Part II: What do you do in "Real Life"..when you aren't simming?

[Guest Ken_Salter]

Please continue here.

[Guest OrbitalMike]

I turn 42 this year, received my PPL in 1992 and have been flying simulators since the flight sim on the TRS80 mod 1 and Bruce Artwick's FS on the Commodore 64.I'm an acoustical engineer with a manufacturer of gas turbine engines located north of Cincinnati ( http://www.geae.com/ ). My role is to make the engines quieter and help get the airplane/engines system certified for noise (FAR36). Before GE, I used to work at Boeing, where I was part of the design team that developed the 777 and 737NG. Apart from that, I'm a dad, soccer coach, and science/math tutor to my 10 and 7 year olds.Oh yeah, and this is my first post here after reading the AVSIM forums for agesmike@mikemartinez.net

[Guest Erick_Cantu]

When I'm not at work, I'm either playing guitar, watching cartoons, or both, usually with trainsim stuff mixed in between.

[jagabom 21]

I am 49 and work in a electrical system control centre just like the ones that put the power system back together in the August 14th blackout of 03. I think I replied on the old thread also. Oh well.JimThat's what we do.

[Guest MikEA9557]

Hey there,I just turned 23, and am currently finishing up my degree in Microbiology at Arizona State University. Right now I'm planning to pursue a PhD in Infectious Disease and Immunology, starting in Fall of '07. When not simming or tweaking the sim, I play any number of musical instruments (or try to), read history, try to write, watch Suns games, hang with friends over lunch at a Mexican food restaurant, tutor kids, or stay up much too late reading forums, among a plethora of other random things... ;-)Been simming since 1991, when we got our first computer (486!) Anyone remember FS 4.1? :-batKeep it rolling...great topic!Mike Tucson, AZ"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"--Mahatma Gandhi

[Guest adria320]

Wow Mike, pHD in Infectious diseases :-eek Do you have MSN perhaps? ;)

[Guest JEH]

I'm 58 and a professional actor since the age of 17. Which means I usually have a lot of free time:P I'm also a teacher and currently have a scene study class in Hollywood,CA., my hometown BTW. Also, Managing Director of the Los Angeles Repertory Co. I saw my first Sim in about 1980, Sublogic something or other, on an Apple and was immediately hooked. Had FS3 on an IBM XT in the late 80's early 90's but got "serious" with the new generation computers and FS2000.I'm looking forward to meeting everyone in San Diego. I'm glad to know I'm not the only nut!*:-* John Herzog

[Guest Matt Johnson]

Late to the party perhaps, but there we go...I'm all of 24 years old, and real-life consists of doing interesting things with computers, and trying to make sure our profs and students don't break things too spectacularly (i.e., I'm a sysadmin), in the computing department of one of the universities in London, England.Outside of work (and FS when I get time for it) I play the clarinet and bass clarinet, occasionally sing, and support various British youth marching music organizations.

[Guest paulri]

OK, here goes. I am 70 years old. Started flying with the US Army in 1959, continued until I retired as a Master Aviator in 1978--for my Air Force friends, same as your Command Pilot (and YES, I did fly helicopters in Vietnam, 2 tours). Also had a commercial ticket with all my military ratings included--fixed and rotary wing, instruments in both. Then, since Uncle Sam was not picking up the tab :-) and I had one in college and one about to be, decided I needed to quit flying. Worked as an accountant for 19 years, then retired for good in 1997. Been sim flying since then, only way I can "fly" now, since I can no longer pass the medical. Age does have SOME drawbacks. :-lolRetirement is great though, I highly recommend it. :-)Paul

[tanker 15]

Hi,I'm 60 years old and retired from General Motors, where I was an Industrial Engineering Manager. After college, I joined the Air Force and became a tanker pilot (KC-135A) and flew approx. 150 missions in Viet Nam over about three years.These days, I am a volunteer at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, where I restore old aircraft and also spend time in the museum answering questions from our visitors.I have been flight Simming since the first IBM PC, and still learn new things about our hobby nearly every day.Dale

[Guest Gasman1]

Hi OK, here goes. 29years old, specialist registrar in Anaesthesiology in Johannesburg, South Africa. Little one on the way any day now - wife 38wks pregnant today - can't wait! The above job keeps me incredibly busy, and the studying really interferes with FS time!!! Anaesthesia very simlar to flying though - lots of preflight checks etc....Really interesting to see the wide range of ages and careers of flight simmers.Cheers![/img]http://online.vatsimindicators.net/845760/1709.png[/img]

[Guest akituuli]

I'm a stevedore. I drive forklift trucks and tow trucks etc. here: 61 07 42 N; 021 26 17 E. Maybe you want to take a look with Google Earth? (Port of Rauma, Finland)I have used various flight simulators since 1994.

[woodreau 0]

I'm 32 years old and have been in and out of flight simming since subLogic's FSII for the Atari 400/800 in 1980-something. You can definitely see the difference between the old and new software and hardware. Now I finally just got FS2004 and love flying the LDS 767, although I haven't been active here in avsim since the 2004 Round-the-World race with fsforum.I find it interesting that there aren't many real-world commercial pilots that flight sim so far (not that Parts 1 and 2 of this thread are a scientific sample.)Happily married no kids yet.Joined the Navy for adventure and to see the world after graduating college in 1994. So for the last 11 years I've been based mainly in the Pacific, did a very brief stint with NATO Standing Naval Forces in the Baltics and North Seas. I've sailed around the world once, driven everything from the 4,100 ton frigates up to the 41,000 ton amphibious assault ships/helictopter carriers. Gone thru the Panama Canal, interdicted drug runners off the Pacific coast of Central and South America. I never thought I'd see the day where I had to arm my surface to air missiles off my own US coast, where we got sent after 9/11 to act as a radar picket for NORAD. Spent over two years cutting circles in the Persian Gulf - enforcing the UN sanctions back in the day, keeping the track of the air picture out there, and on my second trip to the Persian Gulf, my last major task in the Navy was to plan the amphibious offload into Kuwait to get the Marines into Iraq in the summer of 2004.I have been a real world pilot since 1996, flying gliders in southern California, then adding on the first engine in 2000 in Vermont, flying instruments since 2001 in Rhode Island, then adding the second engine in Hawaii in 2003. I got tired of driving very slow big things, and wanted something smaller and faster, so after leaving the Navy in 2004, I decided to become an airline pilot and have been flying the mighty Beechcraft 1900D with my company for four months now. It's an awesome airplane to fly - there is nothing faster than a 1900 on final approach. One of the captains pointed out an MD-80 on an ILS approach to a parallel runway one time, and sure enough we passed it up and landed first. Nothing like coming down the glideslope on an ILS at 240kts. But the best part of the job has been meeting the passengers that fly on our flights and meeting the other folks/rampers/ground agents who do their stuff on the ground to make our job in the cockpit possible.

[Guest vegasflyboy2004]

I am 28, relatively new to posting in these forums, even though I have been lurking for some time now. I am a SSgt in the Air Force stationed at Nellis AFB, Nv, soon to be off to Kunsan AB Korea. I have been in just over 10 years. I have also been stationed in Texas, Utah, and Korea one other time. I am off to Germany when this year in Korea is up. My job in the Air Force is F-16 avionics specialist, and I just got done pulling a stint as a QA inspector. As much as I love my lawn darts and other fighter jets, I am into the big jets a lot more. I love going out to McCarran to do some spotting. In FS9 you can find me flying short hops in my PMDG 737-700 or CRJ-200.

[Guest ssurjap]

I don't remember whether I replied in the first part but I'm a technical support rep for a automobile dealer software company and I'm a part-time correspondent for a travel website.