As someone who began flying 38 years ago, this gives me hope for our youth.
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That couldn’t be further from the truth. What you see is the culmination of hours building up layers of ‘spit shined’ nugget (shoe polish) 
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Just casually causing absolute havoc at the father in laws 70th birthday party with the partner in crime
Turns out that most of the party were drinking zero alcohol. Me and els didnt get the memo 
We also started at lunchtime…not 7pm like everyone else. That poor village hall was not ready for us…
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I had an absolutely amazing day at work today.
I’m 5 weeks into a new job, and one of my new colleagues couldn’t make it to a client’s Christmas treat, a trip out to Great Barrier Island on his helicopter - so he asked me to stand in. It would have been rude to refuse!
I called the client a couple days ago and politely asked if it would be okay for me to arrive early and watch him do the preflight. He turned out to be a super nice guy and he was happy for me to tag along.
I looked up his helicopter and spent two evenings watching YT on Longranger preflight and startup videos so I wouldn’t be completely clueless.
I showed up early at the airport this morning and we took the bird out of the hangar together and did the preflight.
Once the others arrived, we went to get some fuel and left towards the Barrier, about half an hour’s flight.
What I didn’t expect was, right after we left the immediate airport area, the client asked me if I wanted to fly! His Longranger has dual controls. I tried to give my calmest steely-eyed-missile-man “sounds good” response but I’m pretty sure my words came out more in the 7-year-old-girl-gets-a-pony-for-birthday pitch range. He very kindly let me fly for half an hour, all the way to the island, only taking over for the approach and landing, and let me follow him on the controls all the way in.
It was so great! My brain felt pretty busy the first couple of minutes as I had to get used to just how sensitive the cyclic was, but the sim hobby definitely helped tons with orientation and the controls started to feel natural very quickly.
We had a great day out including a swim, and I sat at the back for the return flight, letting another member of our party enjoy the view from the front seat.
I am still buzzing 
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What an epic day. I’m jealous..! I have this fantasy where I go to the local field… I think there is a guy that instructs in a Schweitzer 300 B or something. I want to ask him to just get in the helicopter have him started up and hover over the controls as I try to lift it off into a hover… 
I want to think I could do it.
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Unreal!
On top of the awesome scenery and helicopter flight, you got to pilot it yourself. Definitely a day to remember! I too am a bit jalous 
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This is not only awesome sauce times 10, it‘s also a very beautiful landscape. You must have been a good man for a long time to deserve this! 
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Noice!! The Long Ranger has always been my favourite helicopter…
A fixed wing pal of mine got himself an intro heli instruction flight and half way into it he was lifting into a hover… Do it!
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Niiice! Love the detail on the Vipers!
Are you going to make the twin-engined ones survivorship bias?
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Pocket Monsters!!
What’s her favorite?
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Leavion.
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Oh no This is as far as I am able to get them.
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Went to see the Gladiators live show. Was really good! Kids shouted themselves hoarse, I got to see Diamond and Sabre, because “I’m a perv" whilst els got to drool over Legend and steel but she definitely wasn’t a perv 
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So… What if the 737 that was planned for your 3300km trip gets taken out by a lightning strike and is spending the day in the shop for repairs? In my case, I found myself quite lucky that they gave an early sunday morning call to the Dreamliner crew and ask this jet to fly barely a quarter of its real range.
I had honestly not expected to fly this plane in my forseeable future and was delighted with its comforts. She is really quiet and comfortable in the air and her big, high and dimmable windows are amazing.
Great view of the tower and the old fokker on display. I was stuck viewing this for a long time as some services were not prepared to serve the 787..
I honestly think I never departed from EHAM in CAVOK. Got treated with some nice wing vapor (more impressive IRL than the gif) and a vortex coming off the nacelle (never seen this before).
Only the spoilers were making much cabin noise really.. and also gave a good rattle to get me waked up.
We had an absolute blast at the destination.
Lots and lots of patrols on, near and over the water. Police, red cross, coast guard, lifeguard and municipal patrols. The atlantic ocean can be dangerous here, and every year people get in trouble. We only visited beaches with lifeguards and only went into the water when they were flagging green.
In port we saw Rayo, a Meteoro-class ship.
A carting track with an assault rifle mounted.. I should look up the story of that.
Hard to see but we saw EF-18 Hornets in their HABs.
Last chance for me (utterly failed) to get a good photo of one before heading home..
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A 787 wing? Without speed tape you say? Entire located at this airport?… Can I see it? 
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My wife discovered Sky Team, a 2-person cooperative strategic dice game where you land an airliner as a pilot - copilot team.
I was skeptical at first, having disliked cooperative dice games previously, but this one is a lot of fun.
There are meaningful choices, and the theme is very well executed, for a heavily simplified board game:
- extending gear and flaps increases drag, meaning you actually need more thrust to keep up speed
- turning to land with a headwind makes it easier to come to a halt before the end of the runway
We just got it yesterday and already played it 6 times.
If you are reading Mudspike and your partner likes dice or board games, get it! It’s widely available, at least in Europe. We just got it from the closest toy shop.
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And I see you have the one accessory that makes any board game even more challenging
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And was about to reply ”So the game only simulates CAT1 approaches”
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