I picked it up at borders yesterday on my lunch break. I bought the only copy they had but at least they had one. ;)I wonder if he is the reason they chose friday harbor as the default plane position in fsx as some sort of tribute?

I think I will order "Fate is the Hunter". It sounds interesting. I love reading aviation books. I have read aviation fiction, nonfiction, combat, adventure, etc... If it is about flying, I have read it or plan to. LOL I am currently reading reading "North Star Over My Shoulder" by Bob Buck. He started out in aviation in the 30's. He flew for TWA from 1937 until 1974. It is fascinating to read about the rapid advances in aviation in the words of a man who "lived it". He started out as Copilot on DC2's and 3's. He retired as a Captain on a 747.Another "must read" for aviation enthusiasts is "The Spirit of St Louis" by Charles A Lindbergh. I literally could not put it down until I finished it. Nick

Those are also two of my favorite books-but I think you may find "Fate is the Hunter" the most compelling. It has a magic and sums up the mystery magic and adventure of flying .http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

I am glad I noticed this thread. I look forward to reading it!ThanksNick

Hi all,For those who love aviation/flight reading with something of a historic flair, I could highly recommend the following too:"Song of the Sky" by Guy Murchie"A Gift of Wings", "Stranger to the Ground", "Biplane", and "Nothing by Chance", by Richard Bach"Night Flight", "Wind, Sand, and Stars", "Flight to Arras" and "The Little Prince", by Antoine de St. ExuperyThese readings explore stuff ranging from the "ocean that is the sky", to short stories such as "aviation or flying? Take your pick", to some excellent and thought-provoking ideas about the beauty of flight and the soul of the pilot.Great stuff!Thanks for the other references too...I've not read "North Star" yet!Bill

Nick:Thanks for the tip...I'll check it out of the local library. Any good mission ideas there?

If you are looking for ideas-I have a dream of a series of missions based on real life emergency/adventure/content-much like the "never again" section of Flying magazine. I've had several emergencies I could contribute...and quite a few adventures.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

Hello archtxI am glad I could help. I have not finished the book yet. I am not sure if there are any good missions in there or not. A lot stories are about flying in IFR conditions with very primitive instruments (by todays standards). That may be difficult to duplicate even with the the DC3 that is included in FSX. However, I can assure you that if you like reading about aviation, you will enjoy this book.Geofa,I for one would very much like to work through the emergencies you have experienced. If you have the time to create them, I'll download them. I have been fortunate, my biggest scare was when I leaned the engine too efficiently. Of course recovery took about an eighth of a second...but for a student, that sudden silence created...uh...just a little stress LOL. Anyhow, I hope that is the closest I ever come to a real emergency. Nick

Geofa:Let me know if you need some help. Maybe we could collaborate on a couple of them. owen at stx dot rr dot com. I think real life emergencies have a great deal of appeal to many people. I remember reading one where Rutan lost a prop on a Vari-EZ over a solid overcast. By shear luck, there was a small hole in the clouds with an airport directly above. I doubt if one person in a hundred could have sucessfully landed in those conditions, but he did.archtx

I am about halfway through with this book and have found it very entertaining so far. The only complaint i have is his overuse of what i like to call 'big' words. There are at least 2 unnecessarily difficult words used on each page. I find that i need to keep a dictionary handy when i am reading it which i find a little humorous. It's almost like he has a deep desire to have people think that he is smart since he uses words that are totally unnecessary. I do like Captain Ross though. He must have been quite a guy. I am having difficulty determining which years his training was taking place in.________________________________________________________________________________________________Intel D975XBX2 'Bad Axe 2' | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.20Ghz | 2 GB Super Talent DDR2 800 @ 893Mhz | Big Typhoon VX | eVGA 8800GTS @ 575/900 | Seagate 2x 320GB SATA RAID-0 | OCZ GameXStream 700W | Creative X-Fi | Silverstone TJ-09BW | Matrox Triplehead Setup

OK...so what's a day or two! Anyway, Part 1 is finished and uploaded to the library. Look for Gypsies1.zip in the FSX Missions. Not quite as tense as the Valhalla mission, but hopefully you'll find it exciting enough. Since I don't really know the exact route, I gave the user 3 choices.

Great news! Thanks for your work-really look forward to it!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

Excellent mission many thanks, it took me right back to the account in the book (all pilots tend to have a well thumbed Fate is the Hunter sitting in their bookshelf).I hand flew descending to 1000 feet about 10 miles from the NDB out then decided to practice my NDB tracking by flying inbound in solid IMC. Flying the radial outbound I kept at 120ft chasing through the fjords.. exciting stuff.Only slight thing was no reward after landing safely, but then it is good enough to repeat the mission several more times :D.

>>Only slight thing was no reward after landing safely, but then>it is good enough to repeat the mission several more times :D.>What happened that you didn't get the reward!? You need that "Eric the Red" reward on your FSX shelf!Owen

>>>>>Only slight thing was no reward after landing safely, but>then>>it is good enough to repeat the mission several more times>:D.>>>What happened that you didn't get the reward!? You need that>"Eric the Red" reward on your FSX shelf!>>OwenI landed and then taxied to parking, shut down and then ended the flight with escape, however the mission window then said 'pending' for the land safely at Bluie West One. Coming to think of it, I never use the mission pointer and perhaps I needed to taxi over to a specific area. I will try the mission again and turn on the mission pointer after landing, perhaps that will get me the reward.