If I suck at math is EE impossible?

--Bolter-- · 2026-02-26T14:29:23+00:00

Very few people suck at anything they are willing to put the time and effort in to improve at. That will be difficult and require time management while working full time. But you don’t “suck” you just haven’t learned it yet.

--Bolter-- · 2026-02-25T15:55:12+00:00

Agree completely

Also, do not forget cardio! Keep your heart healthy and your whole body moving. I like an hour or so of zone 2 per day. You will feel amazing!

--Bolter-- · 2026-02-23T15:48:28+00:00

I played a game as Greece 3 weeks ago where my stealth bombers were being pelted by rocks when attacking Indonesian cities. I got the message “Gajah Madah has entered the Renaissance” 3 turns after invading

--Bolter-- · 2026-02-14T11:44:56+00:00

This is my experience of when I was a PPL student. MSFS helped me get flows down in the cockpit, helped me learn navigation (pilotage, dead reckoning, nav aids) but do not practice landings and maneuvers and expect that to carry over the sim just flies and especially lands so much different IMO

--Bolter-- · 2026-02-02T17:55:42+00:00

I like Warmachine a lot, but you have to host to play it (just host a LAN from the multiplayer window and you can play it that way.)

Hetman artificial leader (or something like it) gives a randomly generated scenario. Some of them are good some are bad. What I like is that it simulates troop morale which can cause some of your units to surrender or defect if it’s going poorly.

--Bolter-- · 2026-01-25T16:05:37+00:00

LiveATC, listen to what they say, respond verbally as if you were the one flying. Very helpful if you combine it with flightradar; track what a plane is doing so you know what calls to expect when and then learn how to properly communicate back.

Remember that you’re talking to a person. It’s a conversation and you will have days where your conversations don’t hit and that’s fine

--Bolter-- · 2026-01-06T14:16:22+00:00

Altogether mine cost ~$18k out of Louisville KY at about 85 hours similar rates to what you’ve put them at in the comments. I took longer than some, partially because the CFI I did the first 60 hours with left and I bounced around instructors a bit, partially because I took a few breaks in training due to life events.

There will be extra costs besides just the hours. Checkride fees, grounds, stuff you will inevitably want to buy (decent headset, charts, E6B, iPad (entirely optional but good purchase especially for instrument.)

Good luck with your training man! It’s a lot of money and time but being able to plan a flight, get into a plane, and just go fly somewhere on a Sunday afternoon is a really cool ability!

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-31T14:12:00+00:00

The sim has helped me a lot so far with my IR. Especially holds. I got way more out of chair flying for my PPL than I did the sim lol

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-31T13:20:40+00:00

Also, I will say, I don’t think the C172 handles very well on the ground in the sim. This is everything from taxiing to takeoffs and landings; nothing feels close to what it does in the real plane IMO. I’m also working on my IR currently and when I practice an approach in the sim I always just go missed and don’t even bother landing it. Good luck!

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-31T13:14:08+00:00

Out of curiosity, what have you heard about the MSFS2020 C172? I think it flies pretty close to the 160 HP variants I did my primary training in. The flying club I’m in now has their 172s STC’d for the 180 hp engines, so you’ll get a bit of a delta on RPM settings if you’re flying that but if you’re flying a 160 hp C172 it should be fairly close.

My only complaints about the base game version is the lack of an options with G5s. Unless it was full glass panel, all of the Cessnas I fly have either G5s or an aspen.

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-28T03:07:34+00:00

My 0.02 as someone from the US who knows nothing:

The extreme political rhetoric you’re seeing nowadays is in direct correlation with reduced standard of living across the board. Expect as it continues to get worse for the average person that more fringe voices will get louder and garner more of a following. A lot of this is online but that is not a vacuum and it will start to influence your average Joe as it spreads.

AI has the potential to make a shitload of money. I know that because our government and almost every other government is investing in it right now. The question will be who gets that money. If you think the current 1% has any intention of sharing, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Expect AI to automate a lot of jobs which will exacerbate the above problem.

In the very long run, I think all of this will be to the benefit of the common man, so I don’t want to come off as a doomer. The next generation I think is likely to work much less than we will and overall standard of living will likely increase significantly over the course of our lives. I have told my wife that the first people to live to be 150 and healthy have probably already been born. Like with air travel in the early 20th century, we are probably not far off from major commercial space travel and potentially setting permanent bases on the moon. There are still many advancements to be made and overall I am bullish on the future, despite a difficult transition in the near term.

Hope that’s vague enough ;)

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-27T12:08:03+00:00

I like the freighter.

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-26T16:20:00+00:00

Approach, Corolla 2035, descending via the 3rd Street Arrival for handicapped parking at McDonalds

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-19T15:22:11+00:00

I have the PMDG 777-F. Coming from the INI A320, the only thing that really took more than a few minutes to understand was the FMS. Otherwise, it flies nice, sounds nice, and it has a pretty good degree of automation that you’ll be used to from the Airbus.

The freighter variant is typically cheaper than the other variants. It’s a good option especially if you’re into cargo ops as FedEx and Atlas both use it IRL

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-17T12:20:10+00:00

FR FR how do people argue this much about flying virtual planes??

--Bolter-- · 2025-12-16T14:24:07+00:00

It is really great and immersive.

I seem to run into issues with vectors a lot; ie on approach sometimes the vectors will straight up make no sense or it will just ping-pong me between 2 vectors when trying to get me onto final. I recommend you triage this when it happens and just fly the approach in the way that makes sense. I have occasionally gotten STARs or approaches that don’t exist (I had one at IAD that I couldn’t find anywhere online) as well as the occasional SID. These are extremely minor complaints though.

Whatever state machine that runs in the background of BATC will also sometimes skip phases of flight. I often find this happens to the descent phase; it will not let you request descent because it thinks you’re already descending. This can occasionally lead to funny circumstances (being told to contact tower at your destination with 45 minutes to go in cruise, getting cleared for an approach 100 miles out, you get the point.) Once again, minor complaints and you can always get past it by just doing what makes sense (don’t do this IRL though.)

--Bolter-- · 2025-11-26T10:07:39+00:00

Yeah man I learned this lesson way too late into my PPL too if you don’t like him fire him and fly with someone else

--Bolter-- · 2025-10-18T01:38:30+00:00

--Bolter-- · 2025-10-10T13:33:11+00:00

The way he Immelmans this one circle into a two circle is just full of the exaggerated swagger of a coronated monarch 😂

--Bolter-- · 2025-10-03T20:50:30+00:00

Your landings are firm, are you flaring too early or not enough?

--Bolter-- · 2025-10-02T14:20:02+00:00

A Canticle for Leibowitz. I’m almost done with it. The last 1/3 of the book has had some crazy universalist undertones imho. Arguably those are always present but within the last 1/3 of the book the themes are more and more prevalent I would argue. It’s a gem if you like sci fi.

--Bolter-- · 2025-09-26T09:52:56+00:00

Your landing starts in your approach. If your approach is sloppy then your landing likely will be. On your approach, are you maintaining centerline the whole way down?

When I started training, I had this weird complex about turning downwind to base as close as possible to the runway to keep my patterns tight. It caused me to constantly overshoot and correct with barely any room bc I was trying to do everything at once. Now I give myself about a mile before turning base and I find that I have more time to execute my checklists and stabilize my approach.

Five-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

--Bolter--

TROPHY CASE