Needs arm rests and a headrest. Mock-up some doors, too!

I think that women got turned off by aviation because of the
connection to war, many women and girls see the flight sim
games as just war. They never get past that image. But you
have made a simulator that looks like the one they used in
school for driver's ed class.


--
Merry Christmas
Have a Safe and Happy New Year
Live Long and Prosper
Jim Macklin


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
| We witnessed an interesting thing last night, and it gives
me hope for
| the future of GA.
|
| Becca, our middle-school-aged daughter, threw a little
Christmas party
| for friends, and held it in our hotel meeting
room/theater, with the
| idea that they'd all watch a movie after listening to
music and eating
| snacks. Since it was to be just 8 girls, and 2 boys, a
movie seemed
| like a good way to break the ice and keep the conversation
rolling --
| always an awkward thing at that age.
|
| The Kiwi -- our full-sized flight simulator -- (see it
he
| http://alexisparkinn.com/the_kiwi_is_born.htm ) is in the
theater, too,
| and I thought we'd have to remove it to make room for
tables, etc.
| Instead, my daughter asked me to have it on and available,
just to
| provide one more thing for the kids to do.
|
| So, I created a couple of simple-but-cool flight scenarios
(over the
| Grand Canyon, for example) where the plane was already
airborne
| (eliminating the boring and difficult departure phase),
and watched as
| the party started cooking, and the girls started taking
turns flying.
|
| I figured that -- girls being girls -- they would be
indifferent at
| best to what amounts to a giant-scale video game, and
would soon be
| talking girl talk. After all, game marketers have spent
billions of
| dollars trying to design video games to attract a female
audience, to
| no avail -- girls simply don't like to play 'em as much as
guys -- so
| what chance did I have?
|
| Well, to my utter amazement, the girls were absolutely
dazzled by the
| Kiwi. At one point they were fighting over flight time,
and I was kept
| busy explaining the flight controls and techniques. One
girl in
| particular (Becca's best friend, whom we have taken flying
in the past)
| was completely immersed in the experience, and was
actually able to
| depart from Chicago's (defunct) Meigs Field, fly the
pattern out over
| the lake -- and land successfully, on the runway! This
without EVER
| having piloted a plane (or a simulator) before, which I
found to be
| completely remarkable.
|
| (She was as proud as a peacock, and spent the rest of the
evening
| asking Mary and me about flight lessons, costs, etc.
She's a natural
| pilot, and, boy, are her parents every gonna hate US...
:-)
|
| Mary eventually had to threaten to eliminate the movie
from the
| evening's festivities to get the girls to shut it down --
but as soon
| as the movie ended, they were clamoring for more flight
time! I've
| never, ever seen anything like this with girls (Becca can
fly the Kiwi,
| but is far from enamored with it), and it gives me great
hope for the
| future of GA.
|
| We, as GA supporters, clearly need to see more Kiwis
installed, and --
| as the prototype for what we want to install at the Iowa
Children's
| Museum -- I believe our Kiwi Version 2.0 has proven that
the concept
| works. This thing clearly "hooks" young people on flying,
and that's
| what we need if we want to see GA survive and prosper.
|
| Mary and I spent some time pondering some of the reasons
why this
| transpired. One guess was that the Kiwi is just *so*
realistic that it
| really doesn't seem like a game? Another possibility was
that there is
| no real "game" aspect to flying the Kiwi -- no points are
scored, no
| kills recorded -- and perhaps this appeals more to girls?
|
| I dunno. But it was fantastic to watch them fly, and
great fun, too!
| --
| Jay Honeck
| Iowa City, IA
| Pathfinder N56993
| www.AlexisParkInn.com
| "Your Aviation Destination"
|