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LuisFelizTirado

100 Days of Flight - Your "WOW!" moment

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Paul Donnelly (BASys) has kindly reminded us that Flight has been out for 100 days which is good cause for cheer for many of us.

 

In celebration of this momentous occasion, I thought to resurrect what was one of the most popular, if not the most popular, discussion in the Beta Discussion Group - Your "WOW!" moment.

 

That is to say, and I quote the developer "Wedge" who first started the discussion: "...what some of your favorite discoveries, moments, or experiences have been with Flight so far. This will help us to possibly expand or create more of those kinds of moments and opportunities down the road."

 

A great idea and a good way to let the devs know what we like the most. So, please post your positive experiences, your wonderful times, your "Wow!" moment.

 

I may as well start with my personal Wow! moment:

 

I was flying low over the water at the Northeast corner of the Big Island just checking out the water textures (which at the time had no effects or wave animation), when I saw some large canyons. I turned in to fly through and my jaw dropped! It was beautiful! High-resolution cliff textures covered with vegetation and tiny rivulets of water dropping all the way down the sides of the cliffs. It filled me with joy, the realism, the extreme attention to detail, the beauty of it all.

 

 

Of course, your Wow! moment does not have to be related to scenery; it can be anything that most impressed you and gave you a feeling of wonder and joy.

 

Best regards.

Luis

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Thanks, Mr. Donnelly, I look forward to your post's continuation. Thanks for asking, Luis.

 

Waimea Canyon run from Waimea town north 'til I couldn't climb my Maule out of the canyon and scored my first crash to desktop (the correct phrase?) was my first day (Feb 29th?) VFR "WOW" moment. The scenery passing before my windscreen engrossed me so much that I forgot to fly the aircraft.

 

A month later, RV-6A Landing Challenge 5 was my more mature IFR "WOW" moment when Nawiliwili Bay lighthouse passed under my left wing, 300 feet below and Lihue runway 3 loomed out of the blinding fog, right where the needle said it would be.

 

I, also, am interested in WOW moment anecdotes as this is the spirit of MS Flight to me.

 

Respects, Bob in Seattle

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My first one came when I was watching a slowly lumbering train in ts2012 make it's way across bland environments with only 3 "controls" (buttons) to use in "advanced" control mode... and saying to my friend "if you like this, you would *love* ms flight sim. sure wish they would make a new one". I then did a spot of Google-ing, and *gasp* there is one! And it's coming out in less than a month! I didn't even bother finishing my train route, I closed that thing down and uninstalled it lol.

 

The next was when I first fired it up, with its slick menus, detailed planes, eyecandy graphics, inspiring music, and not a single "humorist" to be found :LMAO:

 

The biggest one was when I was doing the lost kayaker mission. Cruising along the Na Pali coast in the Icon was pretty sweet, but then I made the first U-turn, flying back along the coast, with the morning sun glinting off imperfections in the windshield, passing amazing looking cliffs with waterfalls and streams... Then landing in the water, dropping the gear, and pulling right up onto the very same beach that is used in so many films... instant classic. I hope MS hurries up with Alaska, because I'm pretty much sitting here waiting on it, interrupted by bits of sleep and work, and flights around Hawaii of course :dance:

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The biggest one was when I was doing the lost kayaker mission.

 

I would have to say that was mine as well, along with flying through some of the beautifully rendered canyons.

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Mine was the 1st day I downloaded the product and saw the scenery. Incredible potential for a great sim was my thinking. I'm still holding out "hope".

 

Stan

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I started out exploring the flightline at MCAS Kaneohe Bay on foot, impressed at the accurate detail given to the buildings, which I know so well from my many years spent there at Hangar 104 and 105.

 

It was dawn, with the familiar peaks and undulations of the Ko'olau Mountains brightly lit by the breaking sun, the rosy "low and threatening" clouds overhead drifting slowly mauka on the gentle trade winds, but with the flightline and hangars still deep in the shadows cast by Radar Hill and Mo'kapu Crater. Just as I remember it at dawn.

 

I climbed into my RV-6, parked on the transient spot by Base Ops at Hangar 105 and started her up. Taxiing out to runway 04, I tuned VOR-1 to Koko Head from memory and found it working properly. I left the taxiway briefly, onto the High-Power Turn area just before the hold-short to play with the engine a bit. After a couple of run-ups, watching the instruments, I returned to the taxiway and on out to the runway.

 

Pointing the nose down 04, straight into the trades, I eased the throttle in and began my takeoff roll. Adding some rudder to keep her tracking right down the centerline, approaching flying-speed, there was a flicker of light and then the brilliant sun suddenly exploded from behind the shoulder of Radar Hill, as I had forgotten it should, illuminating every streak and scratch on the canopy. I soared upward, not only into the air, but into the light.

 

Just as I remembered.

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Sorry....I refuse....REFUSE....to restrain myself to only one wow moment.

 

So you get two.

 

First, when I realized the potential of the "low and threatening" weather system, right around sun-down. Flying the Stearman, there are some really beautiful cliffs from quite the altitude on the north side, the eastern half of the island. There were a few moments that made me think we are dabbling in actual photorealism. Made me a bit nervous about diving down to the water, actually.

 

Second, when folks like RoboRay and J van E communicated to me the concepts of VOR navigation, flying radials, etc. This opened up a whole new world for me, and I found myself going through the process as I would fall asleep at night, I was that hooked.

 

And I gotta say, I check for Alaska updates in the morning before I even check my email!!

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That's so poetic RoboRay

 

My WOW moment came with my first landing at sea with the Icon A5, might have been the wedding party mission? Yes, I need to be more adventurous.

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My first WOW moment was more subtle, but no less impressive...

 

Flying into the sun one day, and went to brush off some of the cat hairs that my silver tabby had shed onto the screen of my laptop... only to discover they were instead... the crystal crackling effect of the sunlight refracting through the windshield...

 

Such attention to such a small detail blew me away!

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Mine was in the RV-6 checking out the canyons around Waimea. I was amazed with the scenery, but not thinking it was so great for a sim. I was caught thinking how great the view simply was in the canyon as if I were there. But that wasn't my "Wow" moment. That came right after.

 

I realized I was flying too low and slow to climb out as the canyon was ending after a turn, and for the first time in my life I performed an Immelmann where my (simulated) life really depended upon it, and I finally, viscerally, understand just how useful that maneuver can be. I spent the next 30 minutes heading into canyons and reversing out with the same maneuver.

 

My second "Wow" was actually not while in the game. I was checking out the voyage of Captain Cook in preparation for hunting the aerocache at his monument. That lead me to research the transit of Venus, which was coming up soon at that time, and the expeditions of the 18th and 19th centuries, and before I knew it, I had spent two hours enjoying myself because of the game, without even being in the game!

 

(Most of my friends are now VERY bored with stories about those expeditions and the quest to measure the Astronomical Unit. In fact, for the June 5th aerocache there probably should have been one at the location of the site where they observed the transit on Oahu in 1874 so I could bore them with stories about the cache as well.)

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My first WOW moment was when I realised they were releasing so many cockpitless warbirds!

 

Back to serious...I think it was one of the Maule challenges, a dusk scene with the sun glinting on the scratched plexiglass, shadows bouncing around the 'pit, all at over 50fps @ pretty well maxed settings.

 

Another big one for me was trying Anaglyph 3D via the Nvidia card, that was a MEGA-WOW. You feel like you'll poke your eyes out with all the controls.

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My first WOW moment was more subtle, but no less impressive...

 

Flying into the sun one day, and went to brush off some of the cat hairs that my silver tabby had shed onto the screen of my laptop... only to discover they were instead... the crystal crackling effect of the sunlight refracting through the windshield...

 

Such attention to such a small detail blew me away!

 

You and me both. This impressed me also. It is that kind of effect that you never knew you missed up until you got it..

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


Richard

7950x3d   |   32Gb 6000mHz RAM   |   8Tb NVme   |   RTX 4090    |    MSFS    |    P3D    |      XP12  

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I'm still having Wow! moments, as in "Wow, where did that landing field go to?" Had one of those a couple of days ago with the Hakalau Bridge AOTD. Went back to land the Icon and kept wondering "Wow..."

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I have had plenty Wow moments, but the most amazing one was when low flying the ravines on the Northside of Hawaii with Low an Threatening weather settings.

(In the Kohala Forest - Pu'u O Umi Natural Reserve Areas, west of Waipio)

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Like others I have wow moments all the time. If I was to single out a few, the greatest would be earning gold on the harder landing challenges, the Kayak rescue mission, and learning radio navigation from J van E and others. (Since I can't get my graphics card to perform and pretty much have to run on minimal settings, looks and scenery is less impressive at my end :smile:)

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