 times a week, always testing or trying to improve something.

After almost sliding down the nose of my 737 on more than one occasion when playing with the projectors,  i decided to design a mounting system that allows me to move the projectors to the front of the shell and slide them back to their original position after any maintenance.  Makes life a lot easier!

[firstinflight]

I make it a point to at least fly 2-3 times a week and one flight over the weekend.

I usually do short flights - an hour to 90 mins in total. That keeps the intensity up - else it can monotonous. Of those 2-3 times, at least once is on PilotEdge. When I fly outside of PE, then it is usually in Europe someplace. EDDF being my favorite start point. Of late, I have made it a point to criss-cross over Europe. EDDF, EHAM, EGLL, EDDM, LSZH, LSGG, LOWS being my favorite points.

If I am flying PE, its invariably KLAS, KSFO, KLAX, KSAN.

CPJ