Fanboy Friday Rides Again

What gives? When I put up my first FF post a couple of weeks ago, we were awash in fantastic new add-ons. Last week, you could hear the crickets chirping, and this week… this week, even the crickets have packed it in for Jamaica. The upside is that in the lull, I’ve had time to (gasp!) fly a little. But more on that in a minute.

Still Yammering About the Cub

At the point when some devs would be having a cold one and resting on their wrinkly laurels, A2A seems to have just gotten started. One of my favorite FS filmmakers, Cody Bergland, posted a new video this week that details some of the new features A2A is planning for their upcoming Cub patch. Actually, patch has negative connotations. Let’s call it an expansion. Rather than spoil the surprise, I’ll let Cody show you what they have in store.

I don’t care if you’re a big iron driver or a die-hard fast mover, you have to admit that’s cool!

A Pilot for Every Passenger

Many (many) moons ago, when I was a wee lad just getting started in FS, I joined a Virtual Airline. At this point, I don’t even remember which one it was, but I do recall getting a little dizzy learning the rules and regs, humping back and forth across the country in a puddle jumper in search of the elusive rank upgrade. After a few years away from it, I’m pleased (and a little surprised) to find myself back among the ranks of the virtually employed once more.

Just this week, I took my first passenger for a revenue flight on Back Country Services. They’ve got a little different take on the usual cattle car mentality—they only fly Piper Cubs. Pilots can choose to be based in hubs in Tongass Fjords Alaska, Coffs Harbour Australia, Hoskins New Zealand, or Plum Island, Massachusetts. Seeings how I am fairly familiar with Alaska by now, I don’t yet have any NZ scenery, and I authored Plum Island, I opted for Coffs Harbour.

I took my first paying passenger aloft on Wednesday, and we had a lovely flight along the Aussie coast to Toumbaal Plains, a whopping 42NM or so away. She could have gone by car, but then she wouldn’t have gotten that barrel roll. 😉 If you’re looking for a zero-stress way to fly and maybe to visit some areas you’re less than familiar with, I highly recommend Back Country. It’s small, the people are friendly, and the flights are all around an hour’s length. Just the ticket for unwinding after work.

Bacon on Pommes Frites

Lest you think I only mention payware add-ons, there’s this: Tim “Piglet” Conrad is up to another plane, this time the seldom-seen Morane Saulnier MS.760 “Paris Jet”. I love that about Tim’s work—half the time, he’s modeling planes I’ve never even heard of. The forum response has been enthusiastic, to put it mildly.

In case you missed it, Tim’s most recent creation before this one was his SAAB J-21 pusher. Definitely not the first WWII-era airframe that comes to mind, but a fantastic effort on his part. Note to self: I need to fire mine up and give it a workout. This is the problem with the current crop of releases; there are so many of them at such a high quality level, it’s hard to find the time to enjoy them all.

Hey, look at that! It’s only 7:15 on Friday morning, and I’ve got another Fanboy Friday in the can. Beats rolling it out at the crack of 2pm on Saturday. This past week I’ve split my dev time between finishing the details of ORBX’s Stark’s Twin Oaks Airpark, and downloading, piecing together, and compiling some photo-terrain for Emma Field X. I was hoping to have new pics available by now, but they’ll be here soon. Promise.

Happy flying over the weekend!