Dudley Henriques wrote: One day recently my lovely bride of 50 years was chiding me on how much I have spent on computers to house flight simulator in it's various versions since I discovered I liked the program and decided to "invest a bit" in order to enjoy it.
Well, adding up all the hardware I've purchased from the beginning I came up with a total of $20K plus a few bucks here and there....................to run a program given to me at no cost by Microsoft.
Needless to say I've managed to keep this information more or less to myself. " It's been a few bucks honey....no big
deal really. You DO look nice in that dress dear. Have you lost weight?"
Dudley Henriques
Dudley, you are just TOO smooth...
Yes, even computer gear and basic controls can get expensive, when you start "improving the experience" as you have that gets ridiculously expensive..and cockpits, well....
Thank you Fido,
Yes, madness has a lot to do with it. But staving off madness has more....I work behind a desk in a high pressure job which can, if not monitored, take over your entire life. The sims are my way of getting "on the tools", something I love but which I do not get the chance to do normally. When the club sold the Aerobat, my reason for flying went with it...the cost of travel and return 90 miles, aircraft higher of better aerobatics aircraft like the Super Decathlon and Extra, adds up pretty quick. And then you need to think about how long you can keep you Av Medical...So, even though I have never quit flying for real, I have done very much less than I used to (and, unfortunately much less than I want to). The sims are the way for me to stay in touch a bit and also fly aircraft that I will never be able to in real life.
Taking on building one of these things is a longterm and very expensive commitment and in teh various different fora, I have seen many guys start anything from a Cessna to a B737 and then quit after a short time but a large number of dollars.
Anyhow, 3 out of 5 voices in my head tell me that I am still sane..... and I am inclined to go with the majority