.... When Avsim came into existence?  I was a member from just about the very beginning, used to frequent Flightsim.com alot too but found it easier just to stick with one forum, although I loved both.  Cannot even remember what version of MSFS I was using when I started with Avsim.  I was once a moderator here but found the job too tough, I took it too personally and asked Tom if I could resign, was younger then, less mature, and overworked in my full time IT profession at the time.  An exhausted mod is not a good mod, I found out.  I felt the pain of the Avsim hack, donated what I could at that time to help bring the site back up, it was like losing a confidant.  Always miss Avsim when it goes down unexpectedly or down for maintenance, but such things happen.  Have missed some of the regular posters here, especially in the screenshots forum where good buddy HLJames has not posted in a long while.  And I still miss Tom, his countenance and blessings on us always sought, his stories and wisdom, legendary.

John

There are many of us still around from near the start. Always wished they had found a way to restore our "Member Since" dates after the system crash in 2002.  At one time Tom put up a link to archived pages from back then but I have not seen it in several years.

I am reasonably sure that I joined AVSIM in June 2001. I was using Flight Unlimited 3 (and the Flight Unlimited 2 San Francisco scenery) exclusively at that time, and would do so for another seven years. Only two months after I had joined, I uploaded my first scenery package for FU3 (a simple modification of Scotts Valley airfield for the San Francisco scenery region), and that was the start of a major love affair with FLED (the FLight Unlimited EDitor). I must have spent hundreds (and very probably thousands) of hours immersed in that editor, upgrading the airports and scenery in both of the high resolution regions. I have very fond memories of that period in my flight simulation career, and I will never forget it.

Edited August 6, 20187 yr by Christopher Low

3 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I am reasonably sure that I joined AVSIM in June 2001. I was using Flight Unlimited 3 (and the Flight Unlimited 2 San Francisco scenery) exclusively at that time, and would do so for another seven years. Only two months after I had joined, I uploaded my first scenery package for FU3 (a simple modification of Scotts Valley airfield for the San Francisco scenery region), and that was the start of a major love affair with FLED (the FLight Unlimited EDitor). I must have spent hundreds (and very probably thousands) of hours immersed in that editor, upgrading the airports and scenery in both of the high resolution regions. I have very fond memories of that period in my flight simulation career, and I will never forget it.

I remember well Flight Unlimited 2, when it was released I thought it was amazing, it even modeled wake turbulence if you were unlucky enough to get caught behind jetwash.  If you crashed it had a "heaven" feature that would resurrect you.  Flying over a photoreal Bay Area, where I grew up in the Napa Valley, was wonderful.  Now I have a much higher resolution MSE, with photoreal scenery brought to the bread and butter of sims, P3DV4.  But Flight Unlimited 2 was a prophecy of things to come when it was released, I was on a business trip in Canada when it was released and it was the first software title I bought when I returned home to Phoenix. I saw it in the window of a software store in Edmonton Park Mall in Canada, but wanted to purchase it stateside.

John

I remember having a near miss with another plane in an almost head on approach in FU3, and seconds after the encounter, my plane was being tossed around in the wake turbulence. Flight Unlimited 2 and 3 were far better flight simulators than some members of the flightsim community gave them credit for.

Flight Unlimited 2.....good times indeed!

Mark

 

I've been around since around 1998. I tend to lurk more than post. I really miss the Project Freeware forum and team.

Unfortunately, I don't remember. My member profile says that I joined Avsim on December 27, 2002, but I think that I had been a member before that.

Anyway, I've been a daily (sometimes, many times a day) reader probably since I first joined the community. I can't imagine a world without Avsim.

I think I have been around since the beginning, but I can't remember.  Some of you may be able to correct me if I'm wrong about this --

-- but didn't the AVSIM File Library begin out of Mike Marando's Flight Sim Uploads, and the IUP ftp site file libraries?   It seems like I remember it that way, but I'm really not sure.

Ah yes - I knew there was an IUP/ Marando's connection -- look at this old stuff I found:

https://www.avsim.com/pages/dec-95.htm

There's even a download entry for SCASM by Manfred Moldenhauer.  Alfred Grech, Dave McQueen, Alessandro Antonini, Mike Vidal and Standesky.  It was the beginning of the aftermarket. 

On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 11:04 PM, Camsdad13 said:

I've been around since around 1998. I tend to lurk more than post. I really miss the Project Freeware forum and team.

I'd say around 98.  I'd released a few freeware panels in 98 both here and at Flightsim and Project Freeware were here at Avsim from the beginning.  Good times.

1998ish for me too. I remember the dial up sounds well! 

Anybody else remember pre-avsim when there were "groups" on what I think were compuserve or prodigy? Maybe even Noble-Air had a big part? 

Edited August 9, 20187 yr by Sticky

I also can't remember. 😉 My current account if from August 11, 2006 (so coming Saturday is my AVSIM-birthday!!! 😃) but I had another account before that which was closed on my own request for personal reasons. Pity that I can't remember when I came here first... 

Those were the days.....  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avsim.com  . I don't remember when I started here either but it was very early on. My profile says 2003 but I know it was earlier than that. I had a different account back in the early times and would have kept it had Tom and I not "discussed" a couple of pressing issues which led to his sending me on vacation and then deleting the account 😊. Everything worked out in the end and I still remember some later great conversations with Tom about the "incident".....Doug

3 hours ago, Paul Golding said:

I'd released a few freeware panels in 98

Paul, I think your fantastic 707 panel was one of my first downloads and the beginning of my addiction.

Ted