Don Parker wrote:
"Dr. Anthony J. Lomenzo" wrote in message
...

[suddenly! and grabbing a line from the flick "FAME"...]

Don Parker: "Does he want to be a musician or an airline pilot? Mr.
Martelli! Mr. Martelli!"


How'd I get this honor? Or was it just my turn in the barrel? (;-))

Actually, I'd fail miserably at both - only got to the level of playing some
good ole 3 chord r/r by ear on the guitar 35 or 4..... well, skip that

Well, I'm still hoping for that Ebay item where someone puts up what
they think is an "old guitar...needs strings....dusty...NO RESERVE" and
it turns out to be a Martin D-35 Acoustic! Although, on the electric
side, a Fender Jazzmaster or Gretsch would suffice! ;-)

But then, for those in the group also in the MS train sim...Ebay...lady
puts up at auction and I quote "OLD BOX OF 'TOY' [!--emphasis mine]
TRAIN TRANSFORMERS--- 50's vintage--- no reserve---needs to be cleaned
up--don't know if they work---starting bid $10....." $10 for the whole
box mind you! The old 'toy train transformers' so the story goes was
four, count 'em, 'four' Lionel classic 275 watt "ZW" transformers which
today, even if the thing SMOKED when plugged in, would still bring a
small fortune [pop in new internal and updated 'caps' and an external
original case clean-up and $300 a piece 'minimum' is almost guaranteed
by collectors and O-gauge train buffs. $450 if all works with original
internal parts!] And yes, my 3 tiered O-gauge [post war and diesels
only] Lionel [primarily anyway] train set is still in the basement...and
working since the 50's onwards!

[suddenly...a detractor from Detroit...] "Still wear the Lionel engineer
hat too, Doc?" My response, "Sure..what, you don't wear those Sporty's
ordered airline Captain hats [with the scrambled eggs of course] --and--
Van Heusen shirt 'with' the 4 stripe epaulettes when you fly?" ;-)


- and
had my right eye go from fair to terrible about the same time, so after a
few hundred hours in 150's, and having my written passed for commercial &
instrument, scrapped any pro flying ambitions. Recognizing the fact that
I'm a habitual day dreamer also influenced the flying decision - missing
your freeway exit by a half dozen while you're engrossed in thought (local
saying is "Homer, ya got yer mind in Missouri, and yer ass in Arkansas") may
work on the ground, but in the air ain't the place for it! Thank [favorite
deity] for FS's! The flying public should be very grateful... G
Cheers'n beers.
Don



Me, it was the venerable Cessna 152. Then 172. But planes belonging to
'other' folks. And now, well, just too pricey! So for me, the sims fill
the void quite nicely and, quite frankly, I find it a challenge! Even
the sims can be non forgiving! But then the range of folks who are into
what I would term serious flight simulation...at least those whom I know
over the years..all ages and genders BTW...seem to share this same
excitement and look to the sim not only adjunctively to the real deal
but just as seriously.

And the best part of all? The sim community! It's staggering what 'our
own' can and does produce and I mean for free! Often, in my opinion, far
better than some of the stuff being commercially hawked! Who in this
hobby has 'not' heard of FlightNav as a sim community add-on which at
least up to version 3.0 was a freebie? And the websites where sim
community offerings...all free...abound! I recall when FS98 came out and
I loaded up that Chaffin-Rambow-Visser team R4D [DC-3, one of my
favorites] and I was literally stunned at that plane and panel package!
And so many others whose names in the sim community have become almost
legendary!

In short, I love it and our sim community talent base, if you will, just
keeps on growing where after awhile, folks use the FS 'whatever' merely
as the requisite 'engine' platform to run 'sim community' produced
planes, panels, gauges, scenery, etc. etc. What other serious hobby
offers that kind of expertise often for the 'cost' of mere time to
download and/or 'reasonable' shareware/donation ware stuff!

Doc Tony

[still grousing....]

Al Denelsbeck: [in the tower...] "YOUR TOO LOW, DOC! SOUND YOUR ALARM
BELL!"

but then, and still counting on Don's known sense of humor...]

Don: [stoically a la Lloyd Bridges as 'McCluskey'] "I guess I picked the
wrong week to stop sniffing glue!"

[but then..to everyone's surprise and a sudden RAS cameo appearance!]

Dean Bielanowski : [and quite serious to boot!] "GET ME REX KRAMER!"

[but ahhhhhhhhh!]

Kevin Reilly [the guy in the cab...] "I'll give him 15 more
minutes....but that's it!"


*** I love that flick! ["AIRPLANE"]