Here is how it got me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bKLdTJ3Wnk&feature=related In fact, I remember some time before that, I was in the hospital, about 4 or 5 years old, and I had a book, which showed a lot of aeroplanes. Some biplanes with that Iron Cross on them, indeed, and it went on ending up with jetfighters. It was somewhat comic-book-style, with foxes and other animal dudes sitting in those fighters. And they were not really shooting at each other, they were dragging colorfull baloons and stuff behind them. I really don't remember it exactly, it's just too long ago. I just remember that I kept "reading" that book. But then really, later on, it was the "Flying Doctors" which caught me. I never watched a single episode, but I would always catch the show for the intro, lol. I went on building an airplane with LEGO accordingly, and I swear it ended up looking just like the Nomad from Flying Doctors. Then later on, after my family moved for yet another time, I met a new friend who had an RC controlled airplane (which however never ended up flying for his lack of dedication in the hobby), and he also had a flightsim on his C-64 computer: "Ace of Aces". You can still find that one on abandonware sites, and can play it with DosBox. Man, from the time I first played that flightsim, and seeing the horizon bank when I turned, it reminded me of the "Flying Doctors", especially of that onboard camera shot you can also see in the intro. And since then, it never left me. The highest I have yet come to in that wonderful and honest world of aviation was actually steering an ultralight biplane myself, on top of the pre-Alps mountainous regions and lakes here south of Munich. It was a Sunwheel, red, like in that pic (I also flew in Gliders, Cessnas and a Bell Jetranger before, but the Sunwheel was the best yet): Not with a PPL, mind you. It was just some local aeroclub event in 2004, and the pilot let me take control when we were up (felt just like the Gloster Gladiator from IL-2 Forgotten Battles, btw). It's only now that I finally have a somewhat secure financial background that I could endeavour into the world of flying airplanes for real. And I'm going to do that either this year, or next year. And it's gonna be gliders, first. Acquiring a license and flying powered airplanes in Germany is so ridiculously expensive it's a joke. It's a fact that acquiring a PPL in the US for powered airplanes costs only about half as much as in Germany. And that goes for airplanes as well as choppers, and all kinds of licenses, PPL and CPL's.
Good topic, heartc . My father and older brother are both aviation buffs - I remember from early childhood shelves in their rooms that were full with scale models and aviation books. When I was 4 or 5 it went to this that I demanded from my father that he read me them for goodnight. I remember especially one of them: thick, old book with collection of aviation memoirs - from aviation pioneers, record beaters, combat pilots of all wars, to the test pilots of the most sophisticated contemporary experimental aircraft. Names like Bleriot, Fonck, Boelcke, Skarzynski, Pokryshkin, Clostermann, Yeager and many more. It really worked on my imagination. Before desktop computers became popular over here I even had my own combat sim : I used to have a key ring with a small toy attached to it, which had a row of buttons on it's side - every one of them making a different noise through a small speaker. One of them was a sound of machinegun, so the key ring served as my gunsight and one of my brother's models as a target trying to shake my off his tail while I laid lethal MG fire on him, having him in my key-ring sight against the clouds outside a window. Anybody here having longest sim career? Since then I'm addicted to everything related to aviation. 4 years ago I became a glider pilot, but also "stole" some stick time in powered a/c: yak12, wilga and acro zlin142M. Currently I'm collecting cash for my PPL(A) - should be there next year, finally . And then, if things go well, I'll have my next few years dedicated for completing CPL with all tasks required to start ATPL training in airline. Had I applied for the Air Force Cadets School after my high school instead of hanging out in pubs, I'd have my retirement in few years with airline head hunters waiting in line to hire me. Who knew back then that at the end of 1st decade of next century there will be thousands of vacating work places for commercial pilots? BTW wonder if Haupt already got through his training?
I certainly was more scared than actually catching the bug when I was a 4 year old kid standing on the heel brakes so my dad could hand prop his luscombe. I got a lot of flying experience before I was 10 but that stopped until I graduated high school. That experience later allowed me to go from "no training" to PPL in 5 weeks at SIU carbondale Il. After that, I got a job working as a flight planner for AOPA and got to play strike eagle in 1985. None of the aviation games really got me going until Air Warrior. My handle there was QUISP after the captain crunch copy cereal. Played Warbirds off and on since it was in 1.1 and stopped right after 2.77 came out but started back up in 2004 until I got banned for posting a link to the freehost wiki in a discussion on how to stop the gaming of the game by my suggesting a hall of shame.......then I posted the link to our "hall of shame". and got banned. If they spent half the energy improving the sim that they spend banning people, they would have full arenas.
Well I have always loved Avaition especially WW-II fighters, As a young punk me and a freind of mine used to take his model warbirds and hang them in trees and then use bb/pellet guns and blast them away. Later on in life did some skeet shooting (just for fun with friends) and actually was quite good at it. I also went to many airshows too. But to be honest I have only really flown in commercial jets. And I am not a big fan flying in them. I believe it is a control thing. If I was at the helm I would feel better but I think the passengers would not <S> bullet
