So which is best?
STOP! Do not watch these before you have covered your keyboard with something drool-proof.
Via.
It all began in October 2005. I visited South Africa, and saw Armand had a 19 inch LCD monitor at home. It was so much better than my 17 inch CRT...
At work I was running two 15 inch Dell LCDs, and with people joining, and everyone wanting to also have two monitors (great productivity enhancer in my line of work), I passed on my two 15 inchers, and had two new Dell 1907FP monitors on my desk at work.
This was just too much, of course, and thanks to eBay, I purchased one for home at a greatly reduced price.
Today that monitor lost its place of pride as my only monitor, and became monitor number 3. I have just received my two new 1907FPs, as well as the box of magic from Matrox.
Was it worth it? Oh yes. The immersive quality of having three screens full of VC view, with no impact on framerates, I am hooked. In fact, I am off to fly again now.
Oh , the top picture is me flying the FFS Van's RV7 over YPPH, and the bottom one the Aeroworx King Air B200 with most of the sub-panels permanently displayed in 2D mode. Cool.
It has been some time. Good day to you all.
I have purchased a Line6 LD150 bass guitar amp. I can not use it to its full potential at home. On a setting of 3.5 I rattle the windows as well as the nearest brick wall, and thus I have never gone louder. I am very happy. Line6 makes the coolest gear.
Microsoft Flight Simulator X has been released. Since the shelf life is typically three years, versus most other games a few months at most, the software has to be designed for next-generation hardware. Meaning that current hardware battle to maintain good framerates. And old hardware (like what I have at home) get very bad framerates if you want too much detail out of the sim. But soaring simulation is magnificent, and since it happens away from busy commercial airports, I get mid-teen framerates. Very good. But if you really want good framerates, consider purchasing this Alienware machine.
I also purchased Need for Speed Underground 2 on eBay for AUD20 delivered, and am having a lot of fun with that.
I have been travelling a lot recently, and when I am home, my family, music, and flying comes before blogging.
Strangely enough, as I write this I am sitting in a hotel room, with lots of spare time on my hands for the evening. Ironic, is it not?
I can not remember when last I posted something here. And even today there is not much to say.
Except perhaps, that it is a beautiful day, lots of rain, lots of wind, and we need it - the rain, that is, not the wind. Life has been good since my last scribblings. And I can ask for little more.
Commercial Level Simulations have announced that they are in the process of modelling an Eclipse 500 light jet. I will be following that with interest.
Apologies to my regular readers, I will eventually get back on top of workload, family life, music, beta-testing, and a few other things...
God bless.
After yet another unknown incident affecting the founder/owner/financier of Flitestar Virtual Airlines, Erick has decided to close the site. I say yet another, as Erick has been done in by many people over the years. Whilst all he has done is give selflessly of his time, and money, to share his passion for a hobby with other people.
I will miss Flitestar. I had just attained the rank of Junior Captain, which meant that I could start flying an Airbus A319, Boeing 737-800, or a Boeing 767.
I wish you all the best, Erick, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive whoever did this to you. It is not necessary for you to hold a grudge, because it only affects you. THe other person has long forgotten the incident.
In fact, I speak God's Word into your life, and I call into being forgiveness in your heart, and healing of all the old wounds. Life on earth was made for us to enjoy, so enjoy it.
Your friend
Paul
My X52 finally arrived on Friday, and it is a thing of beauty. A BIG thing of beauty. I think this is what makes it so special, the fact that it is so big. You really get more precise control. Now, I did not purchase it for FS9, but since I still am waiting for my Falcon 4: Allied Force, I did test it with the Lago FSFalcon (I was part of the beta test team - look for the General Dynamics 1985 Tiger meet paintjob with my name on it). Now, when you land an F16, the procedure is as follows:
Firstly, depending on fuel load and external stores, touch down on the main wheels at ~150 knots. Maintaining the same landing attitude, keep the nose wheel in the air, performing an aero brake (add extra frontal area to increase drag) and then at 80 knots gently lower the nose wheel onto the tarmac.
From the time of the beta I have not been able to perform this manuever successfully, but I did on Friday night! Since the HOTAS is loosely modelled on the actual F16 control system (more realistic versions are the Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar, as well as the CH F16 Fighterstick - both much more expensive), the control inputs are more realistic than with my CH Yoke.
And don't go blaming the yoke for my inabilities. Last night, I was flying with my yoke again, since the Cessna C172 my daughter wanted to fly has a yoke in real life.
Anyway, I digress. The verdict: It must be the mother of all Flight Control Systems, with even a built in mouse, and some keystroke combinations. So, now the long wait until I am back at home in two weeks' time, to see what Falcon 4 flies like.
Keep landing on the black stuff.
After all the incorrect information and speculation floating around the web, the following from Avsim:
MS Announces FSX
Posted: Thursday, January 5, 2006 - 2:34
If you have been wondering when the next version of MSFS was going to be released, then this is the announcement you have been waiting for. In a press release to AVSIM, Microsoft has announced that the next version to be known as FSX will be released during the 4th quarter of 2006 in time for the holiday sales season.
Be sure to check out the screenshots as well.
If you see a business opening, take it. Here are some folks that did just that. Looks very impressive. Wish I could afford one...
Sim Cockpit Systems
Well, it was either that or eat some more chocolate. But I had already eaten my quota for the month last weekend. Yes, I know there are other choices as well, but today I decided to treat myself.
I purchased a Saitek X52 HOTAS (Hands on Throttle and Stick), as well as Falcon 4: Allied Force.
Now the long wait until the two packages arrive. It has been many years since Falcon 3, but I still remember those days fondly. To think back then I has a single joystick to fly with. I am still wondering how I will set up my desk to fit the new gear in. But I am sure I will manage.
You know, there is one thing wrong with making these spur-of-the-moment decisions: None of the two packages will be here before the long weekend. And they will arrive just in time for me to head off to China the week after. Bad timing on my side, mate. Really bad timing.
Before we venture deeper into this exciting world, I thought I'd share a bit of my history. I grew up in Valhalla, Pretoria, South Africa, about 700m west from the Swartkops Air Force Base. And further to the west was a famous (shhh, secret) South African Army recon unit training area. So watching aeroplanes, helicopters and parachutes for many years, I, like many young boys, dreamt of flight one day.
In my first year of university I purchased a Sharp calculator. This was required for our science class. The next year I upgraded to another model, which could solve a 3 x 3 matrix. Awesome! In my third year, a Hewlett Packard Scientific calculator, which could solve a 10 x 10 matrix. Finally, in my fourth year came the creme de la creme, a personal computer. It was a 80286, with an EGA graphics card. (For those of you not in the know, EGA could display 16 colours, and VGA at that time was just too expensive for me.)
A computer-savvy friend gave me some software, which included Microsoft Flight Simulator version 3. I was hooked from the start, and my feeble excuse that I was going to use the computer for my university studies, well, seemed very feeble at the time.
Version 4 was purchased not long after, as was the Aircraft and Scenery Designer, and the Graphics and Sound Expansion pack (when sound cards came out). Version 4 also had the unique feature to fill in the wireframe mesh, so the sky was blue, and the ground was green.
Version 5's scenery actually looked like scenery, and FS95, FS98, FS2000, FS2002, and lately FS9 (FS2004 - A Century of Flight) followed suit.
Intermingled with Red Baron and Falcon 3, I built up thousands of flying hours in front of the computer.
In a mere ten years since starting my illustrious flight simulator hobby, I ventured into the world of online flight. You connect to the internet, and fly online with other people on the IVAO.org or the VATSIM network. I am specifying IVAO.org for a reason that will still follow...
And not long after that, I started controlling. First as FACT_GND (Cape Twon Ground), under the helpful guidance of Jannie Roelofse, and quickly upgraded to FABL_CTR (Bloemfontein Centre) in South Africa. And whatever night of the week you were flying, you would most likely find FABL_CTR manned by me.
With the purchase of FS2000, I took the conscious decision to fly like one does in real life. Speed is controlled by pitch, rate of descent is controlled by throttle position. And so I had to undo years of bad flying habits.
But it was worth it. My first real-life flight was performed at FAGC (Grand Central) in a Piper Cherokee 140 (ZS-FMV) with AVEX Air Training. On the way to the plance, I boasted about my countless simulated hours, and after taxiing past the other aircraft, my instructor handed control over to me, and there I was, taxiing a real airplane. We were cleared for takeoff, and I handed back control, fully expecting never to be allowed to take off on my first flight. But my instructor said, no, you take off. And I did. We did stalls and spins, circuits, and finally I landed the aircraft all by myself. It was the only greaser I ever had.
My instructor commented on my excellent radio skills for a rookie, and I was able to share about my vast controlling experience. I never completed my training, as my daughter was born, and we moved to Australia.
No more time to sit in front of a computer screen for hours on end ensuring the virtual safety of other pilots. Finding time to fly nowadays is hard. But some days I still manage. Saturday was a good example. I managed four hours in Dreamfleet's new Cirrus SR22, as well as two flights for my Virtual Airline in a CRJ200 (Canadair Regional Jet 200). Phew. No more explaining of acronyms.
What will the next version of Flight Simulator bring? A good place to keep an eye on is Microsoft Insider, as well as the blogs of the next version's developers. This one has links to many interesting blogs, and other sites.
And for military aviation simulation, there can be only one: Falcon 4 Allied Force. Fox Three!
Many years ago I started with Microsoft Flight simulator version 3. As processing power increased, so did the complexity of aircraft, and the beauty of scenery. Just a short note today on beta-testing of aircraft. I am currently of the team for the Flight Factory Simulations Saab 340 turboprop.
Yesterday we received a new model to test, and it is flying better and better. Very unique turboprop, in that the propeller RPM is quite low. Thus the noise level is low, but since turboprops are not well-modelled in FS9 (Microsoft Flight Simulator - A Century of Flight), it takes more effort to get the model to fly like the real thing. And all credit to the programmers, they have cracked it.
On a lighter note, this describes a few people I know!
