Mixing Sim and Real World

My niece flew back today, after visiting relatives and friends on the east coast. I made a fun new adventure out of it for me, by flying the simulated Boeing 787-10 over the same route at roughly the same time. I had even more fun, by figuring out how to track her flight on the same map as my simulated flight! In this snapshot, my aircraft is the blue airplane symbol, and her Airbus A320neo is the little blue "traffic" symbol surrounded by a red hexagon, about 21 minutes behind me. After I landed, I looked up the gate where she was supposed to arrive, which was B31, and taxied up to the same exact spot on the north side of Concourse B. Yeah, pretty nerdy, I know...

First Walk of 2026

Friday's not usually our day to get takeout breakfast, much less "dine out", but we decided to do something special on our 2nd day of the new year -- breakfast out and a fun walk somewhere we haven't been in awhile. 

So... off we went to the highly popular Urban Egg restaurant for a somewhat different breakfast. They had some cute wreaths outside the kitchen. I love their cinnamon swirl pancake!

After breakfast, we went for a walk, starting at the nearby George M Wallace park in the Denver Technological Center (DTC), and venturing along that trail much farther than I've ever gone. 

Shiny leaf on the frozen creek. It's amazing to me, how much effort it took, to capture this simple little photo. When I brought the camera down lower to capture more of the frozen creek in the background, the bright sun completely washed out the colors, and everything came out in various shades of charcoal. 

Christmas decorations near and far -- at first, we thought the sun was reflecting off the bulbs, but then as we got closer, we realized they were still powered on.

Interesting-looking dried plants in a marshy area -- my phone says this is Pentanema Squarrosum…?

This Sumac seed pod was standing out by itself, just asking me to take a picture. 

Cute goat nibbling on old Christmas tree

Partially frozen over pond by the creek in Orchard Hills Park

Gadwall ducks in a small pond by the creek in Orchard Hills Park

The creek in Goldsmith Gulch, with some interesting clouds in the distance

Happy horses in this field

Delightful blend of subtle colors… my phone says this might be Oregon Grape

Conifer tree with the sun peeking through the clouds just above… puts a cheerful spin on the gloomy sky

Watched Relay

Peaceful sunset to end a quiet Monday, as we wrap up the year. We watched the movie “Relay,” which was a bit of an adrenaline rush. My interest was piqued by the use of pseudo-teletype technology — using a third-party operator as a voice mask to stay anonymous. It’s a clever bit of realism; because the operator just reads the text provided, the caller's true voice and identity stay completely off the grid. I doubt the required level of anonymity would be achieved in real life, as I’ll bet those services are required to keep a log of all their calls.

October Pics

We’re enjoying the Fall color views from our breakfast table, and on our outings in the Littleton area. Here are some photos from this week. 

Rapids along the South Platte River near the Mineral Avenue overpass, with some nice yellow Cottonwoods

Nice view of Eagle Watch Lake, through a yellow Cottonwood

Nice yellow Cottonwood by the rapids where the rafters and kayakers usually put in, on the South Platte River

Reds and yellows along the South Platte River

Cottonwood trees and clouds, with some pretty yellow in the foreground

South Platte River with pretty yellow in the foreground

Pretty red leaves — my iPhone says this is a Virginia Creeper

Pretty reds — the three-leaf pattern reminds me of the Poison Oak I used to see in California — my iPhone says this is Fragrant Sumac

Raindrops on Blackrock Lake

Cottonwood tree chock full of Blackbirds all enthusiastically singing

House Finche inbound to the bird feeder, with Fall colors in the neighborhood below

My favorite tree for Fall, the Purple Autumn Ash

Kitty Rufus and round squirrel

House Finches, Fall colors, foothills and overcast in background

Blue Jay and Fall colors

Kitty Rufus sprawled out

Blue Jay enjoying the peanuts that we put out for the squirrels

House Finches on our Bird Buddy feeder

Cyclist pausing on the bridge over a creek feeding into the South Platte River

Pretty red Fragrant Sumac along the South Platte River

Fall colors in front of Red Tail lake. My phone says this is a Maple. 

Prickly Pear fruit by the trail

My Simulated Flights in 2025

I've been getting virtually out and about with my PC flight simulators frequently this year, starting with some adventures around Alaska in the Douglas DC-3, and then recreating the “Island Hopper” route in the Boeing 737-800. 

Then I began some serious crisscrossing of the world in the Boeing 787-10. I consolidated some 787 checklists from the web, into a more concise one that enables me to start up the Dreamliner from cold and dark, then get through an entire flight safely, including landing, even in zero-zero conditions if necessary, then taxiing to the gate and shutting down. It’s always fun to hear that characteristic tone, when I turn off the seatbelt sign after cutting fuel to the engines. I imagine half the passengers jumping up, when the seatbelt lights turn off. 

I'm still adhering to my favorite way of doing this -- saving the flight after I land, and then picking up at the same spot on the airport where I left off, to head somewhere new, using the current real-world weather conditions. 

I got overwhelmed with doing my usual verbose descriptions of each flight over on my VirtuallyAloft blog, so I took a break from that, and for the time being, I'm logging my flights in my free account on the my.flightradar24.com website. If you click on that link, you will first see a world map, with all my recent flights overlaid on it. You can use the "Camera Controls" widget in the lower right corner to pan around, and zoom in and out on the map. You can also click here to see a tabular list of my flights. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! We’re having a quiet Friday here. It’s relatively temperate, starting at a chilly 23°F, but with a forecast high of 55°. 

First bike ride of 2025

I took a chance on this warmer Monday, with a high of 69°, to try my first bike ride in 2025. I felt pretty dumb, after I realized I’d left my bottles of water and Gatorade behind on the kitchen counter. I found myself riding through several ice cold puddles, and some slush and ice on the trails. When the wind came up, the chill factor felt pretty low, and hypothermia seemed like a possibility, so I put on the one extra layer I always carry, and that got me home safe. There were some unusual sights — a hardy soul standing out on Chatfield Lake, drilling holes for ice-fishing, a trail closure due to a helicopter clearing some trees in the middle of the lake, and a small herd of deer by the trail.

Update: Apparently the temperature here dropped 25° while I was out on my ride. No wonder I felt like an ice cube. 

Chatfield Lake mostly iced over. 

Ice fisherman drilling holes all by himself out there. Brave soul, as the ice doesn’t look very thick to me. He’d moved to the other side of the lake, by the time I’d pedaled around. 

Helicopter carrying a tree to a collection area across the lake. I was curious about why they’d closed an extensive section of the bike trail around the lake, when I saw this. I was glad to have an alternative route around the lake, on the park’s perimeter road. 

Helicopter cutting down trees in the lake. I’m not sure I’ve seen a chopper carrying a saw and clamp like this. 

Small herd of deer by the trail. They barely looked up, when I stopped to snap a photo. 

The trails were mostly clear, although I encountered several icy puddles, some slush and ice, some sections still snowy, and lots of barely-passable sections of mud.

AA5342 Midair

My heart goes out to the families of the 64 people who lost their lives in the AA5342 midair last night. Aircraft crashes always hit me hard, with my Dad and I each having been actively flying for decades. This accident was especially traumatic for me, as the circumstances are eerily reminiscent of the PSA182 crash in San Diego, one month after I earned my private pilot license 47 years ago. This is the first fatal US airline crash in 16 years, after several additional changes were made to improve airline safety. So sad. 

Snowy Saturday

Chilly 27°F Saturday, and heading down to 9° tonight. It’s been snowing lightly for most of the day. The kitties enjoyed the view from the breakfast nook door out to the deck, which was busy with squirrels and birds. 

I enjoyed today’s snow from the comfort of the DC-3 cockpit while flying in Alaska, on my way from Cold Bay to Dutch Harbor. The overcast and visibility in Dutch Harbor were both too low to safely complete the instrument approach. I gave it a couple of tries, then resolved to head somewhere else, when suddenly the simulator retrieved a weather update…

Suddenly the sky cleared, which made the approach and landing a piece of cake. Good flying karma today… Then I went out and shoveled some of the light fluffy stuff off of the driveway…

Wednesday walk

Chilly but sunny Wednesday walk. We left from the Carson Nature Center, and walked down to Highway C-470 and the South Platte Reservoir. 

 

The snow on the deck still looks nice. 

Just a few other people using the trail on this brisk day. Mostly empty. 

Most of Redtail Lake is frozen over. 

Shoveler ducks in a big circle

Shiny ice on a log chair by the trail

Slippery ice on the bridges

Pretty coating of snow on the rocks by the river

Little Kestrel Hawk on a wire

“That’s no moon…”

Snow on the grass by Eaglewatch Lake. Our fun-to-view half-submerged log has no Cormorants on it today. 

Lots of different waterfowl on the lakes today. 

Fun view of snow on the trail, and some interesting structures out there