FS: A Personal Niche

By John Franco (16 August 2006)

When I think of Flight Simulator, it is like a house. The person who signs the deed sometimes has to go to town hall for special permits or maybe wants to run to the hardware store to paint their house. Well, Flight Simulator is oddly similar. We virtual PIC's can run flight simulator the way we want to.

For some pilots, jets are the way of life. They go to the computer store and get add-on products that feature extensive panels, overheads, avionics and electrical systems. These people find excitement in doing medium or long haul transports in marginal weather.

Some people get a kick out of navigation by sextants or point and see. They might be looking for excitement in a recent flight training session at their local airport or just a nice scenic run down a mountain chain.

We can't forget the guys and gals who like scenery and weather. The name of their game is finding an AFCAD file to make a favorite or nearby airfield look more realistic. When someone loads up a weather program, they are looking to fly either with set weather, or they want to be surprised every day with the current weather. For me, the default weather loader powered by Jeppesen is good enough to get the job done.

And of course we can't ignore multiplayer. Just take a look at the slogan that is displayed in the multiplayer connection box. "ESRB Notice: Gaming Experience May Change during online Play". For those who look to VATSIM, they want live interaction to tell them what frequency to change to or when to descend to intercept the final approach path. And VATSIM is not the only way to get connected online. People like me frequent FS Host Spy by Russell Gilbert. This program gets information by 150+ multiplayer servers. Some of the servers here are connected to flight simulator communities and VA's with as many as 10 or 8000 people.

Others may take the "As Real as it Gets" slogan and look to the real world for inspiration. I sometimes go to www.flightaware.com to peek on what may be happening at my local airport for the day or I might use the information listed to get an idea for flying. This neat web site lists all IFR and some VFR traffic for all of the US airports with standard information as altitude, speed and departure and arrival time. But where Flight Aware really sticks out is that it lists the flight plan on file for that particular aircraft. One can even view the history of the aircraft from days prior. This web site will probably go ooh YES! to the IFR and heavy fellahs and ladies.

Last but not least, there are probably pilots out there who say, "OK I have this much time available today, so how can I make the best of it and what plane should I fly?" These are the people who also enjoy life outside of flightsim, or have other obligations or maybe even one computer for five people. On a recent FS experience, I turned a trip that should've taken an hour and 45 minutes into a one hour and six minute trip. This is possible because flight simulator doesn't send you to court if you crash or fly VFR in the Washington ADIZ without contacting anyone. I am in this window. I belong to a VA and currently at the writing of this article will be promoted to Sr. Captain at the 500 hour mark in less than 100 hours. With my senior year of high school approaching, I am just trying to fly an hour or so here and there and see where everything falls into place. In FAA terms, the VA that I belong to is a Part 135 Unscheduled Airline if I'm not mistaken.

John Franco
johndabomb3000@snet.net

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