MAD1

Apologies (not really) for a 'left field' post, see thread 'Meigs or Bust' https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/60177-club-chachapoya-meigs-or-bust/?do=findComment&comment=314908

'The business case for non-human exploration of the solar system'. Community participation. Real Space virtual reality / sim / visualisation. Community engagement. A 'left field' comment/enquiry. Been a good weekend for me, weather is 'at the turn', being our Aussie Autumn, so those beautiful days that we get in Autumn and Spring, for us here in the subtropics, not too hot and humid (we've had an unusually wet summer, and our summers are always wet, being the subtropics and our natural environment is 'subtropical rainforest' (there's a clue 'rain forest', 'rain' get it?) Was able to finally get on top of the mowing, and some weeds, nature had taken over during the summer. Enjoyed 'sunset drinks' with my wife, sitting on the mown lawn, enjoying the kaleidescope of landscape - blue sky with cumulo clouds, setting sun, hills of green with black cattle and white cattle grazing, balmy weather, crescent moon appearing in the twilight etc etc. Pure bliss, especially given I got off my bum at the computer and got outside and did something, could enjoy the fruits of my labours. Anyhow, being a lifelong amateur astronomer and space nut (as a kid I followed all the Apollo Moon landings, at 14 years old saw Apollo 11's moonwalk on black and white TV). So, had a thought! (Always a dangerous thing!): 'The business case for non-human exploration of the solar system'. Community participation. Now, we all know (or should) that anywhere other than Earth is a shithole. Not hospitable to humans. The Moon, no, a vacuum, and the solar radiation will kill you. Mars? No, hardly any atmosphere, and also the solar radiation will kill you. Contrary to popular ignorance, people think that astronauts going to the Moon to live, or to Mars, with at least Mars having 'nice' pics as provided by NASA, at least it has a sky hue. The Moon is out. At Mars you can't take off your helmet and feel the breeze and smell the air. So, the only place that is pleasant is here, Earth. And, the cost and technical challenges of sending people to other worlds is astronomical (pun intended). But, with technology advancing greatly (including 'machine learning' ('artificial intelligence' is a misnomer, there isn't and never will be any such thing) but 'machine learning' is real and has been here for decades. So, the business case can be mounted very strongly that investment is best placed into having humans on Earth experiencing 'as real as it gets' (my, that sounds familiar!), a virtual reality experience of places outside Earth. Now, why am I posting this sermon here, well, over the third glass of red wine, on a halycon afternoon outdoors, and seeing the new Moon, got me thinking, 'What about community access to virtual reality of off-Earth places, who might be the communities who have experience of such things'? Well, I've never dabbled in space sim stuff, but am aware that such groups exist. But I do know about aviation sim worlds, this one. So (yes, I've put a lot of 'so's in this post), why couldn't we, the community, perhaps this FlightSim community, dabble into that world? After all, there is a phallanx of very experienced aviation simmers, and their sim environments can be very realistic, especially the latest software of Flight Simulator 2020 etc. So (final 'so') what might all this mean? Don't know. Has anyone in this fraternity dabbled with space stuff? Is there a way that we, humble citizens, might get access to data feeds, scenery, that is realistic, or based on real, that we could then input into our sim environments and explore the Moon and Mars? I know such setups exist, have seen them referenced on the NASA website and elsewhere. But have hardly ever delved into them, never got involved, just a cursory look see. Reference: just came across this article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-well-never-live-in-space E.g. of an existing app https://eyes.nasa.gov/curiosity. This is very good, will explore it further. But, I'm not talking about what may exist currently, I'm talking about taking a quantum leap further. It's all possible technically. Your thoughts?

Re Bowlachili. 1. Clearly, VP2's lips are sealed. 2. First mention of Bowlachili. As a stickler for good, accurate data, and for the posterity record, I've been trying to find the original posts (harder than expected) but found them just now. 2.1 Thread ‘The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO’.Page 45, 4 March 2024. 2.1.1 ViperPilot2: “There's another guy that's much better suited for the Role; he's over at the trattoria down the street. Ask for Timofeo Bowlachili; he'll be the bloke over in the corner embracing the bottle of grappa... “. 2.1.2. MAD1: “As VP2 indicated, yes, in future events, a few, short newspaper articles by that celubrious guy, not Giorgio Bianchi [who TPD said Elias of Radio Chachapoya fame recommended] who paints bicycles during the day, but Timofeo Bowlachili. Ah yes, Tim, Timmy! That's my man. (Visions appear from old movies: airports in the fog, Bogart and Bacal, "Of all the gin joints ....", yes, that's Timmy's persona, a Bogart character). AC has asked me, MAD1, to pass onto the Media Group that he'd like to pal up with Elias, sometime in the future, for the next event, no longer as AC, but as TB (unfortunate acronym). I, MAD1, have invited TB to accompany him on future adventures, MAD1 does the flying, TB as a passenger will experience the joy of the event and can write the occasional article for the Chachapoya Chronicle. Given that MAD1 and TB will be in foreign climes, not Oz, then they'll be just another pair of foreign tourists in a foreign land, or skies, etc.”. Current status. Tim is still an unknown quantity, seems he might have a drinking problem. I, MAD1, have only met him once. Have yet to have him fly with me as a passenger. He might be pleasant or unpleasant company. We'll see, time will tell!

alanpugh. Lovely pics, enjoyed reading about your flight.

Finally found and caught up with this thread. My comments: 1. This is a very good thread, and thanks all for the tutorials on how to fly a chopper. For me, it is a totally unknown art. So have learnt heaps already from reading what's been posted so far. (Whilst for awhile I won't be active in the sim, is broken, but I do and can enjoy reading stuff.) 2. Posts that might upset people, especially historical references (textual, graphical etc.). All comments so far about this in this thread are valid in my opinion. I think the main thing guys, as has been said, is to think twice before posting something, and to preface something with a warning, as has been done, and finally, not get into a 'flame war' about any of it. If someone objects, take it on the chin, don't try and justify, and move on. The thread theme is the main thing, i.e. helicopters, RW and sim. 3. Re 'Air Crash Investigations'. I also think I've seen all episodes. As a 'systems man', i.e. computer systems (IT degree) and in my working life, the episodes are very educational about when something goes wrong. Indeed, per standard systems knowledge, it generally isn't a single, catastrophic failure of something, but mostly a series of little errors, mistakes, failures, physical breakages, that each by itself wouldn't have caused the crash, but the sequence and series of them, all stacking up, lead to the crash. I don't like the episodes where people die in the crash, I prefer the episodes where everyone survives. But I do still watch all. That is reality, it happened. The important thing is how can that type of event be prevented from happening again. (For a modern set of examples, the Boeing Max aircraft, and what has possibly deteorated in that company's corporate mindset, leading to their quality assurance and safety systems programmes, is disturbing. Re this, I've just done a Google search for an update on the 787 Dreamliner flight Mon 11 March 2024 from Sydney to Auckland that had a massive drop in altitude. It was on our TV news, but nothing heard since. Here's the latest. (Don't reply to this item, as this thread is about helicopters). https://www.voanews.com/a/black-boxes-seized-after-technical-failure-on-boeing-made-latam-plane-/7523986.html " 'Black swan event' Passenger Brian Jokat said he spoke to one of the pilots after the plane touched down. "I asked him 'what happened?' and he said to me 'I lost my instrumentation briefly and then it just came back all of a sudden'," the passenger told national broadcaster Radio New Zealand." Brian Jokat, Canadian, speaks on this YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_WLUs0wB34)

Chachapoya Chronicle. News from your Aviation Correspondent, Tim Bowlachili. Saturday 6 April 2024. Meigs Airport, Chicago. Hello from that famous newspaper, the Chachapoya Chronicle. Thanks to the largesse of that media empire, the Chachapoya Media Group, the Chronicle is free and delivered to everyone's physical (these are hardly used these days it seems) and electronic mailboxes (via this Flightsim.com fraternity, i.e. this thread). As a freelance aviation journalist of decades standing (but generally sitting and lying down), I've been casting about looking for a publication that'll take my copy. Tried the New York Times, Washington Post, Times of London, Sydney Morning Herald, and many others. Alas, all were less than keen. Of course, I approached first the Chachapoya group, but it was difficult to track down any staff. Chachapoya Radio has gone off-air. Anyhow, they finally contacted me and gave me a contract - they'd pay me (in Chachapoya dollars, a bit (pun intended) like bit-coin, the RW value fluctuates greatly it seems, but Chachapoya admin staff assured me that their dollars as as solid as Fort Knox!) So, dear readers, here is the first report. I've frequented the Meigs airfield for the last week or so, saw a lot of new activity, different types of aircraft flying in. Some had passengers, celebrities (or wanna-be celebs) even. I chatted to a few pilots and passengers as best I could, they weren't that friendly. Seems there has been some type of meeting here, about some club they're forming. Now, one aircraft that arrived, a flashy Hawker Siddeley 125 800 (HS125-800) with bright red colour scheme, was apparently a Squitts Porridge Oats commercial flight from the United Kingdom. Some classy passengers! Later, I frequented the usual bars where the Meigs pilots hang out, had a few chats with some of the boys, not much of interest other than their flight stories (PIREPs etc.), but wow, this classy broad came up to me (I'd met her, or tried to when she got off the Squitts plane, but she snubbed me totally), Monique, she was the height of elegance and effusiveness, said she'd been told who I was and that she wanted to meet me - a world-class journo, reknowned by all the great papers worldwide, been in war zones, been nominated for journalism awards etc. etc. My reponse of course was nonchalent '... of all the gin joints in the world, what's a classy dame like you doing in a place like this ...' (you know, Bogart style, I like to play it cool, especially with the ladies). She told me that Squitts is shooting a high-budget advertisement video in Chicago, and she's been flown in with the cast. And no, she doesn't know anything about the pilots of her plane, or anything about any club meeting, she said 'And frankly my dear, I don't give a damn, they're just the taxi drivers, we film celebs don't speak to them, I have my people who do that.' So, dear readers, it seems there's two, or perhaps three, subplots here: the Squitts story; the flyin-in meeting; and I've got wind of some helicopter thing developing. Your investigative reporter, Tim Bowlachilli, will get to the bottom of all these stories ('Bowlachilli always gets the scoop, even if it's the last scoop'!)

Chuckle, chuckle. I just skimmed through the meeting thread (now locked) and had a giggle that whilst TPD specified meeting rules, including only discussing meeting stuff, the other non-meeting stuff crept in, which should have been put in this thread. So much for rules then ... . Glad to see Sirrus came back to make a comment or three, some of which I agree with. Anyhow, you (should that be we? unsure) seem to have got the guts of the matter sorted out, a consensus on how many major and minor events per year. I think this is the main thing. Everything else is small beer, just roll casually along boys. Did someone mention beer? Oh, I just did. Given that somebody has offered to 'shout' (Aussie term, means to pay for a round of drinks), then beer seems more important than any meeting procedures. Cheers, here's luck, prost, campie, bottoms up, etc. boys!

Why do helicopter pilots sit on the right?

I've met up with Tim Bowlachilli, in a bar in downtown Chicago. Says he's onto something, that he's got a nose for these things, he reckons there's various affairs, capers, afoot with all these flyers arriving. He's been told it's simply for an inaugural General Meeting to form a flying nostalgia fraternity, but something's fishy. Could be just a front for something else. Hmmmm ....

My contribution. Not per the questionnaire, sorry. 1. Using personal names. No. I prefer our nicknames. And I really don't want to meet anyone for real, think that would be a disappointment for both parties! I like the nicknames, ViperPilot2, TomPenDragon etc. I like to keep the mystique of anonymity. 2. Home field. Agree with others, not necessary, but some iconic airports around the world would be good to rotate the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to would be fun. Home1 is Meigs, Home2 might be outside the USA e.g. Canada, UK etc. 3. Happy with whatever the community decides for everything. Have only limited time to be active in the sim (and now the computer is on the blink, again!). But I do enjoy reading other's adventures. 4. One thing I'd like to try (and had thought to suggest it) is a real-time group flying event. Using our old (perhaps obsolete, perhaps not!) online flying functionality built into our sims. Not for discussion in this meeting, but a future idea, an experiment, is it still possible to get a server mounted somewhere in the world, or the servers I see listed in that server thingy app, I saw South American fellas in one a few years back, tried to connect but no luck. I'm suspicious that we, ourselves, could re-activate that functionality. Might be fun, albeit a messy thing to set up, to try a group flying thingy. Not for everything, just an occassional get-together. 6. VP2, your poetry was great, I was hoping for more, but you went quite. So please, don't hold back, more please. 7. Internationality. I'm aware that our different cultures have different forms of politeness and manners. I've gleaned that USA folk find our Aussie style a bit confronting, we don't mean it, it's just the way we talk with our friends here. So, the underlying principle, is polite courtesy, which I try to remember and restrain myself when about to make what I think is a hilarious joke, people overseas might not 'get it'.

So what's the story with this. Just went there, it's blank. Announcement: The official Meeting thread is now open: https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/60205-club-chachapoya-2024-annual-meeting-01-04-april-meigs/?do=findComment&comment=314339 Oh. This has content https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/60205-club-chachapoya-2024-annual-meeting-01-04-april-meigs

jgf. Think you're crazy flying in an open cockpit in that weather (I would have modified it, got electric heating of a beefed up alternator, and fitted perspex cockpit doors. Anyhow, hat off for your feat! Nels. Just read your original 2008 article, very interesting. The linked site re history no longer exists. Had wondered occassionally, why did FS choose Meigs as the default field? Anybody know? Maybe the original developers had one or more people living in Chicago? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field

Newbie question (also to show that someone is reading posts in detail). ScottishMike, your final into Narsarsuaq, Greenland, is that normal to be low, 4 red lights? As someone who has yet to learn how to use that navaid, is the correct glide path 2 white, 2 red?

I'm in Meigs, in my Cessna 182. Have and will continue to post in the other thread https://www.flightsim.com/forums/topic/60177-club-chachapoya-meigs-or-bust.

Well, sipping my wake-up coffee on this Easter Monday morning (Oz time, east coast, AEDT), and perusing posts since my last visit, a lot of reading to catch up on. Seems it might be my 'bedside' reading instead of TV (only rubbish on that anyway). Also, seems we have budding (or should that be 'closet') novelists amongst us. Am enjoying their 'war and peace' sagas. Caused me to reflect just now: 'what is this phenomenon, these old guys, sim flyers, making up all these stories. Must be a psychological name for it. Aviation technical info, albeit via a sim environment, woven into pretend stories, hmmm, now there must be already a literature genre for that. Anyone know if there is, or if not, what it might be that is being created here? Reminds me of all those pulp-fiction type novels over the last few hundred years, yeah, you know, something like "Biggles flys again", "Rip Tear, flying ace, in Flying Adventure in Africa" etc. etc. Many a good 'ol radio serial produced from those over the years. (Clearly a Radio Chachapoya opportunity, i.e. not the script, but an actual audio recording, no, just thinking, not suggesting anyone do it.) And out of the fog at a lonely airport, late at night, strolls a figure dressed in a raincoat, homburg hat pulled down at a rakish angle on his head, leaning into that freezing Chicago drizzle, is that stalwart of such stories, the news hound, that old-school journo, Tim Bowlachilli. He's got wind of something going on, he can smell a good story from miles away, why are all these strange aircraft arriving at Meigs. Hmm, he'll haunt a few bars in Chicago that the flyboys are known to congregate at, and sidle up to a few of them with a nonchalent 'How ya doin? I noticed a few of you joystick jocks flying in. I'm a freelance journalist for a few flying publications. A few nice-looking dames you boys brought in as passengers, yeah, nothun much misses my eyes, I hang out in the Terminal often. And yeah, I have connections in the aviation world, I've been around a long time, so I know stuff, learn stuff. So, can I buy you another Scotch and get a few tidbits of news ....?) Given the novelists are taking all that effort to write their stories, and put in great pics, I feel it's incumbent on me to read them in detail, not just flick quickly (scroll) through them. Taking the time, yes, as has been said, taking the time, causes much better joy and satisfaction. So, have just read, and enjoyed the first post, Scottish Mike's Learjet from Scotland to Meigs. And oh yes, that Monique is such bitch! So, apart from the plane part of the stories, will be a challenge to keep up with the plethora of new bit-player characters: Scottish Mikes, TomPenDragon (I was going to ask him anyway if he could explain who all those people were in the Oz rally, and they're still in play it seems. And, by the way, I still have unanswered questions about Mikes 'Professor' and what all that was about. Ahh, the deep mysteries deepen, probably best to leave those stories dead and buried, having complete closure on any story destroys the suspense.)