Where did everybody go?

[Travis]

I remember seeing people around for the first few weeks of MSFS2020 but now there is almost no one hanging around, as well as no group flights posted. I highly encourage people to host group flights if they are able to commit the selected time they chose. Currently there is no weekly reserved times for group flights. The ones that are currently posted leave a lot of room and other days for people to host a flight. I was hoping to see more people host after my group flight series of 5 flights including a break week ended.

Well, I appreciate everyone's company, and maybe we will see some more people around soon or more participation once it gets cold and snowy in the north. I hope everyone that has not been around as much are doing well and are healthy.

[Karl]

We were also having scheduled group flights. I am pondering something for Sunday or Monday myself. But I think that is the key. Schedule, schedule, schedule.

[WarHawK]

US update & needin' some payware and event consistency
I'll be hosting a 50-state, 50-week United States tour when the US assets are updated.

[Travis]

WarHawK I don't disagree in that to some extent. We are working with unfinished pushed forward product. But it is still the best price to value available with at least 5 years of work(supposedly guaranteed). One way or another, I look forward to this, and I feel like the sudden excitement and fallout here has some consideration to this reasoning. Maybe most people are busy, and I personally know some who are, but if anyone is scared to host, reach out to me or any others. We will get you set up. Much of the new FS2020 world is workable to use.

[ak416]

US update & needin' some payware and event consistency
I'll be hosting a 50-state, 50-week United States tour when the US assets are updated.

Still waiting on that next STOL competition you promised


For me, the crash bugs that came with 1.9.3 really took the wind out of my sails. I had a few airports I was working on in the SDK, as well as testing and developing fixes for Rob Richardson's Banshee and converting other legacy aircraft and the crashes made that difficult, especially in the first few days after the patch because no one seemed to know what the hell the patch notes even meant or what was going on with the smart cam.

Another thing is the selection of aircraft. Scenery developers are pumping out over-priced airports left and right, porting their legacy stuff into the new sim without much issue. That is not the case with the aircraft developers, especially those developing complex aircraft like A2A or PMDG that rely on external flight models and functions. Nearly everything has changed in regards to aircraft. Model files have to be in a different format, audio uses a completely new engine and requires an entirely new workflow and learning the new Wwise software and how it interacts with the sim. It no longer reads .air files, everything instead is done through a variety of .cfg files. This is why even experienced developers like Carenado and Dino Cattaneo are facing difficulties and limitations with even relatively simple aircraft.

Dino submitted his Long-EZ to Asobo in the 3rd week of September. They came back and said, "don't release it yet. in the next update, we will update the SDK to support canards properly". 1.9.3 came, no canard support. 1.9.5 came, still no canard support. As it stands, if a feature is not already implemented in the sim it's not possible to do with the SDK. So until Asobo implement contrails and wing tip vortices and smoke, you won't be seeing them on third party aircraft. None of the default aircraft have afterburners, so no afterburners. Same goes for helicopters, gliders, basically anything that is not already a feature of a default aircraft.

Anyways, sorry, went off on a tangent there, but it basically boils down to not having aircraft that I really love flying. There are aircraft I enjoy flying but nothing that I am passionate about in the same way I am about a P-51 or a Harvard or a Mirage or a Beaver. I'm also just not huge on being flight lead, I like being at the back of the pack and forming up on random people or veering off to check out a bit of scenery. I'd be more than happy to do all the planning if someone else wants to lead.

[Spliffy]

Where'd WHO GOOOOOOOOOOO ?

[mm3_miller]

Where'd WHO GOOOOOOOOOOO ?

LOL

YA Stole that from Anthony "Goose" Edwards, (Top - Gun 1986)

ROFL!!!!!!!

[Coast]

Well for me ... nowhere! In fact I am still using the same OLD computer I did in 2012 in 2021 (notice the switch in the last two digits).

Apparently many of us have been attracted to many other pursuits, not the lease of which is the living and working during a pandemic.

I will always miss the friends i made here that have left us. But also highly value the few friends who have kept on coming and participating.

-Coast

[Storm]

Greetings, old friends. I saw this thread on an occasional leisurely stop-by, and I thought I'd just say hi.

What's happening to me? Staying fit and healthy, thankfully, but getting older!
I've written four novels, and I'm still enjoying Kemetic studies.
Haven't flown in a long time.

Keep in touch—ALA.

Storm

Edit: Turned off the signature.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Great to hear publicly from you again, my old friend. Those of us who still fly together have been kept abreast of your exploits since last we enjoyed your company by those with whom you continue to communicate privately. We note and have been told the story behind Lazerbolt's community avatar. I presume to speak for all of those frequent Friday companions when I say that we would love to catch up real-time some Friday night.

[Storm]

Thank you, Bob. I was reminded of this community again this week as KAPA has been hosting the B-17 Texas Raiders Showcase, and unmistakable growls have been passing close by my window. I could, of course, go for a ride, if I wanted to part with a large amount of cash—see here: https://explorationofflight.org/even...ders-showcase/—but large amounts of cash seem to be in as short supply as ever!

[qw9ery]

I thought I should post here as well to bring this forum thread back. I've actually been checking the Discord to see if any group flights are posted and if I would be able to join at some point. I'd love to get pinged from Discord when a group flight pops up, due to the fact that I am in about 75 Discord servers at the moment. Possibly there could be a roll that I could add myself too such as the "group flight" role to get pinged without doing @everyone?
I just recently obtained MSFS, and am amazed at the features involved. Since SU11 came out, a "discovery" of sorts was made that enables you to flight the first 4 flight sims on the PFD of the DA62! It did bring me back to flying the 747 with ATPJET, and the many crazy group flights that I was a part of, although not with those versions. So like I said, I would fly if a group flight worked with my schedule, but I tend to miss most because I am in so many Discord's currently and don't recieve any notifications of a group flight.

In regards to Storm's chat, hearing you mention the B-17 Texas Raiders is incredibly sad hearing and seeing the various videos posted. Its a tragic situation both for the pilots and their families, and for the precious aircraft that we lost in this accident. I've messaged you on Discord in regards to catching up, such as music and the like. Hopefully at some point I'll actually catch a group flight to see everybody again!

[WarHawK]

Pretty devastating to see what happened occur. I'm sure some slight modifications in prep and planning can avoid something like this ever happening again. Can't put a price on what was lost.
Are you enjoying the new MSFS update?

[Travis]

In reply to WarHawk's post #3, the neglected response from AK, #5, The lack of the majority of staff participation in our group is a sign of decline, but group flights and aviation still lives here. With group flights its mostly from our tried and trusted Lazerbolt on Fridays at 9PM Eastern US. Continuing on the...(no C-130s yet[that are good]), group flights with great entertainment in between.

Many staff that has been around in the past, are simply not here anymore... Was this a result of the current community? The structure that held it all together? Encouraged people to come? For power, enjoyment of management, etc? I am not sure, but one correlation is less staff=less community. On this public basis, I encourage a meeting on new rules. Staff that has not been "active" in group flights or other official meetings/communications(which can be resolved in discussion later) should loose there staff status, at least to some non-active, or tenure member status, and push to involving people that are involved into making more direct decisions forward(IF we want to really be a flight sim community like we were).

I enjoy group flights with our group, and others from the past, but then some come back and talk the talk and don't even join flights to walk/fly the walk...
I get people have personal lives, etc. but 98% of staff that we don't see come back, don't touch base, etc...
I am going to exclude probably 2 people here... but these are people that are clearly active....
CaseyRyback
RobertDunn
Lazerbolt
Coast
Any and probably all Vintage Air members
Toto
Aero
myself(somewhat)

This list is is in no particular order, and I am sure I missed some, sorry.

So what can avoid this from happening again? Maybe more strict active/inactive case for staff and users?
It is hard to promote a dead community, and the sad fact is, we have the foundation, just 99% of users wont show up, even if we do something cool and special...
So other than what we have been doing for friends, what is the point?

[WarHawK]

Have you recruited any new community members since you last messaged me in discord?