The Ultimate Upgrade

By Tony Vallillo

A serious flight simmer will go through computers like a hot knife through butter, and it doesn't look like things will get any better soon. I don't know, anymore, what is driving what - sims that require more power, or chips that deliver more power that sims can take advantage of.

I fly airplanes for a living, and yet I still enjoy doing it on the side with the 'ol PC. Over the years it has added up to somewhere in excess of $8000 worth of hardware and software, and never mind that FS2002 now has VERY much better scenic effects than the mega million dollar simulators we use at the training center.

But in seeking ever more realistic flying adventures, don't forget about the ultimate upgrade. No, I don't mean your computer. I mean your airplane.

For far less than I have spent over even the last 5 years (and I'm sure it's the same for you) one could actually get a private pilots license these days. And in the immediate future, it will be even easier and cheaper, as the new Sport Pilot proposal becomes reality, with a fast track to licensing and new, smaller and cheaper to operate airplanes. (Note that I said cheaper to operate, not cheaper to buy. That is another issue altogether, although you can build one yourself for a very reasonable price that will outperform anything without a jet engine.) And all that time you logged on the PC will have a very definite positive effect on your airplane learning curve. Read fewer hours and less dollars to license.

Yes, I know that getting the license is one thing, and staying current is another thing, from an money perspective. It IS a lot cheaper to maintain currency in FS once you have shelled out for the computer. For the next six months or so. But unlike PC's, airplanes don't need to be replaced every 6 months or so, so the airplane you fly now will likely be the airplane you will be flying ten or even twenty years from now. (A Beech Bonanza I owned in 1974, originally built in 1948, is still actively registered today, out west.)

Once you get the license, it will only cost less than a grand a year to stay current and have a lot of fun. Most of us spend at least that much on new hardware every year to keep ahead of one Microsoft product or another. So think about it. After all, they've kept the real Meigs open for you...

Tony Vallillo
avallillo@earthlink.net

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