Bruce (a.k.a. brian747)

Well the baton was in relatively good condition when I gave it to you. Mind you, I seem to recall that that was a pretty wild night. Great pics, Pete, and it looks like you had a fun flight (it's always interesting to have some random challenges en route)! And I have to like the colour scheme of your aircraft repaint. Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747

I remember an after-dinner speech given by an RAF former pilot turned air trafficker. One of the quips was along the lines of.... "As for the brakes, do bear in mind that these work much better on the ground. So if we're catching up with a Cessna on the approach do feel free to apply the brakes. It will definitely stop the wheels going round, but then it's always nice to feel part of a team...". @OP Glad you're getting the hang of it. There are some great guys here, and the advice you have is the best on the 'net. Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747

Welcome! Take a look around and enjoy yourself. Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747

All the very best, Joe! Have a great one! Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747

@Brett > "What a snob, is he afraid he might have to put his cup of coffee down and do some real flying work. " <grin> Nah, not really. He's actually one of the good guys: I say that because when I wrote a review of one of his books for PC Pilot magazine, he went to the trouble of contacting the mag to request my email address, and then wrote me a warm email of appreciation. And to be fair, after making the quoted comments about NDB and ADF approaches does then devote several pages to describing the least potentially-lethal method of executing them in the 744.

Hi, Geoff! It's great to know that there are still a few of us left that like the procedural stuff (or "the dark side" as Dai prefers to call it). Although I really can't let you get away with "I'd rather vly the plane than it vly me" -- that's.... a bit weird (as I'm sure you realise)! As far as your preference for "old school" airliners is concerned, though, I'm a long way from being unsympathetic (especially in view of the fact that the 747-400 entered service in 1989 <*cough*>). For example, I still treasure memories of my time on the flightdeck of a VC10 fo

I'll try not to do it too often.... But thank you, kind sir! Cheers, B.

<grin> Thanks for that, Dai! Cheers, B.

Welcome! Take a look around the forums and get to know us. (Don't forget to check out the Reviews section, too). Enjoy your time at the Hangar. Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747

Well there are cameras around that take pics *and* videos *and* allow you to take pics while you're videoing. At airshows I tend to leave my posh Nikon with its fancy glass at home and take my little Sony compact (which can do all that). It's a few years old now so the model I've got isn't available any more, but the current version appears to be the DSC-HX90 (in England). Like mine, that's small enough to slip into your shirt pocket (it weighs less than 250g all up): it takes 16 megapixel snaps with image stabilization via its 30x (yes that's a 30x Zeiss optical zoom) lens, and it also ta

Hi Matt — and thank you for your comments. "It takes all sorts", as the saying goes. For me (and other "procedural simmers") the fascination lies in the planning and the subsequent successful execution of the plan — in spite of random weather, realistic random malfunctions of the aircraft, and of course ATC (<cough> feels like random <cough>). But I could never be one of the "jump into the cockpit and go sight-seeing" group, that just doesn't work for me at all, so go figure.... On some fora that I've been on over the years there has been a special section for peop

@Brett Thank you, Brett: I do try to add a little info if I can.... @Micke! Absolutely no tail strike or else PSX would have let me know about it in no uncertain terms! In fact you're spot on, the problem has been identified as a known problem with the PSX --> FSX injection process. I suspect that so much is happening within PSX at the moment of transition from On Ground to flying mode that there is a hiccup in the information transfer from PSX, with the result that when the information flow resumes the aircraft appears to "unstick" from the runway and leap a few

Welcome back! Great pics, too (you spoil us). Cheers, bruce a.k.a. .... er.... oh yeah brian747

Nice one, James! But scary viewing. My reaction was "Surely he's going to... Wow, he's leaving it late... AAARGH!" It seems a pity the F/O didn't bother to look out of the side window before they entered the runway. Like Brett, I also wonder what the ATC instruction had been? Normally, at a busy major airport, the instruction would surely be to proceed to the runway and hold at a specified point (or "hold short"), until receiving clearance to enter the runway itself. Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747

You can check out the currently-planned final appearances here: http://www.vulcantothesky.org/appearances.html Cheers, B.

The shots were great, Alan, but special thanks for the memories. Those are the sort of thing that never make it into the history books, so they die with those of us that still retain them. But often (IMHO) they're more important than what the Prime Minister did or whatever, since they reflect what *real* people were doing. Cheers, bruce a.k.a. Brian747

> 'The days when you visited an airshow and the aircraft flew super low and "over your head".' <grin> Absolutely. And the very best for that used to be the RAF "Families Day" shows, when the station welcomed the families and kids and grannies — the whole works. Those displays, especially the ones at operational stations where a significant percentage of the audience were pilots, were notable for low passes that wouldn't (even then) be allowed at a public display; and looking back I think it's safe to say that a certain element of competition began to set in. So, sadly, even the RA

You may have already considered this but.... If you are suffering from OOMs, have you tried using Steve's DX10 Fixer? See this thread for more information: http://forum.mutleyshangar.com/index.php/topic/16448-my-all-new-look-fsx/ And there's also http://www.mutleyshangar.com/reviews/bc/dx10/dx10.htm of course. Cheers, bruce a.k.a. Brian747

Thank you, gentlemen! @Micke As long as the GA guys don't mind too much, then I'm happy. Cheers, B.

@John It's great when they get what they deserve, isn't it? <cough> And can you imagine the hits that the dashboard cam video would have received on YouTube — but sadly, dashboard cams and YouTube were a long way in the future at that point. My toy back in Cranwell in those days was a newly-installed VAX cluster..... <nostalgic sigh> Anyway, here's just one more light-hearted Vulcan story where certain people got their just deserts — a very good friend of mine who flew in Vulcans for many years told me this one, which concerns a certain airshow in Europe. They

[A couple of preliminary comments.... In my first draft of this account I kept breaking off to mention aspects of flying China's (metric) implementation of RVSM, since it’s something which may be unfamiliar to simmers who don't fly for a VA (or online). But doing that rather fragmented the narrative, so in the end I removed those explanations and instead put together a composite document incorporating details of RVSM worldwide, along with some downloaded material that I have found to be helpful. So if you're interested in the implementation of RVSM in your simming, this document might be use

Great thread. I have to say that I agree with Alan: the time comes for aircraft (and also human beings, for that matter) when they should be allowed to die with dignity without their life being unnaturally prolonged. But on a much more trivial note, allow me to contribute a light-hearted Vulcan story. In the late 70s I was doing a stretch on the staff of the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, Lincolnshire. Known to the irreverent as "Sleaford Tech" owing to its proximity to that small market town, it was obviously necessary for us to make occasional visits to Lincoln to obtain various

Great pics, great trip, and a great combination of software going on, there! Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747

Lovely atmospheric stuff, Dai, and impressive scenery. Your Mk I eyeball is obviously in great shape, congratulations! Cheers, bruce a.k.a. brian747 P.S. (I'll get a bloke I know with a Tardis aircraft to transport the baton to me in the current Kunming airport at Changshui, since this airport replaced the previous ZPPP in mid-2012). B.

<groan> No, Alan, don't start me off.... Oops. Too late, you already have. Agreed, then. Flying computers is something that worries me, too. (Increasingly, in fact). OK, this is just me speaking out of turn as an amateur who is guilty of theorising, but in my humble opinion and on the basis of the few reports I've seen.... (And also FWIW) -- had I found myself in that situation in my virtual 747 I would already have switched on (by hand, using an old-fashioned physical switch on the overhead panel) a retro thing called "continuous ignition", designed to keep the fires l