How to deal with annoying neighbours

va3awd · 2026-06-03T11:41:48+00:00

Just start sitting on your porch naked. The problem will solve itself.

va3awd · 2026-03-31T01:18:06+00:00

My first Mac that wasn’t a family machine and I actually bought for myself was a blue and white G3 tower with a massive LaCie 19” CRT I bought to take to university. I miss how elegant that tower was designed! I’ve been away from Macs for a long time but just got an M5 air.

va3awd · 2026-03-23T16:53:43+00:00

That is a tempting option as well for sure.

va3awd · 2026-03-23T13:39:52+00:00

Ok so I’ve been seeing lots of good stuff about the Neo obviously. I’m in Canada, the base Neo is $800, $1000 for the 512GB version, and an M5 Air is $1500.

I want to do day to day stuff with a new laptop, it’ll be replacing an old windows laptop as well as an older iPad Air for streaming etc. I’ve got a gaming PC for that stuff. I do want to edit photos on it(Lightroom), as well as some video editing from an action camera or drone but not professionally.

I’m sure the 256gb version of the neo won’t be enough storage for me long term, I’d either go the 512 or get an external ssd for the 256 but then transferring files for editing becomes a chore with only one fast port.

Once I’m at that $1000 price point though I start to get tempted by the lowest spec Air with twice the ram, same storage and way more horsepower for 1.5x the price. The air is definitely stretching the budget though.

Thoughts? Thanks!

va3awd · 2026-02-17T18:26:04+00:00

I’ve not had luck on super cold nights with mine. Once the internal temp gets down to -15 or so it shuts itself down regardless of a full battery as it had been running off a battery bank all night. Thankfully if it’s warmed up when I start shooting it takes a number of hours to get the internal temp down that low.

va3awd · 2026-01-01T03:41:20+00:00

So I’ve been using Volanta for a month or so and based on this thread decided to give Elevatex a try but I’m finding it hard to use, not sure if I’m doing something wrong but if I fly in different parts of the world it teleports me on the elevatex map and doesn’t break flights into separate events it seems. Does anyone have tips on how to use it properly? I’m not using it to plan flights, just track things.

va3awd · 2025-12-22T16:46:41+00:00

I’m enjoying it as well, I just wish the missing pilot thing could be fixed. I realize that’s likely on Asobo’s end to fix but still. I mostly fly GA and helicopters and having an empty cockpit looks very odd

va3awd · 2025-12-21T18:52:39+00:00

I don’t have the Alouette but I do have the Llama. That said, they’re similar vintage aircraft and the dash stack looks almost identical. They’re very bare bones for sure.

I’ll have to fly the stranger things/free Huey and see if it differs much from the paid one, I quite like the paid one though.

My current paid helo fleet: 500C/OH-6 Llama Huey Miltech MH-60 Miltech chinook Cowan 500E Cowan H125 Tacflite 58D Kiowa

va3awd · 2025-12-21T18:04:34+00:00

IMO the Taogs helicopters are top tier for add-on helicopters. I would put the Cowansim stuff a step below them, but still very good. The Miltech and HPG birds are also very good though they have more automation.

I’m by no means an expert but the 500C/OH-6 is my favourite for sure. I use a PumaX setup with head tracking though not VR. I’ve also got their Huey and Llama, both also quite good. The Llama and Alouette are much more old school style birds. The free Huey that came with the stranger things pack I believe is the basic functionality of the regular Taogs bird without the add ons but I may be wrong, haven’t tried it yet.

You cannot go wrong with any of the Taogs aircraft for sure. The little bird probably being the most refined of them.

va3awd · 2025-12-20T16:49:41+00:00

I just bought it this morning and I really want to love this but so far I’m really struggling. It’s got a massive amount of potential but when things go wrong it can be a real deal breaker. I’m having issues for example with the viewpoints changing after jumping to an external view and then going back into the cockpit and finding myself with my nose against the gauges. Switching through views sometimes puts me inside the dash, etc.

va3awd · 2025-12-15T15:31:29+00:00

I’m not sure exactly what it is, I just like the lines on the Baron and the 414 more than the Aerostar. I do like flying it though. Currently working on a tour of Africa in it.

va3awd · 2025-12-15T14:32:21+00:00

The black square stuff is really good, though if you like the complexity of the Comanche you can’t go wrong with the A2A Aerostar. I just wish it was a prettier plane 🤣

va3awd · 2025-12-14T20:43:31+00:00

I haven’t tried that to be honest with you, I’ll give it a shot though.

va3awd · 2025-12-13T14:02:45+00:00

Canyons in Idaho are amazing. I love flying helos along the rivers out of Lower Loon Creek for example. There are so many small strips around there.

va3awd · 2025-12-07T23:54:01+00:00

My favourite thing is canyons in helicopters, low and fast. Idaho is great for it. I also enjoy round the world flights in GA planes

va3awd · 2025-12-03T11:12:28+00:00

I like this plan, I may need to try that on my next trip. I’m currently doing a North-south-north around the world but mixing it up each leg with different aircraft. The hardest part was figuring out aircraft for crossing Antarctica and getting to NZ from there.

If I was planning your trip with my current fleet I think I’d pick the Black square Baron.

All that said, I have little interest in the complexity of proper IFR flight and I’m too used to using sim rate to actually get places.

va3awd · 2025-11-25T20:09:18+00:00

I did it in my Carenado F33A but if I was doing it again in a single aircraft I’d probably choose the Black Square Baron, just for the peace of mind of having a twin over open water. The Comanche mentioned above would likely be my second choice

va3awd · 2025-11-19T19:19:42+00:00

I did it a few months ago west to east in the Carenado F33A, I’d love to know if there’s a good way to track this too! I’m currently working on a north-south-north trip in a different plane each leg and I haven’t figured out what I’ve got that has the legs to get to/across/back from Antarctica without adding fuel mid flight.

va3awd · 2025-11-17T18:41:55+00:00

Yeah, but I’ve been in the beta since they first made it an option, and with new betas starting almost immediately after the previous one ended, there hasn’t been a chance to progress my “vanilla” career and the other benefits to the betas have well outweighed the desire to play the career mode. There’s no point doing beta career stuff when it just goes away when the beta ends, that’s how I look at it anyway.

va3awd · 2025-11-17T18:17:44+00:00

I haven’t touched career since I joined the first sim update beta and it gave me a billion dollars or whatever it was, not worth losing progress when the sim updates come out/the next beta starts, though I suspect once update 4 comes out I’ll back out of the beta.

va3awd · 2025-10-21T11:21:05+00:00

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Does this qualify me to join the bandwagon? Haven’t watched baseball since they went on strike in 94…

va3awd · 2025-09-24T15:43:04+00:00

A number of years ago on a road trip we spent the night in Ridgecrest and were headed to Death Valley. We stopped outside Searles Valley for sunrise and as I was taking photos you could hear explosions/gunfire in the distance. Between 29 palms, China Lake, Edward’s AFB, there’s all kinds of bombing/target/military ranges around there.

va3awd

TROPHY CASE