Retirement

By John White (10 September 2006)

Like many retirees I had a fairly stressful working life at executive level...and guess where...in the aviation business! So I was looking forward to some peace and quiet.

Maybe I should have been in groceries or clothing or something else from which I could eventually free myself without hang-ups...but no, it was aviation and that sort of business stays with you for life I guess.

In those early days someone told me about a Flight Simulator program which they talked me into buying. It was the 96 version...you know...square clouds, poor graphics, very basic aircraft and no joysticks. I persevered with it on dull rainy days until I almost got tremors in my right hand from hitting the keyboard. Sometimes I even managed to land the darn thing! It was all sort of "oh yea"...I'll play it when I'm bored.

So along comes the 98 version. Purely out of curiosity I bought it and hey, it was better! But it was still reserved for those dull rainy days as a antidote to boredom. I was even seen now & then using it on sunny days after which family and friends began to mutter about second childhoods.

Little did they know how bad it was to become!

With the 2000 version now at hand I just had to buy a joystick...well you had to didn't you? And then I found an amazing fact...you could actually download new aircraft for free off the internet! With my new friend the joystick, I could actually take off and land without crashing...thereafter boring my family and friends to death with tales of aviation heroics. The mutterings grew louder.

Poor old codger...he's going gaga...losing it...playing with his toy aeroplanes.

There was talk of online multiplayer stuff which I tried to understand but couldn't get the hang of after hours of fiddling, so I gave up on that but was nevertheless becoming strangely addicted to this game much to the amusement of others. I also found to my amazement that hundreds if not thousands of others users were involved in FS all over the world which I used as a rather weak defence against my increasing addiction. And they even have magazines too...must get on to that!

Just take a peek at all those goodies in the magazine will you...

As night follows day I just had to buy the 2002 version...and wow...this was really getting somewhere! Scenery was heaps better...lots more downloads to be had and even virtual airlines to join. Of course this meant a bigger and better computer so forget that new lawnmower for now...lets talk RAM, gigabytes, resolution, frame rates, chips and video cards!

Not forgetting a nice new yoke and pedals...now we're cooking with gas man.

"Sorry, can't make it to the BBQ this weekend...loading and testing some new FS programs."

Those odd hours on rainy days had progressed to odd hours on any day, sometimes 2/3 hours, reading FS forums on the net, flying and grappling with the complexities of downloading and installing new stuff.

But something was missing.

Wouldn't it be nice to meet others who were interested in FS? But how? I live in a fairly small coastal town in NSW where the main senior male activities are fishing, bowls, golf and having a quiet beer in the back yard with friends. Talk FS and they give that kind of look...you know...what have we got here then?

Not long after I purchased FS2004 I had the incredible good fortune of meeting up with a couple of other retirees who were friends of a friend...and they too were becoming addicted to FS. They both played golf and told me that during their games they talked FS non stop much to the annoyance and amusement of their fellow golfers.

So George and David and I got together very quickly to discuss our levels of involvement in FS and of course had heaps to talk about. This was the missing link I had been looking for. We had several meetings bouncing ideas around, all brim full of enthusiasm like three little boys in a lolly shop.

"How did you install that"? "Where did you get that plane"? "How do I get FS Navigator"? "What does ILS mean"?

Life suddenly took on a whole new dimension. We even advertised in our local paper for any others and received three replies...all in our age group luckily.

So we formed, rather informally, the Coffs Harbour FS Group...with no president, no secretary and no committee, who were to meet face to face monthly and more frequently by email.

OK this was great...but let's be bold and try something else...like online flying?

We decided that six members was enough for our group. As we were all at different levels of expertise the more experienced helped the others. Some were for and some against online flying but what the hell...let's give it a shot.

After many more hours on the net and many unmown lawns we worked out how to join the world of online flying. Friends, spouses and acquaintances feared for our sanity as we talked about NDB's, VOR's, Nav1 frequencies, Squawkbox, RogerWilco, etc...a language they couldn't understand in a million years.

There was an awful lot of learning to be done by my new found friends and their enthusiasm was inspiring...delightful.

On May 23rd 2005 I achieved my first on line flight alone and found myself muttering "one small step for man..." What a thrill it was! I immediately informed all the guys in the group...and even wanted to stop people in the street and tell them too!

The boys were thrilled but still a little cautious and after about three weeks of going it alone I had them at my house for a demo. To talk to ATC as far away as Canada/USA and to see other aircraft was to us just incredible...but they were hooked!

Now our next problem was how do we set up a private voice communication when flying? Lots more research and reading and Vatsim came to the rescue with their rw1.vatpac servers.

Our first online experience was a few circuits at our local airport and a short run to a nearby town...no ATC. For those early months it was only myself George and David, satisfied to be learning the intricacies to teach the others. First contact with online ATC can be rather daunting to the uninitiated...having to learn a whole new way of talking and etiquette, and trying to understand other English accents.

Spouses get a little alarmed to hear hubby muttering into a mike "Echo Kilo Whiskey holding short runway 21" or hearing a strange voice saying "maintain runway heading, not above 2000, squawk 3112". She was so alarmed I had to buy a headset!

And of course I had to get Broadband...no self respecting simmer can live without it.

It was into September 2005 before we had all the group flying online. By then we had become smarter, formalising our radio comms. I was Red1 then we had Red2 and Red3...also Blue1, 2 and 3. Each flying night (Mondays and Thursdays) we met online at 1930 hrs. We set up a roster system for flight plans and the flight leader on the night was the FP author.

We flew from random destinations...one week we were in UK...next week in Japan, then Italy, etc. It was great fun but again I felt we needed a little more.

So, our next giant step forward was to plan a world tour trip from UK to our home town in Australia in legs of 2-300 miles each week following the general line of Qantas flights...thru the Middle East, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia.

Each member was rostered in turn to create a flight plan...it was left to that person where to finish as long as it generally followed the above route. The next guy picked up where he landed.

The planner sets the time of day/season/weather, type of aircraft and included all necessary NDB's, VOR's, etc. plus notes on places of interest. Also any useful scenery downloads to enhance the leg.

Monday night was our world tour night and Thursday was a "fly anywhere" night. Our world tour commenced on Monay, October 3rd, 2005 and at mid July 2006 we were safely billeted at Phuket, Thailand...well over half way. I think my geography teacher would be quite proud of me now! We have flown in all sorts of weather in a wide variety of aircraft, both VFR and IFR with quite a few dawn or late night flights to see really nice weather effects made by setting customised weather options.

I'm now wondering what happened to that nice quiet retirement they promised me ten years ago.

I get up in the mornings and hit the keys sometimes even before brekky to see whats new on Avsim and other favourite sites. Deal with emails concerning black-outs, lost files, new flight plans, joystick probs and sundry other FS stuff from the group.

I keep finding new planes and scenery that falls into the "must have" category and then try to work out the read me files that are sometimes written by those who do not have a perfect grasp of English.

Changing cfg files has now become second nature but there is always the odd stuff up which will often take ages to sort out. So we had to learn about gau files, texture folders, panel changes, sound aliases, repaints, add-on sceneries, AFCADs, landclass, patches, unicoms, voz, GPS, FMC, autopilots, FSInn plus heaps of other stuff.

What an enormous amount to learn in our twilight years!

I also have to read NOTAMS, several forums and PC Aviator magazine.

Almost daily one of our group will email me with something he's found...a new web site, a new plane, a new scenery download for this week's flight.

On top of all that I have to find time to do what I originally intended the program for...that is...to fly!

My poor computer is groaning under the weight of approximately 200 planes and 40 plus GB of sceneries...and now we hear that FSX and Vista will soon be with us. Time for yet another computer update? In ten years I think this will be about the sixth.

Lunch time is often spent darting between the computer and the kitchen to check the progress of the latest download, anxious as always to fly the new plane.

What began as a fill in hobby for rainy days has now become an all consuming full time unpaid job with zero prospects of retirement. The lawn might get mown next week if I can find time and don't you worry about the car...a good rainstorm will soon clean it.

"Why don't you play bowls like other men"? "Don't have time"

"Why not join the golf club"? "Maybe next year"

"I've invited the neighbours in for coffee tonight" "You'll have to cancel...it's our flying night"

If you listen carefully when they lower the casket you may hear a ghostly voice saying "Echo Kilo Whiskey on final".

NO HOPE IS THERE?

John White
piano22@iprimus.com.au

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