Back in the Cockpit Again

It's been 13 months, almost to the day, since my crash in Texas. After that flight, I took a break from FSX but did not intend for the break to last this long. I just moved on to other things and got busy with family and didn't have time to fly.

Recently I built myself a new computer so I don't have to use the old laptop, which was a dual-core 1.something GHz processor, basic video, 15" screen, etc. (not so great for FSX anyway, but it worked). The new computer is (for the geeks out there), an i5-2500K 3.2 GHz quad core processor on an Asus P8P67 Deluxe Motherboard and a Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 video card driving a 22" monitor. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Anyway, all I did tonight was to install my Skylane, which is an add-on plane, and take her for a spin around the Dalton airport. I kept things simple and even kept the settings on Easy as I've not had time to refresh myself on all the details I used to just know. I did manage to get her off the ground, circle the airport and land reasonably well. Of course, on easy mode there's no crash detection, but it felt like a landing that would have been OK anyway.

I've got some other add-ons to install, some from before which just need to be installed on the new computer, and some recent purchased from www.pcaviator.com as those guys have been e-mailing me almost daily with 50% off specials on this and that. Once I get everything installed, I've also picked up Ultimate Defrag (also from PC Aviator), which not only defrags the hard drive but also puts all the FSX files on the outer tracks for faster access and load times.

Then I'm going to have to pretty much start over and remind myself how to fly again. It's amazing how much detail I've forgotten about trim, navigations, using the radios, etc. Later, funds permitting, I'm going to buy two more of these monitors and run them in EyeFinity mode (which treats them as one really wide screen), so I'll have peripheral vision while flying. The new video card should handle that nicely, but I guess I'll see how complicated it is when I get to that point.

Which me luck as I renew this hobby...