How did you learn to fly?

[jmig]

I got into Flight Simming from real flying. I went to pilot training and flew in the USAF.

I went to work for a company that didn't allow you to fly yourself for business so I quit flying. Years later, I started my own company and I got back into flying for business. I bought MSFS to help me practice instrument procedures.

[XOrionFE]

I started with aspirations to become a fighter jock as a career. I learned to fly the sims first starting with the very first flight simulator rendition on an Apple II Plus (anyone remember that?). Went through the many versions of flight simulator, Falcon 4, Janes F/A 18, and LockOn all from a desktop platform.

While in college back in the 80s I joined the US Navy Reserves and after boot camp I went to A school to learn how to work on planes. I became an AME which basically means I worked on Environmental systems (Oxygen, Press, Air Conditioning) and on Ejection Seats. After 3 years of working in a reserve squadron on Lockheed P-3 Orions I got noticed and asked if I wanted to train to become a Flight Engineer. Who on earth would say no to that! So off to more training in NAS Willow Grove PA. I passed the schooling and became a reserve Flight Engineer. I did 3 years more of this and then in 1994 the military budget cuts shut down my squadron. I was making good money in my civilian job so rather than transfering to another squadron i decided to call it quits. I also had no desire anymore to stay in the Navy and go after fighters as again, my civilian career in computers was blossoming and the money was too good to pass up. I had many good simulator rides and real flights in the P-3 and miss it. (that is where my screen name comes from).

Well finally a few years back I got to a point in my life where it made sense to get my pilots license and finally went through the training. I picked it all up really quick and after about 50 hours I got my checkride and passed. I then immediately started into an instrument ratiing when I learned I was going to be the proud father of triplets. I was blessed with 3 kids at once and obviously that put a quick end to my real flying.

This brought me back to the sim world. And there I have been up until about 2 months ago when I finally jumped back into the seat of a 172 and started flying again. I am now just beginning the instrument rating track again and in the meantime have picked up a wonderful hobby and community. I have learned much new including how to operate a cnc so I am making my own panels and building a sim (Lear 45). Have also been toying with some other planes.

Regards,
Scott

[BlackWidow]

This is a fantastic thread.

I was born on Edwards AFB and grew up watching all of the fighter jets scream across the sky. My grandpa would take me on to the base (he was a retired Chief Master Seargant) and i would get to watch the shuttle land when it used to land at edwards alot mor then it does now. My mom worked on the base and I remember one summer i got to work with a bunch of mechanics who worked on F-15s It was the greatest job i have ever done (not that i did much). That was it for me form that summer on I wanted to fly but...... unfortunatly i did not apply myself in school so I joined the Army.

A friend of mine told me to get FS9 and we could fly online together I hesitated for about 3 months then i finally broke down and got it. My friend would instruct me while on TS and we would fly all over the place. Since then I have learned as much as i can from the web and reading various books. I still dont fully understand how to fly approches with presicion but I am always ready to learn. Thats how i learned to fly and how i am still learning. thanks for reading.

[Goldmember]

That is what I like about MSFS: real pilots that actually benefit from it by practicing procedures. I can't wait to have real pilots in my 737 sim practicing freaky emergency things. To illustrate how rare this is, I've been a real life racing car driver and I've never found a realistic racing game. Not with motion, wrap around vision or whatever. The handling is fundametally wrong.

[Goldmember]

Damn, I'm old!

- 1983: some flight simulator that only presented numbers on the monochrome screen of my Atari 1040ST
- 1984: A wireframe sim on the Atari
- 1989: An F16 sim on Silicon Graphics (I was working in computer graphics)
- early '90's: First PC with FS. Had to search for extensive manuals to learn about navigation. No internet back then, at least not at home. Flew from VOR to VOR in the area FS covered at that time. Also practiced with aerobatics planes or tried to land a Chessna on Chigago Meighs between the runway treshold and the runway number.
- 2000: FS 2000 and I wondered what idiots tried to fly those heavy 737's that don't react at all. The helicopter was cr*p as well. Put the whole program away.
- 2001: Many hours with Combat FS over the internet.
- 2006: Read about FS Weekend in a little magazine article. Sounded funny so I went. Laughed my pants off over these guys who built a complete cockpit. On the way back in the car my buddy and I were drawing the first scetch though. Got FSx, mastered the schoolbus landing with Loopy Larry and went to the ATP lessons. Failed the exam (b.t.w. is the annoying voice of the examiner a woman or a man?).
- 2009-jan: an afternoon in the full size 737 sim in Bruges, Belgium.
- 2009-feb: started my 737 sim build.
- 20??: complete pit with shell, dome projection and hexapod motion platform.

B.t.w., I'll never, ever wear a pilot shirt in my sim. I'm building a replica simulator, not a replica plane. Real life pilots also fly sims in their casuals.

[No Longer Active]

B.t.w., I'll never, ever wear a pilot shirt in my sim. I'm building a replica simulator, not a replica plane. Real life pilots also fly sims in their casuals.

I must admit, those simmers that wear stripes while simming do make me chuckle!

It would be quite interesting to know how many people do take their sim that seriously that they wear a uniform while flying, personally I haven't met one yet but I recon there are a few!

Down my local flying club (nothing more than 172's and Pipers) if someone comes into the clubhouse wearing pilots uniform and stripes, the myth is they have to buy the drinks for everyone in the clubhouse! And because of that myth, believe me Knowone wears uniform in the clubhouse.

Why would you wear pilot uniform and stripes for flying a Cessna 152 for pleasure?, I think these guys fancy the look of being airline pilot! lol

I am not criticising anyone that does wear a uniform but it sure does add to the realism I guess especially big jet flyers! But GA pleasure flyers in a uniform with stripes is rather unusuall (though I know instructors do have to wear uniforms alot of the time which I understand)

[Peter Dowson]

Damn, I'm old!

You are old? Makes me ancient then!

I always wanted to fly. In the 50's we lived near Northolt Aerodrome (home of BEA and also a USAF base), a little to the North East of Heathrow. My Dad worked for BEA by then (originally an Underground train driver), but ground staff.

But flying was prohibitively expensive to even consider for a poor working class lad living at home in his parents council house.

Time passes. Marriage (1964), children (three by 1968 ), pretty nearly broke all the time, till ... 1977 or 78 (?) By now a Manager on a reasonably good income. Got one of the first Commodore Pet 2001 PCs to arrive in the UK. Wrote the Wordcraft word processor on it. Eventually it was selling enough for me to give up working for others and work for myself, at home (1979).

Now I could afford to fly, but, boy, was I busy ... too busy, growing a small business. No time for flying lessons, so ... got an Apple II specifically for the first wireframe flight sim! When was that .. dunno, maybe 1980/81 ish? Anyone remember?

So it goes -- Commodore Amiga flight sim, IBM PC flight sim. Etc.

Then, some year (I don't recall now, even, which year exactly), I found I could actually afford to fly AND I had the time to do so. Joined a flying club at Sleap, Shropshire -- about an hour's drive from home (by now in Biddulph, Staffordshire) -- after trial lessons in Tatenhill (Derbyshire) and Sleap -- both in Cessna 152's, BTW.

I subscribed to 3 lessons a week at Sleap, weather permitting, and even an odd "trial" flight in Bristol (a Piper Cherokee, which I really loved!). Within a few weeks (I started in Summer, this was mid-Autumn), my Instructor said i was ready to go solo in preparation for my test. Before going solo I had to get a medical certificate, so I was referred to the regular Club medic, some miles away.

I passed all the medical checks with flying colours, until it came to the point where the Doc apparently held up his hands somewhere in front of me and asked how many fingers I could count on each hand ... I couldn't see his hands, let alone any fingers. He gradually brought his hands more and more in line with the way I was facing, until I could see them and count the fingers.

Oh dear ... failed due to lack of peripheral vision.

This was when I discovered I had hereditary Retinitis Pigmentosa. I would not be allowed to fly solo. I was so upset, I have never flown for real again. Some folks suggested that I should still fly with an instructor (at the usual exorbitant rates of course), but that wasn't the point. I had ambitions to get my PPL, go on to get IMC and ultimately full BCPL -- just to prove to myself I could do it, not for any desire to fly as a commercial pilot.

So, instead of real flying I ploughed deeper and deeper into flight simulation, a form of sublimation, obviously. And since I am a programmer, programming stuff for it too, with all sorts of bits and pieces from FS4 onwards. Really, I suppose it is thanks to my RP that there is FSUIPC and WideFS, though I expect someone else would have done something similar if not I.

I'm making the most of my simulators at present. The days of spending 100+ hours a week on FSUIPC and the other programs are over. My eyesight is getting worse -- the central vision is now gradually losing resolution (right eye next to useless, left still okay for reading and programming, at present). My wife (June) and I are also taking more holidays, travelling, seeing the world, and indulging in my other interest -- steam railways -- before we are both too old to get very far!

So, here I am, boring everyone to death with my "learn to fly" history. Sorry, it was a bit longer than I intended!

Best Regards

Pete

[No Longer Active]

No...Believe me Pete your not boring us....your life is fascinating, I never knew you were a British man, I didnt know you lived in London and so close to me!

You are a true legend in FS world, and without you, my sim would have no functionality, I understand FSUIPC and its the only thing that I need to and want to understand! You have helped thousands!

It's sad to hear that you couldn't pass your medical, I passed my Class 2 medical and thought it was pretty tough going because my ears let me down, but I just scraped the hearing standards, I spent years worrying if I would ever pass the medical, Luckily I did, but sadly I don't have that much money for lessons as I was made redundant and have gone back to studying!

If you did get your medical and achieve your pilots license, would us FS geeks have FSUIPC today?, would you of still ventured into the FS programming side of things while flying?

Anyway Pete, love your story pal, very interesting man you are!

Alex

[Goldmember]

Thx Peter for this pesonal background on the program that changed the world of flight simming. Just out of curiosity, as I'm a programmer myself as well, how on earth did you find out those parameters (if you wish to disclose that)? Trial and error or was it done in cooperation with MS?

[Peter Dowson]

No...Believe me Pete your not boring us....your life is fascinating, I never knew you were a British man, I didnt know you lived in London and so close to me!

I was born in Hillingdon. Lived in the area till we got married, in '64, and moved to Staffordshire. When I started work in computers I was working in North Acton, for Leo Computers (Lyon's Bakeries own computer company) -- they made the first commercial digital computer in the world, remarkably enough! IBM were still doing card tabulators wnen the Leo I was built!).

If you did get your medical and achieve your pilots license, would us FS geeks have FSUIPC today?, would you of still ventured into the FS programming side of things while flying?

Hard to say, but certainly less likely. In fact I was dreaming of emigrating to someplace like the Bahamas, somewhere real fun to fly, and buying a little floatplane.

Best Regards

Pete