… every time you started the program, something different would be wrong with the plane: flat strut, weak battery, missing ELT antenna, broken intercom, stuck Bendix, etc. (I’ve dealt with all of those over the past 12 months). You’d then walk to the virtual maintenance hangar, but find out that it’s Sunday and no one’s there (actually, today, there was someone).
If your plane was OK, you’d get to spend an hour convincing ice-encrusted covers to separate from the wings without ripping, bumping 1/2″ of ice off the fuselage, etc. Your car would get stuck in the snow near your tiedown spot as well, and you’d have to hack a path out with a borrowed ice chipper. In the end, you’d try to knock some of the ice off the covers, put them back on the plane, make a note to book maintenance, and sit for a few minutes watching other people land and take off.
Fortunately (for me, not for them), Microsoft has fired the whole MSFS team, so there’s no risk of anyone reading and implementing this suggestion. Instead of changing MSFS, I want to change real life. I want to arrive at the airport and climb straight into a fueled, shoveled off, uncovered, warmed, preflighted plane idling on the threshold of the active runway. When I finish, I’d like to just taxi clear of the runway, shut down, and toss someone the keys.
I guess I could make this happen, but I’ll have to figure out a way to get rich enough to hire a ground crew first. Suggestions? In the meantime, I’m scheduling time to get a new ELT antenna installed and the Bendix unstuck and lubed, and ordering new wing covers. With luck, I’ll be flying again before the end of the month.
Land and Hold Short 
Just rent one of our planes!
Thanks, Louis. Not a bad suggestion on a day like today: I could even overlook the fact that all the club planes have the wings attached in the wrong place, up above the doors instead of underneath them. Do you have a new valet service, so that I don’t have to read over the journey log, and uncover, untie, preflight, and refuel the plane? 🙂
Seriously, when my plane’s actually working, I like being able to take it on long family trips, business trips, etc. and just park it at a different airport for a week. I like the 665 lb full-fuel useful load, the 125 kt true airspeed, and even the scratched-up, hard-to-see Stormscope mounted under the yoke(?!?). I guess I’m fond of the old hunk of aluminum, despite all my complaining: it fits me like an old sweater.
David, You should have called. I work for beer, or flight hours but do cut down your useful load by a large factor!
Sorry to hear your plane wasn’t as ready as you were but at least we got to see the sun for a moment.
I tried to the contact address but with no joy. CND4 Haliburton/Stanhope is not on the map display?
very true man. I should start preflighting the sim just to make it more realistic. or call WX brief and talk to Lockheed for 15 minutes before I hop in.
good points all around, and an even better blog. thanks for writing.
The latest A2A Simulations birds are taking that kind of realism two notches up, they are “living”, aging creatures (or Tamagochis if you will) with a surprisingly high complexity. The only thing they’re (kind of) lacking is simulating other idiots using the plane in the meantime, messing up the intercom, fouling the plugs or not mentioning the collapsing backrest of the left seat.
Excellent!