Mentoring Aviation, Planting The Seed

Men and boys who follow aviation and are engulfed and addicted to many or all of its aspects generally can trace their interest to an adult in their early life. This is not meant to be a sexist remark that excludes women from aviation, I have met Patty Wagsstaff, and she would offer an argument. But aviation has traditionally been the bastion of men and boys for much of its history.

The Philippines is full of young aviation genius ready to be exploited and cultured by an interested adult. What I refer to is the talent even the youngest Filipino boy has for constructing a kite. I am continually amazed at the variety and ingenuity of these simple flying machines. Almost always made from discarded plastic bags and Tocino sticks they float above my Mactan home at every conceivable altitude. On occasion they are merely towed skillfully down a winding alley narrowly evading electric wires (sometimes). Others soar in the prevailing winds above the island. Gracefully hovering as stationary sentinals overlooking the barrios.

The makers are natural aerodynamicists, without formal education, let alone aerospace engineering. They fully understand fluid dynamics, strength to weight ratios, center of pressure, COG, and meteorology.

What boy in any culture can resist the lure of flight?
I sit at evening time making paper airplanes, they teach me kite making, I show them the joy of untethered flight. We connect. no language required. I guess it is the boy in all of us that drives us.

The Coolest Build And Fly Mini Sim by Red Bull

This has got to be the coolest flash game for airplanes out there. you can design and fly your own plane. fly the Red Bull course or splash in the water.

Jungle Crash Land Game

Here is an addicting little game I just had to share with everyone, hope you enjoy flying through the jungle, but please don't crash land your plane!
Right click link below and open in new tab or window.

JUNGLE CRASH LAND GAME

Sky Diving Game

Here is a simple game for all you sky divers. Simple, but have fun trying to get your sky diving girlfriends lined up in formation.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots Real World Training

Authors: Jeff Van West and Kevin Lane-Cummings

Publisher: Wiley (http://www.wiley.com/)

ISBN: 978-0-7645-8822-8

Price: $29.99(USD): $35.99 (CAN) : £19.99 (UK) Street price $16.99 USD

Self promotion text

“It’s the next best thing to being up there – Why use Microsoft Flight Simulator for real world training? Because it gives you the best possible head start and enables you to learn at your convenience. Flight Simulator provides scenario-based training that lets you practice handling in almost any situation. It offers advantages you don’t get in a real plane – the option to set up any kind of weather or equipment failures, stop midway and redo a procedure, or get the view from outside the airplane. FSX isn’t a game. It’s a training mission for virtual and real aviators alike.”

What you get

You get a hefty 725 page paperback book, downloadable flights to do in conjunction with your reading, along with the necessary charts in PDF format. Also available for download are two bonus chapters and the practical test standards for each of the license ratings discussed in the book.

First impressions

The book is huge. Just the amount of paper and ink makes it seem like good value. The book’s illustrations are all black and white. Color versions of the images used are available on the web site. The number of chapters and subjects is impressive taking 13 pages to list. Looking through the subjects covered is daunting, but the work is obviously comprehensive.

Starting out

You will want to download the 3 zipped files of missions / charts / details etc from the publisher’s web site. The books introduction tells you exactly where to get the files from and where they need to be installed. The first chapter deals with getting FSX set up properly for the purposes of the book. It discusses PC specs and how these affect the performance you can expect to achieve within FSX, the different types of controllers used for simulation flying and the best settings within FSX to use with the tutorial flights. The book also assumes that you will be using it in conjunction with lessons at a real world flying school and so also gives hints and tips on finding the best school and instructor for you. The authors do suggest that finding an instructor with FSX experience would be beneficial especially so if they can set up scenarios for you to go through that you will be dealing with on your next lesson. FSX now has support for multi-players within the same aircraft if rain stops play and your instructor is amenable you could go through your lesson virtually with you at home and them at the flying school.

First Flight

Chapter two discusses the principles of flight in sufficient detail and explains the basics without getting too technical. Then it introduces us to the default Piper Cub.
The authors explain that the main shortfall with using FSX as a training aid is the lack of peripheral vision which real world pilots rely on to inform them of the attitude of the aircraft in flight. Simulator pilots rely much more on the instruments because they lack the real world cues. The reason for using the Piper Cub is the distinct lack of instruments to look at and a more open uncluttered cockpit so you can focus more on the horizon and get used to relying on it as you would do in a real aircraft.

The first flight within FSX raises the initial bad point, unlike the missions included in FSX or Rod Machado’s training flights there are no in-flight instructions included. The good side is there are none of the patronizing verbal compliments permeating the FSX missions. You basically load the saved flight and then have to fly with the book in one hand and your joystick in the other. Concentrating on both at the same time is impossible so prepare to become acquainted with the pause key. On the plus side the authors do include saved video’s of many of the flights so you can get an idea of what you are expected to do and how to do it prior to undertaking the flight yourself.

As an undertaking the concept and its execution are remarkable. Intensely detailed down to specific FSX recommendations for best performance, it is an awesome undertaking. Given the limitation of simulated flight, you could easily learn to fly with this book. In my mind it would be especially suited to learn systems and procedures where actual flying is secondary to learning navigation, radio use, and cockpit procedures.

Wings of Power for FS 2004

Wings of Power Heavy Bombers and Jets for FS 2004

Microsoft flight sim 2004 is a very powerful program which allows for a wide variety of entertainment, and even serious flight simulation for aspiring pilots. It has a decided bias towards commercial and civil aviation as purchased. Not everyone wants to fly airliners carrying 200 passengers on long flights, nor do some enjoy flying sailplanes, or single engine light aircraft.
Enter Wings of Power Heavy bombers and jets add on pack for FS 2004 and adaptable to FSX. For those interested in flying World War II aircraft with unmatched realism, I highly recommend this addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. Wings of power is the product of Shockwave Productions.

Features

Unsurpassed attention to detail
153-page manual including rare data and the real operation of these amazing aircraft.
Gorgeously constructed aircraft, inside and out, down to the last rivet.
Fully clickable cockpits with authentic working gauges.
3D cockpits so real, they look just like their 2D rendered counterparts.
The latest wind-tunnel technology helps to create for the most authentic,fluid flying qualities, including complex spins and stalls.
Enhanced visual effects and lighting.

Aircraft
B17F and B17G "Flying Fortress"
B29a "Super Fortress"
B24D and B24J "Liberator"
PB4Y-2 "Privateer"
Lancaster BIII and "Grand Slam"
Ar234 "Blitz Bomber"
Ta183 "Huckebein"
He162 "Salamander"

The aircraft are meticulously modeled with attention to artistic historical detail, and more importantly, dynamic flight performance exactly matching the original aircraft. Extreme pains were taken to make these aircraft perform exactly like the prototypical real examples. This means that at 20,000 feet at 46 in manifold pressure, with the throttle at 85%, the B-17G will fly and behave like the real one. You can over drive the engines over boost the supercharges, and see the effects on performance. The staff actually flew real surviving examples of the aircraft to get it right. In theory you can take the original flight manual and fly the aircraft using these as guides.

This add on is for flight sim enthusiasts who enjoy realism and historical accuracy. Set to the proper degree of difficulty as recommended, the aircraft are not easy to fly. Do something wrong and it will come to haunt you.

For those wishing to experience the world of historical war planes, this add on is a must.

Silly Aviation sim...

OK, so not quite a sim, but it is addicting. No instructions, have fun!
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