On Tour With The World's Greatest FS Fanatics

By Bill Smith (9 August 2012)

The term "flight simulation" was the first that I ever typed into an internet search engine way back in 1997. I was astonished to discover back then how many web sites were dedicated to this pastime and how many smart and generous people there were who shared my passion for PC-based flying.

I could not have foreseen then how I would come to be connected with these people or the welcome that I would receive when I eventually travelled half way around the world from my home in Australia to meet them in person. Our shared passion for flight simulation has taken me (and my long suffering family) to some of the most fantastic aircraft facilities in the world and we have been hosted by people who initially only knew me from email correspondence.

In this article I'll share some of the experiences I have enjoyed and introduce you to some of the people who helped make it happen. Let's start at the beginning.

Alastair Monk: United Kingdom / Duxford Aviation Museum

When I first searched the forums at FlightSim.Com back in 1997, Alastair was one of the "gurus" on the FS98 forum, generously giving his time to answer questions from clueless people like myself who were struggling to ride the learning curve of this newest incarnation of the Microsoft Flight Simulator program.

He and I have been emailing on a semi-regular basis since then and it was in 2003 that I put his name forward as a suitable candidate for "FS Flight Club International", a web site that was then in its infancy.

He has been an invaluable member of that web site (www.toomuchfs.com) ever since. He is also a financial supporter of the Duxford Aviation Museum so when he learned that my wife and I would be visiting London for a few days in 2011, he arranged to pick us up from where we were staying in central London and take us to this most spectacular museum.

Duxford is perhaps best known for its collection of warbirds and restoration projects. One such example is the "Sally B", a fully restored B-17 in flying condition that can be seen in operation in the U.K. on special occasions. It is the last B-17 still flying in Europe and during our visit Alastair was able to organize for me a personal tour of this aircraft.

The author (left) on board the "Sally B" with Alastair Monk (right)

Concorde at Duxford

Duxford also features a great collection of decommissioned airliners such as the Comet, Viscount, VC-10 and even the Concorde. For someone who had never before been on board a Concorde it quite a shock for me to see just how confined the interior of this supersonic airliner really was. For a "first class" aircraft, it is simply not in the same league of comfort that we have come to expect from modern airliners such as the A380. We spent the best part of a day there and you can view a short movie about our visit at YouTube:

Of course the best thing was having the opportunity to finally meet Alastair, a flightsim and aircraft enthusiast that I had been corresponding with for so many years.

Tony Radmilovich And Ron Blehm: USA / Evergreen Aviation Museum And Boeing Future Of Flight Museum

Both Tony and Ron are founding members of FS Flight Club International; Tony is a regular contributor to PC Pilot Magazine and you would have read many of Ron's articles here at FlightSim.Com. I'd been regularly corresponding with both of these guys since 2003, so when they learned that my family and I were planning to visit the west coast of the USA they put together a kind of "tag-team' effort to host us during Christmas 2009.

We relaxed and enjoyed our week in the snow country of central Oregon and on the last night of our stay at Tony's house he introduced me to the concept of a "shared cockpit" flight in FSX (using two coordinated computers) that somehow went spectacularly wrong. The flight plan failed to load on one of the computers which resulted in us (me actually) circling around aimlessly for far too long trying to find a suitable alternative airport at which to land. After a while we decided that fuel had become a critical issue and so began a descent to the nearest airport. At the end of the flight both engines of our 737 flamed out due to fuel starvation as I flared out over the threshold of the runway. That's one simulated flight I'll never forget!

The next day (Boxing Day) Tony drove me and my family all the way up to Portland to meet Ron Blehm and his family. Ron had arranged for us to all go and visit one of his favorite places, the Evergreen Aviation Museum at McMinnville. The scale of this place has to be seen to be believed and the variety of aircraft on display there is astonishing.

The author (left) with Ron Blehm (center) and Tony Radmilovich (right) at Evergreen

Boeing 747 in Evergreen Aviation livery

There are examples of some of the earliest aircraft ever to fly right up to a Boeing 747 and everything in between. And when I say everything, I'm talking about some of the rarest aircraft that you'll ever see including the Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose", the Beechcraft Starship and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. You can get an idea of what's there by watching a short video of our visit:

But Ron had one more place he wanted to show us and he drove us all the way to Seattle to see it. The Boeing facility at Everett Field was in the early stages of testing its new 787 aircraft and it was a rare privilege for us to stand in icy wind on the roof of the Future of Flight Museum and watch these brand new aircraft go through their paces. I made a movie of our visit there:

But of course there was no filming or photography allowed inside the factory where we watched 787s and 777s being assembled. The guided tour was very detailed and the vastness of the interior of this factory is awe-inspiring! If you ever make it to Seattle, you must take a tour of this place.

Geert Rolf: The Netherlands/ Someren Museum of Flight Simulation

Geert Rolf was a crew member of FS Flight Club International until he found better things to do, but he still runs the web site, fixing up any glitches and generally adding his acerbic comments to the emails that flow between its members on a daily basis. Earlier this year, when Geert discovered that my wife and I would be sailing into the dock at Nijmegen in The Netherlands as part of our planned European river cruise he offered to not only meet up with us but to take me to somewhere very special.

Link trainer at Someren at Evergreen

Inside the Beech Baron simulator at Someren

And so, while my wife was visiting the Floriade flower show at Venlo, I was whisked away by Geert to visit what may possibly be the only Museum of Flight Simulation in the world, at Someren. This is a small private concern that is packed with cockpit simulators. There is a Link trainer (picture above, left) which pre-dates by decades the computerized flight simulators with which we are all so familiar, and there is an ex-KLM A310 cockpit simulator that is currently being restored to "flying" condition. The simulator that I actually had an opportunity to fly is a Beech Baron (picture above, right). This once was a real aircraft that was decommissioned after a belly-up landing. After removing the tail and the wings, it was installed at the museum at Someren. So what was it like to fly? It was an absolute blast! You can watch a very short video of my visit here:

Of course, before I met any of the guys I've talked about I first made the acquaintance of some FS fanatics much closer to home. One is Peter Stark, who writes for PC Pilot Magazine and who lives near to where the Busselton (YBSN) Air Show took place around 10 years ago, which was the occasion that he and I first arranged to meet in person. You may also have heard of Gwyn Perrett who is famous not only for building a 737 simulator in his own home but who now runs his own business making highly realistic cockpit simulator equipment for other FS enthusiasts around the world (www.aerosimsolutions.com.au). Indeed, I was visiting Gwyn's house one afternoon when one of his customers was there, having flown in from Thailand to take delivery of his very own A340 throttle quadrant.

It has been a privilege for me to meet so many flight simulation enthusiasts from all around the world; to hear their stories and share our mutual interest. Take it from me, they are without doubt some of the most focused and most generous people you could ever hope to meet.

Bill Smith
YPPH
leesmith@ca.com.au