Well, my wife is away on a business trip for 4 days, the kids are at grandma's house while she's gone since I work some weird night shift hours.

So, I find myself sitting here in my empty house having just taken my after work shower. It's 5:30 am, and I sat down to relax a little while my hair dries before heading to bed for the day. I was browsing some old data Cd's to see what was on them, and came across some OLD scenery from back in my Combat Flight Simulator days. 

I used to run a specialized squadron in CFS 1. We were the Combat Search and Rescue Squad, a group of helicopter fanatics in a game where everyone else was flying the fighters and trying to shoot everyone else down.

Our Squadron Seal. 

   We were Rescue Specialists (pretty apparent from the name of the squadron, eh?) in that we didn't participate in the dogfights as combatants. My friends and I met almost every night on the old MSN Gaming Zone to play together, and one of the things we would do is a specialized match called MayDay.

   We would sit on the flightline on the ground in our helicopters while the combatants fought high overhead. For the combatants, the object of the game was to avoid being killed. Once they started getting shot up, they could dive for the ground. They were fair game until their wheels (if they had any) touched down. Once they were on the ground they could call a MayDay over the old Roger Wilco Voice Comm. (What we used to talk to each other before TeamSpeak came along.)  Once that mayday was broadcast, all attackers had to break off and leave them alone. Once their aircraft came to a complete stop without crashing, they would call for a rescue. One of our choppers would fly out to their smoking pile of wreckage, land and "pick them up". We would then transport them back to the flightline, where they could return to the Ready Room, refresh their aircraft, and rejoin the furball above. It wasn't uncommon for a pilot to land an aircraft that was on fire and call for a pickup, only to have his aircraft explode on the ground from the fire before we could get there. It was great fun.

   Anyway, the scenery I found was from our Squadron Base. Part of our base consisted of customised helipads for each member, with their nose art from their chopper on their pad.  I was looking in the texture folder at the pads, and wondering where are they now, and do they still sim in some form?  These textures were from the heydey of our squadron when we had 14 members, of which I only still have contact with two of today.

Our Members:

This was me. I was the Founder and Commanding Officer of the Squad.

 John Auger, Callsign Alert_1. A very good friend of mine that followed me from the fighter squadron we were both in (the 27th Sentai) when I decided to leave and form the CSR. John was my Executive Officer, and I still fly with him to this day as members of the Deer Valley Flying Club. I still fly FS9 while he as moved on to FSX, but I don't hold that against him, hehehe.

 Mark Reichard, Callsign Medic. Good friend and another member of the 27th that defected to us shortly after we left. Loved his Ian Standfast BK-117. Sadly we lost touch with Mark after a work accident left him with a bad back and unable to work. Last I ever heard from him, he was about to lose his house from mounting bills. Miss him to this day.....

 Charlie Armour (I think).Callsign Patrol.  Another friend from the 27th. Heck of a fighter pilot, death personified if you were on the wrong end of his guns. Last I heard from Charlie he was a rookie fighter in the UFC, but making waves and getting noticed. Called himself the "Hammer", if I remember right.

Steve, Callsign Guardian. Our first member not from the 27th. No clue what happened to him.

Scott Norris, Callsign Darth_Mutinus. He was our virtual aircraft mechanic. Even had a scenery built just for him, with workshops, parts warehouses, the works. Scott's Aircraft Sales and Service. Real good guy, he just got busy with real life and kinda faded away. Kept in touch for a while, but eventually lost all contact with him.

 Never knew his name, he was just Lar. An informal member, I don't think he ever officially joined the squad. he was a member of the H_Squad, the premier cfs helo squad. He just liked to come hang out with us, and play our game. He was always around it seemed, so we made him a members pad, even though he wasn't an "offical" member. Quirky guy, but lots of fun.

Our first member from outside the U.S., Bear was from Australia. He joined up about halfway through the 2 1/2 years we were a squadron, and was with us to the end. I used to see him occasionally over at Deer Valley, where he finally tracked me down. But, he had to move due to job relocation, and no internet faster than dialup where he went. Haven't seen him for about a year now, I guess.

Geoff Lovegrove, Callsign Ambo. Our second member from Oz, Geoff was a paramedic, also known as an AMBulance Officer, hence the callsign. He tried a stint with DVFC, but it was short lived. Last I knew he was one of the big wheels in the Virtual RAAF in FS9.

Ron Justus, one of my Buddies from work. Callsign Razmatazz. Ron and I still keep in touch. We have gamed a lot together over the years, through different flight sims, first person shooters, racing games, motocross games, you name it. Ron works maintenance now at Freeman Hospital about 45 miles away from me, so I see him in real life occasionally, whenever I can get down that way.

Red_Knight, Mutinus' son. He played with us when his dad was too busy to get on.

Jim Crockett, callsign Jester. Another buddy of mine from work. Lost contact with him after the manufacturing plant we worked at closed down.

Dan something, callsign Shaky. Another friend from the plant. Everyone called him Shaky in real life as well, due to a health condition that caused his head to constantly shake from side to side. I sometimes thought he prefered Shaky to his real name, hehe.

In our heyday, there were always 6 - 10 of us on the Zone every night, flying around for hours at a time. Shooting each other, Playing Mayday, challenging each other to landings on

H-Squads mountain scenery which was really ahead of itself for the time. Was a great time in my life, and being here alone stumbling across this scenery really made me wish for the "Good Ol' Days".

   Now time for bed, the sun's coming up. Better get some sleep, another night at the salt mines awaits in about 8 hours.

Ta-Ta!!

Joe

   I live in a little bitty town of 460 people in SW Missouri, where the only ISP is a company called INetVisions. Their service is wireless broadband, which means I have a radio transmitter on the side of my house that beams my signal to a central antenna on top of the town water tower. This antenna then beams the signal to a much more powerful transmitter located on a cell phone tower about 2 miles outside of town. That transmitter then sends the signal 20 miles away to Inet's office. Their service is slow, it's a 512mb up\down connection, but it's better than dial up, which is the only altenative.

   Now for the curve ball life threw at me.....Last Monday night, we had a series of severe storms blow through, including 2 tornado warnings. Luckily neither tornado hit the town, but the second one did wipe out the cell tower.  There went my internet service! We were down all week, while Inet installed a temporary transmitter on the water tower. It's not as powerful as the one that got trashed, due to FCC regulations of some sort, according to INet. So, it does the job, but not very well. My connection speed is around 256 now, and it drops out quite frequently. According to Inet, they have to wait for Sprint to rebuild their cell tower before they can install a replacement transmitter for the one that was trashed during the storm. That may take a while. But, at least I can get online and check my mail and forums and such. And, Inet is giving us a half price discount until the full service is restored, so I guess I cant complain. Well, I could, it just wouldn't do much good, hehe.

   Clear Skies till next time!

What is Rustbucket Air?

Rustbucket is my little FSPassengers airline. We fly anywhere, any time, any aircraft. Only catch is, Rustbucket is dirt poor. We would be operating on a shoestring budget, if we had a shoestring.

   All Rustbucket Aircraft are barely airworthy, having been "liberated" from a bone-yard or back lot somewhere. Held together with baling wire, duct tape and prayer, our motto is: We Try to Get You There.

    RustBucket is usually just one step ahead of the Law, seeing as how our aircraft can't pass inspection, operate with "borrowed" spare parts, and at one time or another have broken just about every FAA rule there is. But, We're CHEAP!!!

    Unable to afford to maintain a base of operations at a reputable airport, we are technically based out of an airfield that we have carved out of an island just off of Ketchikan Alaska. Gravel runway, a couple of surplus metal hangers having seen better days, and an office that we think from the smell was originally a trappers cabin abandoned for better quarters. Oh yeah, and the big camouflage net to cover the strip to keep the prying eyes of John Law away!

   Operating strictly by Internet, prospective clients contact us by email. We then arrange the pickup and delivery, and somehow make it happen. Usually. Passengers or Cargo, makes no difference to us, it's money!

   Currently our fleet consists of:

   1 DeHavilland Beaver amphib we "found" floating in a cove near Wrangell AK. No one around, it had to have been abandoned, right? We thought so.....

   1 Beech Baron 58 "rescued" out back of an aircraft paint shop in Louisville KY. Poor thing, it had a coat of primer applied, but then had been "forgotten". We think. It was out back of the shop anyway, next to the trash pile. We grabbed it in the dead of the night, and limped it home. Some day we might get around to finishing the paintjob, if we can ever make it to the hardware store for a couple cans of Krylon.

   A DC-3 "liberated' from the ramp in Renton WA. It was just sitting there, with the keys in it. The owner (we feel strongly there wasn't one) couldn't have wanted to keep it much if the keys were in it, right?

   And, our latest "acquisition", an Airbus A319. We call it the "Airbush"! Totally reworked with new (sorta) hydraulic boosters on the brakes, limiter bypasses on the thrust reversers give us full thrust in reverse, Turbo Nitrous injectors and "rehung" flaps that allow for greater lift at lower speeds, we can get this baby into (almost) anywhere you want to go! Take-offs and landings on our 1500 foot gravel runways have been no problem. Especially since we installed those chickenwire covers on the intakes to keep the gravel, leaves, limbs, and occasional bird out!

So, if you need a ride somewhere, or cargo delivered, give us a call! We'll make you an offer you can't (should if you had any sense) refuse!  We "might" even get you to your destination....