From almost 1 yr ago, but surely still actual...

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2020-07-01/desktop-simulators-shine-during-pandemic

Edited June 22, 20214 yr by jcomm

Yes well. I was never stuck in the house. Went to work all the way through it. Went out for enjoyment as much as was possible and seldom ever wore a mask. Never had so much as a head cold even. 

But the extra cash from Uncle Sam paid for my simming hardware 😄😄😄

Unlike Gary I was stuck in the house due to old age as much as the pandemic.  But when I did go out I wore a mask and was first in line to get vaccinated.

For several years now my flight simulator has been my friend so the pandemic had nothing to do with it.  I was already housebound. 

I'm a pretty healthy guy for my age.  The shocks are shot, the tires are worn down and the steering is wobbly but the motor is still in excellent condition.  But I don't believe in taking chances with my health so when my doctor recommends a prescription drug and a flue shot I get them. 

BTW...In November my little brother died from the Covid 19 virus so I am not so flippant about the pandemic. 

Noel 

Edited June 22, 20214 yr by birdguy

Please....let's not startup another COVID discussion.  Keep it to the title.

I found my simming habits changed, I find myself much less interested in airline flying and a lot more interested in GA.  I’m not sure if that’s due to MSFS being released early in the pandemic (and me moving most of my sim time there), the fact that I usually fly real life airline flights and there have generally been far fewer of those, or some combination of the two (most likely some combination).

Honestly, when the aviation sector was at its pandemic lowest, I found it kind of depressing to do airliner flights for whatever reason.

Better times ahead.

 

I have been on Flight Simulator since I was 12 years old, and I am not 49 years old, therefore 37 years of flight simming through all of those world events, Flight Sim has always been a constant in my life

1 hour ago, Matthew Kane said:

I have been on Flight Simulator since I was 12 years old, and I am not 49 years old, therefore 37 years of flight simming through all of those world events, Flight Sim has always been a constant in my life

Hey that's neat, I have been messing with FS since I was 12 years old also -- 1985 --  and I am now 48 years old.  Mid-80's simmers unite

I fly more GA now than I did say, 2 or 3 years ago.  Not sure why. I'm sure I'll go back to more big iron eventually.

It's a little strange or maybe not so strange how a lot of us like similar stuff.  I believe @regis9 also owns a black Golf R just like I do.

I logged the most hours since back in the mid-to-late 1990's  when I was heavily involved in the first ever virtual airlines, Sunair, based in the subLogic Flight Assignment: ATP simulator.  Alas despite my MSFS Premium Deluxe, 70% of those hours flown over the past 12 months have been in FSX and FSX SE with a number of advanced addons for a number of sound aviation related reasons.  Not a troll.  Just a personal statistic.

1 hour ago, Mace said:

I fly more GA now than I did say, 2 or 3 years ago.  Not sure why. I'm sure I'll go back to more big iron eventually.

It's a little strange or maybe not so strange how a lot of us like similar stuff.  I believe @regis9 also owns a black Golf R just like I do.

Indeed! 🙂

I suspect I'm in the same boat on Big Iron, especially once a few more airliners are released for MSFS.

1 hour ago, Mace said:

Hey that's neat, I have been messing with FS since I was 12 years old also -- 1985 --  and I am now 48 years old.  Mid-80's simmers unite

I fly more GA now than I did say, 2 or 3 years ago.  Not sure why. I'm sure I'll go back to more big iron eventually.

It's a little strange or maybe not so strange how a lot of us like similar stuff.  I believe @regis9 also owns a black Golf R just like I do.

Yes I am the same as well, 2 or 3 years ago heavily into PMDG aircraft on P3D, now I have become exclusively into GA once again. I would say late 90s early 2000s I was into the heavy iron in that period as well when ATC Third Party was developing and Flight Planners etc

I do find GA Flying more relaxing over all now that we are getting into our 50s, we will likely do more GA moving forward.

17 minutes ago, Matthew Kane said:

I do find GA Flying more relaxing over all now that we are getting into our 50s, we will likely do more GA moving forward.

And perhaps more so when into our 70's.  All of my actual flying was GA. For 10 years got into VA and heavies. Got derailed due to non-aviation career demands.  Retired in late 2009.  Back to flight simulation.  Back to exclusively GA.  Back to home.  Back to my experience.  No more fantasy.

The old question, where were you when???

Where were you when the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up? Flight Simming

Where were you when the Berlin Wall Came Down? Flight Simming

Where were you when Princess Diana Died? Flight Simming

How did you prepare for Y2K? Flight Simming

Where were you on 911? Flight Simming

Where were you when the Space Shuttle Columbia blew up? Flight Simming

Where were you during the Boxing Day Tsunami? Flight Simming

Where were you when Osama Bin Laden was killed? Flight Simming

And Finally, what did you do during the Global Pandemic???? Flight Simming 

Like I said the ole Flight Simulator has been pretty consistent over the last 37 years, and I look forward to many more as well 😎

I started flightsimming I'd say, addictively, around 1992, although I had been using flightsims before that, since FS2 in a Mac...

One thing I never exercised though, and I do regret because I am sure it would have been immersive, is ATC, either using  ATC robots or through an Online Organization like VATSIM or IVAO... These is an area where my RL practice could probably gain from using it in a sim... I lack a lot of ATC skills ! Feel as dumb at times as when I try to speak in Spanish 🙂

IRL I only fly gliders but strangely, or maybe not, I never used much of soaring in sims, even with the old SFS ( 1998-2000 ), and then Condorsoaring ( 2006 ) and Silentwings ( 2007 ). I use more xCSoar and TopHat in SIM mode when getting familiar with some of their new features whenever a new version is released, before using them in a real glider flight, and I do consider using these tools a bit too distracting IRL flying... just like I think a G1000 or the like would be very difficult for me to use due to the HUGE amount of data that is displayed - way more dense than in the panels of an Airbus / Boeing or most commuter jets / turboprops ...

The last 5 years of my recent simming activity were also about air combat, although I say I don't like air combat 🙂

In good truth since I worked through the Pandemic almost every day at my office / datacenters, I really didn't "enjoy" being at home due to it and being able to dedicate more time to simming, and, since I am not a professional or even IFR rated pilot, using them to train was never the case, although I do like to play IFR in the sims 🙂

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by jcomm
typos

I'm quite a bit older than most of you.  87 years old, half way to 88.  I started with 3.0 in 1988.  At the time I was flying real Cherokees in Denver.

By the time FS5.1 came along I was creating scenery for Flightsim.com and California Classic and continued through FS2004.

Off and on I flew airliners and military props and jets as well as general aviation aircraft.

I still have FSX on my system with a collection of all kinds of aircraft.  But mainly I fly the Lionheart Quest Kodiak all over the Orbx world in P3Dv5.

I retired from the Colorado Air Guard in 1993 at the mandatory retirement age of 60 and fight simming has been a large part of my day ever since then except when I was out back packing or fly fishing in the Rockies. 

When we moved to Roswell 20+ years ago I volunteered at the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge taking part in bird counts and other chores like bird banding and photgraphy.  I became a wildlife photographer and that took me away from daily flight simming for a few years.  But when I reached 80 it became too difficult for me to traipse around brush and gullies so I had to quit.  I returned to flgiht simming and it has been  mainstay since.

Barring accident I expect to be simming for the next decade or so.  But I am not anxious to upgrade my hardware or move beyond P3D.  I have not installed MS2020 and have no plans to.  I'm perfectly satisfied with what I have now.

Noel  

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by birdguy

I'm a bit younger than you all: barely 36 years old, simming since I was 20 (with FS9, which I still fire up sometimes). I think 2020 and 2021 were the years I flew the most from my sims. But I can say that in these two years I spent in addons (and sims) almost the same money I spent in normal times (i.e., between 2006 and 2019), and that's not including hardware.