Is Flight Simming an Addiction

[Twenty6 693]

30 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Not nearly as addictive as the Civilization franchise has been for me. Just…one…more…turn. 

Or the Rollercoaster Tycoon series. Chris Sawyer was my pusher until Atari bought his "turf."

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

5 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

Whereas if you are sim flying and die in real life, the Tombstone will say something like "My only regret is not making that last landing at KLAX " .

I would be a "chicken" pilot. Pretty much never fly into a busy airspace, never around mountains, only fly in moderate temperatures.
My style would be a Cessna 172 on a clear day to a 7000+ foot runway with very little traffic.

I've crashed too many times in the sim. Not so much scared of dying in a crash, more scared of living through one and waking up in the hospital.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Alpine Scenery

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

10 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

I'm slightly afraid of heights (get dizzy), so that kind of rules out gliders I imagine.

Potentially the relatively silent flight of gliders can make it less disturbing.  Just do not look straight down the inboard wing at the ground in steep turns 😄

Vertigo is interesting. For example many people that get serious vertigo when standing on the edge of a tall building or bridge, find Hot Air Balloons do not have the same effect, possibly because the Balloon is moving with the prevailing wind and hence appears to the senses to be in a dead calm .

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

2 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

Potentially the relatively silent flight of gliders can make it less disturbing.  Just do not look straight down the inboard wing at the ground in steep turns 😄

Vertigo is interesting. For example many people that get serious vertigo standing on the edge of a tall building or bridge find Hot Balloons do not have teh same effect, possibly because the Balloon is moving with the prevailing wind and hence appears to the senses to be dead calm .

 

I didn't have it when I was younger, it's partly the usual medicine cabinet junk most people take (bp, etc..). Might not even pass the medical cert. As they say, youth is wasted on the youth.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Alpine Scenery

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

1 hour ago, Alpine Scenery said:

I didn't have it when I was younger, it's the usual medicine cabinet junk most people take (bp, etc..). Might not even pass the medical cert.

If you do not qualify for a full medical, look at whatever ultralight/recreational licence requirements are in your jurisdiction.  In Australia you are medically fit to fly an ultralight or recreational aircraft (which includes things like Jabiru J160s and Cessna 140s) providing you qualify for a car licence. You cannot of course enter any controlled airspace so are more or less restricted to private strips and CTAF .

That said, if your vertigo/fear is so severe that you risk actually freezing at the controls, flying solo is a very very bad idea even if you qualify medically.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

2 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

If you do not qualify for a full medical, look at whatever ultralight/recreational licence requirements are in your jurisdiction.  In Australia you can fly an ultralight or recreational aircraft (which includes things like Jabiru J160s and Cessna 140s) providing you qualify for a car licence. You cannot of course enter any controlled airspace so are more or less restricted to private strips and CTAS .

That said, if your vertigo/fear is so severe that you risk actually freezing at the controls, flying solo is a very very bad idea even if you qualify medically.

I am probably fine to fly on a good day if well rested. I know 1 pilot I can go up with, he flies a Piper or Mooney (I cannot recall, because it was either he used to fly a Piper and now a Mooney, or the other way around). He is in one of those flying clubs, think he pays $150 hour I guess + gas costs, so not too bad. I doubt he will want me to land though 🙂

Real flying just seems like a lot of work, hassle, and money.

 

[Bobsk8 12,743]

I limit my flights to at most around 1 1/4 hours.  I used to fly really long flights, but I found it to be like watching paint dry.  I fly pretty much every day, at least one flight and usually 2-3. 

[vin747 316]

I'm a flightsim junkie, forever in rehab.. 

[flyinpilot212121 724]

At times it can be. I usually spend my summers away from the sim as I enjoy the sun, warm weather and my motorcycle riding. However in the winter is when I usually sim as I don’t like the cold weather, or winter in general. I think if I used the sim all year round I would get bored of it so my on and off again system works out pretty well for me.

[Mace 1,928]

2 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Not nearly as addictive as the Civilization franchise has been for me. Just…one…more…turn. 

Oh....I'm still an avid Civ4 player, in fact I'm wrapping up a cultural win game right now.

I played Civ1, 2, 3, and 4 but have never really gotten around to any of the newer versions...

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

46 minutes ago, flyinpilot212121 said:

At times it can be. I usually spend my summers away from the sim as I enjoy the sun, warm weather and my motorcycle riding. However in the winter is when I usually sim as I don’t like the cold weather, or winter in general. I think if I used the sim all year round I would get bored of it so my on and off again system works out pretty well for me.

If I lived in Canada, I wouldn't like the winters either. Where I live, winter is 55 - 65 degrees instead of 125, so it's welcome here.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Alpine Scenery

[blueshark747 1,843]

This hobby is intriguing because of it's several factors that all tie in hand in hand.

Computer Hardware/ Software Tuning challenges and sometimes headaches.

Control Surface Hardware/ Peripheral challenges and sometimes headaches

The forums/communications with users and 3rd party addon developers who are just as obsessed as I.

After a beautiful VR flight I say to myself with a huge smile "You see, this is why I emptied my wallet and built all of this stuff that takes up my entire man cave/den/office."

"IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH THE DIGITAL FLIGHT I'VE JUST EXPERIENCED!!!."😛

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by blueshark747

[Sky_Pilot071 580]

The way the world is today, and I guess like always flight simming isn't such a bad addiction.  

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[TravelRunner404 596]

That’s funny that people are mentioning Civilization. There must be a certain wiring to the brains of people who enjoy flight sims. I think I have 2,000 hours in that game. 
 

Over the past 5 years I have watched basically zero TV outside of sports (which admittedly that’s a lot of time but it’s often social). You take the time that “normal” people binge watch TV and play on their phones/iPads and convert it to flight sim or games like Civ it’s not hard to find 10+ hours a week on average. Especially with 18 months of those COVID days. 

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

1 hour ago, TravelRunner404 said:

That’s funny that people are mentioning Civilization. There must be a certain wiring to the brains of people who enjoy flight sims. I think I have 2,000 hours in that game. 

10+ hours, that isn't that much, I guess I am addicted then. At the rate that grocery prices keep increasing, I'm thinking crop dusting might actually be a viable living really soon.