The Hiatus Continues

While the hiatus continues, I've been anything but relaxing.  For those of you who don't know me personally (and even some who do), I've actually been staying pretty close to aviation during my break.  A few weeks before my last flight, I got an invitation to be a beta tester for a company called Precision Manuals Development Group.  The company specializes in creating realistic, study-level simulations of various aircraft for use in Microsoft's Flight Simulator.  In my case, I helped test their latest offering: the 777-200LR/F.  While I clearly have no time in the type, I was brought on as someone to stab around for bugs.  I also ended up taking a few writing tasks.  Testing will continue for the next few months, too, as they add the 777-300ER and -200ER to the product line.

I also ended up creating a few YouTube videos, showcasing the aircraft and explaining how to operate it.  Interestingly enough, my YouTube channel, which had about 1,000 views up until that point, is now standing at 43,500 views.  That's about 30,000 more than this blog at the moment.  Given my success there, I'm thinking of branching the content into two different categories: flying (as exhibited here), and simulated flying.  The sim side of things has always been a passion of mine mostly because it helps me survive the times when I'm not out flying in a real aircraft.  There it is.  I admitted to it.

The secret is out, people: I'm a giant nerd, too.

Then again, to some of you reading this, that's not at all surprising...

So, for those of you who are still not sure, I will now prove it to you:

As I mentioned, the simulator is my way of surviving the times I'm not out flying in a real aircraft.  Given the right tools, too, it can be an incredibly strong asset to real flights as well.  Granted, the sim I'm using is not certified by the FAA for logging time, but the concepts learned in the sim have saved, and will continue to save me valuable (read "expensive") time in training.

As you all know, The Doctor (N172DR) is one of the aircraft I fly most often.  It's a simple plane, it's relatively cheap to rent (especially now that N96178 is gone), and for some reason, it tends to be available when I want to go flying.  In the sim realm, another company known for high-quality simulations of aircraft is A2A Simulations, who just released a C172R.  Of course, since I have so many hours in one, I figured it would be a good way to survive this hiatus and keep relatively sharp.  I couldn't just go burning holes in the sky in just any aircraft, though.  I fired up Photoshop and "painted" it up like The Doctor to the best of my ability.

It's not perfect, but I think I did a decent job at capturing most of its grandeur.

Judge away, but this is helping me stave off the flying cravings until I'm allowing myself off of this hiatus.  I'm imagining I'll evaluate my various options for the long IR cross country flight using it, as well.  I have a few other ideas, too, but I'll go into more detail in another post.

There's a ton to catch up on in the world of aviation and related technology, so expect me to get back on writing more often in the near future.  Of note: some unfortunate news about Contour, updates in ForeFlight and CloudAhoy, and some new ideas for my online presence - both here on the blog and over on YouTube.