Hey all, I'm Matt. Originally from England, but have been living in Poland for some years now.
I recently had an itch to play Elite Dangerous which I bought years ago but hated keyboard/mouse controls for so never played. I decided to pick up a cheap HOTAS setup to play it. I bought myself the Saitek X-52 Pro which I know has its issues but VKB are having shipping delays currently so I figured I'd grab the Saitek and upgrade later. Anyway I figured since I'd have a HOTAS I'd also give Microsoft Flight Simulator a go, you know, just to fly over my house and see the photogrammetry at work...
But I loaded it up a few days ago, played through the first few tutorials, then embarked on my first unaided flight and.. wow! Something about the experience just hooked me right away. From there it's only gotten better. When I did my first full flight with all the assistance turned off, using VOR and ILS to navigate between Krakow and Katowice airports, I felt such a thrill and sense of accomplishment upon landing that I immediately knew this was going to be a hobby I sink some serious hours into.
Now I'm even wondering if I'd like to take it a step further and actually give flying a real plane a go in the not too distant future. Unfortunately as I've been medicated and had poor mental health in the past I'm not sure I'd pass the medical, so that might just be a pipe dream, but if that's the case then I guess that just means I can dump the money that would have gone on flying lessons into my own home cockpit someday instead 😉
Anyway I'm excited to be starting this new hobby and equally excited to become a part of the community!
Hope you're all having a fantastic day and some great flying!
