I wasn't sure how to start this post. As you might know, I was at the flight simulator convention in Cosford yesterday. My daughter and I queued for five minutes, we were standing about thirty meters from the doors. I got my ticket ready for them to scan, I liked the fact that this was paperless and on my phone. One of the most pleasurable aspects was the excitement that my 5-year-old felt whilst standing there.
Upon entry, I was given my goody-bag. We then promptly shot to the Just Flight stand. This is when the spending began! I saw the prized Majestic Q400 - Pilot Edition sitting there at 25% off! Mine, I thought! I then looked at a copy of Traffic 360, this also became MINE! What a start, at £30, the Dash 8 was a bargain, I can't wait to get it up into the air now!
Further round, we found many fully-built setups. These ranged from yoke, quadrant and pedals like my own, but with extra switches and dials, to full sit-in cockpits, with moving rams for that 'real' feel! The most impressive was that of the full liner cockpit that was there, it didn't have a proper seat, but I watched as a gentleman filled in the details on the FMC (Flight Management Computer), this was insanely realistic, I was, to say, very impressed!
The show, in general, was like the old computer fairs that I attended as a youngster. People being super-eager for those components and updates. The main difference is that this was like the fairs of then, not now. The modern computer fair has become a much larger beast with so many more individuals now adorning machines to play about with. I can remember getting a bargain pack of 3.5" disks, that's 10 x 1.77mb's worth of hardcore storage, all for the cost of about £8. What a score!
I truly enjoyed this aspect though, it was busy, but it was nice to find so many eager simmers, people like myself, urging to sit and fly their computerised aircraft into the digital skies. You could see those mega-veterans, the ones that have been there for the past thirty years, remembering the times when it was lines on a screen. 'What's that? My god, it's a mountain!', remarked Mr. Johnson, sitting at his 386 computer, at the heights of technology at this time. I feel quite proud to be amongst these veterans, though there are some that have a longer service than I do.
I later went to the Flight Store tables. This cost me £130, I couldn't help but purchase some pedals finally! The chaps were charming and I managed to plough my J3 Cub into the runway as I was getting used to them last night. I would like to add that I asked my daughter if I should get them. She responded by saying, 'yes', and that I should hide them from Mummy in my back room. She had already spotted them before me, my little angel excitedly pointing at them with a grin before all of this! That's my girl!
After some time in the museum, we went back into Hanger 1. I then decided it was time to squeeze through to TrackHat. This was quite impressive. For the money, it was worth a try. It stems back to the AR days again. I used to have a battered augmented reality headset. Not sure what happened to that now I think about it. I will review this in a later Being-STEM supplemental.
All in all, it was a good day. I would like to have seen one of the lectures about X-Plane, but wasn't sure where they were at the time. One thing that made it's mark on me was the lack of FlyUK interaction. It would have been great to have met a few of my fellow VA pilots. There was a keen push for badges on the forums, some organisation for a people meeting up, but sadly, I saw none of these badges that would have helped guide me to my comrades of the virtual air. I had intended, had there been a lanyard involved, to wear a prepared label with my UKV number on it. I carried this with me, it sadly went unused due to lack of suitable locations for all to see.
One final mention must go to IVAO. They had an ATC (Air-Traffic-Control) setup and in full flow. This was really great. I wish now that I had spent a liitle more time with them.
Here's to next year, be sharp and 'just keep simming!'
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