About this Site
About this site
First of all, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am in no way part of the Benchmark Sims group. I am just a huge fan of their work. With this website I hope to be able to convey my limited knowledge of the Falcon BMS flight simulator. And by the same token ease your way into that cockpit with a minimum of knowledge.
Who I am.
I am a Post-Production editor for a large Canadian broadcaster wish will remain unnamed at the moment. I have been in the broadcast industry since 1995. I found my way to this job through a very good long life friend of mine who helped me get into the business by the back door and I will always be grateful for that. I started in the News department as an ENG(Electronic news gathering) video editor. I quickly discovered I had a knack for this stuff and I enjoyed the pressure. The last minute edits, the race for deadlines. The adrenaline addiction is fierce. Finally, I migrated to the Promotions department where I learned new tricks every day and that kept me loving what I was doing. Creative work, ahhh! It's the best.
Before that I was a GM master technician for 10 years. Quite the jump isn't it? From mechanic to artist. Wich shows you that you can do anything you put your mind to. As a mechanic, I specialized in Manual, Electronic and Hydraulic automatic transmissions, engine rebuilding and different specialized repairs like rebuilding differentials, systems diagnostics and electronic repairs. As you can see, I enjoy learning new things and this is what got me into Combat flight simulators. I had always been interested in this kind of stuff. So I put my mind to work and started my journey to become a seasoned virtual combat pilot.
Oh! I've tried all the simulators one after the other. I just couldn't get my hands on one that fulfilled my expectations. It was difficult to find the right one because basically I didn't know anybody with the same interest. Then in 2005, I was looking for Falcon 4 because I had seen the box set and I had heard about it through the grape vines. It had been around since 1997 but it took until 2005 before I got around to finding the opportunity to finally feed my need for speed. And after searching the gamer stores for an answer, I found a single box set of what looked like a new version of Falcon. It was called "Falcon: Allied Force". I jumped on it and right away,even before I opened the manual, I was on the internet trying to find others that where using this sim. I went to the Lead Pursuit website the creators of FAF and there I found my first home. A small link to the 101st Virtual Combat Squadron of the Quebec Airforce. They have been around since soon after the release of the original Falcon 4. Well, that sealed the deal for me. Right away I went to the registration page and filled it out. A couple of days later I got an answer to my request, I was in!
The 101st was a gold mine of references for me. I immediately started my training. I never realized a simulator could be so complex. When your sitting in that cockpit and you look at everything. The navigational instruments, the onboard computers, the weapons. I have to say I was a little overwhelmed. But luckily the squadron's members, a little over 100 of them, where all there to help the new guy and that was amazing. I suddenly had a whole bunch of new friends and we flew missions, campaigns and dogfights for so many hours, I can't count. But within 6 months I was a registered 2nd Lieutenant in the Quebec Airforce's reserve and I was very proud of that because I had persisted towards this goal and I had worked really hard for it.
You'll say, what an idiot, it's just a game. Sure, but you have to realize this is much more than just a game, it's a whole living world, it is an actual flight simulator with all the trimmings combined with an actual virtual world governed by an artificial intelligence. So you will never get the exact same experience twice, ever. Do you see now, the power of this simulator. No one realizes how much reading and practising this hobby demands if you want to attain any kind of skill on this type of sim. Even after you have made it as far as I have, you realize there is still a lot to learn and you really don't know anything. This isn't an Arcade game it's a seriously complex combat flight simulator and if you enjoy the F-16, this is the one for you. So, after a few thousand hours of flight time, I hope I can help guide a few of you out there to this great family of hardcore virtual combat pilots that is the Falcon community.
This website.
I recently got into web design and it became one of my interests. I learned some Javascript, some JQuery and of course HTML and PHP, not to forget a short experience with ASP.net. All very efficient languages but you had to pick one if you wanted your website in the next decade. Of course being me, I chose the hard route. I don't use any pre-built web themes or applications. I like to build my own, so with the help of my faithfull Notepad++ and a couple of browsers. I'm writing all the code that runs this site. So even thow it is not as sophisticated as others might be. It will be a functionnal application with links to only relevant pages and sites.
So finally, with this website I hope to be able to communicate my limited knowledge of this beast that is Falcon BMS.
See you out there!