Hello all you CS pilots,

Hope you are ALL well and safe.

I spent the last two months onboard the Viking Orion based out of Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea. Each segment or trip was just one week so I did eight trips around Bermuda.  We would start in Hamilton the capitol and sail around the island for a day and a half and then dock and the other end of the island and spend a day only to sail out again for a night and return to Bermuda on the last night.  This was a very different type of trip but it was designed to return to sailing with just a short voyage. 

I've been doing enrichment talks for Viking for over six years and really enjoy the experience.  I am considered the Viking Resident Astronomer on this ship since it has a state-of-the-art planetarium and a very expensive telescope so I can show passengers all the wonders of the night sky.  I also have a special telescope to look at the Sun in the light called Hydrogen alpha or Ha.  The views are amazing.  I started doing cruise ship talks soon after I retired and sailed on many different cruise lines but once I sailed on Viking Ocean I was hooked.  I enjoy the curiosity of the passengers on Viking and the wonderful presentation screen - not a projector but a wall of tiny LED's -  in the main theater that spans the entire stage and has a resolution of 1080P along with surround sound.  There are no casinos or kids on the ship!

Where I'm going with this drivel is to tell you that I also bring my high-end laptop using P3D-v5 and a bunch of Captain Sim planes.  I love to use the CS 757 and during the cruise take the passengers into the cockpit and tour some city or place along the route.  So this time in Bermuda I found a great way to treat folks to a ride in the CS 757 and tour Bermuda.  My joystick got messed up in my suitcase so I had to use the mouse and keyboard commands to fly the 757.  I would start on the ramp with a cold plane and do a preflight of the plane, first form the outside and then in the cockpit doing a cockpit safety check before placing power on the plane.  I would start the APU and establish A/C and electricity.  I would begin with the overhead panel, start the IRS units and load the computer with the position and flight plan.  I would do a normal engine start, complete the checklists in real time and taxi out and take off for a tour of Bermuda.  It took me a while to learn the keyboard commands but with a few tries it worked just fine.  People love the opportunity to be in the cockpit and see everything a pilot does to keep the flight safe and fun.  Between the large screen and surround sound, folks could really think they were in the plane.  One fellow told me he was looking for the seat belt because he forgot he was in a theater.  One of the other enrichment speakers - who was also a pilot - made the cabin safety announcements and several of the onboard singers performed as flight attendants.  It was a scream!  Folks were laughing and enjoyed the funny chatter. 

With the Covid-19 situation Viking was the first to shut down early in 2020 and they are just starting to open up to cruising again.  To test the waters - no pun intended - Viking decided to limit the number of passengers to only around 300 on a ship that holds 930 passengers.  Everybody was double vaccinated and had to wear a mask in public.  Before we could fly to the ship we all had a PCR test and when we arrived in Bermuda we received another PCR test at the airport before we could proceed to the ship.  There were three doctors on the ship along with two lab techs and every morning we would spit into a plastic tube in our state room and that would also be a PCR test.  We also wore a small contact tracing device and every time the theater was used it would be fogged before the next use.  Their were two robots that roamed the ship's public areas late at night that would disinfect using UV light. No one got sick!

Maybe some day I could see you on a Viking Ocean ship and take you for a ride in a CS plane.

Stay well and keep flying!

Lou