I was doing my usual morning thing - flying the FSX CRJ to Indy - when I just sat back, sighed deeply, and thought, "This is really so much fun." Who know what it is that triggers such a silly thing - sitting at a computer in the basement and watching a virtual world fly by - in an old retired guy, but there it is. Granted, it's perhaps not the best use of my time, by, by gosh, it is so much fun.

Anyway, here's a pic of my setup, with the wonderful OpusFSX providing the clouds and MegasceneryEarth-Indiana providing the visuals. And with LIveATC playing in the background, maybe it touches some long lost dream of my childhood!!!

 

 

Jim doesn't matter what age you are as long as your having fun.

i couldn't think of a better way to pass the limited spare time i have. :smile:

 

  best wishes

    steve

As the saying goes:

 

''''

My favorite saying is, "Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional."

                 Nice set-up you got there.

 

Well, at one point of our lives many of us wanted to be a pilot in real life, of course. A few manage to achieve their dream; others did not. And, I want to imagine that 85-90% of those of us today who fly the virtual skies are non -real pilots. However, we find a high level of gratification flying on our computer... Yes. it is  so much fun! I believe at this point most of us have invested a large amount of money, learning, tweaking, and researching in this hobby; thus we should enjoy ourselves to the max.

 

Happy flying

 

 

- sitting at a computer in the basement and watching a virtual world fly by - in an old retired guy, but there it is. Granted, it's perhaps not the best use of my time, by, by gosh, it is so much fun.

 

...to this, my response is always: better doing this than sit in front of the TV with no interaction.

 

A hobby is a hobby: Golf, collecting coins, playing a musical intrument, flying a real aircraft or playing MMORPG is the same to me. As long as you spend your time having fun, spending on what doesn't matter.

Not having fun... where's the fun in that?

 

 

Who know what it is that triggers such a silly thing

 

I often wonder the same. Yes, we are having fun, as everyone acknowledges, but the question was WHY!? I also sometimes think why looking at some pixels on a screen keeps me entertained this long... Is it the feeling of freedom because sometimes it feels you are really out there...? Flying high in the sky, in full control? Even though nothing is real and it's all fake?

 

I think the variety of this hobby is what keeps me going. Sometimes I like this hobby because I get to learn a new plane. Sometimes I like this hobby because I like to get the most out of my PC. Sometimes I like this hobby because I just bought a new addon. Sometimes I like this hobby because I can talk about it a LOT online. Most of the time though I like this hobby because I can relax in a er... mature way. I mean, no shooting, no killing (I stopped playing those kind of games a few years ago), no competition, no stress, just me and a plane in the sky... while the time slowly passages... getting away from the busy world...

 

It's a fun(ny) hobby, that's for sure.

Very cool setup! Great thing to do especially if you can't get into the airline industry because of age or medical issues. It may not be the same feeling, but it gives one a sense of what really goes on in there when we go on a flight to visit family or for vacation!

Great setup and great thoughts which no doubt so many of us share. I too often have the same thoughts, more often than I sometimes think is healthy!

"When you die, die young, as late as possible"

For me it's about pretending to to be an airliner pilot, something I have always wanted to be, but in the end I found out I would rather do it just a few hours per week, as opposed to making it a full time occupation.

"When you die, die young, as late as possible"

 

+1

Most of the time in my FSX dev work I want to tear my hair out or smash my keyboard over something. But every now and then I run across a ultra successful day where i figure out awesome things that i have never seen before and put them into the sim...and then i suddenly realise just how fun my job/hobby really is.