Are you ashamed by your hobby?

[Guest]

Well! I'm in the process of relocating over there and that sounds more and more like a good idea.Excellent question Damien! Which, I think, lays not very far from the core of many inflammed discussion here... I'm a psychologist and I can tell you that even (or perhaps especially) the more mature looking, grown, adult etc. people have secrets that make being a flightsimmer rather pale and mature in comparison...Behind every put down (e.g. Oh.. And you use a joystick, right?"), ironical or otherwise, there is a weak and sensitive point.

[Guest]

Good point. I would certainly wear a Flight Safety International hat with pride. However there is just something about wearing a MSFS hat that screams "GEEK". And this is too bad because there are a lot of very talented aspiring pilots who use FS as a learning tool.

[Guest]

Well its not that Im ashamed of it, but I dont announce it to people I know either. It does take up a fair bit of my time and would be considered more of an addiction really, rather than just a hobby.

[Guest groundpounder75]

I am not ashamed of flight simming as a hobby because in another month or two my fascination with flight simulation for the past 4 years is turning me over to a new career as an airline pilot. Imagine the response when you tell people that you a changing careers to become an airline pilot during these crazy times. Flight simming is without a doubt a very powerful tool to explore ascpects of flight and the geography of the world we live in. I do have doubts of telling people about it if someone asks me about it. If they aren't in to planes and flying then they look at you like you are nuts. It is a "bug" and when you are bitten by it look out because it is with you forever. Now, plane spotting is a hard hobby to have. I live in upstate NY and go up to CYYZ in Toronto to spot and boy do I get treated like a criminal. I was up there spotting when the sniper was on the run in the D.C. area and by the looks I was receiving from people and the questions I was being asked made me think that people thought I was a sniper. I felt like a criminal just watching the planes all day. When I crossed the border coming back in to the states the customs guy just about crapped when I told him what I was doing. I couldn't come up with a better story and I didn't want to lie about it and spend the night in jail so I had to pull over and have my truck searched and I was halled in for questioning. It was pretty hard telling the customs officer about my hobbies and how I love planes. There were about 5 other officers standing around watching me while I was telling my story. That was a very humiliating experience. Needless to say I don't think I will be visiting Canada anytime soon to go plane spotting.

[Guest]

jup...after reading all these posts, and a bit of thinkin:NO, ill never wear a MSFS shirt/cap. BUT if u make a cap for a fantastic community, ill wear it all day long...even to sleep :Di mean...msfs is a mediocre sim. but with all the freeware-developers MILLIONS of free hours......its the best.so, i think we should be a proud community, not MSFS GEEKS!lol, my 1 franken & 50 rappens worth :(

[Guest]

>I am not ashamed of the hobby but I doubt that I would buy >clothing that advertised it. By the way, you realize that >every time you buy a car there is a sticker on the back from >the dealership. They sure get a lot of cheap advertising. >Whenever I buy a car, I strip off that little sticker. I am >not a travelling billboard. Don Not mine. I made em' take that sticker off before I would even sign the papers! I told them if they wanted to knock another 5k off the price, they could leave it on. They took it off. :-hah

[Guest]

I love simming and I am proud about it. Over time I have become more and more defiant in telling people exactly what I do for a hobby, I am proud to say I am now at the point where I don't care what they think. Most people are amazed when you tell them some of the technological advances that are available like the game commander etc. Ofcourse the moment you are done talking to them they roll thier eyes and wonder how long you've been out of the looney bin. Would I wear a t-shirt saying flight simmer? hmmmm yeah what the he!! I am a father of a two year old and I have another one on the way any day now, I stopped caring about being cool a long time ago.

[Guest]

>And no, I also do not agree on wearing MS Logo stuff, either >in or out of the house. I cannot remember who said "When Calvin Klein wears my name on his arse, maybe I'll wear his name on mine." Perhaps to borrow from that....When Bill Gates is willing to stroll around with my name (or my company's name) on his chest for a few months, I'll wander around with his product's adertising on mine.

[B777ER 2,484]

Try explaining to house guests why you have a metal yoke sitting on the floor in front of your computer with a throttle quadrant sitting on a table next to your desk at just the right height difference as in a real aircraft!! Of course from what I have found is once the sim is fired up, the sound turned up, full VATSIM ATC online and show them what the VOR 13R approach at JFK is like with all settings at max with Chris Wills clouds and FS Meteo running around sunset on a 21" monitor and guess what? They sit there behind me with glazed over eyes and mouths hanging open saying, "That's the coolest (you know what) I have ever seen!"

[Guest]

Hey Arthur,Don't be discouraged by the morons and others up here in Soviet Canuckistan! I work at CYYZ for a Canadian airline and even with my Restricted Area Pass, which is supposed to allow me access to all areas of the airport, I still get searched on the way into work, and even when boarding an aircraft that I'm working on. It seems pretty ridiculous to have to get searched just to walk inside the doorway to the flight deck to get a signature. Any of you US airport workers experience the same thing?So never mind the BS, come on up to YYZ and you can tell customs that you were watching the Leafs lose:)BTW there is a spotters club here in YYZ. I can't remember their name, but they do have a website. They have a map showing some great "unkown" spots to view from. If I can find it, I'll update this post with the address.CF-AOA

[Guest groundpounder75]

CF-AOAThat would be sweet. I have heard about this group of spotters but I can't seem to find any information about them online. I want to get back up there and spot from the parking garage before they knock it down. I need some pictures of the British Air 744s.

[Guest]

I found it!http://www.torontoaviation.com/Go to the "spotting locations" map to see some of the more uncommon areas that you can access for viewing. It's a little dated as the airport is currently undergoing a major expansion, but it should serve as a good guide. Enjoy!CF-AOA

[Chris_CYWG 0]

This post kind of hit home..being a pilot, all my friends ask me how can you fly all week long, and then sit in front of that damn simulator and put in another however many hours... I dunno, cause I enjoy it... they all thought I was nuts until they came over and got their hands on my PFC stuff then they were all OHHHHHHHHHHHH this is fun... I couldn't get them off of it...Some people may laugh about it, but I'll go do an IFR PPC right now and feel confident to pass it because I've been using flighsim 2002 to practice procedures. I don't expect to be able to fly a bus after using the PSS panel or anything, but procedures are procedures. As for wearing the clothes...as far as I'm concerned wearing anything with M$ on it is an invitation to be beaten up!! :-zhelp

[Guest]

I wouldn't pay to wear ANY clothes or whatever with advertising on them (unless it were for a charity I thoroughly approve of).If I'm given the stuff on the other hand, I do wear it (never turn down a freebie :-)) unless I don't want to be identified with the product.As such I won't spend money on the stuff, but if someone were to give it to me I'd proudly wear it.There's nothing to be ashamed of, despite what some people might want you to believe.I'd rather be identified as a flightsimmer than as a fan of some sportsteam. It's far safer, especially if you're out of town in a place that sportsteam just beat the local team out of a major tournament (and you'd be ashamed to be identified with them if they were major loosers :-rotor).

[Guest tascaso]

This is true as I take my PROZAC and head out to my therapy session.Tony