Why a Glog?

My motivation for writing this is that I have found myself completely absorbed by this hobby, in fact, head over heels in love with it. This all began about a year ago when I bought the Microsoft Flight simulator 2004 ( I had dabbled with FS 98, but never got full drawn into it). I want to explore this fascination, and try to communicate the experience of it to others.

In some sense this will be an apologia. To the unitiated, this is just a game. It seems a little silly to spend so much time and thought (and sometimes money) watching little planes fly on the computer screen. But to those who have become hooked it is much more. It will always remain, on one level, a game. But more accurately it is a portal into the world of flight. Most of us have been interested in flying for years, and flight simulators allows us to be actively engaged with flight, at least in the imagination.

Another feature of this blog will be to celebrate what we have before us. A marvel of technogies (hardware and software) that can represent the physics of flight and display the airplanes and the environment in which they fly (terrain, weather, seasons, time of day) with almost photographic accuracy. Add to that a dedicated community of folks who work on creating additional aircraft and sceneries, and often give them back to the community free of charge.

There will be some reporting-- what I flying lately, reviews of new products (most freeware, as I am a tightwad), etcetera.

Finally, I may also write about the object of all this, which is actual aviation. This will certainly be from a spectators standpoint, since real flying lessons are out of the question for me, budgetwise.