Aerosoft PBY Catalina X
A Review by AW640 Markus Landwehr


US Coast Guard repaint by Henry William, availabe at flightsim.com (uscg_pby.zip).

The PBY Catalina from Aerosoft Online is now available for download at various shops like simMarket or the Aerosoft Website. The prize is 28 EUR, not that cheap, but I simply could not resist buying this classic airplane. Was it worth the money? Read on, and decide yourself! ;)
As the "X" already shows, this add-on is for FSX users only!

Installation

After downloading the 360 MB package, you'll find a zip file on your harddisk. Included is a well done self-installer. Just enter your file key here, and everything will be installed correctly, as expected. Two manuals are available for a (free!) download as well, an original Pilot's Operating Handbook (103 pages) from 1944, and an Aerosoft Manual (440 pages!). Both worth to have a look at. The Aerosoft Manual contains every information you'll need to operate this aircraft "by the numbers", and you MUST fly her this way, otherwise you'll run into serious trouble!

First impressions

After the installation has finished, you will find 15 different versions of the Catalina, including the PBY-5, PBY-5A and PBY-6A. For screenshots of each versions, click here.
Some planes are equipped with an alternate panel, with modern avionics and a GPS. Others have a WW2 style panel. Both are well described in the Aerosoft Manual.

Exterior model

The Catalina X is an exceptionally plane in many ways! Though some may say that this plane is ugly, fat and slow, I would rather say she is a beauty, snugly and de-accelerated :) The Aerosoft model is an exception as well. Have a look:



To get a better impression of what I mean, look again and take note of: the front gear doors, the engines, the main gear struts, even windshield wipers!

On the next picture, you can actually count every single rivet! Have a look at the tires, too!


Great detail all around!


Detail: Amazing 3D Engine

Interior model

Before starting our test flight, we need to have a look at the cockpit with all its switches and levers.


Virtual Cockpit

Again, great detail shows up here: the fading paint on the control column, dirty windows with traces of the windshield wiper and lots of placards everywhere. Every single switch can be operated (Aerosoft recommends switching by clicking the switches with the mouse or via the mouse wheel, not by using the keyboard).
A detailed passenger compartment, and even gunner positions complete the interior model.

The first flight

While the Manual is really huge with its 440 pages, the (interactive) checklist is rather short. Hit Shift+2 and it will pop up on your window. Different coloured tags that can be clicked on will guide you through the most important steps. On the last page, you can choose between and "cold and dark" model, or a "ready to fly" model. Furthermore, choose between standard or detailed engine behavior. Do yourself a favor and choose the detailed engine model ;). You'll definitely need a lot more time before you can actually take off, but if you choose the simple model, you'll miss a lot of what you paid your money for!

The interactive checklist is something that I haven't seen in a FS plane before! You can click on each single item, and then a green or red checkmark will appear, showing if everything matches or not.

A video demonstration of the interactive checklist can ben seen here.


Preparing for engine start with the interactive checklist

After all the checklist items are confirmed ok, I went on to start the first engine. I opened the throttle about 1/4, as I was used to from other planes. When engaging the starter, note that it will NOT cut out itself after the engine catches! You must place it to OFF again.
While the propellers turned I switched on the magnetos, and WOW! what a great sound comes with this plane! Aerosoft has implemented what is called "Aerosoft Sound Control (ASC)", a module that enhances your audio experience a lot! You can hear the engine rattling, clicking and farting just like a real radial engine should do! Amazing!
I was even more surprised when the engine simply quit only 10 seconds later... After a second and even a third start attempt I found out what was going wrong: A cold engine requires you to open the throttles halfway, not just 1/4! When the engine is running, cut the starter switch, engage the generator and simply watch the engine warm up. RPM will increase after a short period of time, and when the engine is warm you can even close the throttles without letting the engines die again.


Looking up at #1 during engine start

When everything seems to work fine, you may start taxi. It took some time for me to get both engines run fine, you really need to get used to this! I taxi out to RWY 27 at Nome.



Control of the airplane on ground (with this I mean gear down, not on water) is fairly ok, don't taxi too fast as the brakes are not so effective as those of a Learjet. View out of the VC is OK.

During run-up I was directed by the checklist to check the feather buttons, but I could not unfeather the props, as the button would not come out again. Again, one engine died. After restarting this engine and moving throttles and prop levers a few times, RPM came back. I don't know what was the problem here.

But now let's take off!

When advancing the throttles to take-off power, the audio experience reaches another close-to-orgasmic level! That is, if you are into radial engines ;)


Nice animation of gear retraction

The plane handles and flies great! You only need to be careful with the rudder. With climb power set (35" - 2300 RPM), a climb rate of 500 ft/min can be maintained at a speed of 90 knots.


Good forward visibility during climb - note dirty windshield

During cruise (fast cruise power 30" - 2050 RPM), the plane will reach only 95 - 100 kts. So plan to take some coffee with you on longer distance flights! :)


Cruise flight

After some airwork, I come back to RWY 27 at Nome. Again, the forward visibility during approach and landing is good.


Short final

During flare, the runway will disappear below the aircaft's nose.

I touched down at 70 kts. Brake effectiveness is not really good, so be prepared!

When a go-around becomes necessary, it might be sufficient to set climb power again, as long as the gear is retracted immediately! The landing gear, in general, causes a huge amount of drag, just like on the real aircraft.

Behavior on water

I found a very interesting issue in the Aerosoft manual. There, it is said that in FSX all planes behave like "little paper planes" on water, so we shall blame Microsoft, not Aerosoft for this problem. I only touched down once on the water during my test flight.




The effects when operating this bird on the water are not so amazing as the rest of the plane.

Single engine flight

Performance: poor! With gear down, level flight with one engine is not possible at all. While trying to feather the propeller, I pushed the feather button, but the prop didn't stop. Maybe there is a little bug with this switch. Restarting the dead engine was no problem at all.

A few good hints

For those of you who (like me) don't want to spend a week studying the huge manual, here are a few good hints to make your experience with the Catalina more pleasant.


* When using hardware mixture levers, be sure to leave them at full rich when flying this plane, as they might interfere with the Catalina's automatic fuel mixture settings (Full Rich, Auto Rich, Auto Lean etc.). I even had to deactivate my Saitek mixture lever, otherwise the engines would not run!
* The Catalina has no flaps and no spoilers. However, they are assigned in the aircraft.cfg file in order to simulate cowl flap drag etc. Therefore, be sure not be press the flap up or down button on your keyboard, nor the spoiler key! If using hardware spoiler and/or flap levers, the apply the same procedure like for the mixture lever as stated above.
* Always keep in mind that you are flying an old plane! Take care of your engines, watch Cylinder Head Temperatures, Oil Pressure and so on. Otherwise you'll see what the extensive failure model of this plane is able to do!


Conclusion

Aerosoft has produced a great simulation of the Catalina that reaches the limits of FSX! The detailed interior and exterior model, the Sound Control module, the failure model, the interactive checklist. Everything seems to be done with great love and care. However, there are a few minor issues that I discovered so far:


* Poor water effects
* Feather buttons don't work correctly (maybe I'll find out what was wrong later)
* The engine sounds are really great, however there are constant crackle and rustle noises that are especially dominant when wearing headphones.
Edit: The sound distortion seems to be a problem related to my system, not the Catalina.


But after all, I can truly recommend this plane to anyone who likes to fly radial engine powered aircraft. The possibilities to land on water and land, and the different versions make this plane even more interesting.

And with all the details included, this plane is really outstanding!

Regards,
Markus

New Aircraft Review: Aerosoft Catalina X

Dear Eagles,

today I published a review of Aerosoft's new Catalina X in the Hangar Section. Be sure to check it out here: Click me

Best regards,

Markus

AVSIM Hacked

Tom Allensworth, CEO and Publisher of AVSIM, today issued the following announcement; "We regret to inform the flight simulation community that on Tuesday, May 12, AVSIM was hacked and effectively destroyed. The method of the hack makes recovery difficult, if not impossible, to recover from. Both servers, that is the library / email and web site / forum servers were attacked. AVSIM is totally offline at this time and we expect to be so for some time to come. We are not able to predict when we will be back online, if we can come back at all. We will post more news as we are able to in the coming days and weeks.

AvSim has set up a temporary forum here; you'll need to register again there, as the old usernames and passwords do not apply:
http://linux.myalbemarle.org/forums/index.php

Kodiak Quest - FSX and FS9

Hi Eagles!

Alaskan Winds' Hawk (AW642) just sent me this piece on the new Quest Kodiak (Build 2.00) by Lionheart Creations Ltd. This looks like an awsome aircraft and it's becoming a regular presence on our Logbooks, too... I'd say she "smells" like an FS Classic to me - but time will tell, of course!
So here you go - Richard's detailed work on this new Bush Plane release. Thanks, Richard, great job!


(image copyright by Lionheart Creations Ltd.)

Quest Kodiak - FSX and FS9, by AW642 Richard "Hawk" Couture

INSTALL:

1. Self-installer.

2. Read through the manual basics on the Garmin. Very easy really on the Garmin system. No sub-menu-buttons to get lost in. Note on new MFD features; Sleep mode activated by MAP menu button, and Declutter to lower amount of rendered objects in the GPS map screen. These should help people with frame rate issues.

3. If you have a slower system, get the 'Performance Pack'. This will reduce all textures to stock DXT3 (FS9) and 1024 pixels square (FSX) resolutions, enabling higher frame rate performance.

The High Resolution Panel Textures are ready for download. This is for FSX only and is in 2048 size, DXT5 DDS format. (Double size). Great job on the panel. Its it silky smooth! Hard to believe they are MFDs.


Download link is here;
Kodiak Panel High Resolution FSX textures
http://www.lionheartcreations.com/Kodiak.html

The new Garmin MFD (center panel) has some new innovations.
http://www.lionheartcreations.com/Kodiak.html

* Lowered refresh rates for better frame rate performance
* Map rendering sleep mode (Map menu button on bottom row of MFD)
* Terrain button (night mode) [stock FS frame rate saver]
* Declutter; now available on this MFD, allows you to take out all rendered objects in the MFD down to just airfields so that frame rates (with day time textures in map mode) will increase as there are less objects being rendered (and rendered slower or slowly).

Reducing the refresh rate was one great direction. Another was making a 'sleep mode' that turned off all Map rendering. Lastly was DeClutter, reducing map elements down to just airports. Really helps out a lot.
I really love the glass panel. I definitely have a new favorite model.

On a side note; concerning the Garmins:
The system does not use the sophisticated 'menu system'. This means you do not have to go through levels of panel entry (like on a FMC) to set data such as the Transponder. Basically, with the transponder and some other area's (systems), you can actually click right on the screen to make various adjustments. The radios (bar) is also like this. You can adjust on the screen over the numbers or via the adjustment knobs. This is also why the system runs fast on FS.

By the way, there is a Flaps position indicator on the center MFD screen. If you look at the ECIAS (engine window on left side), you'll see at the bottom right a small scaler that is the flaps. It has the one, two, three, and zero positions on it. Very small to see though. Just click on the 'zoom up' section to bring the MFD to full size to check it out.

For those that wish an 'extreme' and exact Garmin system, you'll need one like Mindstar's G1000 ($50.00 USD) or Nick Pikes Garmin system ($35.00 USD). They may run slower (lower frame rates) on your computers, but they are more exact and feature the authentic menu subsystems for data entry.

I was highly impressed with the sounds, They are stock FS Cessna Caravan soundpacks, both in FSX and FS2004. They are directly linked.

I just spent the last five hours flying her and she is SWEET. Love the Ambulance cabin. I found a few issues but very minor and I'll wait to make sure that they are not "operator errors" as I was pretty tired when flying her. I couldn't wait to try it out. The Caravan is a great aircraft, but I've always wanted a STOL with big load capacity that can get into some of the 1200' strips. It seems as though it likes to carry a little speed on approach but man, when you reverse that prop you better be buckled in. Takes off on a dime and lands on a nickel! This is great!

I flew an ILS/IFR flight from Laconia Mun. (KLCI)New Hampshier, to Sanford Regional (KSFM) Maine, using the tutorial from lionheartcreations site (excellent) very impressed with Kodiak autopilot! Enjoyed the flight while sipping coffee and enjoying the scenery.

Took off from Bauneg Beg (ME57) North Berwick Maine with the Amphibian, once on the step lifted one float off the water (faster T/O) excellent handling!

Kodiak / Garmin GPS and Approach Tutorial Supplement.
Make sure you download this!
http://www.lionheartcreations.com/Kodiak.html

She is designed for fun, rough landings, STOL take-offs, bush pilot types of thing. Really enjoying it, superb modelling and runs smooth as silk!!!
I am even more impressed by its handling. I just dropped in to a 950 foot long strip, and there was gravel left, even without reversing the prop
Treat her nice. Be gentle. Break in the turbine at proper RPM's.

There will be some Missionary missions that will surface soon. Maury at AVSIM is an investor in the Kodiak's birth and is working with a friend to create a series of Missionary flights that will be freeware downloads.

Paint Kit
Features;
* 2048 pixels size
* All Shading, Components, Base Layers, Stripes, Rivets, Panel lines seperated by layers, but numbers of layers reduced for simplicity and ease of painting.
* All layers labelled.
* Dirt, wear and tear, and weathering (3) are on seperate layers and can be tuned with opacity.
* Seperate exhaust layer as well, tuneable, can be turned off
* Bump Maps included and in layers
* Fuselage Specular Alpha included
* 3 Exterior Textures include Yellow, Red, and Red Cross texture layers, as well as base white
* Rivets layers can be turned off for FSX paint schemes (on for FS9 paint schemes.. )

Download link is here;
Kodiak Exterior Paint Kit
http://www.lionheartcreations.com/Kodiak.html



Bill...Lionheart, released the Kodiak updates (Build 2.1) (4/17/2009). Simply install over 2.0 and overwrite everything.

Antonov AN-12BK Cargo for FS2004, N712AW

Hello Eagles!
Please check out our newest fleet member:
2009-03-18 - Antonov AN-12BK Cargo for FS2004, N712AW


Now with the actual Alaskan Winds Paint Scheme and "Kalinka" logo in cyrillic letters!
Repaint by


Alaskan Winds Hangar - Four Engine
More Information at the FS2004 - Antonov An-12BK thread

Markus Landwehr wins March Best of the Month!

AW640 Markus Landwehr is no stranger to this prize as he already won it 3 times already.
Congratulations, Markus, that was another great job - and it is a great thing to win a flying prize!

Read the full flight (and see all Markus' screenshots, too!) -be sure to scroll down to « Reply #47 on Apr 13, 2009, 9:54pm ».

The Boss wins Old Alaska Screenshot Competition

(click image for a bigger version)

And another Old Alaska Screenshot Competition went on, and this time the winner was the Boss! :-) The Boss gave it the best he could find as he wanted badly to win the prize - a great piece of woodwork by another Eagle, AW's COO David Rasmussen.

I invite you also to check David's website where you'll find other great works he did!
http://www.minnesotafishdecoy.com/

So I hope you like the result!
The image depicts a Boeing 40B-4 United Airlines NC178E, on its way to McGrath, doing a Mail Run from Fairbanks (the flight took 3 hours with a stop at Minchumina). I looked around and it seems that these birds flown Alaska, yes, since the only one currently in flying conditions was restored with parts coming from a plane in Alaska; here's the real thing:
http://www.airventure.org/news/2008/080417_boeing40.html

Challenge #6, An Evening in the D-18

And here it is, another Alaskan Winds Bush Flying Challenge! Number 6 already, and AW586 David (Ras) Rasmussen - having won Challenge #5 - is now the Race Coordinator!
The AWBFC is a friendly competition among our Eagles - an annual championship - where the winner is not the fastest pilot - nor the slowest! - but the one who manages to log the closest time to the average of all logged times. The idea is to have Pilots flying by the book, using the correct settings for his aircraft at all stages of flight.
Intrigued? Check the AWBFC Section and the Rules and Procedures thread, then!
The more Pilots that take the Challenge the more interesting the results will be. This isn't hard and you all a lot of freedom to fly the way you want. Hope to see you flying this one, Eagle!
And here's the briefing by Ras for this next Challenge:



INTRO
The Race Coordinator shouts “Challenge is Open”
There has been a lot of interest in the Beechcraft D-18 and for our first challenge flight in a twin engine, this seems to be a good choice.

SETTINGS
Your settings are as follow: Set the date to July 2, 2008 and your local time at 2000 hours. Fly in the setting for clear skies. For weight, you can use 200 pounds for your pilot and 150 pounds for your co-pilot. There will be no other passengers or cargo. Fuel should be at 60%.

BRIEFING
You will be departing Skagway, with a touch and go at Haines, a full stop at Gustavus and a final at Juneau. The details are as follows:

Depart PAGY (Skagway) on Runway 20 and go to PAHN (Haines) In this short leg of the flight, stay over the water and do not go above 3,000 feet. Do a touch and go on your nearest runway. Go to PAGS (Gustavus) and in doing so, climb to 8,000 feet and make your most direct route over the mountains to PAGS. Land on runway 11 and come to a full stop when are at the intersection of runway 20 (which will be off to your right). Stay at this full stop for 5 minutes. Do not stop your chronometer , BUT change your time to 2115 local. Depart in the direction you are facing- you will have enough runway remaining for departure. Gain only enough altitude to clear any mountains or obstacles. Go to PAJN (Juneau) and land on runway 8. Come to a full stop and stop your chromometer.

Send your time to me in a personal message. This flight will remain open for the 7 days. Good luck.

The Novelist Corner

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/pictures-of-old-books/

A new Logbooks' section has been created at the Forum: The Novelist Corner.
This is the place for our Eagles who enjoy a good story - to write it or to read it! If you are on a series of flights, with some sort of plot, story, historic background - and would like to keep all of your flight logs together, than this is for you.

And here's some of the stories that you may find already at The Novelist Corner!

Towards the Edge of the Horizon, by Zoltan
A Low and Slow Flight: Olympia to Glacier Bay, by tigge
The History of How I Arrived to Alaska, by kurocl
The Eagle And The Moon, by Ras
Douglas World Cruisers in Alaska, by Silverfox
The Old Timer, by Ras
Roskilde (Denmark) to Anchorage
The War in the Aleutian Islands

Old Alaska Screenshot Competition

Editor's note: Deadline is next Saturday, 4th April, so you still have some time left!

Below follows the text posted by Ras at the forum. JP.

*

It is my pleasure to announce the beginning of the first ever "Old Alaska" screenshot competition. There are very few rules involved so I hope to have lots of entries. Here are the few rules with the prizes that I will award the winners.

1. You must fly an aircraft that was flown in Alaska during the 1920's, 30's, 40's, or 50's. It has to be propeller driven. NO JETS! The screenshot or photo can be taken anywhere in Alaska, at any time, under any conditions. In other words..anyplace. :) If you have any doubt to whether you can use your aircraft, contact me and I will let you know. The screenshot must show the aircraft or part of the aircraft that would confirm that it is an aircraft from the time period specified.

2. Each pilot can enter one (1) screenshot starting immediately and will be accepted through April 4, 2009. That is my 1st anniversary with Alaskan Winds, and it will be a special day. :D

3. After the deadline of April 4, 2009, I will publish a poll where each Alaskan Winds member will be able to vote on their choice as the winner of this competition. You need not enter in order to vote. All you need to be is a member. Voting will be in place for at least 7 days, and each member will be able to vote one time.

4. There are no restrictions on your submitted photograph. You may use any program or feature available in order to enhance your picture.

The winner of the most votes will receive a fish decoy carving that is appropriate for any Alaskan Wind Eagle. This carving was made in 2007 and had I been a member at that time I would have loved to implement the colors of every country that is represented in our great group. It is made of black walnut and might look real nice in your office or home. The photos show that the colors are not painted on, but rather inlaid into the wood itself. It will be my pleasure to send this fish to the winner with no costs involved.

Every contest should entail a second place winner. That Eagle will receive a paperback book that is titled, "Goshawk Squadron" which is a novel about flying in World War 1. :)

Everyone is invited to participate. All costs will be incrurred by me, regardless of shipping costs. I just want to do this in a way to say "Thank you" for being an Alaskan Eagle and perhaps gets you flying in an ole time aircraft. You can find some of these in the Old Alaska area.

Here are some photos of the first place prize. The second place prize pictures are not included, but you will receive a nice book. Thanks. 

Ras

The Old Alaska - The Old Alaska Screenshot Competition

Wednesday MP, 2009-04-01, 0100Z

CYKA, Kamloops, BC Canada - Photo copyright by Martin Hunter

Welcome Eagles to the Wednesday night flight. This flight was suggested by non other then the famous & good lookin' old pilot himself, AW586 Ras. We will be flying the valleys of British Columbia, Canada tonight so get ready for some awesome scenery gents!

The flight from point to point measures 170 miles but will be longer because of the winding valleys we will fly. I suggest an amphibian because we will be flying over some beautiful river scenery and who knows we just might want to drop in on a camp somewhere. Any wheeled version will be fine because there are alot of sandbars to put down on. If you fly real weather and you encounter severe winds at any T&G or Stop, just request clearance for another Runway.

AW602
Gary Reed
MP Flight Dispatcher

Alaskan Winds Multiplayer Office - Briefing: Wednesday MP, 2009-04-01, 0100Z

Antonov AN-12BK will stay at Alaskan Winds

Antonov AN-12BK by Vladimir Zhyhulskiy, Dmitriy Smirnov

Hello Eagles, I am proud to tell you that KOSMOS Airlines, Russia has agreed to sell us their Antonov AN-12BK Cargo aircraft. The plane is currently undergoing a heavy maintenance routine and will thereafter be flown to a paint shop to receive the actual AW paint scheme. All this should be finished by the end of the first week of April.

The repaint is done with friendly permission of the aircraft's author, Vladimir Zhyhulskiy. Our Fleet Painter, Curro Candela is working on the paint scheme right now, so expect this one to be as great as his other repaints!

And, you better keep this word in mind: "Kalinka" ;) More news from the Fleet Office will follow!

Regards,
Markus

KSM Kosmos Airlines - AN-12BK - Photos - Vladimir Zhyhulskiy (AvSim Library) - Alaskan Winds Hangar

Next Challenge flight to start on April 10

The next Challenge flight offers to be an exciting one in an aircraft that many have flown since the last challenge. We have not done a Challenge flight in a twin engine plane so if there are no objections, I think we will enjoy the flight in the wonderful Beechcraft D-18.

Here is one link where this aircraft can be downloaded:
http://www.flightsimonline.com/d18s/

The Alaskan Winds Bush Flying Challenge - Beechcraft Model 18 (Wikipedia) - FlightSimOnline.Com D18S Page

The Chief Pilot Office

Let me tell you... Alaskan Winds is very lucky to have someone with the knowledge of AW612 Jesse 'Silverfox' Norris - the Alaskan Winds Chief Pilot. And when I say "lucky" is because Jesse has been sharing with us his knowledge and long aviation experience. Each of his Logbook entries are a delight to read and you can't fail to notice the care he puts into each flight report.
That is why I want to call your attention to Silverfox's Office.

I know (from experience, too!) that sometimes we just want to "fire our simulators" and go - but I also know that when you have some real avation knowledge your flights are so much more rewarding. So be sure to check the Chief Pilot Office when you can!

Here's some the topics addressed by Alaskan Winds Chief Pilot:
Using the FAA Website
Cold Weather Flying
Attitude Instrument Flying
Multi Engine Aircraft
Online Training Courses With AOPA
Precipitation & Icing Course (AOPA)
Mountain Flying Course (AOPA)

The AW Chief Pilot Office - AOPA Online Interactive Safety Courses

FS Missions: The Fairbanks to McGrath Historical Mail Run

AW655 Mike Elliot has been designing some very cool Missions for Flight Simulator and the 3rd one has just been released! This latest one is based on a flight featured at "The Old Alaska" - one of the most distinct Alaskan Winds Departments and the brainchild of AW586 David "RAS" Rasmussen (Ras is Alaskan Winds COO).
This mail run would normally take a team of sled dogs some 20 days to cover the distance - but on Feb 21, 1924 Carl Ben Eielson flew the first Air Mail in Alaska from Fairbanks to McGrath in 4 hours. He was flying an open cockpit DeHavilland 4.
Carl Bein Eielson's name should be familiar to most of you: he was one of *the* Alaska Aviation Pionners - and let me tell you that this is just not a title, but rather three words that aim to describe the life and adventures of a bunch of men who dedicated (and risked) their lives doing what had never been done, but - most important of all, they were doing it humbly to serve their fellow citizens isolated in some of the wildest places on Earth.
I know my words fall short, so allow me to call your attention to the following:
Alaska - February - Open cockpit!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_Eielson.jpg

Think about that when you're on it - and, since this is flight simulation, hope you have lots of fun, too!

Alaskan Winds Missions - AW Mission #3 - The Old Alaska - Carl Ben Eielson (National Aviation Hall of Fame) - De Havilland DH-4

"Carl Ben Eielson" Books at Amazon.Com

Alaskan Winds, 9th Anniversary!

Hey Hey Hey!

With nine behind our back, welcome to the 10th year at Alaskan Winds!

True. On this date but on March 25, 2000 there was another bush flying virtual airline on the block - in those FS98 days almost every group of virtual pilots was called a VA, a Virtual Airline. Those were the days when to have a Multiplayer session with voice comms at the same time would require some serious wizardry, like having to set up two soundcards on your system...

But now that I think of it, the first step towards AW happened in 1998 at FSPRA: the Flight Sim Pilots Racing Association; I did a few races with them and one happened to be in Alaska, around Fairbanks. I remember having thought "wow, what marvelous land is this?" ... and on the next day I was registering as a pilot with Alaska Gold - a great and serious Virtual Airline.

Alaskan Winds came up some 18 months later. A single page was uploaded to Geocities with a few ideas and a contact - and some days later, on April 8th 2000 if I'm not mistaken, the first two Alaskan Winds Eagles joined on the same day; one of them is still with us today, my good friend Flash, AW002! The adventures we went through together are way too much to tell, but there were some wild ones like the Battle of the Airlines! Flash is a great man, a true friend I'll never forget and a fantastic aviator. For his friendship alone Alaskan Winds would have been worth it - but now throw in some 600 more pilots, maybe an even bigger number of projects and ideas, some seriously dramatic successes and failures, a CEO that burned out three or four times, more flights, miles and hours than my database skills were able to keep track of ... there was just way too much of everything to even try to come up with some sort of historical record of Alaskan Winds.

But it doesn't feel like nine years to me... I haven't decide if it feels much more or much less, but I guess both feelings were true at times.

Let me just say, dear Eagles, that it keeps being a lot of fun and a project that I want to carry on through, at least, some other nine years! Alaskan Winds was one of the very first virtual bush companies on the net and wishes, in a good way, to be among the last ones.

Since late 2007 Alaskan Winds took a different course: this time the focus was unmistakably on bush flying alone, bush aircraft and bush routes, with little distraction from this new bearing. In late 2008 we started a serious Staff organization and this group will take our Company to new heights: the promise was always there but now we all, together, are and will keep turning it into reality.

For the years ahead it is my belief that we only need to keep Alaskan Winds on course, probably throw in some wind corrections here and there - and hope that the next airfield is never the last one!

A big thank you to all. Alaskan Winds would be nothing, if it was not for you; you, that are here today, and you that joined us even if for a short period of time and then followed your own trail. As (virtual) bush pilots we all understand that very well.

Again and always, a Big Thank You!

Cheers!

I thought this would be a nice date to launch the Alaskan Winds blog, this new one. We still have the other blog, but right when it was starting to roll smooth it was plagued with FTP update problems, something that that affected a lot of blogs that were being hosted on private domains while using the Blogger technology. It is ok now, but that kinda broke the pace there.

But Blogger is a great piece of software and here we are again.

I will call some Staff members as co-authors for this space, so we may use the AW Blog to publish our regular announcements, bringing you all the latest news from every AW Office in a chronological way, more user friendly, specially when a Pilot needs to get up to date quickly.

So keep an eye on this space!