In memory of Ron Freimuth

[FlyingsCool 3]

I don't see any other threads here, so I just wanted to say how sorry I am to see that Ron has passed and send my condolances to his family.I knew him only from a few conversations here at Avsim, but I have an enormous respect for him and his work. I really enjoyed reading everything he had to say about flight modeling and had hoped that he might be able to have some impact at ACES in getting some of the niggling big and little issues with the flight model of Flight Simulator fixed. After all, while I enjoy looking at the scenery, and it provides a nice distraction, the flight model is really what flight simulation is all about. He's certainly written enough about it online, however, that I hope the ACES team will search for and read what he's written and take what he had to say to heart.Thank you Ron, and Keep on flying!Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[DShutt 14]

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=33554&page=Daryl ShuttleworthLevel-D SimulationsSupport & Documentation

[robert young 2,897]

A friend of Ron informed me of his death two days ago. I don't think he objects to me publishing, through the information he sent me about Ron, some salient facts about Ron's life and his interests and talents, which I summarise below my own message.I "met" Ron online many years ago, when I was a complete "rookie" at this Flight Modelling business. Though I think we approached the same subject from widely different perspectives, Ron was always extremely patient with my naive questions and always answered them with measured tone and a genuine kindness.What was clear that Ron was a gifted mathematician and extremely comfortable with the technical aspects of flight. There is no doubt that without him there would be many unsolved mysteries in airfiles which would have left many of us guessing. His untimely death at a relatively young 64 years is a great shame, and I offer his family my sincere condolences.What follows is a slightly edited summary of how Ron was regarded by a close friend of his, Robert Wagner, who contacted me and others, and at my later request expanded a little more on what he knew about Ron:"Ron and I exchanged emails every day for 20 years. We met in person five times: twice in Austin, twice at his old house in Richardson TX, once in Mongromery AL. Ron was a brilliant engineer (MSEE Stanford) who could rattle off fundamental equations like a recent grad. His favorites were Maxwell's. He loved analog engineering, regarded digital as glorified programming rather than Real Engineering. He thought he was a good programmer but was actually bad at it. (I'm a Real Programmer who thinks he knows physics but is actually doesn't.) He worked at NASA AMES and HP, both in Silicon Valley, moved to TX in the '80s to work a lousy job at ElectroSpace (top secret, involved communications) until they fired him. I met Ron then, in the BBS days, in a science forum where we were both talking to Frederick Kantor (Information Mechanics, physics professor at Columbia despite no physics degree) and Kip Thorne (Caltech, my alma mater).His Richardson house burned down two years ago for reasons never explained. He lived in apartments he hated; six months ago bought a nice house in Plano. Before that move, we had long discussions about where he should go. He favored Austin. He settled on Plano out of familiarity with North Dallas and lack of strength to move very far. He did everything physical himself, wouldn't dream of hiring movers to haul his stuff. Ron was 64, same as I am. It was a sad ending to a good man and friendship."Rob Young

[MM 422]

A real salute to Ron for all that he did and all that he inspired.Three cheers.Mike MacKuen

[Tabs 2,790]

All of us at PMDG were extremely saddened to hear this news and we send our deepest condolences to Ron's family and friends. This is a huge loss for the FS community.

[Guest Dan G Martin]

Hi there Rob it's people like you who are the true legacy of Ron. Through his great ability to translate his understanding of mathmatical discriptions of the physical world into our language was (and is rare). That ability to translate from the mathmatical discriptions of things like fluid dynamics into what we mortals can crasp is a great gift. The result of the above are things like Your (and Ron's) wonderful flight models that give many great enjoyment and a glimpse of how beautiful flight can indeed be. Ron will be truly missed. Dan Martin Flight Ontario