Hello Steve,I totally agee. I started my first flightsim with Bruce Artwick Flightsimulator on the Commodore 64. The size of the program was no more then a few 100 K, but it took me 10 minutes to load and in that time you had to answer 2 questions:1. Will you play WWI?2. Please choose between VOR 2 or ADF!!You had one plane (Piper Archer) and a few printed maps of the areas SAn Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago, if memory serves.With the help of real world maps a made a flightplan from Chicago to New York ; simply flying west. Given the technology in those days; I think that having a VOR / ADF navigation and ILS working in that program was quite an achievement. Our hobby has indeed come a long way!!!!I wish everyone of you much pleasure with the Queen!!!!Greetings,Wijnand (EHBK)

I can only add 'the belgium area' to that list Randy :), no kidding... halfway through my training now...

3 networked computers ($6500.00)6 monitors ($3000.00)CHProducts Yoke and Pedals ($350.00)Saitek HOTAS ($135.00)TrackIR 2 ($120.00) For Everything Else, There's Mastercard :Dhe he heMatthew Murray

Hey, I am not very active in these parts, but I may as well put my input here. I spend alot of time on/near/around aircraft IRL, in maintainence. What I like about PMDG is that some of the procedures I do in the real aircraft I can 'almost' replicate to some extent in the simulation. I know what PMDG have produced is a systems simulation, not just a couple of processes to give the right output to the screen. It also gives me a chance to "fly" virtually the aircraft - which I don't think they will ever let me do IRL. I am not an avid "simmer", I don't confess to being one - but I do like the odd flight (I mean, at the most perhaps once a month - I can't afford anymore time that that :()Now if PMDG could do a B757, or an A320 then I wouldn't know I was away from work :(Matthew Murray

What a great post Steve; I think you've summed up the last 18 or so years of my life (and I'm only 24!). I started out with the Spectrum 128K (I think), and a fighter plane game called ACE, where me and my dad spent hours playing split screen for hours per night dog fighting each other - he stood no chance!I started with MSFS products from FS5 - and never looked back. For a time I also used products like TFX, and EF2000, but I always came back to MSFS. It

A great thread!I'm absolutely with you - nobody understands the perfection of flight simming. We don't sit in the computer for all those hours, we sit behind the controls, the yoke, the PANEL and SYSTEMS made by LDS or PMDG. The computer is just something which helps us in performing this hobby, we are NOT simply sitting behind computer like all the people think! :) What if I had a real full-motion 747 simulator at home? Then people would certainly think a lot differently about my hobby. But hey, the full motion sim is also "a" computer ;) There are just more buttons and handles, but it's a lot similar to what we do at home. The great thing about this hobby is simply the fact that we can learn something all the time, we can feel the big airplanes and for several reasons it's even more fun than flying the real thing - you can go wherever you want, you do not have company staff telling you the rules, you won't get killed if you crash because of an aircraft failure :)I'm also doing PPL and have about 15 hours in the logbook. I remember that I had a cross country on the day the LDS was released and during the cruise I did nothing but thinking how I go home and fly the 767! :D There's simply something so special about this hobby and it adds so much to the real flying as well. Private pilots tell me that in the radio I sound like an airliner pilot and I know a lot more about the rules, radio phraseology, ATC and procedures. Hereby also the biggest thanks to VATSIM. By the way, I must say that simming pushes away a lot of fear which could occur when flying in real. I know many students from our school who have a lot more hours than me, but are still so afraid of the 60 degree turns and emergency engine out landing trainings. I take those elements very calmly and having done so many Cessna flights in FS too, I know that something very serious just CANNOT happen, it's a Cessna which you can handle even in the worst situations. But the con's to real flying in simulator are for example the IFR which you mostly fly - I often don't look out from the windows even when doing traffic patterns and last time the instructor turned off the NAV radios after I secretly flew 5 ILS approaches :D On the other hand, you will be able to handle the plane in extremely poor weather situations in case you get into it for some reason and believe me, most of the private pilots would have a very unlucky day while you would get out from it without much trouble. I have been in such situation myself when I was onboard a C172 visiting a foreign country and the pilot would have got into serious problems if I wasn't aboard.

Hi Steve,You really hit the nail right on the head for me too. And Konrad, it's great you're flying for real and my friends at work also think I'm "odd" for sitting in front of the cockpit with "no action", "nothing to shoot down" or no "excitement"... They keep asking me, "John, what do you do when you fly?".To be honest, I have been only gradually "easing" myself into FS2004 as this is my first flight simulation I've flown (started in September 2003). I have not been using too much real-world charts though I do glance at ILS charts I purchased (SimPlates 2004). I will be getting more and more into it this fall for frankly, my job, unfortunately, is not exactly what I had in mind when I took-up computer tech support and is boring. FS keeps me a heck of a lot more interested than my job does... I wish I was not 41 years of age and could seriously consider (and have the money) for taking up a career in commercial aviation... *sigh*.But, I will be budgeting to start a PPL course hopefully in the next 2 years. Even my parents don't get my enthusiasm and even if they don't say it directly, they think I'm wasting my time doing FS2004 and should concentrate on Microsoft Cerfication and my career. Well, maybe...I'll see ... after I complete my World Trip in FS2004 and my real-world trip to Europe coming up at the end of August.But seriously, the PMDG 744 is a turning point in all our lives. Personally I adore the Jumbo and it's majestic and really cute "chubby" belly which makes me believe like it almost has a "soul" of its own, for it is such a unique-looking aircraft!Take care everyone and we'll all be in Flight Simmers Heaven soon when the PMDG 744 is released!John

What a lovely post. I've been simming since FS5.0. I can remember my excitement on the Friday night after getting my Xmas bonus from an old job and high-tailing it to CompUSA on Fifth Avenue in NY in '94. I bought new pc hardware to go with the hot 486 I recently got from my place of employment (I work with computer networks). I bought FS5.0 that night and have been hooked since.I still walk past CompUSA on Fifth Avenue with great fondness.Man, do I get it!!!Ed Lin

Hi,I have to agree that this is a very interesting thread.I personaly been using FS since FS95. I know wat all of you guys mean. I'm also in the perfection of a flight. Sometimes I skip a night just to fly simultaniously with a real flight...and it's getting crazier with the day. :)

Originallly posted by Murray>3 networked computers ($6500.00)>6 monitors ($3000.00)>CHProducts Yoke and Pedals ($350.00)>Saitek HOTAS ($135.00)>TrackIR 2 ($120.00)> >>>For Everything Else, There's Mastercard :D>>>>he he he>>>>Matthew MurrayActually I spread it over 2 master cards and one VISA. :)Murray

Steve,I have been simming for the past 15yrs,and like you my wife lets me get on with it,as she finds it boring.I started on Atari's flight Simulator2 flying around New York and Chicago in some turbo prop.As the years went by and i got my first pc back in 1996 i purchased MSFS 95 to accompany it and since then i just kept adding to my hobby.Now i'm using FS9 with various addon's,PMDG,Phoenix,RFP etc,i too am ready and very eagerly awaiting "Queen Of The Skies".Everyday i will be checking this site for news of it's release,sad i know to those who don't understand but like a lot of others who are passionate about our hobby/interest my blood pressure is slowly creeping up awaiting it's arrival.Regards Dave:-wave

Anyone remember "Solo Flight" for the Commodore 64? It even had voice ATC! Well a sentence or two!"Tower to solo, weather update":)Armen at EGLLwww.veryquiet.com

Ahhhhh, the good old days of flightsimming, fond memories come flooding back after reading all these posts. For me it started with an obscure simulation called SIM737 on the trusty old MSX computer. There were no superfluous extra's like scenery or outside views. You were just playing with a blank screen, with two VOR's and the landing strip. During start and landing you saw a rudimentary runway (see screenshot)http://members.chello.nl/a.nederstigt/sim737.jpg(Way before that, I remember building cockpits out of LEGO bricks, to resemble pictures of a real cockpit, that was my real first flightsim experience, lol).And now look at were we've come, playing with stuff that only commercial level D simulators could achieve about ten years ago. I can't wait for what the future has in store, beginning with the upcoming Queen..Arjen Nederstigt (EHEH)

I'm glad you've all enjoyed my post. Reading all your comments makes me think of a couple of other related and funny things.1. When I was a little kid--maybe 5 or 6, my Dad bought me a poster of a 747. I mounted that down low on my "rec room" wall and slid a little chair in front of it. I can clearly remember pretending to fly THAT POSTER from Chicago to Los Angeles. I'm pretty sure I sped the process along but still I know my roots were there.2. I remember flying the original Learjet from Meigs to New York. There was only solid green landscape between the two so I had to rely on an approximate 90 degree direction and about 700 miles and keep my fingers crossed that I would run into the NY area. 3. Before flight simulation scenery would span the ocean, but after the Europe disks existed, I would fly to a point mid way across the Atlantic (specific lat and long) and then exit the sim. I'd restart the sim from the European disk at approximately the same place (it wasn't exact but it was reasonably close) and then I'd fly the rest of the way to Europe. That was the only way to do it back then as the Atlantic was not modeled all the way.4. In a box someplace I have kept most all of the flight sim stuff I've bought over the years. I know I still have the manual for Bruce Artwick (though I think it was a copy from a friend of mine), I still have ATC stuff and all the Microsoft FS version books and charts. I'll never sell it but maybe it'll be worth something some day. Kind regards,Steve

Well guys, reading this thread has really brought back some memories for me also. I've also been Flight Simming since the old SubLogic days. It also made me reflect a little on how much Flight Simming can really mean to folks. I know I was out of work for two years with a back injury that left me paralyzed from the waist down for a looong time. (I'm walking now thank the one above). Flight Sim definately helped me maintain my sanity. Another BIG part of my Flight Sim enjoyment are these forums and talking with and meeting folks that really do become friends. A good example is our own PMDG Beta tester Randy Smith. I've spent hours and hours talking with him on messenger about Flight Sim and other things and learned a tremendous amount from him. I've also had the privelege of getting to know several RW Commercial Pilots that were able to give me a sense of what it is like to fly as a career. Chances are, I'll never meet any of these folks face to face but I consider them my friends. It's always exciting to sit at the computer and watch the threads develop as a new, major release such as the 747 is about to launch. It's refreshing to see the excitment build and the threads get kinda crazy as folks wait. In no small part development teams like PMDG have helped to create and mature this great hobby and they do it out of love for the hobby, not money. I can just about gaurantee you that Captain R. makes a heck of a lot more per hour sitting in the left seat than he does sitting in front of the computer coming up with wonderful add-ons like the 737NG and the 747-400. Sorry for the long post but I just thought I would try to get across the fact that Flight Simming is much more than sitting in front of the computer and watching the screen. It really is a virtual world with good and bad neighbors, gatherings and social events, excitment over "new models" coming out and of course the ability to lose yourself in the fantasy of flight.