On Thursday October 28, 1999, I flew to San Francisco, California to visit with my good friend and fellow cockpit builder, James "The King" Price. My transportation to the west coast was made possible complements of Delta Airlines. And would you believe that both planes out and back were Boeing 757's? Yeppers!. During my stay, James and I worked on the digital display units on my MCP panel. We also flew quite a bit in his "must see to believe" Boeing 737 simulator. A real beut! A word for those of you contemplating using FS2000 on a LCD projector. James and I took some time and loaded FS2000 into his sim. We were shocked. A vast improvement over FS98 with the projector. As most know, the scenery in FS2000 far exceeds that in FS98. However, both versions of the programs were run on a projector with a top out resolution of 640X480. In FS98, things looked good. But drawbacks were things like the runway lights being very pixilated and airports not displaying until you closed within 5 or so miles of the airport. And the clouds.... You were either in them or you were out of them. Well FS2000 on the same projector running 640X480 was spectacularly different. Airports could be seen for miles including the runways. The clouds were exceptionally awesome. We could actually see through the clouds as we transitioned. The runway lights were very sharp and clearly seen. There were many other improvements we noted. So, if your considering FS2000 on a LCD projector, you will be very satisfied.

I would also like to share a fun story with you as well. As I was boarding my flight at San Francisco International Airport, I was greeted by the Delta Airlines Captain. I was carrying an elongated box with model railroad advertisements on the outside. I should mention first that I had previously packaged my Boeing 757 autopilot panel inside. Any way, as I entered, the Captain asked "So your a model railroader eh?" And I said "Cap, you wouldn't believe me if I told you". So I told him what was inside and of course he had to see it. Since there was only 40 total people on this flight, I had his attention for quite some time. Before I knew it, the Captain, Co-Pilot and a Comair pilot deadheading back to Cincinnati, were passing the panel around extremely impressed with the project. The Comair pilot, Steve Rovno a San Fran native based in Cinci, sat and chatted with me the entire 4 1/2 hour trip back to Cincinnati. He perhaps, paid me the nicest complement yet since I started this project. We were discussing air traffic separation and I made a comment " thank God for TCAS and Centers" and he looked at me and said "You know, this is really weird sitting next to a non pilot who knows what the hell he's talking about". It was a nice statement.

Below I have posted several pictures from my trip.

Ole glue fingers (James) seen here holding the displays while the glued mounts setup.

Awllllllll. The frustrated face of a person trying to solder delicate parts after consuming several Tequiza's and frying his finger with the solder wand.

Another shot at dusk.

A shot of the First Officer's PFD.