I am not particularly fanatical about it. Not in the same sense that many people are fanatical...nay, maniacal...about their hobbies. I enjoy it, and I have permited it to consume a good deal of my time over the last twenty years.
For most of the last twenty years, it's been a pretty solitary hobby for me...very little interaction with other hobbyists, except through the Internet. Quite frankly, there hasn't been too terribly much of that because the Internet allows one the freedom of anonymity, from which one can say nearly anything without fear of meaningful consequence. Forums for hobbyists are generally full of pseudo-experts and blow-hards, and quite frankly, I get enough of that elsewhere in my life, I don't want to waste too much of my free time on such people.
It's not so much a solitary thing any more, particularly after last weekend.
Okay, so what's the hobby, Kurt?
I enjoy computer flight simulation.
I started twenty years ago when I was learning to fly real airplanes, as a way of practicing my navigating skills. Back then, that was all it was good for...on a Commodore 64. It's come a long way since then, and I submit this picture as evidence: No, this is not a sunset shot of a real airplane descending into clouds over the ocean, it's a virtual airplane, created entirely in the computer.And I'm the guy flying it.
Now, ordinarily, it takes years to get to the point where anyone will trust you with a multi-million-dollar airplane in real life, but anybody with $30 is welcome to try it out in the sim.
I stopped flying real airplanes when it got prohibitively expensive, but by then, I was hooked on the hobby. I've always loved airplanes, and if you spend any amount of time around me at all, you'll notice that I look skyward at every airplane I hear. Combine that with a thin wallet, and it's easy to understand why I enjoy flight simulators.
Sure, if I loved flying enough, I could figure out a way to do it...lots of guys do. But consider this: aviation fuel is 50% more expensive than the stuff you put in your car. An airplane such as the one in the picture costs about $600 an hour to operate, if you own it. You can rent one for about $1,000 an hour. There's a lot of sacrifice in every tank. (Contrast that with the time I've spent with that airplane in the sim: it's cost me about five bucks an hour, if you include the cost of my current computer.)
Mostly, what I enjoy is the learning about airplanes. I enjoy knowing about them. These days, the simulator aircraft you buy for $30 or so work exactly like the real thing, and that's pretty amazing. The Navy issues a copy of Microsoft's Flight Simulator to every one of its flight school students, because doing so means fewer accidents when those same students climb in the cockpit of a real airplane.
I can't deny that there's a certain amount of escapism to the hobby for me. I've now flown nearly all the way around the virtual world with the airplane in that picture...that's my most recent approach, to Christmas Island, about 6 hours flying time or eleven hundred miles south of Hawaii, depending on how you reckon it. I've got just three legs remaining on my round the world flight...17 hours total flying time, or so. I've visited a number of virtual places on this trip that I've visited in real life: Malaga, Dubai, Perth and others. It's nice to remember those places.
But how can a solo round-the-world virtual flight not be a solitary thing?
Okay, that is, but the hobby itself isn't...I spent most of last weekend in the company of other folks involved in the same hobby when I attended the Avsim Convention. I've recently found a club here in San Diego...a group of like-minded guys who get together once a month and talk about flying and flight simulation and airplanes. They're a cool bunch of guys.
And that airplane in the picture? In July, the developers of that particular add-on for Microsoft's Flight Simulator invited me to join their beta test team. So, I flew their airplane in my kitchen for about three weeks of evenings, and did my level best to make sure it worked the way the real one does. Along the way, the lead developer and I became friends.
And last weekend, because he couldn't be at the convention, I got to walk up on stage and accept the award they won for their airplane. It was quite an honor to be their representative.
4 comments:
Well congratulations, Kurt - that IS quite an accomplishment. I'm sure that when you're actually IN a flight simulation, you can potentially get the nervous sweats of actually flying a plane.
My dad worked for Delta for 20+ years, and though he was not a pilot, he was able to occasionally spend time in their flight simulators. These were the big pod-iso-tank like things you actually sat in and "flew." I imagine that back then, the graphics weren't much better than the C64, but it was programmed to resemble the flight path into the ATL airport, with the runway lights as they were, and the lights of the surrounding city. The old Delta hangar there had a giant neon sign on top that read "FLY DELTA JETS," a holdover from the 60s. My dad took pleasure in flying his jet right through the big D, wings shearing off, alarms and whistles and sirens going off all around him. Then he plowed the jet beneath the runway. Good clean fun.
Sounds like a fascinating hobby and a great way to inexpensively enjoy the experience...though I would venture to say that it's not exactly the same adrenaline rush as flying a REAL airplane. Our hobbies are what make us unique and interesting people...embrace them!
PS. I don't remember exactly how I found your blog, but I'm enjoying reading it...keep writing!
Thanks, Kelly!
You're right, it's not exactly the same adrenaline rush one gets from flying the real thing, but depending on the degree to which one is able to suspecd one's disbelief, it's possible to get close.
Last summer, I discovered a forum where the participants create "missions" for others to fly...charter flights with dignitaries or celebrities to distant places with difficult landings, mail flights for small towns in Alaska, that sort of thing. The idea is that when you've flown one of these "missions", you write a story about it and post it (along with screen shots) for others to enjoy.
I chose a medevac flight that required both speed and distance...I immersed myself in the task, and when I arrived at the small airfield where my passenger was waiting, I discovered that the weather had closed in. I was a) low on fuel and b) determined to get in so that my passenger could get to the hospital. There were no instruments to help guide me to the runway, and the overcast was down to three hundred feet in places. I was less than a mile from the airport when I got sight of the runway...just thirty seconds away from landing. When I got it down, my palms were sweaty and I had the shakes for half an hour afterwards.
A pretty good dose of adrenaline...and it gave me an appreciation for the people who do it for real.
And that's what it's all about!
~Kurt
Hi again Kurt...wow...amazing how a simulated situation can produce such real adrenaline and excitement and anxiety. And nice to find a way to make a solitary hobby a little less so by sharing your experiences with others. :-)
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