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    Obituary: Eric Ernst


    skelsey

    The father of ‘study sims’, a devoted family man and a passionate aviator, Captain Eric William Ernst was a pioneer in the development of high-fidelity add-on aircraft for Flight Simulator.

    Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Ernst followed his father Raymond in to a career as a pilot, flying first for American Eagle before joining American Airlines in 1999.

    And it was his love of flying which led him to start developing freeware panels for FS98, most notably for the Boeing 757/767 but also the MD-80.

    At a time when realistically-shaped 2D panels – never mind flyable virtual cockpits – were still regarded as an exotic new feature and the most advanced in-sim avionics available were a VOR receiver and (barely) 25kHz compatible COM radio – Eric Ernst’s work was ground-breaking. Not only did he create intricately detailed panels with high quality textures, he also created many of his own custom gauges. The result was a level of immersion and realism that had never been seen previously.

    It was this pursuit of ever greater fidelity which led Ernst to create 767 Pilot in Command in 2001. One awestruck reviewer declared at the time: “this is quite simply the best, most complete, most reliable, bug-free panel I have seen to date.”  From a fully-simulated Inertial Reference System which drifted realistically over time to the most complete and complex FMC that had ever been seen in a desktop flight simulator -- plus a 224 page manual to tell you how to use it all -- 767 Pilot in Command was the first Flight Simulator add-on which could truly be described as “study level”.

    It was a high bar which future add-on developers would have to jump over if they were to be taken seriously. Many, since the news of his death, have described Eric Ernst as an inspiration. Without question, we would not be enjoying add-ons with the level of fidelity we take for granted today if it were not for Ernst’s revolutionary work on 767 PIC.

    Many simmers continue to enjoy Ernst’s creations even now in the form of the Level-D 767 revitalised for FS2004, FSX and even more recently for Prepar3D v3. It is a testament to how far the product was ahead of its time that it still stands tall, if no longer quite shoulder-to-shoulder, amongst the leviathans of modern developers.

    For all his passion for aviation and flight simulation, however, Eric’s greatest love was for his family and it was his devotion to his wife Randi and daughters Amanda and Cassandra that led him to place himself in to what he described as a “self-imposed exile” from the sim community some time after the release of 767 PIC. A gentleman in every sense of the word, those who corresponded with him spoke of his warmth, patience and passion in conversation.

    A First Officer for almost his entire airline career, Ernst finally made the move to the left hand seat in 2017, achieving his lifelong dream of commanding an American Airlines aircraft. With his death at the age of 51, the flight simulation community has lost perhaps its greatest pioneer: in a world where we now take complexity for granted, Eric Ernst was a giant upon whose shoulders all of today’s developers stand.

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    Saddened to hear this news. Eric was far too young to leave us. I still today recall using his FS98 panels.

    My most sincere condolences to his family and close friends.

    Ken Wood

    former Naval Weather forecaster

    and avid FS simmer

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    He was ahead of his time.The work that he achieved in the flight sim community was amazing.I believe that Eric set the bar so high , that it made everybody else follow in his footsteps and it made our community what it is today.

    Gone to soon,RIP Eric

    nebojsa 

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    This is a shocker to me! So young, what happened??

    I remember I was completely stunned by his work, having the first real working FMC in FS98. Loved it. Loved all products which he was involved in. I have had them all. His freeware work, 767PIC and the LDS 767.

    RIP Eric. You will be strongly missed and remembered for many many flightsim versions to come.

     

    Frank

     

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    A giant in our community has passed.  His contributions where ground breaking.  If we had a hall of fame, his name should be right up there with Artwick.  

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    Truly one of the people who laid the stepping stones for all the developers to take the sim to where it is now. A great man. Left us too early.

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    Eric, in a way, moved FS in a new direction - towards greatly increased realism. It's rare that a single person does that, and his legacy can be viewed as the growth in popularity of super-realistic add-ons. I remember the evolution of 767 PIC and frankly, kinda miss those pioneering days. RIP Eric, and condolences to the family.

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    If any one individual can be described as the person who turned PC civilian flight simulation from a game to a simulator, it was Eric. When 767 PIC was released, I was the aviation reviewer for a PC Games magazine. Up to then the only flying games that were worth talking about seriously were all military sims - Falcon 4.0 being the best known. FS98 was a good platform, but it was still clearly a game. FS2000 had so many performance issues, that I had given up trying to run it on my PC.

    When I was given a copy of 767 PIC to review, I had to reinstall FS2000. What I encountered blew me and my readers away. It was as if I had been in a coma for fifty years, woken up and found that the world had advanced from the mid-20th Century into the new millennium. And when FS2002 was released, we finally had a platform that was worthy of Eric's masterpiece. FS2004/FS9 then took FS2002 to perfection and we began to see addons that would have been unthinkable a few years before.

    Eric was a genius - and from all accounts, a quiet, modest and thoroughly decent human being. R.I.P. Eric, and for all of us who truly love this hobby with a deep passion, thank you

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    Very sad to hear of Eric's passing. 767 PIC was a game sim changer, one of those FS add-ons that squeezed every ounce out of Flight Simulator's limitations, taking it to the pinnacle of  "as real as it gets" in it's time....and still a wonder to behold(and enjoy)today.

    Thank you Eric for your dedication and contribution to this hobby.

    ...Blue Skies and Tail Winds...

    My condolences to his family.

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    I knew Eric in person, not well and we hadn't talked for almost five years, but I felt the same shock and sorrow seeing this again today that I did the day I heard what happened.

    I hope he saw the incredible appreciation folks had for him here. After 9/11 (among other things, incl. just being a busy guy) he seemed to retreat from the spotlight of our little world but I hope he watched from afar every now and then.

    So, I guess I can actually tell this story now.

    I first met Eric through a mutual acquaintance. A buddy of mine was a captain he flew with regularly (maybe back to the 727 even?) out of their base, and unsurprisingly they talked quite a bit to pass the hours. He told him how I had been a student pilot and huge aviation buff, but I had broken my neck a year earlier, and was diagnosed a C6 quadriplegic at 15. I was big into Flight Simulator (from MSFS 5.0, and in my avatar is BAO FlightShop…so cool) before I even took lessons and it was at the time my #1 interest.. In fact it wound up being a big reason I got through those tough early years. I don't know if our friend mentioned my financial situation at the time (let's just say - you can't eat computer games), but Eric told him he'd have something for him when next week's trip was to begin.

    He gave me a full copy of 767 "Pilot in Command". It was burned on to a CD-R and was titled with black magic marker with a request to keep it on the down-lo. I don't know if it was a development copy or what, because it had no license stuff and I can't remember if it even had an installer. I likely even still have it somewhere. But I always felt a huge sense of gratitude toward him and his gesture, because in my mind - he was taking a big risk for ME – even if it really may not have been. I actually don’t know.

    That addon changed my life and likely had a hand in saving it. I never thought I’d flip switches again. I don’t have to describe the things you would lose becoming disabled like that – we’ve all imagined it happening to us somehow – but I swear to you the most painful was the fact I’d never again step foot in a big cockpit.

    It simply could not have come at a better time, and I most certainly could not have afforded it. I made it an absolute promise to myself – I’d buy a copy as soon as I could. And I did, a year or two later. We met eventually and kept in touch for years, but things gradually went quiet as they often do. Our friend retired Feb of ’15 and I tried reaching Eric for a retirement book we made, without luck.

    Eric, thank you again dude.

    Edited by crab

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    My first study level addon was his 757/767 panel for FS98. First time you couldn't ctrl-E to start the engines. This is where I learnt the 3 things needed to start a jet engine, electricity, compressed air and fuel. This was the first addon with a functioning APU. Condolonces to his family. A great man of the fltsim world.

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    I came upon this sad information very late - 5 years after the fact.  I knew Eric from our mutual alma mater, American Airlines.  I flew as an FE with his father Ray Ernst on the 707 on many occasions, and Eric and I flew together occasionally when he got to the 767.  In addition to his obviously incredible computer skills, he was an excellent pilot and a great one to fly with.  We often spoke of 767 PIC, which I had acquired even before I met him (and used to great effect each year preparing for recurrent training).  His passing is a great loss to two worlds.  Happy landings fellow flyer.

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