Thank goodness that a “fatal error†in the virtual world is not lethal. I fly the Cessna 150 from Austin Executive to the Angleton area, a route I have driven dozens, if not hundreds, of times, and have flown in a real plane several times. I plan my route and take off, and after struggling with power and trim, eventually settle on a steady course and altitude. The view out the window is much like in a real plane: semi-familiar. On the map, I see that I am paralleling my intended course a few miles to the east. I am okay with that and continue on, tuning the nav radios and checking out the different views. After droning along for more than an hour, I decide to intercept my intended course. Below me, I see Interstate 10 and ahead I see Eagle Lake. I start to maneuver, checking the map and the views, and suddenly a FATAL ERROR message pops up. Damn! I have overloaded my poor computer’s brain. The FSX program restarts, and this time, I take off from Eagle Lake to continue to Angleton. The Cessna develops a strange list to the left, and does not respond correctly. I cannot maintain a course or altitude and crash. I respawn in Eagle Lake, and depart with no problem. After about another hour, I land straight-in at KLBX. (No pattern after all that time; I didn’t want to crash the plane or the program.) I take off again and head to the Gulf of Mexico, just 15 miles away. Factories appear just where the Dow Chemical and Monsanto plants should be, and ahead is the vast expanse of blue. To the left, I see Galveston Island, and to the right, the mouth of the Brazos River. The water in the Gulf and the Brazos is way too blue and sparkly, but why not? In the virtual world, all water can be blue and sparkly. I head back to the airport for a decent pattern and landing.

Instead of flying back to Austin, I fly almost the same route again, this time in the Cherokee 140, departing from Austin Mueller. The Cherokee seems a little steadier than the Cessna, but that may just be me. The nav radios are harder to see and tune. Again, after a long stretch of little to do, I start looking at the map and the views a little too much, and FATAL ERROR. This time I just close the program and walk away.

Cross-countries on the simulator are much like cross-countries solo in a small plane: once the plane is stable on course and at altitude, there is little to do except monitor the instruments and look out the window. There is the same monotony, the same sense of unfamiliarity with familiar topography and positional quasi-awareness, and the same dependence on technology to get you where you want to go.

VIRTUAL LOGBOOK

C150 SX-BDG (FSX)

From: 3R3 (Austin Executive)

To: KEGL (Eagle Lake, TX); KLBX (Brazoria County); KLBX-local

PA28-140 OY-DHD (FSX)

From: KATT (Austin Mueller)

To: KLBX (Brazoria County)

LOGBOOK

June 23, 1990; June 24, 1990

C-152 N6571L

From: 3R3 (Austin Executive)

To: LBX; LBX-local (Brazoria County)

SEL: 1.8; 2.2

August 24, 1990

PA28-140 N55633

From: AUS (Austin Mueller)

To: LBX (Brazoria County)

SEL: 2.0