A note from Chris Brisland.

I've now been flight simming in the PC since Sublogic's "Flight Simulator" was made available for the Atari 800 XL. I ought to mention that it was all those rules that really kept me out of public skies, but in the sim I could really let go and as scenery improved, generation upon generation, you'd more often than not find me flying "IN" the scenery and not over it. What good is a loop if you can't loop around something - like a bridge? What good is curving flight if you aren't actually flying way below the sides of a valley?

One of my loves over the years was also gliding. I soloed in '76 and like any aviator, that first flight is ingrained in my ROM forever. Also, as an Army aircraft technician, I have managed to collect a few hundred hours of "stick time" (mostly helicopters) on test flights or when the pilots needed to rest their hangovers / read the papers / have a smoke / drink their coffee. One of my greatest pleasures was being taught basic aerobatics in a glider and being allowed to do them solo.

So there you have me - passionate about flying but despising the (admittedly necessary) rules and a mechanic to boot; someone who still believes that if flying were difficult, then it'd only be allowed for aircraft techs and who thinks of pilots as a nuisance factor in a mech's life. ...and then I discovered that I could repaint aircraft textures. At first it was a case of "hot-rodding" my then favourite plane, the Long Island Classics Christen Eagle. Pure chemistry! A relationship was born!

That also happened to be about the same time as I discovered both Misty Fjords and Misty Moorings. Scenery to fly IN and a great plane to fly around the place with. There's still a few screenshots around, of your's truly flying a custom painted Eagle over the Totem Bight totem pole. So here I am, an anarchic aviator who really could get to be an old pilot AND a bold pilot (the sim doesn't kill you after all).

I paint planes too and I am an avid supporter of all things flight simulator... well... As long as they have no more than, say, two propellers or no engines at all. Now I am rediscovering the "Moorings" and I am still as hooked as ever. Especially since this part of the world is so stunningly beautiful in sim and for real (I've never been, but seen so much film footage and seen so many photos...) One of my life's mottos is "A day without learning something new is a day wasted" and my latest source of life is the re-discovery of the joys of creating scenery addons. Flight simulation just doesn't cease to get better!

Then came an invitation e-mail from Brad Allen "Would I be willing to join the team in a more active way?" Not that I have specific expertise about Alaska or about real scenery creation, but if I can give something back to the hobby, then I am glad to be here and if I can help, then it's with pleasure. If I can pass on what I am learning, then that is given gladly too. And if I can keep the load off those on the team who really know what they are doing, then I am a right happy odd-job-bod. You'll be seeing me around...

Chris

PS: If you want to know more about me and my repainting activities then feel free to explore my website: http://www.eagleskinner.com - apart from paints, there's other stuff to discover.

A note from Dexter Thomas

Well, aviation is part of the United States Air Force as you know. I was not a pilot but I retired from federal service in November 1996 with forty-three years of service. I put in twenty years in the USAF and five of those years, I served as a crew member aboard the National Emergency Airborne Command Post aircraft nicknamed, "Silver Dollar" in support of the President of the United States and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (See Note Below) The other twenty-three years were with the US Department of Justice as unit chief in the Office of Information Systems. During the early 80’s when personal computers were coming into the work place, I used Bruce Artwick’s Flight Simulator to certify clone pc’s as “IBM Compatible.” I have been through all the different version of Flight Simulator since that time.

This is what "Silver Dollar" looked like, “back in the day”

Not your typical KC-135! (Note: Based on the Boeing 707, the EC-135J version of the "Stratotanker" was designed from the beginning as an airborne command post. For nearly forty years one of these aircraft was airborne at all times to provide command and control of the United States’ nuclear forces in the event of a surprise attack. The primary external differences between these aircraft and the standard tankers are the large number of communications antennas along the top of the fuselage and the addition of a refueling receptacle above the cockpit. In the mid-1960s this aircraft and two others were modified to EC-135J standards. Under the code name “Silver Dollar” they were assigned to Andrews Air Force Base and were intended for use by the President as his airborne command post in the event of nuclear war.)

I was an electronic technician maintaining secure electronic communications equipment. In my early days, to get flight time, my boss would take me to the various sites that I maintained in a Beechcraft Twin and I would be his copilot. I would usually fly some on home bound legs. After retirement, I often thought about going for a PPL but the years crept by and now it’s too late so I have become a low and slow computer pilot. In the early days, I joined Alaskan Winds and my number AW012 was retired when I left. After working as a tester on the original "Misty Fjords" with Francois and company, I enjoyed the "Misty Moorings" sceneries. From what I have seen, Return to Misty Moorings will again become a place for folks to gather and share their love for all things that are tied to aviation.

Dex

A note from Jeff Greene

Hello, I am Jeff Greene.  I am 48 years old, and have been flightsimming for over 20 years.  I have flown just about every kind of craft out there, from A380's to hot-air balloons.  (In fsx, not real life.)  I have spent countless hours inside the aircraft.cfg and panel.cfg files of my various planes, forever fixing things, or trying to get them to go faster, etc.  I don't care about realism, or aviation rules.  I just like to jump in and go.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington State.  I'm just south of Vancouver, BC.  I was drawn to Misty's Place, like a bear to honey.  I love the scenery so much.  Lately, I have been drawn in by a challenge to make the autopilot work on a boat.  I did it, and now it is so cool to cruise the waters of the "fjords".  I can be found in the "Misty's-On the Water" section usually, posting my progress towards some goal or other.  I'm not usually a forum type of guy, but this one is so "me".  I feel like I've found a home.  I've spent some time in Aerosoft's African Airstrip Adventures, and if you know what that is like, you know I have some "bush" experience.  Almost all of those airstrips are sloped, pitted, hilly, congested, and the occasional elephant or giraffe will be walking down the middle of the runway.  So this place is a piece of cake. 

I look forward to seeing Misty's community grow and develop into a great site, with like-minded people coming together to enjoy some virtual experiences.

Jeff

A note from Xavier Carré

Hello, My name is Xavier Carré, I am 49 years old, I am french, I live 16 km NW from Paris. My 1st contact with Flight Simulator was in 1988, white lines on a dark screen. My second contact was FS98, but family life needed all my attention. As a gift for 2009 Christmas, I received FSX, and my 1st flight, as it was for so many people, was over Friday harbour. San Juan Is. I will always keep this area for many personal flights.

Then I bought my 1st airplane : Razbam Skyraider, and I started looking for sceneries to fly over, with my « Spad », I didn't find anything in FSX about the Vietnam war.

So, I have started the FSX Vietnam War project, and was joined a few months later by Jacques Godfrin. I have built dozens of airfields, from the dirty airstrip to the biggest air base. When this project was completed, I took a pause, and purchased OrbX sceneries (AU and NA ), and then downloaded the OzX sceneries. I found it to be a whole new dimension!!!

So I started making photoreal/hand-painted ground textures sceneries. The first ones I made were for the FSX Vietnam War project (3 sceneries).

And then I came back to a peaceful area, OrbX PNW and PFJ. I have found with the Misty Moorings sceneries, this particular " atmosphere" is something like : to switch off the magneto, close the Cessna door and go to the bar to drink a Bud with friends. Since I had some sceneries for this area in the project, I sent them to contact@mistymoorings to see if they could be used. The RTMM team welcomed me and my first sceneries were : Sewall lodge, Jordan lake and the Old Misty Yacht Club. I haven't left the FSX Vietnam War Project but I'm finding this is a new experience and I have some ideas for ORBX PNW and NRM sceneries.

I love sailing and my 17 year old daughter loves sailing too. We have a sailing dinghy. During holidays, on the Atlantic Coast, when possible, we sail. I feel very proud to have steered a 36 foot sailboat.

In summary, this is a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (a great french writer and, but not such a good, pilot 1900-1944, killed in action, during a reco. flight over Marseille on P-38 )

" C'est véritablement utile, parce que c'est joli. "

" I t is truly useful, since it is beautiful. "

Xavier

A note from Darryl Wightman

Hello Everyone,

My activities with RTMM will be mostly in the background providing some online flying services for members of RTMM.

I have been active with some sort of flight simulation since the days of the Tandy 1000 and the Chuck Yeager package. Flight has always intrigued me and it probably all comes from my early years experience with a book about gremlins in a WW2 airplane when I was about 5 years old.

The town where I grew up was far away from any regular commercial flights and we rarely saw a plane until the late sixties when more and more enthusiasts were flying about from an airport about 25 miles away.

After moving to Ontario I eventually became active with the local boating community where I was/am a member of the Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons. I eventually became the local Squadron Commander and part of the District Bridge. During those years I studied marine navigation and became a Canadian Government approved VHF Marine Radiotelephony Examiner.

I did not touch MSFS until the DOS 5.1b version and was then hooked as I could use my marine navigation knowledge to navigate my way around using NDB's, VOR's and the like. One of the rules that we had in boating was to know where you were at all times so it was not a stretch for me to pre-plan just about every flight I took.That same approach continues to this day.

As time went by I also joined a VA and later on I became a regular with Emma Field. All of that activity enhanced my interest in online flying and with much hesitation and trepidation I ventured forward. I also used Misty Fjords with FS2004 although that was late summer 2006 just before FSX came out. Suffice to say that I did not, unfortunately, spend a great deal of time there.

I did miss the regular flights in the PNW and further North and as I was an adopter of the FTX packages since purchasing the full AU version it seemed natural to join up with fellow type simmers in these new FTX areas. I was also one of the ones to go to for flight plans and missions. I hope that I might have time, as situations allow, to add a little variety through some easy-to-swallow missions.

What I plan on bringing to RTMM is my experience with online flying. I have found that flying alone became less than ideal once I had begun to share my experience with others of like mind. I did set up and maintain a backup online system using TeamSpeak and FSHost for my previous VA so I do have some experience skinning my knees with that process. I also managed a dedicated site for that VA through FSAddon.

I look forward to meeting fellow RTMM members in some future group flight.

Darryl

Help Wanted

Want to be part of the Return to Misty Moorings team? We have a few rules to abide by. First, send us an email with what you are proposing and introducing yourself. This email should have your "real" name as well as, of course, the email address you use for talking with us. If you would like to join us, you must: Design your scenery, aircraft repaint, AI traffic files or missions using the following criteria:

• NOTAM: People must submit a plan prior to our looking at any addition scenery. Often more than one person is working on a particular area, and conflicts develop. We will not have "duplicate" areas (use this one or use that one) ... the whole project will be seamless. (The only exception to this will be for the PAKT SP1 Service Pack). We often are sent scenery packages that are EXCELLENT, but we cannot use them because we already have someone else working on that area, someone who has submitted the proper plan, etc. Sorry about the rules and regs, but this is how we avoid conflicts. If you want to do a project ... send your plan to Brad Allen at contact@mistymoorings.com and we'll get your ideas on the dockett.

1. Keep it in the "Bush" All third party partners must adhere to a "Bush Pilot" scenario. No asphalt runways. Backwoods, off airport locations, dirt, grass, sandbar, water only.

2. Use your imagination. Creative ideas can be anything a bush pilot might encounter. Scenery doesn't have to be a real world location, but those are welcome. Have some fun with it as long as it "Fits" the mold.

3. Location, location, location. Creative projects must not be in a previous location already taken. Let our project manager know where you want to break ground at. If it's open, it's yours to build at.

4. Creative projects will be reviewed before acceptance. RTMM staff have to make sure any creative ideas fit the theme. Staff will need to test and evaluate every project to determine if it fits. If it does, It gets a thumbs up and added to the library immediately. If it needs some tweaking, you must be able to accept the feedback and work on those suggestions before your submission will be accepted.

5. "Pacific Fjords" only. All projects need to fit inside the ORBX "Pacific Fjords" scenery coverage area. We may add other areas in the future, but only "PFJ" for now If you can play by our rules, we'd love to have you join our team.

6. ORBX or OZx objects MAY NOT be used without the individual author's permission. This is THEIR policy and we must abide by it. To safeguard that all objects used are "legal" by the rules, a copy of the scenery object file must also be submitted. You can do this in Instant Scenery by clicking on the little yellow question mark (upper right side of the IS menu). Then Right click on that, select ALL, COPY and paste it into NOTEPAD. Name it and you can email it as an attachment. Click HERE to see a simple one.

7. "Design Work" and discussions should not be done on the forum, they should be done in the privacy of email. We would rather people did not see the "sausage being made" and this will keep you from being embarrassed if we have to change something. It is best to keep this process done in private through emails and PM's on the Forum message board.

8. The author for repaints and scenery locations is responsible for "completing" the paperwork on the item. A full "readme" for installation must be submitted with the entry. A 150 by 150 pixel thumbnail and a 1000 wide picture of the project must be included. The "format" of the readme must conform to the many examples already on file on the Scenery Page. Regardless of the quality of the offering, without the proper paperwork, it will not be posted.

Contact Project Managers: Doug Linn (website), Guy Maricich, (QC) or Brad Allen (Scenery Director) if you are interested in contributing. Use this email address and information will be routed to the correct person: contact@mistymoorings.com

Copyright Statement for Return to Misty Moorings