Ken "531 Ghost " King
SimHQ Contributing Editor

Professionally speaking, I provide technical advice and assistance on the acceptance, installation, operation, repair, and maintenance of the T700-GE-401, 401C and T58-GE-16 Engines installed onto the AH1W/Z, UH1Y, H60 and H46 series aircraft. I provide both formal and on-the-job training for personnel engaged in the operation, maintenance, and/or installation of these engines on the H1, H60 and H46 series aircraft. I discuss problems encountered and explain corrective actions. I monitor operation, maintenance, and installation techniques and procedures. I provide timely advice, assistance, and instruction. I demonstrate operation and/or maintenance procedures, as necessary. I’ve been in Naval Aviation and NAVAIR for over thirty years. As my moniker alludes, I was in VMFA-531 (78-82) Flight Line. 

When “off duty”, I like to “fly” and have fun in various flight sims, most of which either blow stuff up on the ground, or shoot “bad guys” out of the sky. I began flying Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat in the early ‘90s with nothing more than a keyboard! :eek:

As time went on, I later moved onto Combat Flight Simulator, flying that with an old Logitech Wingman. Wanting something that I could fly on/off carriers, I found myself flying Combat Flight Simulator 2. I still, from time to time, like to fire one of these up and have some fun.

Looking for something to fly in the late ‘90s I found an online squadron flying Jane’s F/A 18 as my old real life squadron, VMFA-531. I joined the group and found myself in the Hyperfighter lobby doing my first set of carrier quals, CAS, CAP missions with other players online. I was using (for a while) a Thrustmaster Afterburner.

Then, came the Third Wire Series of flight sims and my dreams of flying my old Phantoms became a “reality”. Imagine my delight when I opened up and installed Strike Fighters Project 1 to find my old squadron, in the box!

I’ve also flown, fly and drive: Combat Flight Simulator 3, Falcon 4.0, Lock On Modern Air Combat (including Flaming Cliffs), IL-2 Sturmovik (including Forgotten Battles, the ACEs Expansion Pack, and IL-2 1946), Flight Simulator 2004 and DCS: Black Shark. And last but not least, rFactor.

I am more accustomed to having the control stick between my knees not on a desktop. So I fashioned a stand that would fit between my legs in my office chair for my joystick. It was the first step in a project that continues to this day, my “cockpit”. It’s not much to look at, but, it’s an all purpose flying/driving “rig”. I’m currently (and will be for quite some time) flying with a full CH Products suite of controllers. I’m the hardware beta tester (Throttle Quadrant) and I’m one of many software (Control Manager) beta testers for CH Products. I’ve written a "Dummies Guide" for Control Manager to help the Control Manager novice program his/her CH Products controllers.  And then, there’s that Franken-Potato.

SimHQ Staff