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.

Tradewinds Airshow

All this Laser talk has made me completely forget what else is going on. Currently there's an airshow running at Tradewinds. A watery one. Boats and planes merged into one.

Now that's a big plane

If you're into planes that can land on water, Tradewinds is the place to go. Apparently, seaplanes come in all sizes, shapes and forms. The one on the picture above is the biggest one. It kinda looks like something I once saw on TV. Russian I think. Update: Ahab tells me it's the Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose". Thx. See comments for more details.

Boathouse view

That's how it looks from the door in the boathouse. Someone is motoring about in one of ReneMarines boats out there, but there's planes there too. More than a handful on this picture.

Overview

Here's an overview. There's probably even more planes there by now. Take a hour and walk around and inspect all these. Some are for sale. Some are not. Regardless, there's hours of fun for flyboys and girls.

Here's more on boatshows at Tradewinds.

A Harrier in Nyhavn

SL is truly an amazing world, and it's not just because of the virtual sailing. Less than a week ago I blogged about an aircraft carrier. It passed by while I was out racing the Nacra 17. Check here if you missed it. In the post I joked about a Harrier jet, and I wondered, if there are Harriers available in SL...

A Harrier taking off from the helipad in Nyhavn

So, yesterday I met this guy: Ingmar Wallstedt. Now that's a very Swedish sounding name, and sure enough... Ingmar turned out to be genuinely Swedish; We had fun speaking Scandinavian for a while, and then he wanted to show me a new place called Nyhavn. 

Hovering over the Nyhavn canal

Now, Nyhavn is a famous part of Copenhagen; Turists will know it from the many bars along the canal. Ofcourse I wanted to see it, so I went along, and Nyhavn is what you see in the back of the photos above. It's pretty neat with shops and clubs and... I suppose you've also noticed the Harrier jet by now?

Janina Foxdale

You see, Ingmar introduced me to a friend of his, Janina Foxdale. She is the very Swedish looking chick on the picture above. I showed her a couple of boats that would fit nicely in the Nyhavn moorings. The VO65 was maybe too big, but the Tofinou looked great. 

An impressive sight and sound

Anyway, it turns out she actually owns a Harrier Jet. She was quite good at flying it, and I tell you, it's a pretty impressive sight sitting in a Fizz, while a Harrier jet is hovering right above you. Not to mention the noise. So there are Harriers in SL. Isn't that just unreal? Still haven't found a strawberry margarita...

PS: I am not really into flying, but flying is big in SL. Liv from Tradewinds has a sweet spot for seaplanes, so we've had several "boatshows" with seaplanes. Check the category planes if you're a flyboy... Chuting is also possible, and it's great fun. 

More seaplanes

There's nothing like a quiet morning at Tradewinds, watching the sun come up. Talk about stress-relief.

Morning

There's even more planes now. The backyard is now full of planes too. They're all over - all the way to Balduins boat yard.

The backyard

The north end is also almost full of aquaplanes and seacopters. Overall I counted more than fifty fantastic flying sea planes.

North end

While I was counting, - an old friend popped out of nowhere. It was Steavano Angel. I told him about my heli and before I knew it, he put me in the drivers seat of this:

Steavano's heli

That was fun. It's actually a little easier to fly than my new heli. Turns out Steavano is a boy with many toys, so we also went for a ride in this lil thing here:

Booh!

It's a Drusilla Saunders C-90 King Air. This plane is much more like a simulator. Not only does it come with passenger seats in the cabin and a copilot seat in the cockpit. The amount of tiny details is massive. It also has an impressive dashboard, and there's a hud with like a million controls.

Air Tradewinds

If you are into flying, you can catch a glimpse of the cockpit gizmoes, dials and instruments in last picture of this post. Thanx for flying with Air Tradewinds, and now back to sailing.

PS: I'd really wanna try a glider. RL as well as SL. I wonder if I can find one.
PPS: And how about iceboating?

Inspired by the seaplanes

I met Manul at the Seaplane show. He was playing with an RC tricopter of sorts. It looked like fun, so I asked for the address of the shop. Minutes later I found myself in a shop full of helicopters, and...

Tradewinds Seaplane Show

... here I am, sitting in the miniscule cockpit of my latest toy. Oh no! Nonono! Don't even think this blog will evolve into a flying blog; It's a seacopter - or whatever the term is... it can land on water, so it's a kind of a boat in some weird way, right?

Up, up and away

Anyway, I started the thing up and sure... up it went. Pretty darn easy, except I didn't really know who was in control. I sure wasn't.

Tilt forward to go forward

Ok, that's high enough for a first flight, thank you very much. Where's the chute? Better check the manual. Fast... Ahh, a little forward tilt and it moves forward. Easy peasy.

Loosing altitude?

Ooops, - there seems to be a catch: Tilting forward apparently also means loosing height. It's a good thing this thing floats. More power, more power...

I got the power

Got the altitude stabilized. I think. Sorta, but now I am floating sideways. Let's see if it can be steered with the arrow keys...

Woohooo

That worked well, except I mostly just rotated and now the lighthouse is coming a little too close. This is gonna be spectacular. I really hope Harbourmaster Ahab isn't watching... 

Got the "hang" of it

Luckily, I missed the lighthouse! This shot is hours later... I kinda got it figured. It's not nearly as easy as it looks. Which makes sense. My dad always says the funniest thing he ever tried was flying a helicopter.  Then he adds, - and the most difficult. Me, I'll stick with sailing. That's where I feel at home, even though flying and chuting is fun.

Seaplanes at Tradewinds

There's an amazing seaplane show at Tradewinds YC. I never gave the seaplane "genre" much thought myself, but obviously someone else did.

My favourite?

This one impressed me a lot. I am really not sure why. It's big, it's powerful, it's... ehm... yellow!? Oh, and they fly. These are not just cartoon cardboard mockups. Push the right button and all hell breaks loose when the engines start.

Hmm, which one is next?

It's not like there's a handfull or two, oh no. They seem to come in all sizes, colours and shapes. Who would have thought SL was a regular flight simulator? Here's and overview... I see thirtyfive or so...

35 Seaplanes and counting

This next one is nice too. Total classic I am told. DC3. One of the most reliable planes ever build, or that's what they say at least. I have no idea. It's from my granddad's time.

The super classic and classy DC3

 Ok, one more... just to let you see, that they aren't just fakes. This shot is from the cockpit of a C90. 

Gizmoes

Imagine having that many gizmoes, knobs and handles in a boat. Phew. We'd need more sails, or would we? A standard aeroplane has only two sets of "sails". Are sailors left with fewer trim options than possible?  Do they have a cockpit like this on those AC cats? I mean, they do have wing-sails, and they obviously could use instruments to display the heeling angle, - maybe even fire off an alarm at a certain point.

More on boatshows at Tradewinds YC.

Amazing Tradewinds

Tradewinds Yacht Club is an amazing place. There are always sweet people to hang with, and there is always something going on. Currently TYC hosts a Sea Plane Show. Usually the TYC events are carefully planned and carried out. The sea plane show is no exception. Naturally, there is a glider available, so you can get that flying feeling whilst looking at the planes. For free. Here's me hanging over the show...

Tradewinds Seaplane Show; Me above. Note the island out there.

I must admit, I never really had any interest in sea planes, but now... whoa! So many planes. So many sizes, shapes and details. Where do they all come from? And then there is this glider. Must it be sailing related? Perhaps it is. A glider is the ultimate ride on the wind. Understanding the wind is key to a sailboat racer, so there you have it... See that little island there on the left side of the photo?

Flying over the island - only a few hundred meters out.

I saw it. Up close. Not a lot of upwind out there, so I could barely make it back. Still it is too short a trip to fire up a sea plane; Besides, the difference between a glider and a plan is kinda like the difference between a sailboat and a powerboat... Silence versus rrrroooaarrrr. Easy choise.

Barely making it home again...

Lets get back to TYC. Home sweet home... I almost got my feet wet, - or whatever hits the water first, when ur in this position, hihi. Uhh... I wonder what the water temperature is at TYC. Anyways, go see the show. Sit in all the planes. It is great fun. Oh, and don't forget to glide around in complete silence, - only hearing the waves and the seagulls... If only I could attach my hairdrier to the screen to feel the wind ;-)