A little insight into my (virtual) world

[Lairyliam]

I am one of those silent types, i pop up occasionally and chip in, i have been into simulation since i got my hands on my first copy of FS98.

I have built most of my hours doing short hops, hour here and an hour there, I would for many years look scornfully at those that had flown 6+ hours at a time thinking to myself "there is no way my fellow pilots have sat there for that long"... "thats not simulation", I seem to remember for a period that the AAS program would only let you leave the computer for 60 mins, and i would chuckle to myself that all those set n forget pilots (as I would refer to them) that would have a tough time. where as it never affected me a I would always fly within the limits of my allowable time.

For the last 3-4 years I have been grounded, real life(kids) , and other things get in the way, I have made a few one off flights, but nothing major... I nearly even let my AS membership elapse, but thanks to an intervention by Tom, a few years ago, I stayed around.

I found a little time earlier in the year, and managed to get my hands on a shiny new RJ100 which I used to the point where I was just about competent and then took another long sabbatical...

I have always wanted my own airline, both in real life and in the simulation world, I have many times sat down and tried to come up with my own virtual (private) airline that kind of works on an ad-hoc basis bailing out the carriers when they get stuck, (my first real airline that i worked at did this...) but just after i sort schedules (that match AS flights) get the aircraft shoddily painted) i would get bored, and not fly again.

I even once created my own airport with traffic and everything, and over the years it has become apparent that I am actually happier tinkering with my sim than actually flying with it.... its all about creating the world i am going to fly in rather than actually flying in it.

This time around however, things are different, (well that's what i am telling myself) I am flying the planes I want to fly on the routes I want to fly, and not following the rules to a T. You see till last week I have spent the last 14? years at Air Source flying what the plan book says, so it it says a 737-700, then that's what i fly, and when your in certain parts of the world, flying for some airlines you can get quite jammed into, especially if i do not want to go back to where i came from.

You see I also have this problem where if i land at say KIAH for example, I simply cannot switch on the next time and boot the sim into YSSY, I have to keep the flow going. (hence why i get jammed) I know that if you look through the log book, you can see that this does happen, but its usually associated with my being away from the sim for a time, and coming back and flying a different aircraft/airline entirely.

This time around I have found a home in KIAH and being the selfish guy that I am. not only did I buy an entire apron area to use my aircraft exclusively for me, but i bought the nearest runway too...

In fact i remodeled the whole airport, installed a new runway with a whole warren of taxi ways (turns out this happened in real life also in a similar position to me). So now with 5 runways, KIAH is booming I have parallel runways working, with one for landing and one for take off and because the place is so big, my runway (09/27 if your interested) is well out of the way and I have no issue with traffic delays!! - being number 29 for take off must SUCK!!!)

Now, keeping in mind that i have been a short haul dog for most of my journey, I have of recent realized that actually life is much easier if i go long haul....

NOW... you may recall that I scorned pilots (quite publicly to my real life aviation buddies) that did this practice of set and forget, yet I now realize that actually there is a lot of sense to it. i can set the flight up, get real life stuff done,and with the magic of my iPad keep an eye on all things important. So for this tour, i have been flying out of my newly modeled KIAH completely disregarding which exact make and model of plane that I should fly (tho to the management i should state that I am keeping in mind the Air source rules on subbing aircraft and think certainly gone into a grey area subbing a 767-300 ER for a 747-400 that keeps going tech on arrival (yoke/MCP doesn't work,) but then i am not qualified (nor have the money to fly anything else)

So you see, what was something that i despised, has now become a new practice that I do, I am guilty of setting it flying and going to bed, or getting on with my family life, (on of my girls keeps bugging me mid flight to fly the plane...)
In fact this summer, while i am off with the kids, and them not being at school its my intention to do something that I used to constantly battle with at my last airline that i worked at, and that's bust out on my 30 day hours... we were always running our pilots at 170-180 hours per 30 days, and it become a juggling act to keep them in the air without getting the authority's involved because we has bust out on hours.

well that's how i roll in my world. what happens in yours, how do you keep that balance of life and virtual...
out of all my hobbies, Flight sim is always the one that i come back to, 20 years this has been a hobby... and with the creation of the p3d or what ever it is, i can see that its only going to go on in the years to come.

Time to kick the tires and light the fires, i got to get back to KIAH (while i do the groceries and chores of course!)

Liam Reynolds
ASO38

[AS 2 Tom Little]

GREAT post Liam! Thanks for sharing. I too have been very busy in the rw, but also have seemed to always find time to fly a little and enjoy what FS has to offer. It's like going into some vacation world where no one else bothers - that is, until your child comes up and says "whatcha doin' Dad"? But that's all good and we're just here to have fun.

I'm glad you and so many others here enjoy the experience and make of it what you can (within parameters). I too have set to a/p and left the cockpit - sometimes cutting the lawn or cleaning bathrooms, etc. As you as you're "checking in" this is passable IMO.

[guigui]

Thanks for sharing Liam !!

I got some issues with the yoke but under Windows 8.1. What OS do you use ?

AS291 - Guillaume

[AS37 Norm Edwards]

Thanks Liam, nice post to share with us all. Everyone has different reasons for being here and what they do and the variety of what's provided here keeps people coming back. It's not for everyone of course because every month people are removed from the roster because they haven't flown for a few months (pays to put in for vacation!). At the end of the day we've always wanted people to just have fun here - and that's not a bad thing

[Lairyliam]

Thanks Tom... Its been brewing for a while, I really am enjoying putting almost a scheduled to life and flight sim and trying to make take off and arrivals fit into whatever available windows of opportunity i have.

With PFPX (new on me last week) and FS2 Crew i can be at least 60 mins before you even get a chance to push, so the old days of just jumping in and getting it done (for me at least) are long gone.

My kids too are taking in interest, my 6 year old daughter, already has managed to work her way into the hot seat and fly a king air around the place, (with daddy's help of course), now every time she sees me sitting here its always "daddy can i have a go"... i want to encourage her, but like most kids, she never seems to ask at the appropriate time...

Post by guigui ?? Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:44 am
Thanks for sharing Liam !!

I got some issues with the yoke but under Windows 8.1. What OS do you use ?

I am on 7.X it turns out that my error lay with keyboard mapping and FS2Crew, an erronous setting kept switching the yoke off..

Have you turned off your USB from going to sleep, apparently this (in my research) is something that's common with 8.X

AS37 Norm - and that's not a bad thing

Not at all, its always good to see the healthy numbers here, the fact that Air Source is still here since i arrived in what, 2001? from Gatwick Virtual Air Taxi's is a testament to Tom, yourself and the rest of the EMT that keep the skies open.

Thank you all!!

Liam

edit: Just checked and i did indeed arrive in May 2001... What amazes me more is that I am 7th on the old timers list!

[guigui]

I am on 7.X it turns out that my error lay with keyboard mapping and FS2Crew, an erronous setting kept switching the yoke off..

Have you turned off your USB from going to sleep, apparently this (in my research) is something that's common with 8.X

Yes I did but it doesn't work for me so I set my joystick with FSUIPC. I'm on WIN 10 now so everything work great. WIN 8 was really a pain in the back.
Anyway, I'm glad you solved your issue.

[Lairyliam]

That's one good thing that came out of it also for me... I actually am using FSUIPC properly and have my yoke going through it.

I am on an aging 2009 home built PC, and FS9. What sim are you using for W10? i hear good things about the P3D but am scared how much it's going to cost me to upgrade... lol

Happy Flying.

Liam

[guigui]

I'm using FSX without P3D. Don't really need it yet.

A lot of new add-ons only work under FSX (e.g. PMDG 777). An upgrade is a good thing if you like new add-ons.

Happy Landings !!

[Lairyliam]

I just see it costing more and more money lol.

[cbrdriver]

Love this post. I've often wondered how others lived their lives.
I'm the same way you were when it comes to my hops. I try to stay under two hours so that my life isn't completely taken up. I know how things are in the cockpit, though. I spent about three hours in the cockpit of a B763 on a flight to KIA and there was allot going on in there besides flying, but with my new toy (NGX) and the service based failure, I get paranoid.

Three phases at departure. . . T/O, transition, then C/O to mach number. . . between those and TOD, I can do the dishes. Lol

Thanks again for the post.
G'day

[rabhaw]

Gatwick Air Taxi, Vince, now that's going back a bit. Totally forgot about it.

Forgot an awful lot actually.

[Lairyliam]

by cbrdriver ?? Sun Aug 16, 2015 2:18 pm; Love this post

- Thanks man, do you have an Ipad? i use an app called airtrack, you add a small plugging to the sim, and load up the app, depending on the aircraft you can control the whole thing (including loading the FS flight plan, and using it like an FMC... Worth a look, i use it a lot during the day, i don't feel like i am cheating so much. http://air.ipobjects.com/airtrack

by rabhaw ?? Wed Aug 19, 2015 3:43 pm
Gatwick Air Taxi, Vince, now that's going back a bit. Totally forgot about it.

Forgot an awful lot actually.

Seems a lifetime ago huh. well i guess in a way it was!

[cbrdriver]

I don't have an iPad, but an android tablet. Your post has had me researching that possibility, though.
I've found a couple of apps that look promising, and a really cool looking CDU I'm checking out.

They both use LAN. I like that.

[Lairyliam]

by cbrdriver ?? Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:05 pm

They both use LAN. I like that.

Next thing you know, your buying more tablets to facilitate all the new goodies and options that are available to you!!

[cbrdriver]

Each labeled "EFB NGX N737NG", " EFB NGX N923NG" . . .