Ken Q

I go back to FS 5.0 in the early '90s and I spent several hours a week at it. For a quite a time I belonged to a virtual airline, Noble Air. I flew the L188 Electra on planned flights all over the eastern US. I was even co-hub captain of the PHL hub. Then at the end of 2000 we moved house and my career made a major change, so I dropped out for several years. But then in 2011 I retired. At first I pursued my other interest, railroads. I worked on my model RR, while getting some real steam time firing and running steam locomotives. But then my knees got too bad for that (arthritis). So I went back to flight simming. But since my early days in the 90s so much has changed both in software and hardware. So now I take it very seriously, as if I were flying a real plane. A "real" cockpit, real world weather, real ATC (PilotEdge), and of course Orbx realistic scenery. So in terms of actually "flying," it's nowhere near as much as back in the 90s. If the weather is bad, I don't fly. (I have been working on the PilotEdge IFR program, but still not there yet). Preparing for a flight takes longer too. I use Navigraph for flight plannig, and use the Garmim 530 too. I carefully do a "cold and dark" start up, and follow the check list. So while I still acquire lots of hours, it's nothing like I did as a Nobel Air captain. Also I spend a lot of time building and updating my cockpit, currently on the fourth rebuild. There is so much great avionics hardware out there, and while some is very expensive, there is much that is reasonably priced. And since I returned to my old job, part time now, I don't have as much time as when I was fully retired. But it's a major part of my life (and a major drain on the cash flow), and a great source of pleasure, as well as intellectually challenging. And, yes, Ken H, flying on line and reacting with other SIM pilots and with controllers does add so much. Ken Q

While it really doesn't matter much to me, Thursday afternoon is just fine. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Ken

Be!ated, perhaps, but just in time for the Lunar New Year, The Year of the Rabbit. A Happy New Year to all who celebrate! And to all who welcome the excuse for a party and lots of great food. Ken

We had a TV early on. It was very temperamental, always losing horizontal or vertical hold, which resulted in cries of anguish: " Mommy, please fix the television". As a kid I was NEVER allowed to touch the thing, even to turn it on or off. Some of my friends at the time (early 1950s) had sets, but other I didn't until much later. Of course what was available on television (the short form "TV" didn't come along until later) was limited. We also had a radio set, which was a large tube affair, a piece of furniture. Grandpa was a boxing fan, and I remember him listening to the fights on this thing. I guess they weren't televised. Ken

From this view point (in my "mature" years) Penny is hot and sexy, but from a pre teen POV something of a distraction. By the end of the series I began to see things (ilke girls) differently. But the flying cowboy, his Cessna 310, his "get the bad guy" missions, and, yes, Penny were compelling. But you seem to be referring to the radio program. I'm recalling the TV series. Ken

Yes, but what about Sky King?

Rodger's first example is along the lines of my thought when suggesting this topic, but I also appreciate the comment about making a bike into an airplane (in our imagination). It's actually not much of a leap. The wind on our faces, the feeling of speed, and "banking" into a turn can feel much like flying an airplane. As a kid I lived on a side street that had a gentle down slope from the main road. Riding down this slope was much like a left base to land, then bank left to a short final and land on runway 01 (the driveway). It never grew old, at least not until I did (age 15 or so). But I built my first airplane simulator down in the basement in fourth grade. I was inspired by an assigned reading about Amelia Earhart, and just had to have a plane like hers! I started with two chairs, about six or so feet apart. Bridged the gap between them with some scrap lumber. Put a couple of cardboard boxes on this construction. One was the "cockpit." In that I set a kiddie chair, too small for me except it was the right height for the pilot's seat. Another, smaller box became the empenage, another, up front was the nose and engine cowling . Now I got out my Erector Set. From these parts I made a propeller and attached it to the Erector Set motor. Then cut some cardboard to make a wing, half the stabilizer and tail. It was built against a wall, so only had the right side. The Erector Set provided parts for the stick and rudder pedals. A train transformer served for the throttle, and a old volt meter wired to it served for that ASI. I was ready to fly and join Amelia Earhart on her adventures! Ken

I wasn't thinking in terms of flying "models" and toys, but, yeah, that counts too. Thank you John. You've opened another path to explore my theme, which is, how did we simulate flying before our wonderful, accurate and detailed computer flight simulators. I did much of the same, making paper airplanes, and experimenting with various modifications. Then there were the great rubber band powered balsa planes. Very simple, but provided hours of fun. Growing up, we lived in an area that still had very large back yards (subdivided decades ago). My rubber band powered airplane could take off in my yard and end up two or three yards over. Then there was the unsuccessful experiment with a "jet" balsa airplane advertised in a comic book. Blew out on the first try, and the solid fuel was so dangerous. Not something that should have been marketed to kids, if at all. Now of course there are R/C airplanes and drones that are very sophisticated. How even that world has changed. Ken

Sorry Rodge, but I don't think any of that "colonial' money will do. Has to be " real" money! Besides, the people shown on our "monetary notes," Washington, Jackson, Franklin are all dead too. So is the "gentleman" in Nigeria going to replace them with notes bearing the image of Joe Biden? Or do we get King Charles too?

I always fly with real world weather, and with the weather systems hitting the West Coast and into the Rockies right now, this gets very challenging. Lately I've been working on the PilotEdge IFR training program. Wednesday went from Prescott, AZ to Phoenix. Weather was socked in at Prescott so I flew IFR to KPHX, first actual IFR flight in IFR conditions, not a training exercise. Then back north to Sedona, KSEZ yesterday. What a beautiful area, and a beautiful and accurate airport. Tomorrow to Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and Boulder City, NV. Beautiful! (Sadly, the RW Lake Mead is very low and in trouble, and the recent rain seems to have only helped a little. Orbx Lake Mead is in all its glory). Ken

I've enjoyed exploring Alaska too. I'm A great fan of Josh Flowers' "Aviation 101" YouTube channel, and I followed his Alaskan adventures and replicated some of them in the Sim. Ken

I have a three favorite areas, all wonderful because they are so different. 1. My home territory the Northeast U.S. Favorite flights include areas and airports such as Block Island, (KBID), Nantucket (KACK) and Bar Harbor, (KBHB). Fun in the whole area. 2. Then the Pacific Northwest. Felts Field, (KSFF), Cle Elum (S93), and the Puget Sound, Olympia Peninsula region, Jefferson County (0S9) and Hoquiam, Bowerman Field (KHQM). 3. My current favorite, California. Everywhere from Santa Barbara (KSBA) to Palm Springs (KPSP) to Catalina (KAVX). Then Kern Valley (L05), Monterey (KMRY) and Nyack Blue Canyon (KBLU) over the infamous Donner Pass. Neighboring Arizona too, where my in-laws were "snow birds." All wonderful scenery areas enhance by Orbx Land Class or True Earth regions and wonderfully detailed airports. A lot of historical associations, too. But another major attraction of the West is live ATC by PilotEdge. Ken

I've been wondering too! Last visited the Forum November 30.

And many more in good health! Ken

Hear! Hear! I agree with this sentiment, and the all others! My wish, addition to all of this: I continue to crack jokes that causes my wife to succumb to fits of laughter, that no one else can understand. To whit: the last several nights we've been at work at our museum roasting chestnuts (over an open fire). Before roasting, chestnuts must be scored or they'll burst with a resounding POP! Now, at 10:30 on New Year's Eve, firecrackers are popping off in the distance all evening. Rather annoying! Wife walks in from the kitchen, makes a sour face at the noise. I comment "they didn't score the chestnuts". Laughter! Tension relieved! (Doubt anyone else would get it). Peace, Joy, Good Health, and some Laughter to all this New Year. Ken

Thanks, and to you too, Don. Ken

For the rest of the week (and leftovers). Three days (evenings) of Candlelight Evenings left, then three months off. Getting tired. Looking forward to the break. Love the (PT) job, but wonder how much longer we can keep it up.

Very quiet Christmas here, but thoroughly delightful. Started Christmas Eve with a nice dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu. Then the midnight (10:00 PM) service at church (Episcopal), where both of us are assisting ministers. Home, then open presents. Sleep in LATE! Today, my one annual really traditional family dinner (English). Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with all the trimmings. A nice Bitter to wash it down. (Here in the states they label it as an "IPA." But to be a true IPA it must go from the UK to India on a sailing ship in oak casks). But this is very close to the bitters we enjoyed in England, at dinner and pub hopping with cousin Morris in 1990. Stilton and Double Gloucester cheese with brandy and coffee for afters. Wonderful. Delicious. But most important, after all these years, A connection with the past. Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, later Dad, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins. All gathered around Grandma and Grandpa's dining room table. Separate table for the children (I hated that! My one year older cousin got to sit at the " grown up table, in my place, in MY house. Oh the indignantly!) Most now long gone. The few left have drifted off. But yet we carry on. A lovely day of celebrating the birth of the Christ Child, of reminiscences, of good food! Just the two of us now, but rejoicing in the power of this special time. A happy, merry, meaningful Christmas, Hanukkah, or whichever feast you celebrate, even just a family Sunday dinner, to all. While this date for this celebration may, on the surface, seem arbitrary, note that the Sun has stopped its retreat, and will return (to us in the North-sorry Oz, now it's our turn). Darkness has its limits. Love and joy to all in this season! Ken

Has anyone checked to see if there's a relationship to R2D2? Cousins, perhaps?

Who's Tom Brady? Never heard of him.

Thanks Derek, and a merry Christmas to you and your family Ken

Like John, I really appreciated a gift from my Naval unit during Operation Desert Shield: 12 days leave at Christmas 1990. While we were offered the opportunity to catch a military flight home, I got to thinking that if I went home going back would be too painful. So my wife and I arranged to meet in London. We spent a wonderful Christmas with my cousins in Hythe, then New Year with a school chum of my wife and her family in Beccles. In and of itself a wonderful Christmas present, but came with wonderful "stocking stuffers." Visits to Portsmouth (HMS Victory and Warrior), The Hastings Battlefield, Salisbury Cathedral, London Tower, and concluding by ringing in 1991 in a 14 th century church tower in Beccles. Sadly my older cousins have passed away, which makes this an even greater Christmas present. But the really great Christmas present: my wife! Christmas is her birthday. Ken

Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you and your family, Don. And to Rodge and Trudy. And to Pete, Gumby, Flyingleaf, and to every one. And a Happy, Healthy and Safe 2023 to All. Ken

The gradual return to normal: Midnight Mass (but ours starts at 10:00 PM), and my annual roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (Grandma's "recipe" "until it looks right") Christmas dinner. Also Candlelight Evenings at work. That part is a tough one because a) I don't like to drive at night, and b) being 'Old Coots' it's exhausting. But we've got a masochistic streak, we do enjoy it and I get shift differential pay. We'll have to see how this year works out. 2020 was cancelled outright and last year it was cancelled after two evenings after several staff members came down with Covid. Wife and I roast chestnuts. Christmas dinner is quiet just the two of us. We like to have a " Twelfth Night" party with friends for dinner on or about January 6 (and yes, the Christmas Tree stays up, and Christmas doesn't end until Epiphany, January 6). Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Happy Hanukkah to a!l who celebrate this wonderful feast! Got Jule! And a happy Holiday Season to all!!! Ken

Happy birthday, and many more! Ken