Well, it feels good to finally have everything done.
The problem, now, is do I commit to something I did with FS2002 back in the day?
That all started when I installed the Alphasim B-52 package, which I had to "back convert" to run in FS2002.
It was (and is) a true BEAST to fly. Getting it right didn't mean hacking away at the flight dynamics, it meant learning how
fly the danged thing.
That meant learning as much as I could. How to flight plan stuff, how to navigate, how to hit waypoints within less than two minutes of the plan, etc. etc. etc. All of this while using Real Weather to throw some real-time monkey wrenches at my detailed flight plans.
This is what I call "FS Career Mode" and its designed to be both a pain and a challenge.
I started out flying the FSD T-38 out of Williams AFB (Goodyear) in Az.
After enough "stick" hours, I "got selected" for the B-52 pipeline and did some time in a T-43 (basically, an old 737-200) while I concentrated a LOT on navigation ( I spent this time getting the old ACS GPS proggy to play nice with FS9 and started collecting accurate flight plans) at Mather AFB and then at Castle AFB with the B-52.
After that, I made some "close enough" repaints for the B-52 and started my Co-pilot job with the 43rd BW at Andersen AFB (Guam) in the B-52G.
Like I said, I did a LOT of research along the way and going to Guam kind of reflected what happened to me in the Navy. I already had an EE degree when I joined and got to be the "student leader" in the first class after they brought "A School" back to Groton. I thought I had orders to the USS Gato in Groton but the instructors hooked me up with "Who knew?" orders to the Barbel in Japan.
That's a long story and I'm trying to keep this post short.
One thing I figured out about playing "military career mode", there are times when you, literally, have to flip a coin.
You have some options in terms of scenery and repaints but, ultimately, you have to give up some control over where you wind up.
For my follow-on assignment, I went with an Aircraft Commander job at Fairchild AFB in the B-52H. The time period for all of this was during the late stages of the Cold War. What is so cool about the Alpha B-52 is that you really have to log 8-12 hour training missions three times a month so you don't get rusty. Its a VERY seat-of-the-pants airplane and one of the toughest to master in FS.
I might do the same thing with the Hornet and the T-45 Goshawk, but I've already logged a bunch of carrier hours so a lot of those "first time" thrills are gone.
