What draws you to flight simming?

[Hiflyer 129]

Everyone knows we are a diverse community, but at base, we are all here for "The Sim"

But what pulls us, exactly? Is it the Wide open vistas? The feeling of freedom?

Is it the minutia of the checklist, and the perfectly performed flight?

Are you a Pilot, who can't get enough, or maybe just thinking/dreaming of becoming a Pilot?

Do you do acrobatics, and swerve madly across the sky? Or are you an ATC, drawn to helping others?

What pulls you to Flight Simulator, exactly?

[PaulPCPilot 11]

An excellent thread.

Well, Im a wannabe. All started when I watched a show called 'Flights From Hell'. I saw aircraft landing with engine failures and landing gear failures. I thought if they can do that then I wanna be a pilot.

So I got more in to flight sim. I then figured out radio navigation (in FS95!) and showed dad. He said lets gt you flying lessons. i didnt object.

So I began flying on my 13th birthday. I have accumulated 60 hours with 6 solo in a DA20 based at cumbernauld, in central scotland (EGPG). I am 22 now, I havent flown in a few years, as the big thing then was university, and i couldnt study for uni as well as PPL exams.

I always had a desire to fly airliners and I am currently doing a PhD to help fund flying training at Oxford Aviation.

So what do I use flight sim for.....a mixture of training, where I currently use the PA28 with absolutely no horizon view to practice IFR. I fly radials and ILS approaches to build up a good instrument scan. And I fly airliners as thats where I want to be.

So I guess I try to build up skills that i hope to use later on.

I currently teach a flight sim class to my air cadets! They love it....

What about you guys? whats makes you sim?

Thanks

Paul

[Paul K 93]

I come from an RAF family, and had the sight and sound of aircraft in the skies above me throughout my childhood. There's nothing like lying in bed as a boy and listening to a night time scramble of Vulcans or Victors...it puts aviation into your genes!

I tried for the RAF as aircrew, but failed some of the tests, so from that day to this, I've been the pilot who never was...except that in MSFS, I am that pilot. And thats why I do it .

[Gaura Mohana 23]

What pulls me to FS is the ability to fly. I have always loved Aviation, but as i am too young to be in the cockpit - here i am

[BPL 39]

I'm a 17 year old pilot wannabe. I got started simming about 7 years ago with FS98. I was over at a friend's house, and he showed me FS98. I went out and bought it that night. Not long after that, I bought FS2004 and built up quite a few hours. I then moved up to FSX as soon as it was released. Flight simming actually got me interested in flying, not vice versa. When I was 14, I took an introductory flight at my local airport and got to take the controls of a Cessna 172S with a G1000 glass cockpit. Time and money do not permit me at this time, but I hope to get either a PPL or Sport Pilot license one day.

I spend my time flying single-engine props in FSX, blowing other planes out of the sky in RoF , and flying X-Plane 9 a little too.

BTW. Great thread, Hiflyer. Very interesting.

[Dotsalgon 13]

Hmm... Let me see...

I first got on an airplane when I was 5 years old. On an Olympic Aviation Boeing 737-200, from Kos Island, (LGKO) to Athens old airport Hellinikon (LGAT) in Greece (1987)... Most children in my age then where usually afraid or even crying when they first get on an airplane. I, on the other hand was amazed and ecstatic!! I was amazed by the fact that a machinery like this can have the power to lift itself to the sky, the feeling of being on the air and again the power to stop it on the ground. I didn’t know much back then about airplanes. My mother told me that she could see in my look that I just “Loved them”. Since then I wanted to become a pilot but times back then where difficult for my family. For someone to become a pilot needed too much money. So my dream stepped aside… Since…

In 1995 I saw in a video game store a game titled “Microsoft Flight Simulator 95” and I just had my first PC so I bought it and gave it a try… Without a joystick or knowledge about aircrafts I managed to do very few things trying with no effort to maneuver with the arrow sticks. In the sim though there was a learning section if I remember so I started studying. I learned a few things but only the basics. Back then there was no simulation of airport ground or ATC. ATC if I remember correctly came out on the FS2000 or FS2002. I still have a vivid image of the first white red Boeing 737 of my first sim taking off from Los Angeles to San Francisco. (I didn’t know anything about ILS or landing procedures so I learned to land it visual having marked the Alcatraz to turn ).

I wasn’t so obsessed back then so I didn’t do much. All though when I met anyone that had something to do with aviation I was interviewing him about it trying to learn as much as possible . I can say that everything started after FS2000. When the sim could provide, as close to their motto “As real as it gets”.

So for me flying with the simulator is the illusion of fulfilling the biggest dream in my life.

I eventually didn’t finish any aviation school but I learned a lot from the sim and other sources. (Expect reading Aviation Maps LOL)

I am 28 years old now. So it’s quite late to be a pilot!

I fly as a passenger as often I can. And the best flight I had was with an Airbus 330-200 from Doha (Qatar) to Male (Maldives) just recently! (Was just like in my sim! LOL)

BTW Awesome Thread!!

Regards,

Dot.

[Damocles 24]

For me, it's the delusion that at any point in time my flight sim skills will be called upon to save 140 passengers.

....and I love to learn new things, the more complex the plane the better as the sim will offer longevity. I fly at least 3 hours a day in a 734 and I get to see the world without leaving the house......well, a least a rough version of it!

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

The people. The idea of belonging to a community of people with the same hobby.

Of course it's not a fair question as it's also my occupation and I honestly do not think it would be my hobby if I would stop now, but for me it always has been the people.

[Snave 466]

It's as far from my professional life as possible, it gives me something to do when SWMBO is hogging the telly, keeps my computer skills honed and allows a minor vicarious flying thrill without the trouble - or cost - of actually leaving the ground.

Not much more to it than that, really. Otherwise it's not a `hobby` any longer - I've made that mistake in the past.

[Sharrow 107]

For me it is half about discovery (be it new planes, new scenery, new tweaks, new hardware) and half about the community ("meeting" new people, the odd argument, the odd aha moment, the feeling of satisfaction when you manage to solve someones issues etc). It is a means to take me somewhere far away from the general "sameness" of everyday life.

With things like PMDG, Accusim, The Catalina & Discus X (and now the Airbus X as well) it is a means of keeping the mind agile with new information and challenging procedures.

But above all it is simply fun!

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

It's as far from my professional life as possible, it gives me something to do when SWMBO is hogging the telly, keeps my computer skills honed and allows a minor vicarious flying thrill without the trouble - or cost - of actually leaving the ground.

Not much more to it than that, really. Otherwise it's not a `hobby` any longer - I've made that mistake in the past.

Ahh come on Simom, we all know how you enjoy baiting people in forums! That must be part of the fun.

[darem 106]

Having the largest playgorund on earth: earth. :-)

And it feeds my personal very well. The journey is the most interesting part, not the arrival.

[Snave 466]

Ahh come on Simom, we all know how you enjoy baiting people in forums! That must be part of the fun.

Actually and contrary to popular belief, I take no pleasure from it. I have stated many times - mostly because it's true - that I come here for my benefit, and mine alone. I make no apologies for it.

A fisherman takes little or no pleasure from baiting his hook. It's the pleasure of the catch - the fight and the landing - that is the pleasure. When I catch interesting products, information and exchanges that is the pleasure. Sometimes though, when the really small fish are taking all the bait, dropping a hand grenade in the water leaves lots of dead fish to attract the big fish and is a way to get some really good stuff on the hook, or at least ensure that whatever nibbles is likely to be substantial...

...and believe me, that's a far more pleasant analogy than the `bowel movement` one I typed previously...

And I don't fish.

[newmanix 61]

Actually and contrary to popular belief, I take no pleasure from it. I have stated many times - mostly because it's true - that I come here for my benefit, and mine alone. I make no apologies for it.

A fisherman takes little or no pleasure from baiting his hook. It's the pleasure of the catch - the fight and the landing - that is the pleasure. When I catch interesting products, information and exchanges that is the pleasure. Sometimes though, when the really small fish are taking all the bait, dropping a hand grenade in the water leaves lots of dead fish to attract the big fish and is a way to get some really good stuff on the hook, or at least ensure that whatever nibbles is likely to be substantial...

...and believe me, that's a far more pleasant analogy than the `bowel movement` one I typed previously...

And I don't fish.

Cannon Fodder.

I agree with Mathijs' assessment of you.

[newmanix 61]

Getting back on topic. For me, it's about living out a fantasy I may never enjoy in real life. I know many real world commercial airline pilots who find FS more fun then the real thing. In FS, there is no risk involved thus you can relax more and enjoy the flight itself. FS is also the only thing in this world that provides the entire planet in a virtual world. I can go whereever I want, when I want, with the weather I want. IFR 747 to VFR B200. It is so much fun. Besides that, it keeps me on target with my skills as well. But it is mostly a love for aviation overall that attracts me to FS. I also airport spot and collect Gemini Jets. Have over 200 of them. So FS brings everything full circle for me. Besides, relaxing on my Lazyboy while I quietly enjoy a beer as I calmly watch my B200 make it's way from Ibiza to Elba while watching Lost on my 75 inch. That's bliss...

But when I see annoying stuff like Snaves overly intuitive, unnecessary intricate, over recockulously grammatically concieved posts showing the world how smart his writing abilities are... well I have Modern Warefare II for that.

[Snave 466]

Getting back on topic. For me, it's about living out a fantasy I may never enjoy in real life. I know many real world commercial airline pilots who find FS more fun then the real thing. In FS, there is no risk involved thus you can relax more and enjoy the flight itself. FS is also the only thing in this world that provides the entire planet in a virtual world. I can go whereever I want, when I want, with the weather I want. IFR 747 to VFR B200. It is so much fun. Besides that, it keeps me on target with my skills as well. But it is mostly a love for aviation overall that attracts me to FS. I also airport spot and collect Gemini Jets. Have over 200 of them. So FS brings everything full circle for me. Besides, relaxing on my Lazyboy while I quietly enjoy a beer as I calmly watch my B200 make it's way from Ibiza to Elba while watching Lost on my 75 inch. That's bliss...

But when I see annoying stuff like Snaves overly intuitive, unnecessary intricate, over recockulously grammatically concieved posts showing the world how smart his writing abilities are... well I have Modern Warefare II for that.

Seven grammatical errors in that last para, mate.

[Hiflyer 129]

My story begins with me pretty much standing on tippy-toe in a Manhattan computer store to see a machine displaying Sub-logic Simulator. To a little kid, the fact that the graphics were just a flat (green!) grid updating ridiculously slowly was beside the point. The same imagination that could turn a stuffed bear into a ferocious, people-eating beast had no trouble adding in house's, trees, mountains, cars and people.

I was a world-builder. (model trains, dioramas, etc) and was captivated both by the idea of flight, and by the power of a little world on your desktop. Over the years, I watched and kept track of any advances in flight-simulation, but by my teens, I knew enough (I thought) to realize that my dream of soaring down to tree-top height to see the cars, people and etc was unrealistic.

After all, even the military, with computers and equipment costing millions and millions of dollars could not do that! What was the chance that the thing I had seen in my head as a little kid would ever become a reality in my lifetime? None.

Fast forward a little and now graphics that are in some respects beyond what I imagined are relatively common place, though interestingly enough, the best graphical representations of flight tend to exist in games rather than pure simulations. FSX comes very close to that little world I imagined, and the technology pushing addons that have come out fairly recently, combined with the power of today's computers is pushing things even further, but its still "old" tech. There is no doubt at all that better could be done.

Now we hear of Aerosoft Simulator 2013.

Will all of those baby steps over the years that have lead us to this point now finally be pulled together into one cohesive whole? Some say that today's computers are so powerful that the graphic depiction of almost anything in any desired level of detail is available to today's programmers. Imagine soaring at 60FPS over A Sim New york done in such detail that even mailboxes, trash-cans, and peeing doggies are visible!

(Yes I am pushing it)

Is it possible? Is it practical? Is it likely? Well, lets find out!

[liam727 45]

ever since my first takeoff on an A320 I was all into aviation, and I had no interest in simming until my friend gave me his old yoke and pedals, and my mom bought me fs2002. when i first took off in the cessna tutorial it felt so realistic it popped me right back into the air. at the time, a ride in a plane was like a million dollars and the fact that i could actually feel like i was flying one was just like, noooo wayy. I just kept doing it from then and got better and better at landing/ takeoff, navigation ect. I guess its the woohoo factor of thinking "hey, I can fly a plane!" well not really, but its fun knowing those pilot secrets about what goes on in the cockpit to get the big birds in the air. the whole virtual world thing was pretty cool too, but after i figured out the whole repeated landclass thing it got kind of lame. at this point its only companies like aerosoft and their awesome addons that keep me tied to fsx

btw if that new Airbus has a jetblue livery it will touch a special place in my heart

My story begins with me pretty much standing on tippy-toe in a Manhattan computer store to see a machine displaying Sub-logic Simulator. To a little kid, the fact that the graphics were just a flat (green!) grid updating ridiculously slowly was beside the point. The same imagination that could turn a stuffed bear into a ferocious, people-eating beast had no trouble adding in house's, trees, mountains, cars and people.

I was a world-builder. (model trains, dioramas, etc) and was captivated both by the at the idea of flight, and by the power of a little world on your desktop. Over the years, I watched and kept track of any advances in flight-simulation, but by my teens, I knew enough (I thought) to realize that my dream of soaring down to tree-top height to see the cars, people and etc was unrealistic.

After all, even the military, with computers and equipment costing millions and millions of dollars could not do that! What was the chance that the thing I had seen in my head as a little kid would ever become a reality in my lifetime? None.

Fast forward a little and now graphics that are in some respects beyond what I imagined are relatively common place, though interestingly enough, the best graphical representations of flight tend to exist in games rather than pure simulations. FSX comes very close to that little world I imagined, and the technology pushing addons that have come out fairly recently, combined with the power of today's computers is pushing things even further, but its still "old" tech. There is no doubt at all that better could be done.

Now we hear of Aerosoft Simulator 2013. Will all of those baby steps over the years that have lead us to this point now finally be pulled together into one cohesive whole? Some say that today's computers are so powerful that the graphic depiction of almost anything in any desired level of detail is available to today's programmers. Imagine soaring at 60FPS over A Sim New york done in such detail that even mailboxes, trash-cans, and peeing doggies are visible!

(Yes I am pushing it)

Is it possible? Is it practical? Is it likely? Well, lets find out!

[newmanix 61]

Seven grammatical errors in that last para, mate.

Touche'!! Cheers!!

[awesome 22]

For me it's the fascination for the technology and the power of aircraft. I love to learn everything involved in flying a huge aircraft from point A to B.

In real life I'm currently going for my glider pilot license.

[Thralni 24]

I guess flying has been with me from the start. Since I have family abroad, my first time in an airplane was when I was three months old. I guess I never really let it go, although there have been some ups and downs. There was a period when I was 10 or 11 that I was more interested into trains, but now 9 years later, I have never been as involved with aviation as now. Why exactly? I guess for a number of reasons:

- The pleasure of planning a flight and se the A/P execute it exactly as you wanted it to be;

- The thrill I always feel on approach and landing;

- Taking my abilities to the test and see what I can and can not do, and subsequently learn how to do the thing I have difficulties with;

- Simply enjoy the scenery, go to places 'd otherwise am not likely to ever visit.

That's not all however. I spend many hours writing reviews for avsim, simflight and fsxworld which I greatly enjoy. I love writing stuff, giving my opinion on products and reward those that deserve it. I also repaint planes, which is to be expected: I have always liked painting and building. Repainting planes is only "another way to do the same thing", I guess.

So, all these reasons are what pull me into flight simulation. The excitement of flying that perfect approach into a new and interesting location is an unforgettable experience. Or, what about those approaches in heavy fog, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a set of runway lights emerge from out of nothingness... These moments make it all worthwhile for me.

[Guest M31]

Good thread.

For me its a realisation of my love of aviation that extends to scale model aircraft building and in my younger days Aero-modelling too, the fact my late Dad served in the RAF and we toured with him during his 21 year service helped too.

I always wanted to learn to fly for real and took a few flights with an experienced pilot from the RAF Kinloss flying club many years ago and was allowed to take control, but my disability means I'd never be able to pass the medical required for a PPL ... not to mention I cant afford it any-more ... so its a no brainer that I immerse myself in PC flight simulation, the hobby has come a long way since I first started dabbling in flight sim about 20 years ago on my Amiga 500.

Flight sim has also driven me to learn about computer hardware too, after the Amiga 500 and my first PC, a 386 33 MHz 2 MB (yes 2 MB) ram comp, I've built all the subsequent comps myself and mostly for the Flight sims of the time ... I've learned a lot along the way and this has proved to be a nice little earner locally where I trouble shoot and repair PC's

I like the community aspect as well, compared to other hobby's I like, scale modelling for example, you would not believe how aggressive some of them are on various forums, and that is supposed to be a peaceful hobby too, you would think its another branch of the military sometimes .. LOL

One of my friends often says to me ... Colin, I still don't get why you like that stuff, yet he loves the CoD shoot up instant gratification games ... I've tried to explain to him why I like Flight Sim and mostly GA Flight Sim but never got through to him.

Oh well

[PaulPCPilot 11]

Nice post Colin.

I also play COD MW2. It is awesome.

But FSX is more rewarding. Manually flying an ILS solely on instruments down to 200ft is very rewarding.

[EmiloZ 24]

I always have loved aviation and am dreaming about becoming a pilot and begin my education in a few years, but for now as I am taking my glider certification and flying aswell

In flight sim I am almost only flying airliners and sometimes GA for just practicing ex. approach on a new airport or practicing a failour on approach.

- Emil

[Archangel Productions 0]

For me it's the fascination for the technology and the power of aircraft. I love to learn everything involved in flying a huge aircraft from point A to B.

In real life I'm currently going for my glider pilot license.

For me, It's the love of aviation. I also enjoy the community, and for the most part everyone being nice to one another like a big family.

I had started to take flying lessons for real, but had to stop for health related reasons, for some reason, just can't fly! Which is a shame - it affects me in odd ways, though I can be a passenger and go up in planes, but piloting, that's different, LOL...So here I am.

Combine Flight Sim, with Tileproxy, and wow! What a difference! Real as it Gets is Redifined!

Hope to have a long time here in the Aersooft Forums. Glad to meet all of you...

John Thuot II

Team Lead/Founder/Texture Artist

Archangel Productions