Ken Q

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.

As immersive as possible. To start with a realistic SIM program (P3D in my case). Then add Orbx scenery and real world weather from Active Sky. Then real, live ATC from PilotEdge. So we've got the plane, scenery, weather and ATC. A mouse and keyboard certainly won't cut it. Yoke and pedals help, but not enough. So add switch panels, audio and com radio panels. A six pack (sorry, no beer) and engine gauges, A GPS unit, and put it all in as realistic an instrument panel as possible, and were getting close. Fly that for a while, then put its realism to the test in a similar real airplane. Actually take off, cruise, and land the plane? Talk to ATC? I can do that! Full motion would be wonderful, but way too expensive, and besides, where would I put it. But I can make my wife air sick with what I have. I'm currently working on building a new instrument panel, this time modelling the Mooney Bravo as closely as possible. Ken Sorry, Rodge, but you know my answer to your question, so you asked for it!

Over the years I've had numerous great neighbors. When I lived in an apartment in Rhode Island I had an upstairs neighbor. Great older fellow; we had a good time. Gumby will appreciate this: he was employed by Narragansett Brewery. Needless to say, we enjoyed many a beer together. After getting married wife and I lived in an apartment for the first 22 years. We had an upstairs neighbor, Gloria, who became a very good friend. But since we bought a house 23 years ago we've been cordial with most of the neighbors, but haven't really befriended any of them. And one has completely ignored us from the very beginning, been rather hostile, and engaged in low level harassment at times. I have no idea why the hostility. Ken

Never had Legos, but I grew up with all kinds of building toys. Lincoln Logs, Gilbert Erector Sets, some sort of white plastic brick building set. I can't remember the brand, but I think these were a cheaper competitor to Legos. But I have seen wonderful Legos creations. When I was the Premium Secretary of our County Fair I saw a lot of great Legos in the Hobby Department. At one point we had official Lego judges supplied by the company to judge them. In younger years I was an avid ship model builder and collector. My bedroom, and as much of the rest of the house as I could get my mom to agree to was a maritime museum. I'm still building and collecting ship models: as you say rightly, never out grow it. But now I'm far more selective, choosing models of ships that have a personal or family connection. Also, finding a place to display them is a challenge. Ken

Good, let's keep it that way!

I don't know where you keep this marvelous collection, Gumby, whether in your body or in glass jars in some diabolical basement lab. But this is a different sort of thing than Rodger's examples, so in any case I'd prefer that you don't show me the collection! Ken

Not about collecting, but.... Many years ago we were contacted by a firm that would print books, brochures and flyers directly from MS Publisher, a rarity at the time. With an order they would make a donation to a charity of the customer's choice. We were working on a small historical picture book. So we put in an order, and asked that they make a donation to "St. John's Organ Fund". We had a little discussion about it, and they assumed that this was a fund related to organ transplants. Not so! At church we were in the middle of a project to rebuild our 1926 Casevant Freres pipe organ. Ken

Since Mad has been gone for some time, that collection would probably be worth something now! A cultural icon of the past. Another one is "Rocky and Bullwinkle," of which we do have the complete collection on DVD. But collecting it was not an accomplishment; my wife bought it as a boxer set. (As I said, "stuff").

Books. Although no longer in any major academic endeavor, I still get great pleasure from my library. Within that I have a couple of distinct collections. Nineteenth century almanacs, A collection of the versions of the Book Of Common Prayer of the Church of England and the American Episcopal Church. (I have all but one). And "stuff" (generally antiques) in general. Ken

I can do likewise with flint and steel, but unnecessary because I work in 1830, (A few years later, Rob) and matches were patented in 1817. A bit expensive, but I'm a Hatter, one of the better paying trades, so I can afford it, even if the Mrs. lets the kitchen fire go out entirely! Ken

I almost flunked out of kindergarten: I failed fingerpainting. I hated to get that slimy stuff on my hands. On the other hand, I do make FELT HATS.

Greg is so RIGHT!! When I went from FSX to P3D 5 a year ago I purchased the "True Earth" sceneries. Since then, not a single thing. I have absolutely no interest in MSFS, and since Microsoft is in the middle of thousands of layoffs, I wonder if it will continue. But most developers, and most tragically Orbx, have stopped producing much new material for P3D. If they don't make it, I can't buy it, and I have many scenery areas and airports on my wish list. But I still stay with the Forum. I have some good friends here, but I really miss some friends who have dropped out. Ken

We, (wife & I) are probably the oddest people in the US, maybe the world. We just don't watch television. Ever. We will occasionally (but rarely) put on a DVD of a movie. I do watch some YouTube videos, usually aviation related. But we have no idea what goes on in TV land. Ken

Thanks, Rodge. Actually I'm hoping that I can finally turn this version into a "full cockpit", enclosed, 3D, with side windows. So far I only have the forward view, using the " hat switch " to look out the sides. (Really, really hard in a right downwind)! The forward view is good; A 42" curved monitor. What Rodge is referring to is my current iteration of the cockpit. As I had previously, I made a full size template in Publisher, printed and assembled the tiles, and pasted it to the plywood panel base. Unfortunately the template slipped, and it all went out of alignment. Functional, but looking at it hour after hour gets irritating. Besides, new gear comes along, and I have (some) money to spend, so time to upgrade. So here I am, doing it again. Actually I do enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of building stuff. Unfortunately, at my age and with my knees, installing larger projects requires help, not always available. Also, the only convenient workspace is the garage, which is unheated. Now here on Long Island, New York, we've had a much milder winter than much of the rest of the country, but still it's too cold for my arthritic knees to stand for long. So I'm doing what I can on the dining room table, and hoping for some milder weather to finish it. Fortunately I'm not in a hurry, and my current set up is just fine for now. In the meantime I can still fly. (Sitting at Monterey, waiting for the weather to improve to fly to Santa Barbara). Also, being retired (mostly), I do have time. I'm off entirely for the winter, then working part time the rest of the year. So, anyway, I'm at it again. The work progresses slowly. I'm using Masonite as the base this time, and carefully transferring the cutouts by hand, carefully measured and squared. I have bought some new tools that should make precision straight cuts easier. I have also devised a way (I hope) of making the miles of wiring (so it seems) and the many USB and other connectors accessible for maintenance and troubleshooting and future modification. And as mentioned above, I have updated some of the gear. I will share pictures in good time. Ken

I started with a CH yoke many years ago, and since replaced it with the newer, current model. I tried the Saitek yoke, but soon gave up on it. I just could not pull off a respectable landing, especially in a cross wind. Some have complained about the fact that the yoke only turns through 90 degrees rather than 180 like "a real airplane" but I have since learned that the Mooney Bravo I fly only turns through about 90 degrees because the controls operate by push rods rather than cables, so that part of the action is pretty accurate for my airplane. The only thing is the controls in a real airplane (in this case a PA 24 Comanche), especially the elevator, are much stiffer. The only solution to that is a high end yoke, preferably force feedback, but that is way out of my budget. I do have a lot of Saitek (pre Logitech) gear though I've phased out a lot of it. I use Saitek rudder pedals and I'm very happy with them. My TPM unit is by an independent manufactorer "Flightsim Gear." While it does not have vernier accuracy, being strictly "push-pull" it works beautifully; I have it set up with FSUIPC. I've replaced my Saitek radios with very nice, relatively inexpensive units from Propwash Sim. I also replaced the Saitek Multipanel with a Propwash autopilot and a Desktop Aviator flap switch. I had a VR Insight Transponder which I also replaced with a Propwash unit. I made a Com Panel myself some years ago. It works just fine, but doesn't look too good, so I broke down and ordered one from Javiator. Should come this week. I have a Diagma GNS 530 GPS. It operates with RealityXP and FSUIPC, and is really a beautiful unit. Sadly Diagma seems to have disappeared. I'm currently rebuilding my instrument panel and this time making it look as much like that of the Mooney Bravo as possible. Anyone interested in hand-me-downs (USA only) PM me. I'll gladly send them on for cost of shipping and handling. Ken

But then: take the tail to the canal office and collect the $1.00 bounty, then take the skin (with fur) to the hatter and sell it for $.25. What you do with the meat doesn't matter. You've already made more than a day's pay, and that's only one muskrat! Ken (the Hatter)

I've tried most versions of MSFS as they came out starting with 5.0. It is easier to say which ones I liked least. Those would be '95 and (I think it was) '97. Just did not like the way the aircraft handled! So after trying them I stayed with 5.1. I.liked 5.1 a lot. Flew the C182RG, the King Air, and I had a nice L188 Electra A flew for years with virtual airline Noble Air. Then, after buying a house and a change in my employment situation, I stepped away from it for a few years. About 2010 I got back into it with FSX. This was a great improvement. By now there was such great scenery addons, especially Orbx. But another great thing was the hardware now available; no longer had to use the mouse and keyboard. So FSX was a great foundation on which to build a really great simulator! Now I've moved on to P3D. The improved capabilities of this software is great, especially since it can handle the True Earth scenery, and perform well with all of the software and hardware add-ons. But the improvement is incremental, not revolutionary. But, all in all, the a answer to Rodger's question, I'd say that though I enjoy the enhanced performance of P3D, I'd vote for FSX. And for those who wonder if you can learn from a well built and set up simulator, I had the opportunity this past week to find out that you largely can. A friend won a "plane ride" in a church auction, and invited me to go along. The plane featured was the PA 24 Comanche, which excited me because it is in the same performance class, and quite similar to the Mooney Bravo I fly in the sim. I expected a nice little local tour, but boy was I surprised! The pilot, who is ATP and CFII, starts by offering a choice of aircraft, the Comanche or a C172. I chimed in with the Comanche. Bill, the pilot suggests that we fly to Poughkeepsie and back. Great! I went to college there, and flown into the airport in the SIM (Orbx freeware enhanced). Then he tells me to get into the plane, left seat. He starts the plane, and asks if I have rudder pedals in my sim. I do, so he tells me to taxi around the hangar to the runway, points out the PTT button, tells me to call tower, and on clearance, take off. The rest of the flight progressed the same way. Bill gave me a lot of pointers, largely about the particular aircraft, but largely I was on my own. When it was his turn my friend bowed out, so I flew both legs, getting 1 take off 1 landing, and an hour of flight time in daytime, and another at night. So what was the most significant lesson, the greatest takeaway? The Piper Comanche is a very difficult airplane for a severely arthritic 74 year old to get into and get out of. Wouldn't want to have to get out in a hurry! Ken

Happy Birthday, Rodge! Many happy returns, my friend. Ken

This is a tough one, Rodge. Cats (and dogs-but I know cats better) are bright, loyal, loving, and incredibly mischievous, and of course, cute as can be. Other animals have a hard time with this. Small rodents can be very cite, but with the possible exception of guinea pigs, not much of the other qualities. And though I wouldn't call A horse "cute", they are beautiful and have the other qualities. But as a lap companion they don't make it. A friend, Tom, had an OLD horse named Jake, who decided he would like to be a lap horse, but the object of his affection was a girl named Jessica. Jake was over 1000 pounds, Jess under 100. This did not work! So back to cute rodents. Squirrels are cute, and the way they tease the cat, seem to be pretty bright. But as wild animals there are now laws prohibiting keeping them as pets. Not always so: in the 18th and 19th century children often did keep them. Indeed, Benjamin Franklin gifted an American squirrel to the young daughter of an English friend. At the time a slang term for a squirrel was "skrug." In time the critter died, and the girl wrote Dr. Franklin to ask him to suggest an epitaph for her beloved, but alas, short lived pet. Franklin suggested this: Here lies Scrug As snug as a bug In a rug. Yes, that's where in comes from! Of course, as Pukcip suggests there all sorts birds kept as pets. We had a parakeek once, when I was a kid. But that's another story. (Dr) Ken