clapster-
i've seen the earnhart crash about ten times now and it didn't look like a fatal crash to me unless that flapping hood had something to do with it. it will be interesting to see if more information comes out about the cause of death. he sure made some unexplainable moves to get into that sideways position.
it's a very sad day for his family and fans.
RIP D.E.
on a less serious but more serial subject, the rudders i'm sending you have a 15 pin serial connector. there is another 15 pin on the cable that allows you to connect a joystick or flight yoke also. you probably have a serial com port or game controller port on your computer that will work. you'll just have to try it and see. if you have problems, i'm sure you can get help from someone in one of the flight rooms on the internet or from the thrustmaster website.
i'm sending you my flight yoke too. it has a very realistic feel, rudder and elevator trim, throttle and a couple of firing buttons. it has built-in clamps to secure it to the edge of your computer desk. i used these with MS flight sim 5.1 and was amazed at the real aircraft control feel. (sorry, there's no feedback feature and there's a knob missing off the throttle lever) MS 5.1 was dos based and difficult to get to work on windows but i found a way to do it after a lot of experimentation (i had to create a separate boot disk on a floppy that only loaded certain device drivers). i was amazed at the realism of the simulator program and found it much better than a $20,000 professional simulator i flew back in the 70s. it is definitely a good tool for a pilot who does not fly frequently to stay proficient and great for instrument pilots to keep their skills sharp and practice instrument approaches. 5.1 only had four planes... the 182 RG, the glider, a sopwith camel and the lear. i found that i could land the lear on the carrier if i turned the wind speed up to about 70 kts. and used full flaps. <g>
i'm sure you can fly the planes as well or better with the stick you've got and you'll want to use it in the jet fighter planes but you do need to develop the muscle memory and coordination in your feet and legs if you ever plan to graduate to the real machines.
there is physiology that can't be simulated by the computer and you'll have to fly the real thing to actually become a pilot but as you get into more complex instrument flight you have to learn to ignore most of the physiological feedback anyway (without outside visual references, the body can't tell the difference between centrifugal force and gravity). but all the tools you need to practice and hone the skills and decision making processes involved in flying are in the simulator. you won't see the space shuttle pilots out making touch and goes in the real thing. they learn to fly it in the simulator.
because you can crash and start over on the simulator you can push the edge of the envelope on your own and the plane's capabilities so you'll know just how far you can go with things. just remember that you can't do that in a real airplane and always leave yourself ample safety margin - fortunately, the natural fear of death, pain and dismemberment usually takes care of that for most of us. <g>
if it turns out you can't use this hardware on your computer send it back and i'll look at it for awhile, reminisce, and then put it back in the closet to collect dust (polvo) until kathleen reminds me of our "small house rule" (anything that is put away and not touched for a year is fair game for the goodwill collection truck). i haven't used the flight controls for probably three years.
voltaire has a mooney. he could tell you what they go for these days. i haven't paid much attention to prices since the 70s but i know that because of the many lawsuits brought against manufacturers in the 70s, 80s and 90s and the high settlements and judgements against them, a lot of manufacturers either went out of business or were forced to raise prices of aircraft "sky high" (product liability). that pushed up the prices of used aircraft too. over 90% of accidents in general aviation are directly attributable to "pilot error" but juries don't see it that way.
i just saw the earnhart crash again. the moves that car made before he began to lose it don't make sense. there's more to it than we know at this point.
i just got an email from datek saying my 2 RMBS feb90 calls had expired. next comes my worthless QQQ mar90s... <slams a slug of whiskey then takes bullet out of ammo belt and bites it hard> EEEEEEEEE CARUMBA!
i'm off tomorrow for "honest abe car and furniture sales day" or something like that. is the market open? if the post office is closed you'll have to wait an extra day for me to ship out yer toys.
-polvie |
