Do you have a simulator in your home?

Do you own a simulator?

  • Yes

    Votes: 53 50.5%

  • No

    Votes: 30 28.6%

  • Desk Top

    Votes: 50 47.6%

  • Full blown floor sitter with multiple screens

    Votes: 5 4.8%
  • Total voters
    105
John Baker

John Baker

Final Approach
Joined
Oct 4, 2008
Messages
7,471
Location
San Diego, California
Display Name
Display name:
John Baker
The news was making a big deal about the pilot of the 777 that went missing having a simulator in his home, like it was unusual and strange. It seams to me that many pilots probably have at least some sort of simulator, that it is not at all unusual.

-John
 
John Baker said:
The news was making a big deal about the pilot of the 777 that went missing having a simulator in his home, like it was unusual and strange. It seams to me that many pilots probably have at least some sort of simulator, that it is not at all unusual.
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I dunno. I'd expect Air Malaysia pilots would have regular sessions in simulators much more sophisticated than this pilot had at home. If that's true it does seem odd that he'd want to simulate flying a 777 while away from work. Now, if he was simulating flying a Spitfire vs. a Bf 109 over the skies of Kent in 1940...
 
This whole idea that having a simulator makes a pilot suspicious is dumb. We all have our hobbies and sometimes it's a home simulator. I have several flight sim games which I play fairly often. I have several add-ons that fully simulate every system of an A-10 and an EMB-170. I could power up and run the systems on a real life version if I really wanted to.

I even have an FMS simulator of the CRJ. I can program the FMS to do anything the real version can. I actually HAD to take a class on operating the system.

I even have an OLD DOS game that simulates running a nuclear reactor. The game is actually fairly accurate. It teaches you how to run and keep from doing a meltdown. I have an interest in nuclear energy. :yesnod:

Is any of this suspicious ? Nope. Is it odd ? Nope :confused:
 
ARFlyer said:
I even have an OLD DOS game that simulates running a nuclear reactor. The game is actually fairly accurate. It teaches you how to run and keep from doing a meltdown. I have an interest in nuclear energy. :yesnod:
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Boy would the press love to get ahold of that! "Pilot has home nuclear simulator. Report: he may have even deleted files!! Hide your children!" :yikes:
 
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I enjoy flying my simulator setup, especially when real world weather isn't cooperating.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 
I don't think it's suspicious at all, but, unless someone is new to it, I think it's a little odd that someone would build a home simulator of their work airplane. But, diff'rent strokes.

I don't see how he could have possibly learned anything new from flying his home simulator which would have helped him hijack his own airplane. He already knew how to fly it and how to program the FMS.
 
I used to be into sims like 20 yrs ago but now I don't have a single one. I also used to work in an arcade and was into video games but now I don't play a single one. I'm not really sure why but once I started flying for real, I didn't feal the need to play games anymore. I do know pilot's who play sims and vid games on a regular basis though.
 
numl0ck said:
Boy would the press love to get ahold of that! "Pilot has home nuclear simulator. Report: he may have even deleted files!! Hide your children!" :yikes:
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I have many petroleum reservoir simulators on my home computers. I wrote most of them. I have deleted many files and even replaced entire harddrives. I must be attempting to control the world's oil supply or something similarly evil...
 
Can't afford a good simulator,since I own an airplane.
 
Everskyward said:
I don't think it's suspicious at all, but, unless someone is new to it, I think it's a little odd that someone would build a home simulator of their work airplane. But, diff'rent strokes.

I don't see how he could have possibly learned anything new from flying his home simulator which would have helped him hijack his own airplane. He already knew how to fly it and how to program the FMS.
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It might be that some people from other countries take educating themselves more seriously than we do. I have a friend from Vietnam, black belt jiu jitsu who is at the dojo every single day, and watches jiu jitsu video's every day as well. He also does the same with guitar he is learning.

He owns a tailor shop that was between my old store and the coffee shop. Every morning I had to fight my way to the coffee shop, he could not wait to show me the latest thing he had learned or perfected.

I am sure that had he been a pilot, he also would have had a simulator in his home.

-John
 
John Baker said:
It might be that some people from other countries take educating themselves more seriously than we do.
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Maybe, but you would already need to be educated to build the simulator to begin with. And I can't imagine anything built at home would even come close to what he would have been training on for his airline.
 
John Baker said:
The news was making a big deal about the pilot of the 777 that went missing having a simulator in his home, like it was unusual and strange. It seams to me that many pilots probably have at least some sort of simulator, that it is not at all unusual.

-John
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Dumb reporters.
 
Even AOPA has gotten into the act: http://aopastore.3dcartstores.com/The-AOPA-JAY-by-Redbird_p_29.html
Now really, I started with the very first release of MS Flight Sim, had at one time every flight sim available on the local PC store shelf, currently have about 25 or 30 flight sims for PC, not to mention many versions of Mech Warrior, NASCAR, DRAG RACING, and hundreds of other games. Did I mention I have probably 15 or so PCs and laptops, some working, some not so much. May the PC forensic lab come on down to give them all a thorough going over. Oh, and one of my favorite games used to be on Intellivision where you deactivate a device with voice before the timer goes off. In fact, I think I can still run it on WIN7. Somehow, I don't think any of this crap makes me an expert in anything.
I find the setup he had curious but then again, the guy that owns Mid America Motorworks has a huge car collection. Sometimes a passion is just a passion.
 
ARFlyer said:
This whole idea that having a simulator makes a pilot suspicious is dumb. We all have our hobbies and sometimes it's a home simulator. I have several flight sim games which I play fairly often. I have several add-ons that fully simulate every system of an A-10 and an EMB-170. I could power up and run the systems on a real life version if I really wanted to.

I even have an FMS simulator of the CRJ. I can program the FMS to do anything the real version can. I actually HAD to take a class on operating the system.

I even have an OLD DOS game that simulates running a nuclear reactor. The game is actually fairly accurate. It teaches you how to run and keep from doing a meltdown. I have an interest in nuclear energy. :yesnod:

Is any of this suspicious ? Nope. Is it odd ? Nope :confused:
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Yes, but do you have any "Deleted Files" on it?
 
ARFlyer said:
This whole idea that having a simulator makes a pilot suspicious is dumb. We all have our hobbies and sometimes it's a home simulator. I have several flight sim games which I play fairly often. I have several add-ons that fully simulate every system of an A-10 and an EMB-170. I could power up and run the systems on a real life version if I really wanted to.

I even have an FMS simulator of the CRJ. I can program the FMS to do anything the real version can. I actually HAD to take a class on operating the system.

I even have an OLD DOS game that simulates running a nuclear reactor. The game is actually fairly accurate. It teaches you how to run and keep from doing a meltdown. I have an interest in nuclear energy. :yesnod:

Is any of this suspicious ? Nope. Is it odd ? Nope :confused:
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:yeahthat::thumbsup:


I've enjoyed the hobby of building PC's and flight simulators for the past 30 years. Long before I ever stepped into the cockpit of the real thing. My current setup is a multi-monitor (3 with iPad via wifi) and TrackIR head tracker. Sometimes I use a 4th monitor which is a touchscreen, but I'm always changing things around so at the moment I'm not using it.

MSFS/FSX. X-Plane, long before most people even heard of it (I remember when Austin Meyer was a one-man band).

I have Space Shuttle simulator, DCS A-10C with a HOTAS-Warthog stick & throttle (love starting up the hog:yesnod:).

As well as several heavy jet add-ons for FS9/FSX including (Level-D sims 767), ERJ-145, PMDG-747, etc. I like programing the FMS and punching waypoints into the scratchpad:yikes:.

Most of my sim flying is in the US but I still enjoy flying into remote parts of the world (places I'll probably never get a chance fly real world) and even try crazy things like landing on short fields!!!

I've probably installed and deleted thousands of files from my hard drives:rolleyes2:.

I think Capt. Randazzo of PMDG said it best. (Precision Manuals Development Group, CEO).

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/20...aysian-pilot-insulting-says-simulation-maker/

“As is always the case when something cannot be explained, there are many folks attempting to explain the event to the public using theories, guesswork and good, old-fashioned imagination,” he wrote.

“Some of these commentators have focused on Captain Shah’s love of the flight simulation hobby as a suggestion that he may somehow have played a role in the disappearance of MH 370. Such wild conjecture is not only insulting to those of us who wear or have worn the stripes of a captain, but has the potential to be damaging to the flight simulation hobby.”

“Captain Shah was well known to many in the flight simulation community because he had developed an online presence in which he dedicated many hours of his time to promoting the enjoyment of flying generally, and flight simulation specifically,” Mr. Randazzo wrote.

“In a manner of speaking, our community appears to have lost one of our own by virtue of the fact that he was also an accomplished 777 captain flying for a well-respected airline.”
_______________________________
Edit: When we have friends and family over for parties, I get a kick out of seeing them try to fly and land the sim:lol:. One of my friends was too afraid to even try:rofl:
 

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MAKG1 said:
I remember an old video game called "Lunar Lander."

I wonder what suspicions that raises….
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The_Smoking_Man_(X-Files).jpg


Why, none... none at all.
 
redtail said:
:yeahthat::thumbsup:

I have Space Shuttle simulator, DCS A-10C with a HOTAS-Warthog stick & throttle (love starting up the hog:yesnod:).
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I love playing with my DCS A-10 copy. When I first started playing the game I thought you just have to press a button to drop the bombs. I was so WRONG. You have to program the weapon before you even think about dropping it.
 
This man builds PCs, he isn't just buying them from BestBuy and installing FSX. If he were planning something nefarious, would he not know that you can't just "delete" data from a hard drive that easily?

This is a witch hunt and I don't trust those responsible for "recovering" deleted files....yeah right:rolleyes2:
 
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ARFlyer said:
I love playing with my DCS A-10 copy. When I first started playing the game I thought you just have to press a button to drop the bombs. I was so WRONG. You have to program the weapon before you even think about dropping it.
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LOL
Can't tell you how many times my JDAMS missed the target:rofl:
 
Where is the button for "Yes. And I have flown a simulated plane into the simulated World Trade Center?"
 
I use Lockheed Martin P3D and FSX, on 3 screens 3d
 
People believe there's a "they" monitoring and controlling everything. The organizations you might call "them" are full of people who believe this as well. Then an event happens proving that this isn't the case- reminding everyone that in reality the world is loosely regulated chaos.

Then you see people in a panic and administrative types start going off the deep end with crazy ideas about flight simulators and things of that nature. It's fun to watch, I just wish it didn't take a tragedy to remind us.
 
MAKG1 said:
I remember an old video game called "Lunar Lander."

I wonder what suspicions that raises….
Click to expand...
Hah! I worked on making that work on a PDP-9 with a vector graphics CRT back in college.
 
That is a pretty cool setup, I'd love to have one like it.

And I can't believe they are making a big deal of the "Good Night" sign off, either. really? Are non pilots/controllers that stup..... ummmm....nevermind.
 
PPC1052 said:
Where is the button for "Yes. And I have flown a simulated plane into the simulated World Trade Center?"
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I forget which version I started out with on my Commodore 64 (FS2 or 3), but flying around the Statue of Liberty and in between the twin towers was a popular thing back then. The idea was NOT to crash into the buildings!
 
Yep. And the Oculus Rift, so even more realistic than most sim rigs....
 
What I find ludicrous is how the media hyped up the public into believing that the terrorist taught themselves how to fly heavy iron into skyscrapers using a computer 'game' simulator.:rolleyes2:

I flew that darn 182 around Meigs Field for years before I started real flight lessons. I honestly think I would have killed myself had I tried to fly that Skyhawk around Teterboro without my CFI:hairraise::rofl:
 
redtail said:
What I find ludicrous is how the media hyped up the public into believing that the terrorist taught themselves how to fly heavy iron into skyscrapers using a computer 'game' simulator.:rolleyes2:

I flew that darn 182 around Meigs Field for years before I started real flight lessons. I honestly think I would have killed myself had I tried to fly that Skyhawk around Teterboro without my CFI:hairraise::rofl:
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The worse thing a CFI can hear when meeting a new student is "I know how to fly from Microsoft Flight Sim". :mad2:
 
Well it's not like they had to learn to take off or land. Just how to control a descent, how to turn, and some basic navigation.
 
ARFlyer said:
The worse thing a CFI can hear when meeting a new student is "I know how to fly from Microsoft Flight Sim". :mad2:
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Well if I ever get the urge to steal an A-10, I'll blame it on Wags:lol:
He taught me how to drop CBUs and multiple JDAMS in a single pass.

http://youtu.be/p9oI8u1gLp4

Oh wait, I better delete these files from my simulator:rolleyes:
 
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redtail said:
Well if I ever get the urge to steal an A-10, I'll blame it on Wags:lol:
He taught me how to drop GBUs and multiple JDAMS in a single pass.

http://youtu.be/p9oI8u1gLp4

Oh wait, I better delete these files from my simulator:rolleyes:
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I tend to use Mavericks for everything. I have even shot down a MiG with a Maverick. :yikes: I think the game has them a bit over powered.
 
cowman said:
Well it's not like they had to learn to take off or land. Just how to control a descent, how to turn, and some basic navigation.
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One of my students plays EvE Online, Flight Sim and War Thunder. Where it's helped him out is navigation and IR work.

He is almost a natural at flying instruments and navigation.
 
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