Ken Q

Well, it's finally finished. I installed my new cockpit panel last week, and have been spending a week testing and trouble shooting. Yesterday and today did the first two flights: KPSP-KWJF, then KWJF-KBFL. everything is working beautifully, thought I am still learning how to best intergrate the new Garmin GNS 430. So here are some pictures as promised. Since, after trying several other aircraft, I keep coming back to the Mooney M20M (Bravo), I decided to build this panel to copy as close as possible this particular plane. But since this A/C is over 30 years old, almost all have been modified and updated, and none are exactly alike. For a pic of the plane I based my panel on, go back to the May 3 TWMT. Some notes: On the left I made a new light switch panel. First try didn't work, bought new switches and this one works beautifully. Six pack and engine gauges are Saitek (now Logitech FIPs. The gauge software is by Tom Tsui, FSX Times.com Unfortunately Tom is no longer doing FIPs for P3D. These gauges are recessed into the panel to be almost flust. Below the six pack is the Saitek BIP. I wish someone would make an annunciator panel for the Mooney. Below the Engine Gauges is an FIP displaying the G5. Since in real aircraft this is an add-on, it is surface mounted. At the bottom left is the Desktop Aviator Cessna Switch Panel. This is labeled for Alternator, Battery Fuel pump, various lights, Pitot Heat and Avionics. I moved the lights to their own panel and programed these for Fuel Pump, Pitot Heat, De-Ice, Standby Vac, and Alt Air. Right Panel picture picks up at the centerline. High on the centerline is the Landing Gear Lever, in the correct but odd Mooney position. Next to that, from the top: Go Flight Warning Panel, Javiator Audio Panel, Diagma Garmin GNS 530, Real Sim Gear GNS 430, Propwsh Autopilot, Desktop Aviator Flaps, TPM unit, and below that FSX Dual Unit (for two aviation heasdsets). At the bottom is a Desktop Aviator fuel selector. Right panel hs two prowash units, -Radio/Nav (COM 2/Nav 2. Com 1/nav 1 handled by GNS units). and the Transponder. The Fuse Panel adds visual authenticity, but also conceals a compartment with the USB Hubs (two computers) and the USB I/O interfaces. The light panel and landing gear are connected to the sim here.

I sure hope so!!!

P W radials.

I have never been tempted by MSFS, because, quite simply, it would be incredibly difficult for me to make it compatible with my cockpit. I have other reasons as well. So when I updated from FSX going on to P3D 5v3 was a no-brainer. I am extremely happy with the choice. I bought a new Jet line computer, so I have plenty of capability for Orbx and a few other sceneries. I have all the Orbx that has been released that I can use including Regions and True Earth. But I have been very, very frustrated by the attention that MSFS has been getting at the expense of P3D and other sims. So I have not bought anything in over a year. I have a wallet full of money to spend on Orbx if only they will be kind enough to offer something I can buy. If some updates are coming, that is good sign. I have not upgraded to version 4 yet, I'm waiting a week or two to see how the community reacts. Ken

1. Not sure, no opinion now. 2. Lockheed Constellation/Super Constellation. Though the DC 7 is strong competition. 3. Maybe the B727. Seeing them soar overhead taking off from KJFK they looked like ships bound for the moon. Straight out of Buck Rogers. 4. Even with its weird backwards tail, the Mooney M20 series. 5. No strong opinion, but I'll go for the Cessna 310 6. Real strong opinion on this one: Boeing 314 "Clipper." A flying ocean liner. 7. Not sure, here. I like Gumby's suggestion. Ken

About 14 years ago we got our new kitten Chessie. Chessie is an indoor cat, except he is allowed out in our very large (18 x 30 foot) screen porch. But since our previous cat, Shannon, had once busted through the screen and had gotten out, I determined to reinforce the lower screens with some heavy duty plastic netting. An older lady saw me carrying A large roll of this stuff to the checkout, and, curiosity getting the better of her, asked me what it was for. I told her about my new kitten, and how I wanted to reinforce the porch screens to keep the kitty from getting out. At this point she announced, in a loud voice, to all in the store, that I "WAS BUILDING A TIGER ENCLOSURE." Ken

Tough question. I'm an old stick in the mud, enjoying the connections to my past, and preserving them. (Now) antique furniture, tableware and silverware that I grew up with living with my grandparents, which I inherited. After Grandma died, my mom and uncle wanted to sell her silver, but I asked them to keep it and give it to me when I married. They agreed, and wife enjoy it greatly to this day. Also grandma's china. Also have some of her crystal, but it's now too fragile to actually use, so it is proudly displayed. Her prized Regency style sofa from 1938 or so, and the Georgian secretary are focal points in our home. Links to the past. Incidentally, we're celebrating our 45th anniversary next week. On the other hand, I greatly appreciate modern wonders! As I noted in earlier threads and posts, as a young kid I improvised "flight simulators" consisting on cardboard boxes, electric motors, and a lot of imagination. Today that has morphed into a really realistic sim using two powerful computers, and lots of realistic hardware. So much has changed in this area, and it's wonderful. ( I'm just now finishing my new cockpit, pictures to follow soon). This from an old hatter, working in a 210 year old hat shop in a living history museum. Ken

Just look at those props! True artistry, like a sculpture. Ken

1. Little grey kitten, Smokey. I was four when she came home with us riding in my red cowboy hat. I was about 26 when she died. 2. Typical bike with training wheels. When the trainers came off I rode it everywhere. Put many hundreds of miles on it until it was replaced by a full sized Schwinn when I was ten. 3. Probably would have to say Marion. We were 13, she, an orphan was staying with her older sister who was a neighbor. First girl to kiss me (she took the lead). 4. Building "simulators", airplanes or submarines, or boats out of Wall board and cardboard boxes. 5. Probably Sir Winston Churchill. 6. Would have to be Three Musketeers. But I was never a great candy bar fan. Loved NECCO wafers, red hots, and especially licorice (I always got the black jelly beans at Halloween. Still love them, just had a few this evening). 7. Artie and Larry G., early, Bobby, Larry Q., later. Larry Q passed away years ago, but I'm still in sporadic contact with his widow. No contact with the others for decades.

All too real!

Black Jack Chewing Gum was invented in 1884 by chicle pioneer, Adams, and was the first flavored chewing gum. There's an interesting Wikipedia article on it. And yes, it's an American product and yes, though not as popular as in times past, it's still available. Though I'm not a great chewing gum fan, I am very fond of licorice, and thus it something of a favorite. Ken

The adults love it! My shop, or my wife's kitchen, both circa 1830. We'll ask "where's the running water? Do you see a sink with running water?" Quizzical looks. Shaking heads. "Uhh, no!?" "Well I do. My running water-you (finger pointing to the nearest child) are the running water. You run and get the water..." My wife, in comparing an 1830 kitchen to a current one, will ask the same about "dishwashers." By the way, one thing we old couts didn't have to deal with was "autocorrect." That "one-click washing machine" should be a "one child-powered washing machine.". At $13.50 the most expensive item " for sale" in our 1865 General Store. As I mentioned, the telephone was off limits to kids. No play dates. We wanted to play with a friend, we went to the back door of his house, knocked, and asked "can Larry come out to play?" We went all over the place. No-one ever thought that a child had to be closely supervised. This "old timer" also astonishes kids and adults by pointing out that his Grandpa (A Silversmith) didn't think twice about sending a ten year old to walk several city blocks in downtown Brooklyn with two shopping bags full of Sterling Silver to take it to the engraver for custom engraving. Born of another Time!! Ken

Almost all of them. I don't remember #7 but I do remember when we got a dial telephone. Maybe we had a party line, as a kid I'd never know. Children were never allowed to touch the phone. My wife, thought two years younger, remembers her grandma talking on the party line in rural Illinois. Leave 9, 10 & 20 out. Never knew the Packard automobile but I briefly served on a US Navy Minesweeper that had Packard engines (USS Adroit, MSO 509). #25, not necessarily wash tubs, but my aunt had a washing machine with a wringer (no spin cycle). I remember the rest of them. A number of these can still be found if you look in the right places. So I guess I'm older than dirt. But since I work in a Living History museum, I "remember" A lot of even earlier things, like one-click washing machines, cooking on a hearth, two legged running water (the kid runs and gets the water!) Ken

Here are a couple of pictures of the new instrument panel under construction, as well as a picture of the real world Mooney Bravo panel the I am using as a guide. Note the somewhat unusual location of the landing gear lever, high up in the center of the panel. Flaps control is under the mixture control. In my new setup Gear is in the right place, but flaps will be next to the TPM rather than below it. Of course I am using the Saitek FIPs for gauges, with (mostly) Tom Tsui's gread gauges for the Mooney Bravo. In the last set of pictures you might notice I have modeled the fuse panel on the right. In the new panel the fuse panel will cover the USB Hubs and USB interfaces, (last picture) conveniently concealed but readily accessible by removing a couple of screws.

Here are some. First, my current setup:

Photos will come soon, I promise. There are a couple of photos of my current, soon to be replaced set up in a couple of posts in this forum, but o don't recall just where.

I basically grew up sailing. An old 14' Blue Jay during H.S. and college years, sailing the many bays and waterways of South Shore Long Island. Then in college sailing every thing from IC Dingies to a Mariner Ketch, with concentration on Blue Jays, and later, 17' Barnegates. Later yet, a Tartan 37. But the only one I actually owned was the Blue Jay, which I sailed until it was badly damaged by a hurricane. So hence the dream. The tough part is the timing. During most of our working years my wife worked M-F, while I worked W-S, so no weekends off together. Besides, when we had the health and strength, we didn't have the money. Now it's the opposite. So Flightsim is the consolation prize. But honestly, I don't have the ambition or enthusiasm to put into maintaining a boat now. So yes, Rob, your observation about happiest days is very accurate! Ken P.S. I retired at the end of 2011, already suffering from bad arthritis. But then a two weeks before that my wife fell down the stairs, fracturing the right tibia plateau. We're both physically challenged since.

Much like Rodger. Actually a small fortune since I got back into Flightsim about ten years ago. But my wife doesn't object either. Actually she has remarked that we could be well on our way to buying the Pacific Sea craft Orion 27 sailboat we long dreamed about. Unfortunately age, an accident, and mobility issues have killed that dream, but at least I have my (virtual) Mooney M20M "Bravo". Last March I bought a new Jetline computer for $3500. That moved to client status (but still yet to be set up) A $2000 Jetline five years earlier. Therefore I don't have Rodger's problem (yet). I have four large HDs for files, and quite a bit of operational memory. I need it. I have 12 Saitek FIPs, real performance hogs. I paid for 9 of them at $150 each. Three were sent in error, but before I could arrange to return them Saitek went out of business. More recently I bought a Diagma GNS530 ($300), three Propwash units (Dual Radios, Transponder, Autopilot, $130 each). Desktop Aviator Fuel Selector, Cessna Switch Panel, Flaps Controller $75-100 each). Go flight and Saitek annunciator panels ($100 & &150). Most recently a Javiator Audio Panel ($195). Not to say anything about two yokes (CH) and rudder pedals (CH & Saitek). Of course this is over quite a few years. Then there's the 48" curved gaming monitor ($800). Some (much) of this gear replaces old gear from Saitek which I bought first. Including two com panels, switch panel, multi panel ($150 each). This is good equipment made before the Logitech takeover. Just as I am aiming for more immersive realism I am trying to make my cockpit look more like that of the Mooney Bravo. This is still serviceable equipment, Just is too unrealistic in appearance and too big for the cockpit I am currently building. I did get several years of very enjoyable "flying" for this equipment. If anyone would like my hand-me-downs, (US only) PM me, you may have them for the cost of shipping. I'm afraid to add it all up. But again, except for the computers, over the years I don't think I spent much more than $1000 A year. Of course that does not include the software, mostly Orbx. Fortunately Orbx has had regular sales. But alas, my days of buying Orbx are over unless there is a change of heart and we see some P3D 4 & 5 scenery. I have every product currently offered that I could possibly use. Speaking of sailboats: my wife just noted a parallel. It has been said that "A boat is a hole in the water lined with wood, or fiberglass, into which you pour money." She opined that a computer is a box on the shelf into which you pour money. Add a Flight simulator to it, and can be a LOT of money. But like the sailboat, it's worth it. Ken

With summer comes one of the great challenges in the Flightsim world - SimVenture. Before air venture at Oshkosh PilotEdge team with EAA and offers an opportunity to fly the famous FISK arrival into Oshkosh along with many, many other simmers. The real world air venture controllers handle the traffic. Great fun, and a wonderful challenge. And if you don't like to talk on the "radio," don't worry, you don't have to. Rock your wings and fly according to the instructions! They've done this for the last three years. No announcement yet, but it's been very popular, so I expect they will offer it this year. I wish I could figure out how to get A2A planes to run with SPADnext on my network. I'd love to have their Comanche. I recently flew the R/W PA24 and loved it. Ken

Wayne is making a good point: take a break. I stopped my flight simming entirely for about ten years. When I came back to it everything had changed and grown. Software was so much better, the computers so much more powerful, and hardware so much more plentiful and less expensive. So I got back into it in a big way, finding that I could, with some effort, have a very realistic sim. But even with that, I agree, there are times I just can't find the enthusiasm. My thoughts on fighting the blahs: 1. Be inspired by the real world. I enjoy a couple of YouTube channels by R/W pilots that make me want to get into the sim. Favorites, Josh Flowers' "Aviation 101", Steveo1Kinevo and Stevie Triesenberg. Josh is young CFII flying all over the country, and I've learned a lot from him. Steve is a commercial pilot flying a TBM from Florida. Stevie is also a CFI flying a 71 y/o Bonanza in SoCal. I also have an online subscription to " Plane and Pilot". Only a couple of bucks a year, and a great help in flying realistically. 2. Use available resources to make it as realistic as possible. I'm preaching to the choir when I start with Orbx scenery. But then there's Active Sky and PilotEdge. 3. Construct the most accurate SIM cockpit that space, finances and building skills allow. 4. Don't "fly" every day. Take a break. To this I'll add, find a plane or a couple of planes your passionate about, vary locations, and find challenges. Keep it fresh and happy flying! Ken

John a "Smart Phone" seems to be a main frame computer you carry in your pocket, and need to be under 25 and/or a computer programmer to operate. Too much for this old Ph.D. We resisted getting a cell phone for as long as possible, but finally broke down 11 years ago when my mother was dying, and we had to be in touch with caregivers. Then we got two of the simplest (and the cheapest) we could find. Since then we have found them convenient, and a useful tool. The since we returned to working part time, they have become quite necessary at the workplace. But I've no idea how to access or use these so called "apps". Or internet access, email or the other bells and whistles. We use them to occasionally talk, and slightly more frequently to "text". Can't see why the young folk are so fixated on the devices. But now there is a new wrinkle, this two mode authentication. After signing on to a site on a computer, the bank, for example, you are sent a code via text to enter before accessing your information. With so much fraud and hacking it is well intended, but still a nuisance. For me it's a special problem since my computer is in the basement where there is no cell phone reception. Then the final rub. Last week my cell phone died. I bought a new one and went online to activate it. Sign into the carrier's website, and you can't guess it! They insisted on sending a verification code, but it went to the phone that didn't work! Much frustration. Ken

Happy birthday, Graeme. Many happy returns! Ken

1. Be informed, but don't dwell on it. 2. Don't get involved with social media. 3. Remember we're not the first to have to deal with difficult problems. An Old English poem, "Deor" goes through verse after verse describing horrible men and the horrible things they did. Each verse concludes with the refrain "thaes ofereode thises swa maeg." (That passed over, this may also). Ancient words of wisdom. Ken

Thank you, and a Happy Easter to all. Ken

The beauty of the simulator: if you crash the only thing hurt is your ego.