“What’s the big deal? It’s just a game.”

If I had a nickel….

It occurred to me last night that to understand why so many people are so upset about the recent announcement regarding the future of Flight Simulator, you need to understand what Flight Simulator is. (Note that I say is, not was. In spite of the events of late, Flight Simulator X is still spinning on hard drives around the world, and will continue to be available in stores for years to come.)

Flight Simulator is both a game and a platform, and I suspect that the delta between the two is at the heart of the sense of despair some of us are feeling.

Flight Simulator is a game, it’s true. It’s marketed like one, and … well … it’s fun to use! You open the box, install the software, and play with the included aircraft, scenery, and missions. There’s lots of gameplay to experience, and we designed it that way. But admittedly, while Flight Simulator X has more overt gamey elements than previous versions, it’s a strange game … because there’s no real way to “beat” the game, let alone “finish” it. Where’s the fun in that?

Realizing this, you either eventually move on to other games (because you’re a gamer), or begin to explore the world beyond the game. Your geek quotient goes up, and you become a simmer. Flight Simulator now becomes the hub of a hobby: flight simulation.

Flight simulation aficionados (and there are many of us), view Flight Simulator as a platform. It’s a software platform in the literal sense, in that we need it to run and experience other software: the aircraft, scenery, missions, and utilities that we add on/in to the core simulation software. It’s also a software development platform for the developers who create these add-ons. And, it’s a platform for those who use it as the simulation and visualization component of a home cockpit environment, integrating it with hardware (ranging from joysticks, yokes, rudder pedals, and radio stacks to full-blown cockpit replicas).

I should also mention the fact that for many of us, Flight Simulator is a personal platform for the simulated component of real-world flight training and proficiency. I can’t even count the number of real-world pilots I know who started their flying careers in Flight Simulator. Many now fly for airlines. And the whole Microsoft ESP initiative (using the same technology but intending to reach beyond just aviation) was originally based on the proven efficacy of PC-based simulation as a training tool.

It’s the extensible, platform-like nature of Flight Simulator that gave birth to a small industry composed of the companies and individuals who make stuff for it. From this perspective, it’s easy to see why so many people are so upset. While certainly on a vastly different scale, the dynamics at play here are really not so different from the dynamics of what would happen if Microsoft laid off the Windows team to better align resources with strategic priorities. People would freak. Why? Because it’s a platform.

And so, simmers are freaking. It’s not the end of the world, it’s true. Nobody’s dying, and we’ll all stop whining eventually. But if you’ve invested hundreds or thousands of dollars in software and hardware that works with this particular platform, and if you’ve invested just as much time learning the ins and outs of how the platform works (mastered the user interface, memorized key commands, etc.), if you use it as a training aid to supplement your real-world flying, then it’s … well … pretty annoying to even think about having to make a change. Even if that change is years away for you.

If you’re a simmer and you’re looking for an easy way to explain your mood to those around you, to explain why you’re losing sleep over all this, look no further than this…

blast from the past

… brought to my attention this morning by my esteemed and now former Aces colleague Hal Bryan. It’s an audio interview that Aero-News Network publisher Jim Campbell did with Hal, Brett Schnepf, and me back in 2006—shortly before Flight Simulator X hit the shelves. While the three of us weren’t really the “designers” of FSX (we were in fact 3/4 of a then recently-formed Community team), we did have a good understanding of what FSX was to be, and I think we did a fairly good job in the interview of explaining the broader context in which the product exists. I’m the voice that talks about the missions and multiplayer features, among other things.

One person’s game is another person’s platform. Facebook … fun and games, or a development platform? You decide.

I'm still working on some final posts about my experiences at Air Venture, but in the meantime I thought I'd share something which I just learned of via a co-worker.

The BBC is airing a new documentary series called "Britain from Above." Among other cool things, the show features visualizations created by combining aerial and satellite imagery with three-dimensional GPS tracks of various land, sea, and air vehicles. The results are both fascinating and spellbinding.

See for yourself on Gizmodo.

I can't seem to get the videos on the BBC site itself to run for me right now ... maybe you'll have better luck. Two aviation-related clips there in particular seem worth checking out:

Secret Jams Above Us
Motorways off the Coast

[Update: Seems the BBC only will allow computers in the UK to view that content,  so you may have to find and use a UK proxy in Internet Explorer.]

Similar work was released a few years ago by San Francisco-based artist Aaron Koblin, who "creates software and architectures to transform social and infrastructural data into artwork." You can see Koblin's art based on Federal Aviation Administration pattern and density data on both his old and new Web sites. I just may have to buy a print myself!

AirVenture 2008 is almost over, and I still haven't  done half of the things I've wanted to here. AirVenture is really a whole bunch of events in one, sort of like courses in a meal. You could easily spend the entire week focused on each course, but then you'd miss out on the joy that comes when you combine all the individual courses into a big meal. This year, Oshkosh has been quite a feast for me.
 

Highlights so far:

• Worked our booth and talked to existing and potential customers about the virtues of Flight Simulator X.
• Watched a little kid land the AugustaWestland EH-101 helicopter in Flight Simulator: Acceleration perfectly, on his first try.
• Walked amongst thousands of parked aircraft ranging from the latest biz jets to classic biplanes, and everything in between.
• Watched a bunch of fascinating ultralight aircraft fly, including a powered paraglider.
• Explored hundreds of vendors' booths and saw some cool things ranging from new avionics to a board game for pilots.
• Observed air traffic controllers working the VFR arrival at Fisk.
• Flew the arrival (twice!) in a Piper Warrior.
• Got a tour of the new control tower.
• Talked to FAA researchers about their NextGen, ADS-B, and Staffed Virtual Tower initiatives.
• Had a great meeting with EAA regarding some upcoming plans for an exciting collaborative endeavor between us leveraging the power of Flight Simulator X.
• Watched Speed and Angels on a big screen (well, the first half ... then it rained).
• Met Speed and Angels Producer Paco Chierici, and fighter pilot/subject Jay Consalvi.
• Caught up with some old friends including Jim Rhoades, Lane Wallace, Marty Blaker, Dale Snodgrass, Rod Machado, and Barrington Irving.
• Attended Lane's presentation "Stories from the Road," about flying in Sudan, the Congo, and the Alps.
• Made some new friends, and lots of interesting contacts.
• Watched the Boeing Dreamlifter land.
• Watched a Lockheed U2 spy plane land, and got an exclusive look into the cockpit.
• Watched a U2 pilot try his hand at formation flight in the Flight Simulator X: Acceleration F/A-18 .
• Saw some amazing airshow performances, including mind-blowing demonstrations by an F-22 Raptor, Red Bull's BO 105 CBS aerobatic helicopter, and a Beech 18.
• Subscribed to a bunch of aviation magazines.
• Toured the flight line and learned how the whole operation works.
• Visited the AirVenture Seaplane Base.
• Got a ride in a P-51 Mustang (low-level flying over water, barrel roll, loop ... amazing experience).
• Threw up 15 minutes after getting a ride in a P-51 Mustang.
• Felt much better.

I intend on writing about many of these experiences, so check back. One day to go!

So you've mastered flying the Fisk VFR arrival to Oshkosh in Flight Simulator X, and now you're looking for a new challenge. How about an IFR arrival? You can find the IFR procedures on pages 24-27 of the AirVenture NOTAM.

Speaking of Jerry Hough (see my last post), when you're done perusing the NOTAM, have a listen to an interview on the subject of IFR AirVenture arrivals that Jerry did with Meredith Saini back in June. He does a great job of explaining what the IFR arrival is all about, and how the AirVenture controllers work together to sequence IFR arrivals into the stream of VFR aircraft arriving from Fisk.

If you read my post on Tuesday and listened to the audio I captured at Fisk of controllers talking to aircraft on the VFR arrival to Oshkosh, you may have wondered, "How do the controllers get so good at recognizing different types of aircraft?"

Well, I was just poking around the AirVenture Web site, and I came across something you might find interesting. It's a series of PowerPoint presentations created to help the AirVenture controllers improve their aircraft recognition skills. EAA is sharing these on their site, presumably, because it's helpful for pilots to be able to recognize different aircraft too.

Additionally, being able to recognize and name different aircraft simply by looking at them is a great way to impress your friends and inflate your own ego. I'm planning on working my way through these slides myself, and I encourage you to join me.

Remember: the only thing more annoying to people than a know-it-all who feels the need to name every aircraft he sees flying overhead is a know-it-all who doesn't really know it all. If you feel the need to play the aircraft recognition game out loud like many of us do, at least have the decency to do your homework!

Here it is, courtesy of EAA and Jerry Hough, an AirVenture controller from Grand Rapids Michigan.

So there I was on Sunday, hanging out with the controllers at Fisk, recording some audio of the activities (on the ground, in the air, and over the radio) when Hal walks over and whispers to me: "That guy over there has a plane and is willing to take you for a ride through the arrival." "Huh," I said. "That's nice of him. I'll think about it."

I continued recording, and a while later I heard a little voice in my head: "THINK about it? A guy just offered to let you experience the arrival to AirVenture from the air ... the arrival you're been reading about and practicing in Flight Simulator for the past month ... and you're going to THINK about it?!"

So, I walked over and introduced myself. He name was Todd Mollerup,  and he was from Illinois near Chicago. We spent a few minutes checking each other out ("How many hours do you have?" "How long have you owned the plane?" "What airplanes do you fly?" "Do you have an instrument rating?" "How familiar are you with the arrival procedures?")

He had flown the procedure once to get his plane on the ground here, so I figured he was at least mildly familiar with the arrival. I was very familiar with it on paper and in the sim. With his 800 hours in a variety of aircraft (including the fairly-recently purchased 1979 Piper Warrior parked in the North 40 camping area at KOSH), I decided I'd be in good hands. He seemed comfortable having me in his plane. "Let's do it."

About an hour later we were in the Warrior, Todd in the left seat, me in the right, and my co-worker Steve Wilson in the back. Todd started the engine, and soon a flight line volunteer arrived to direct us toward the runway. Flight operations at AirVenture are largely without radio communication from the pilots, so I held a "VFR" sign in the window to let everyone know we wanted to depart visually.

To make a REALLY long story short, let's just say that taxing from the camping area on the southwest side of runway 9/27 to the departure area on the northeast side of runway 27 is a looooong journey. It involves being passed off from one Civil Air Patrol volunteer to another through a twisting course across the bumpy grass and through an obstacle course of cones. In retrospect, it seems like we spent as much time taxiing as we did flying. All of it is, of course, part of the Oshkosh experience, and there are plenty of airplanes to look at along the way, so no complaints. It was just a looooong taxi....

Eventually we got to the departure end of runway 27, and monitored the tower on 121.75 as per the NOTAM, and Todd performed an engine run-up. After a few planes landed, the tower controller (sitting on an elevated platform right near the end of the runway) cleared us to taxi into position and hold. When the planes ahead cleared the runway, she cleared us for takeoff.

The VFR departure procedure from runway 27 (see pages 14 and 15 of the NOTAM) requires you to fly a heading between 270 and 360 degrees at or below 1,300 feet MSL (above sea level) until clear of the tower's Class D airspace (5 miles out). Todd climbed out, and I watched for traffic and kept an eye on our altitude and our distance from the airport. Once clear of the Class D, Todd handed the controls over to me.

Flying from the right seat is always a little strange if you're not used to it. Not only does it feel backwards in your hands (left hand on the throttle, right hand on the yoke), the "sight picture" is all wrong too. So I awkwardly turned us toward the north end of Rush Lake, climbed a bit, then leveled out. Straight and level ... that felt pretty easy.

Our plan wad to fly around the north end of Rush lake to the town of Ripon where the VFR arrival begins. It was a hazy afternoon, so all three of us had our heads on swivels, scanning for airplanes. There weren't many out there, but when you're headed for a point in the sky (over Ripon at 1,800 feet) that you know everyone flying VFR to Oshkosh is heading for, you need to be vigilant. Throughout the course of the flight all three of us spotted airplanes the others hadn't seen. I really can't imagine flying the arrival as a single pilot during peak flow without a whole lot of luck on my side, and that's never a good thing for a pilot to wish for.

We listened to the arrival ATIS on 118.75, and tuned in Fisk Approach on 120.7. I gave control of the airplane back to Todd, and after a clearing turn to get a good look at the sky all around us (which made me feel even more comfortable flying with him) we turned south toward Ripon, easily identifiable by a bulbous water tower that says (conveniently) "Ripon." Pilots in the midwest might not have easy landmarks like the mountains and coastlines we have out west, but these marked water towers in every town help to make up for it.

The VFR arrival starts at Ripon (see page 7 of the NOTAM), so we needed to be level at 1,800 feet and slowed to 90 knots by the time we got there. We had hoped to follow someone in, but with nobody in sight, over Ripon we found the railroad tracks and followed them northeast toward Fisk on our own. Then, just as I relaxed a bit with the sense that now we were "safe," I glanced up and saw an airplane directly overhead. He was flying the higher, faster arrival (2,300 feet and 135 knots), but it was still a little disconcerting to miss him completely until he was right above us. It reminded me of learning to scuba dive, and losing sight of my dive buddy only to realize she was directly above me. The air, like the water, is three dimensional. The lesson? In diving the mantra is: "Breathe continuously and never hold your breath." On the VFR arrival to AirVenture it should be: "Scan continuously and never stop your scan."

Approaching Fisk it became clear that even though we couldn't see them, there were airplanes ahead of us. When the, "Low-wing half a mile south of Fisk" was asked to "rock your wings," we wondered, "Is that us? I think that's us...."

An hour earlier I had seen and heard the whole operation from the ground, and I wondered at the time why the pilots all seemed so confused. Once I experienced the arrival from the air all became clear: it's confusing! The most difficult part is knowing if the controller is talking to you or to another airplane that looks similar. If you can't see the other plane it's hard to know. It's an easier task I suspect if you know exactly where you are (a GPS helps), if you listen carefully to everything the controller says, and if you paint a mental image of all the aircraft on the approach in front and behind you. Pilots need to do this when flying in any busy traffic pattern, but with 100 or more airplanes passing over Fisk every hour, teh VFR arrival to Oshkosh is no ordinary pattern entry experience.

Finally identified and over Fisk, Todd mentioned that we were the Microsoft guys, and the controllers seemed to enjoy knowing that. They told us to continue up the tracks, enter a right downwind for runway 27, and to monitor the tower. We changed frequencies and continued northeast. Soon the airport appeared, and we made our way onto the downwind leg as per page 9 of the NOTAM.

From there it was pretty simple. The controller told us to begin our descent and to follow the aircraft ahead turning base. Todd did a great job turning inside the shoreline, and we touched down just after the green dot halfway down the runway, just as the controller instructed us to. Once on the ground we exited to the left onto the grass. Todd cleaned up the airplane (flaps up, carburetor heat off), and I held up a sign that said "GAC" for "General Aviation Camping," and Todd's row number.

A series of hard-working Civil Air Patrol volunteers guided us along the grass toward our row ... and then past it. It became clear that they thought we were just arriving at the show, and they were bringing us all the way around to the open spots on the north side of 9/27. We tried to argue with hand signals, but to no avail. Finally, somewhere around taxiway B1 I think, a guy got it. He laughed and told us to hold while he figured out what to do with us. Meanwhile, the three of us had a little talk, and when the volunteer turned back to us, I held up the "VFR" sign: we were going flying again. He laughed and threw his hands up, and we continued toward the departure end of the runway. We rationalized it might be faster to just go through the arrival again than to taxi all the way back on the grass. Pilots will find any excuse to go flying.

So off we went, and did the thing all over again. This time it was even quieter, and though we hoped to land on 36, for some reason they were only using 27. We flew around Rush Lake, down to Ripon, and up the tracks to the airport.

Climbing out of the airplane a while later I felt like I really had a good grasp of the arrival. The procedure itself is not complicated. What makes it difficult is all the traffic. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, it's weird to walk around the airport and think about the fact that almost every GA plane there, and almost every pilot (10,000 or so) flew that same arrival procedure over the past few days.

As we tied down the plane I smiled. I may not be camping under the wing of my own plane at Oshkosh this year, I may not have flown all the way from Seattle, I may not have been pilot-in- command or sat in the left seat, but I did get to experience the arrival from the air. Twice.

Given our taxiing adventures I had to wonder, does EAA encourage pilots to go flying once they've parked in a camping area? Todd said he had asked someone just that, and the answer was something to the effect of, "Definitely. Flying is what AirVenture is all about!"

Flying, yes. And becoming fast friends with total strangers. When we climbed into his Warrior, Todd barely knew Steve and me. When we climbed out, we didn't objectively know each other any better, yet something had changed. I saw it in his eyes. I saw it in Steve's. I don't expect that we'll necessarily keep in touch, or ever go flying together again. But for those few hours on Sunday afternoon we shared an experience in the air, and it's the memories of those experiences that lie behind each logbook entry a pilot makes, behind each tall tale told in the hangar for years to come.

Me, Todd, and Steve

Shared experiences are what AirVenture is all about, and many years from now I'll recount the story of my first flight to Oshkosh ... from Oshkosh. Or maybe by that time I'll have a plane of my own, and I'll bring it all full circle by giving some other plane-less pilot I cross paths with his or her own first experience of arriving by air.

"Want to go flying?" It's hard to imagine sweeter words than those, especially here.

As mentioned in my last post from AirVenture 2008, on Sunday afternoon a bunch of us drove out to Fisk, the town from which the "Fisk VFR Arrival" to Oshkosh gets its name. The best way to get a sense of the arrival procedure is to take a look at the AirVenture Notice to Airmen and the other information for pilots available on the AirVenture Web site, especially the page on "Understanding Air Traffic Control at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh."

The "office" at Fisk.

Teamwork in action.

The controllers at Fisk normally work in a variety of facilities around the mid-west, and you can tell that they're pros at what they do. The work environment at Fisk is a bit of a change for them though: sitting at a folding table in shorts, identifying airplanes solely with their eyes, binoculars, and requests for particular aircraft to rock their wings. While we were observing, about 100 aircraft per hour were passing by overhead.

Aircraft over Fisk (red circles)

Preventing collisions between aircraft is always an air traffic controller's primary goal, but close behind is, "to organize and expedite the flow of traffic." Watching and listening to the Fisk controllers work the traffic headed for AirVenture you sense them striving to accomplish both of these goals, and it's a sight and sound to behold.

In the pictures above you can see the team of controllers working at Fisk. Their "office" is a folding table in front of trailer on a hill above the railroad tracks. From this vantage point, they can see all of the arrivals coming up the tracks from Ripon.

These guys work as a team throughout the week, and rotate between Fisk and the tower at the airport. One controller talks on the radio, and the others scan the sky with their eyes and binoculars, feeding the "talking" controller information. You'll hear this happening constantly in the audio clip below, and this is something that isn't really noticeable at all when you're just listening to a single controller's voice on the radio: it's a team effort.

One other thing you'll hear is how many pilots don't immediately respond with a wing rock when asked. Sometimes this is due to them not paying attention. Other times, it's due to them not realizing the controller is talking to them. Sometimes it happens because they rock the wings so gently that the controllers can see it. When you hear the controller say, "Nice wing rock!" it's because the pilot vigorously rocked his wings ... and that's helpful when you're on the ground trying to identify dots in the sky.

The controllers we met at Fisk were all super-friendly, and love what they do. One of them told me, "I still can't believe I get paid to do this. After all these years I still find myself excited every morning when I put on my shoes to go to work." This is his ninth year working AirVenture, and he loves it.

Having flown the arrival myself (see an upcoming post), I can tell you that the whole operation would be impossible (or if not impossible, really really dangerous) without the controllers assisting to funnel traffic to the airport. The whole operation has the intensity of busy IFR operations at a busy Class Bravo airport, yet it's all VFR. The airplanes are not all flown by airline pilots with the latest flight management, traffic avoidance, and autoflight systems. Most of the pilots are private pilots, and most of the planes are small ones with simple avionics. Some of the pilots have never ventured this far from home in their airplanes, and at the end of their long and tiring  pilgrimage to Oshkosh they must fly what is sure to be, for some, the most mentally demanding twenty minutes of their flying careers.

The AirVenture controllers wear bright pink shirts, and you can occasionally see them walking around the show. The purpose of the shirts is to make them stand out from the crowd, and it works. They're easy to identify if a pilot wants to ask a question, or just say thanks. As I walked amongst the thousands of small airplanes parked on the grass at the airport yesterday, the thought crossed my mind: almost every single one of these planes passed over Fisk.

Here's some audio I recorded at Fisk with my amazing new Edirol R-09HR wav/mp3 recorder. There are already a bunch of audio clips of AirVenture ATC floating around the Web, but I've never heard anything that puts you on the ground at Fisk. All modesty aside, I think this clip sounds really good (aside from occasional wind noise as I move my hand or breathe!). So close your eyes, listen with headphones, and you'll swear you're standing right there with me:

ATC at Fisk

8 minutes, 7.35 MB

Time to head on over to the show. Upcoming posts will include the tale of my own flight Sunday down the Fisk arrival in a Piper Warrior, and the tour I got yesterday of Oshkosh's new 5.6 million dollar control tower!

Stay tuned....

After some much needed sleep, I met up with the rest of the initial Flight Simulator crew in the lobby of the the Super 8 motel in Oshkosh Sunday. We spent the morning and most of the afternoon setting up our booth (in Hangar D this year) over at the airport. An easy day, thanks to great work (as always) by Steve Mallinson from The Production Network. By mid-afternoon (with a break for some exploring in our giant golf cart), the transformation of our booth from a spot of concrete in a hangar to our glitzy trade show booth was complete.

Geoff from FS-MP.com emailed me Sunday morning to note that the first day of "Virtual Oshkosh 2008" was a great success. He said there were about 370 airport movements, and lots of participants via Gamespy too (many of whom are now in the process of joining FS-MP as members). This great online event continues next weekend, and we'll be joining in from our booth.

After our booth work was done, Hal, Mike Lambert, Steve Wilson, and I drove out to Fisk (the town the "Fisk VFR Arrival Procedure" is named for) and spent an hour or so watching the air traffic controllers there at work. I have some photos and some AMAZING audio that I'll post in a day or two when I have a chance. If you like ATC, you'll love these clips. It's like you're standing right there....

As if simply visiting Fisk wasn't exciting enough for an ATC geek like me, while there we met Todd Mollerup, an 800-hour private pilot from Illinois. Yeah yeah, I know. You meet lots of pilots at AirVenture. True enough. But this one offered to take Steve and me flying in his 1979 Piper Warrior. You know, so we could do some "research."

We drove back to the airport, and off we went into the hazy blue sky. We flew the arrival from Ripon twice, and I learned a lot along the way. After spending so much time studying the arrival procedures on paper and in Flight Simulator over the past few weeks, it was quite a thrill to fly the procedure for real. I love simulation so much that I forget sometimes how much I love real flying. Hard to believe I soloed 21 years ago....

And so, simulated and real aviation continue to mingle in my life. On Saturday I flew to Oshkosh. On Sunday I flew to Oshkosh from Oshkosh. And next weekend, I'll be flying to Oshkosh at Oshkosh!

I have Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday off, so look for the Fisk audio clips soon, as well as some photos and the full story of my flight in Todd's Warrior. In the meantime, try flying the arrival yourself and let me know what you think.

Whew. What a week. (Note my deft avoidance of the fact that it's been more than NINE MONTHS since I've posted to this blog. Ahem....)

Anyway, we've been CRAZY busy around the office this week, tying up loose ends before heading off to Oshkosh tomorrow for AirVenture 2008.

I just got my "Join Us In Oshkosh" article posted to FSInsider, and inside you'll find all sorts of ideas about how to get into the spirit of things, including information about FS-MP.com's fabulous "Virtual Oshkosh 2008" massively multiplayer event. I participated last year myself, and it was a blast. This year, I'm going to try to fly to the show from the show. Assuming we have good Internet access at the booth, the only challenges will be philosophical.

In other news, I just pressed the big red button to mail out our August 1 FSInsider newsletter. If you haven't signed up yet, now's as good a time as any. If you missed this latest issue, we'll be archiving it in a few weeks. While you're waiting, check out the archives.

It's been a while since I've been to AirVenture, so I'm pretty excited. Not only will there be 10,000 or so airplanes to lust after, we'll also be mobbed at our booth by thousands of adoring fans ranging in age from little kids who can barely reach the joystick, to retired airline captains in their 90s. Combine the amusement of that combination with getting to catch up with old friends from the biz and walking around in the sunshine, and it's sure to be a fun (if exhausting) week.

Behind me on the floor of my office are two cardboard boxes that contain some new toys: an Edirol R-09HR wav/mp3 recorder, and a Flip mino video camera. Armed with these two super-compact New Media gizmos and my laptop, I'm hoping to share some of the sights and sounds of the show right here on this blog. So stay tuned!

I still have about 73 things to do between now and when my flight leaves tomorrow, but I do want to share one more image with you. My evangelizing colleague Hal Bryan is in charge of our presence at AirVenture this year, and so far, I'm impressed. When I arrived at work this morning a large envelope was on my desk. Inside? A plethora of airshow booth duty paraphernalia. The man really does think of everything:

Clockwise from left: one laminated Flight Simulator X: Acceleration quick reference card, 11 of Hal's business cards to hand out when people complain about Vista, the large envelope, a laminated card with contact info for everyone working the booth , a document that explains everything about the show and working the booth (titled, this year, "AirVenture and Flight Simulator: a Match Made in Wisconsin"), one Shout portable wipe, one tube Carmex lip balm, and four Purell sanitizing hand wipes.

Assuming our fancy new shirts arrive at the hotel in time and I encounter a bunch of germs, I'm all set for the week!

www.3dmailbox.com

:)

Do you like movies about gladiators? How about movies about airplanes? Well, if you're a fan of everyone's favorite airplane disaster spoof, you may already know what I just learned from my co-worker Rick Hudson: Airplane! is a remake of the 1957 film Zero Hour!

"So what?" you ask. Well, if you're an Airplane! fan and you haven't seen Zero Hour!, you should. While Airplane! certainly parodied the Airport series of 1970s disaster films, it was largely based on Zero Hour! Who knew?! Not me.

Well now I do, and soon I'll be watching Zero Hour! on DVD. Need a copy of Airplane! too? Good news: there's a deluxe "Don't call me Shirley" edition that's a must have for any true aviation comedy fan. Order one film, order them both. Whatever you do though, don't order the fish!

Read more about Zero Hour! (and see a clip) on New York radio station WFMU's Web site.

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd start things off with some old news.

Apparently Barrington's not the only one using aviation to inspire people. On April 30th, British adventurer Miles Hilton-Barber touched down in Sydney, Australia finishing a 13,500-mile flight by microlight aircraft from London. That's impressive. But what's inspiring is that he's blind.

Hilton-Barber dedicated his world record flight to raising at least £1 million towards restoration of sight to blind people in the developing world. "I may never see again” he said, "but if, through this flight, thousands of blind people in developing countries can have this gift of sight restored to them again, it will be so incredibly worth it!"

Although Hilton-Barber is a fully-qualified microlight pilot, he was joined on the trip by two of the world's most experienced and decorated microlight pilots.

"I think there is a big difference between being adventurous and being foolhardy," he wrote on his blog before the adventure. "I need Brian or Richard on board on the flights, but we plan to have a lot of fun together flying to Australia, encouraging people along the way to focus on the opportunities in their life, not their limitations. When I first went blind I thought it was the worst thing that could happen to me- now I think it is probably the most exciting thing that has happened to me."

You can read more about Hilton-Barber, his flight, and how he did it (using speech-output technology to access his flight instruments and navigate the microlight) on MSNBC and on his own Web site and blog.

I spent a good part of Saturday night watching Barrington make his way from Asahikawa, Japan (RJEC) across the Pacific to Shemya, Alaska (PASY) on our Virtual Earth-based Flight Tracker.

As Barrington explains on his blog:

"I finally made it safely to Shemya, Alaska after crossing the North Pacific. What an experience it was, with shifting winds, different layers and types of clouds, and the possibility of icing on the wings. It was critical to avoid the visible precipitation that can cause icing, which forms rapidly at near-freezing temperatures and high aircraft speed. There is no real way to describe the experience of that flight; I'm simply grateful to be on U.S. soil again."

The reported weather at Eareckson Air Force Base was:

SPECI PASY 100722Z 19008KT 10SM OVC030 06/03 A2993 RMK.

Not too shabby. I kept refreshing the weather report with an eye on the ceiling since the Aleutians are known for nasty weather. At one point, I saw Barrington climb to about 20,000 feet.

During the crossing, Barrington was in touch with his team at Universal Weather, friends, and family via satellite phone. His videographer Juan Rivera (who's already in Seattle) told me that Barrington was also in radio contact with airline pilots making the crossing at higher altitudes. Times have certainly changed since the first around-the-world flights!

In case you missed it, below are some screenshots from the Flight Tracker. Note that the aircraft symbol does not reflect the aircraft's heading.

 
Almost there....

 
Land ho!

 
Descending toward the Aleutians.

 
Approaching Agattu Island.

Maneuvering for the approach.

 
On final for runway 28.

 
Safely on the ground!

 
The "Arrival" report.

Next up: weather permitting, Barrington plans to depart Shemya on Wednesday and fly to Cold Bay, then Anchorage. From there it's on to Juneau, Seattle, Denver, Houston, Mobile, and back finally home to Miami for the big gala!

Barrington Irving is slowly winging his way around the world, and in his latest blog post on Saturday, he had this to say:

"I’m glad to say that after being delayed by monsoons and a tropical storm, I made it safely to Hong Kong. Flying into the city was exactly how it is replicated on the Microsoft Flight Simulator--with 4,000 foot mountains below, you fly over the magnificent buildings of this extraordinary city.  As I came in for landing, I decided to do a missed approach and fly one more time into Hong Kong through the haze. What an experience!  After landing, I felt exhausted and couldn’t wait to get some rest. I think being 12 hours ahead of Eastern time has finally caught up with me and I must be careful now to get as much rest as possible. I am literally on the other side of the world and day and night have traded places."

Great to hear! "As Real As It Gets," indeed! (And particularly appropriate since Barrington credits Flight Simulator with a playing big role during his flight training!) If you haven't been following Barrington's flight, check it out. And I highly encourage you to follow along in his propwash and fly some legs for yourself in Flight Simulator X! (It's a long trip, but it'll be a little faster now that SP1 is out!)

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending Barrington Irving's launch event at the Opa Locka airport near Miami. Barrington is a 23-year old pilot who's attempting to set a world record by being the youngest person to ever fly solo around the world, and the first person of African descent. As Barrington always explains though, it's not about the record: it's about the kids. He's making this flight to inspire kids, and it's already working.

The ramp at Miami Executive Aviation was filled with thousands of kids bused in from all over southern Florida. Before the festivities they wandered around an aviation career fair. Dignitaries from all over the country (well, world really, since a representative from Barrington's native Jamaica was present) spoke once the formal launch event started. Everyone had amazing things to say about this kid and what he's accomplished for himself, for aviation, for kids, and for his community.

I was there because the Flight Simulator team is a sponsor of the flight. Among other things, we put together a tracking map that "mashes" GPS data from Barrington's plane into the Microsoft Virtual Earth mapping engine. The result is very cool, and provides everyone with the opportunity to see exactly where Barrington is at any moment during his flight. Everyone seemed really impressed with this technology: his staff, his friends, and especially his family.

Unlike many aviation events I've been to, this one was not about macho bravado. It was about community, hope, and dreams. Watching Barrington climb into his Columbia 400, start the engine and taxi to the runway, I was awe-struck. Not because he was about to embark on a record-setting flight around the world, but because I have never seen a finer example of a dream turned into reality. There he was, this 23-year old kid sitting alone in an airplane I can only dream of flying, surrounded by a cheering crowd, about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

I couldn't help but wonder: how did he do all this? How did he make this happen?

The first step to achieving a dream is having a vision. You need to know what you want. Barrington figured that out at the age of 15 when Gary Robinson, a captain for United Airlines, invited him down to the airport to see the cockpit of a 777.

Then, you need to give yourself permission to dream your dream. Barrington--headed for a career as a football player--found his parents and teachers supporting him in his decision to do something a little more off the beaten path.

Next, you need to put your dream out there. You need to tell the universe what you want. And (if you believe in such things) the universe will respond. There's an interesting albeit new-agey documentary about manifesting what you want in life called "The Secret," and I couldn't help thinking about it as I watched Barrington start his airplane's engine. If a kid from Jamaica who grew up in inner city Miami could make something this big happen, then what's my excuse? What's yours?

I watched Barrington sitting in the cockpit, and as the plane started to move, I saw his mentor Gary Robinson give him the thumbs-up. In that moment, it all became clear to me. Barrington had a vision, he gave himself permission to dream his dream, and he put his intentions out there for the universe to respond to. He took one more step though, and it's arguably an even more important step than any of the previous ones: he took action.

The years leading up to this flight were busy ones for Barrington. He was attending college. Taking flying lessons and using Flight Simulator to practice at home. Starting a non-profit foundation to inspire kids to get into aviation. He wrote letters. Made phone calls. Scheduled meetings. And he refused to take no for an answer. Slowly over time, one by one, individuals and organizations came on board. He realized one of the great truths all successful people know: just because you don't know how to do something yourself doesn't mean you can't do it. You can learn. And you can associate yourself with people who know more than you do.

Barrington didn't know how to fly an airplane, so he learned. He didn't know how to write a business plan, so he found Philip Mann, the Director of the Entrepreneurial Institute at Florida Memorial University, who walked him through the steps. He didn't know where to base his Experience Aviation Learning Center, so he approached Miami Executive Aviation. He didn't know how to create a tracking map, so he approached Microsoft. And on and on, until he had a plane, fuel, flight planning, a staff of volunteers, and this amazing day in March.

Watching Barrington take off into the late-morning sky, watching him make several low passes in the fastest certified single-engine piston plane in the world, watching him finally leap into the sky and turn north as thousands of kids watched--this was without a doubt one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen.

Go to the search engine of your choice and type in "Barrington Irving." You'll be inspired too.

You can learn more about Barrington and his flight at www.experienceaviation.org, and you can read his blog at http://barringtonirving.spaces.live.com.

Also be sure to visit the dedicated section of FSInsider.com. You'll find the tracking map we created, as well as information on how to take your own virtual around-the-world flight using Flight Simulator. While Flight Simulator doesn’t include the Columbia 400, you can use another plane. Or, you can visit Eaglesoft and get a Columbia 400 of your own.

If you do decide to follow Barrington virtually, let us know how it's going!

Staying true to the theme of my last few posts, I thought I'd bring it back to Flight Sim and share something I came across yesterday: a new F/A-18E Super Hornet add-on for Flight Simulator 2004 and X by Vertical Reality Simulations.

If this is as good as it promises to be, it’s gonna be a first: a truly hardcore simulation of a modern fighter for FS. My favorite part of their site is the "Read more" section, in which (among other things) they provide details about the sensor and targeting simulation (bolding by me):

"Short of actually shooting down AI aircraft, sensor and targeting systems are simulated just as their real-world counterparts. You can lock up AI aircraft and receive feedback to the HUD, radar and early warning systems, just as if you were in an electronic military exercise -- the only thing missing is the lethality. The radar simulation takes a number of factors into consideration, including signal strength (range), aspect angle, closing velocity (Doppler shift), and more. A total of 8 radar modes (4 primary and 4 ACM sub-modes) are simulated."

This will obviously appeal to true study sim geeks like me, though I suspect most people will be annoyed that they can’t actually blow stuff up. But really, who needs explosions when you have loadable, slewable AGM-65Es and Fs that will maintain a gimbal on any designated point on the ground? (Just kidding. Sorta.)

As they explain in a post on their forum:

"Keep in mind here that there's a pretty broad difference between MSFS and a combat sim, and no amount of ingenuity can cross that. You can't kill things, and the underlying database isn't designed for things like providing IR values. We can only go so far, but I think you'll be amazed at what we've been able to accomplish.

"The bottom line is we're simulating the aircraft and its systems to the best of our ability within the confines of FS; Anything beyond that is gravy and subject to the limitations of the sim, or at least our ability to get creative with them."

Yeah, Flight Simulator has limitations (the lack of projectiles foremost amongst them). The community has always pushed the boundaries of what's possible within those limitations though, and these guys are certainly promising a lot. Can't wait to see it.

(No, not my ride report, unfortunately....)

In my last post I mentioned that:

"I find myself impressed with the folks who fly fighters for a living. Not just for their ability to multi-task to the edge of task saturation in one of the most stressful environments I can imagine, but also for their ability to withstand the sheer brutality of the physiological stress they subject their bodies to."

Well, I came across something today that you might find interesting if you've ever wondered what it's really like to fly in a fighter plane. It's a series of forum posts about two T-38 rides that do a great job of explaining what it's like.

Last July some guys from the team developing the forthcoming sim Fighter Ops spent three days at Laughlin Air Force Base doing research. Two of them managed to get rides in a T-38C. If you're a cocky hot shot PC-based fighter jock like I'm rapidly becoming, I highly encourage you to read their lengthy testimonies of what quickly became a humbling experience. Some hilarious writing, and full of good information if you're intrigued by this stuff.

In amongst the numerous posts, I found what at first appeared to be good news. Apparently, physcial conditioning can increase G tolerance. According to a page on E-Aerospacemed.com, increasing your anaerobic capacity and and muscular strength can improve your ability to effectively perform the Anti-G Straining Maneuver.

"Research has shown 10-12-wk weight lifting program can increase G-duration tolerance ~50% compared w/ non-exercise control group w/ direct individual correlation b/w muscle strength and G-duration tolerance."

That's the good news. The bad news is that "Aerobic conditioning has no effect on G tolerance," and that "Excessive aerobic conditioning can cause cardiac dysrhythmias a/w reduced G tolerance, increased susceptibility to motion sickness on centrifuge, and increased length of time of incapacitation w/ G-LOC."

Damn. So much for my wholistic approach to fitness. To blackout or not blackout: that remains the question. (And there's a great article about just this on SimHQ.com.)

Well, I guess it's back to Falcon: Allied Force and the FSD T-38 for me. At least until Fighter Ops comes out, or until someone offers me a ride in the real thing. My sick sacks are packed.

A few nights ago I watched the new documentary "Speed & Angels," about Jay and Meagan, two young Navy pilots chasing their childhood dreams of flying the F-14 Tomcat. The film is a combination of exhilarating aerial action, intense in-cockpit footage, and a thought-provoking human interest story about why people choose to become fighter pilots, what it's like, and what effect the lifestyle (and going to war) has on them and their families.

I thought the film was well done, a nice balance between high-stress adrenaline thrills in the air and more thoughtful reflection on the ground. The emotions I experienced while watching it were mixed. On the one hand, it fueled my "Top Gun"-inspired childhood fantasies and made me want to be a fighter pilot (well, to have been a fighter pilot...). On the other hand it made me realize that while the experience of flying a Navy jet is cool like few other things, the experience of life aboard an aircraft carrier during wartime is hardly something to fantasize about. Not to mention that combat flying itself is no arcade game. As pilots in the film mentioned more than once, there are few pilots who can carry out a combat mission without it profoundly changing them, and there is nothing fun about landing a jet on the swaying deck of a moving aircraft carrier in the middle of the night hundreds of miles from land...and thousands of miles from home.

In the end though, my love/hate relationship to the very idea of my having become a fighter pilot in an alternate life is rather moot. As a retired F-14 pilot recently told me (and the film confirmed yet again), those of us with lanky marathon runner bodies with great arteries typically have awful G tolerance. I suspect I'd have passed out during centrifuge training, only mere moments after the evil thing had started its spin cycle.

So yeah, I find myself impressed with the folks who fly fighters for a living. Not just for their ability to multi-task to the edge of task saturation in one of the most stressful environments I can imagine, but also for their ability to withstand the sheer brutality of the physiological stress they subject their bodies to. Truth be told though, the folks in the film who impressed me the most were the Radar Intercept Officers (RIOs) in the back seats: they just sit there and never puke. How, is a mystery to me.

"Speed & Angels" is a beautiful, thought-provoking film about following your dreams, and I highly recommend it, whether you fantasize about being a fighter pilot--or helping to make a world in which fighter pilots are superfluous.

Trying to fall asleep after watching the film, unable to shake visions of gusty night traps from my mind, I started thinking about the F-14 Tomcat, about its more modern replacement the F/A-18 Hornet, and about the fighter jet I know the most about, the Air Force's F-16 Falcon. I woke up six hours later with a bad case of the fighter bug. Boys will be boys, apparently.

So, last night after work I fired up Falcon: Allied Force and took an F-16 up for a virtual workout. It was getting late, but after parking the jet I opened my closet and took a good long look at the Thrustmaster Cougar HOTAS joystick that I bought on a whim a year ago and have barely used. Then I grabbed my binder full of F-16 documentation and headed to bed. Bad idea.

Today, I found myself poking around the Web at lunch seeing what's out there for F/A-18 simulations. For Flight Simulator X, there's Flight Deck 4 from Abacus, and the Aerial Foundry Hornets look promising. I also came across some great freeware planes and carriers. Ever the realist though, it seems like Jane's F/A-18 is still arguably the king, and probably the only Hornet sim that goes deep enough into systems and avionics for my admittedly eccentric "edutainment" tastes.

I'm in a bit of a quandary though. There's just something about the Falcon that's calling to me (especially when you refer to it like pilots do and call it a "Viper"). The Freebirds Virtual Fighter Wing has SO much interesting F-16 training material on their site, yet diving into yet another study sim right now is not something I have time to do at all, let alone two of them. But, the F/A-18 can land on aircraft carriers, and I've always wanted to learn how to do that....

As Navy Test Pilot John "Toonces" Tougas put it in a great article from Flight Journal that I just came across comparing the F/A-18 and the F-16:

"The F-16 Viper is like the Dodge Viper, and the F/A-18 Hornet is like a Lexus. If I want to cruise around town and experience pure acceleration performance, I would drive the Viper. If I want to cruise in total luxury on a long road trip with all the amenities and Gucci displays, I would drive a Lexus....The real bottom line is this: if I were a bad guy, I would hate to go up against either one."

A few days after watching "Speed & Angels," I'm obsessed as ever with this stuff. Yet truth be told, I'm not so sure I'd really want to go up against any bad guys at all. Fighter jet technology is unquestionably an amazing testament to what human beings can do when we put our minds to it. I can't help wondering though what we could accomplish if we didn't have to spend our efforts developing technology like this.

Tonight, I may just boot up FSX, hop into my virtual Piper Cub, and celebrate life...exploring this amazing planet that we live on at considerably slower speeds. But damn, I love learning complex things. I could have been a fighter pilot....