“When you’re flying this,
you’re simulating the
components of the real airplane.”
By Larry Briscoe
Correspondent
Ron Burns of East Tawakoni sums up his hobby experience in that way. It’s flight simulation.
Burns slips into position behind panels of controls, rotates dials, flips switches and turns knobs. While he makes the necessary adjustments, he consults ground control.
“They’ve put me in a holding position for some reason,” he notes with some annoyance since he sees no other plane in position for takeoff — that would be on a 55-inch flat-screen monitor a few feet in front of him.
All that activity takes place in a special room of his home in Whispering Oaks.
Since ground control is not cooperating, Burns takes matters and his 737 into his own hands and takes off.
When asked if red lights and sirens will soon be seen because of the disregarded controllers, Burn says, “No, they wouldn’t send anyone, just send me letters.” He probably is joking about that — is he not?
That is one of the options offered by flight sim over real flying — action can be paused and risks can be taken, even a crash, without the consequences like death.
Burns has a lengthy list of specs describing his flight simulation room equipment including 333 ghz dual CPUs, described as slow but functional, fast Ati graphics card, 7.1 surround sound, nine-inch touch screen for flight management computers, 28 USB instruments, over 150 switches working in sync — “and tons more.”
All of this allows him to “fly” every Boeing aircraft from a 707 to a 787 because of more than 500 gigabytes of software, fully synchronized along with air traffic control, weather radars and over 15,000 pages of manuals and online documents — with seven different communication protocols.
“All meticulously installed and tested thoroughly,” Burns describes the system, including four years of email across the United States, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany to solve the smallest problem through system crashes.
“They are crazier than I am in Europe,” Burns laughs and describes how popular the hobby is across the Atlantic. “Oh my, they have conventions. Thousands attend the conventions.”
“People think a simulator is a toy. No, no, no!” he said. He said the simulations were designed by Boeing engineers.
Although most of the systems are enjoyed by flight sim enthusiasts, they can be used to train pilots.
Burns is retired from the United States Air Force and then worked at General Dynamics in Fort Worth and E-Systems.
“I always loved airplanes,” he said. “I was always fascinated by virtual reality, simulating reality in a computer.”
He is originally from Buffalo, N.Y., where he joined the Air Force in 1969. “I really never went back to Buffalo except to visit,” he said.
Burns and his wife Heidi try to make the trip back to New York about every 18 months to see his 95-year-old mother, two brothers and two sisters.
“When I asked my wife to marry me, she said she would if I quit the Air Force,” Burns said. “I did quit 20 years later. She didn’t say how long.”
That was 40 years ago next month, and Burns talks about her like she was his new bride. “I can’t remember my wife and I having a major fight,” he said. “We respect each other. It’s part of loving each other.”
He describes her as his best friend who can read his mind and is a good cook. “There is nothing I do that she does not support me,” he said.
They met in San Antonio while he was in the Air Force. Although she was born in Montana, Heidi’s dad was career Air Force as well. They have a son, two daughters, eight grandchildren and a great grandchild.
Although he said he enjoyed his work at E-Systems, he loves retirement.
“I love Texas,” Burns said and described East Tawakoni as the most peaceful country. His description includes anecdotes about how when he would leave his door open, his neighbors would call and ask if he wanted them to shut it.
That is in addition to the friendships he develops in flight simulation. “It is a community,” he said. “You develop these friendships.”
As an example, he said a couple of years ago, he had heart surgery. He had been emailing another flight sim enthusiast in Spain. The friend did not hear from him for some time during recovery.
When he finally was able to return to the computer, he found several emails from him wanting to know what had happened. When he heard, they shared experiences and invited one another to visit. The friend’s father had had the surgery as well.
“I always had the belief if I had a toy, it had to be modified,” he said.
Indeed, he does just that. Burns discovered his computer was overheating because of all that his equipment was asking of it. He could not find a metal case to fit it all along with the necessary fan. Burns took the case of a classic old radio and modified it to fit.
In addition to flight sim, Burns enjoys music conversion and flying two Quad-Copters. They, too, have been modified to fit Burns’ expectations.
The room is full of memories as well as Burns’ interests and hobbies.
One of the room’s fixtures is a reel-to-reel recorder.
“A friend and me were in Vietnam,” he said. “We both bought one. Mine was stolen. He gave me his.”
Burns served with him (who turned out to be his wife’s uncle, Col. Tony Dzierski, from Springfield, Va.,) in 1970-71 during the war there. He earned his degree while stationed in Hawaii, going to school at night. He took his commission as a logistics officer.
Burns’ travel adventures are not limited to flight sim. He and Heidi enjoy road trips throughout the United States in their Escalade — visiting children and grandchildren in Texas, Florida, Maine and California as well as friends like the vet friend in Virginia and others they meet on their travels in restaurants and other places along the way that turn into friendships.
One daughter is the director of transportation for Andrews Independent School District; another’s husband is stationed with the Navy in California where they moved from Maine; and their son is serving in the Army in Honduras.
Burns’ mother recently summed him up, “Even though you were the most difficult of eight children, I never worried about you, because you are strong-willed, independent and I always knew you were going to make it in the world.”
Look out world.
Burns said future goals for his simulator include “to interface it to my Quadcopters as an intelligent ground station and work with young people to explain flight, computer, interfaces.”