Flying

Flying seems to be a big thing in SL. I always thought of it as fun, and then immediately ditched the idea because... oh well... sailing has trouble with simcrossing. Imagine what trouble a jet will experience. It will be at the next sim-edge before it is done crossing this one... so to speak. One long sim crossing?

Flying with Rene

Still, I always kept an attack helicopter. It's fun flying, and it will shoot annoying males when they are just that - too annoying. It's a 10 year old freebie, and it looks like a lego toy compared to todays flying machines.

Ready for takeoff

It turns out many of my good old sailing friends appear to have a somewhat secret side to themselves: Flying. Liv has been bitten by a mad helicopter, and also Rene is flying... however she's into gliding, and perhaps that makes a bit of sense, as it's slow enough to not be at a sim-edge every other second.

Close hatches

So, Rene took me flying in this glider here. It was actually quite nice. Nothing compared to the real thing; No dizzyness, no stomach trouble, but still... there is a certain majestic silence when you are just gliding around ...

Two sticks

This one has two sticks, so I could actually try and control the thing; Rene seemed quite calm about it. She went on talking about upwinds and stuff. Dunno how they simulate that in SL, as we are having loads of trouble just making the sailboat see a sort of realistic wind.

Fly low or see nothing

Never mind the upwinds. We need to fly low anyway. SL only renders stuff within a few hundred meters - or whichever amount you choose in the settings - so if you're up in the sky, there's no land to see. No fun. Stay "under the radar" and you can see stuff while you crash, teehee.

Lower

That's more like it. I am pretty sure noone would do that in RL, but hey... it's not like anything happens if we crash. The plane won't get a single scratch; Neither will the pilots. Worst case scenario would be - maybe - a relog but only if we're very unlucky.

Approaching

No worries. Rene took us down safe and sound. Lot's of obstacles as you can see. The sim was actually very nice. Hangars, radio towers and other plane related stuff all around. It's worth a TP just to walk around and explore.

Touching down

Here we are almost touching down after a nice trip up in the air. Maybe it's not a full simulator, but the instruments worked and well... it kinda felt like flying. Perhaps I should get me a secret hobby too. Thanx for taking me flying, Rene.