Flight Sims Now Illegal?

What is the US comming to?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...omstatetrooper

"Paul" <paul@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:100td1fg8m7jd6b@corp.supernews.com...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ct/pilotssearc
hforflightsimulatorsoftwarespursvisitfromstatetroo per

Even worse is the implication that the individual, being a pilot, and in the
military, it is therefore 'ok' for them to want the software. If, instead,
the person was neither a pilot nor a service member, it would therefore not
be 'ok'.

This is more a story of the unstable mental state of the clerk, and the
futility of law enforcement activity to prevent true disaster, than a
condemnation of the state of software utility.

Not to mention, this is somewhat older news, I'm curious to why it's being
rerun.

I'm looking at it as true paranoia on the sales clerk's part. After 9/11
the local Staples store here was telling everybody that any flight simulator
was illegal now, and that they were told to report anyone asking about a
flight sim. Go figure.

'nutherBob

"Derek Wildstar" <gunner@argo.mil> wrote in message
news:LTzPb.118386$na.112681@attbi_s04...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ct/pilotssearc
the
not

>
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...omstatetrooper

Yep. Someone posted this on here not too long ago.

I'd hate to see what would happen if someone went to that Staples and tried
to purchase a flight sim AND an almanac.

I definetly can't understand the Staple's "spokeperson's" comment, "This was
out of the ordinary..."

A flight sim is out of the ordinary? Give me a break.

The media just assumed that the hijackers used MSFS because it was disclosed
that they had purchased "a flight simulator".

Their credit card trails show that they purchased the from a pilot shop.
Why would you purchase something from a pilot shop that you can find in
practically any retail store? I'm willing to bet that it wasn't MSFS that
they purchased, but "Precision Simulator". They probably could've cared
less about the flying aspect of a simulator, but wanted to get an
understanding of the FMC, autopilot, etc.

I wonder where in Massachusetts this incident with Staples took place.

Salem? LOL

Before I flew a C172 in real life, I couldn't even fly a proper circuit
pattern in the sim. The first time I did it in real life was probably the
toughest thing I ever did. and did get a few things wrong. Now I do it all
the time. Learning to fly is something that can't be done in MSFS. There's
just that little something that has to click. and actually sitting there in
a C172 flying a pattern is probably the only way to really do it.

Just to say, you can't learn to fly using a Flight Sim... no matter how
'Illegal' it may be.

> Before I flew a C172 in real life, I couldn't even fly a proper circuit
in

Thats why I'm led to believe that they (911 hijackers) probably didn't look
to a PC flight sim for the flyability aspect, but as a suppliment to become
more familiarized with the computer and autopilot systems. If this was the
case, I'd really suspect that they would've purchased "Precision Simulator"
and not MSFS. (Or perhaps both.)

Moral of the Staples story -- should you ever go to Staples and want to buy
a game for a child, make sure that it is something non-educational and
violent like "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City".

I doubt it was Salem - they didn't burn the person at the stakes
yelling "witch! witch!" or "terrorist! terroist!"

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:21:30 -0500, "Eric"
<none@death.to.spammers.now> wrote:




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"Paul" <paul@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:100td1fg8m7jd6b@corp.supernews.com...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...omstatetrooper

Since the story originated from Court TV, I wonder how much tabloid it is
and how much truth was twisted.

If it does hold truth, holy shit. Let's see, I've got about $1000 worth of
flight sim hardware I've acquired over the last year, even some FAA
approved. I've made several orders from avshop.com to order sectionals,
approach plates, books on flight instruction, and an airband receiver.
Nobody's tapped on my glass door (yet).

The clerk at Staples (if the story has any truth), is a complete idiot. It
is illegal to obtain information on flight instruction, even what is often
considered "entertainment" software? SHe was even quoted as saying she was
looking for one that didn't include violence!

Jeesh, if learning to fly is illegal, why are there airplanes? I guess
there are 400,000 people breaking the law in the country by holding some
sort of pilot certificate.

Too bad I didn't know how to contact the unfortunate victim in this case,
because I'd point her to kingschools.com or sportys.com where you can
legally purchase flight instruction videos without hassle.

"Eric" <none@death.to.spammers.now> wrote in message
news:100tn9cgjgo719e@corp.supernews.com...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...omstatetrooper
tried
was

Ironically enough, I purchased my copy of FS2004 at the local Staples. No
quesitons asked.