Hello all you simmers,

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying flying your simulators.

As you may know, I have been presenting enrichment talks aboard Viking Ocean ships since 2016.  I started doing ship enrichment talks back in 2012 and was able to try many different cruise lines.  I was really impressed with Viking Ocean cruises after sailing on several Viking River cruises.  The size of the ship with only around 930 passengers and the fact that there were no casinos or midnight parties made the voyage a lot nicer.  The owner of the cruise line's motto is "less drinking and more thinking."  This attitude attracts passengers that want to learn things as they enjoy cruising.  That's where I was attracted to this cruise line.  Also, their state-of-the-art wall of high definition LED's in the presentation theater, instead of a projector, is so much better. That along with a Dolby surround sound system really makes it immersive for the audience.

On the ship I bring my fast gaming laptop and use P3D and the Captain Sim Boeing 757 to take "passengers" into the cockpit on a flight from some city along the cruise route. The folks love it and really think they are in a real plane while seated in the ships theater.  Some cruise folks told me they were looking for the seat belt in their theater seat!  ;D  I really enjoy bringing them into the cockpit to let them see what goes on to make the plane fly.  But this is just one of the things I do during the cruise as some of the ships have really wonderful planetariums with 5 liquid cooled projectors and reclining seats that allow me to talk about my real hobby of being an astronomer.  On these ships I am the Viking Resident Astronomer and present many programs on astronomy including star talks on the ship's top deck at night.  I really enjoy doing these presentations.

But back to flying.  Last spring Viking asked me to do a show about how planes fly on their Viking TV channel.  If you would like to have a look you can click on the link bellow and see the entire video.  I hope you enjoy it!

https://viking.tv/tv/this-week-on-viking-tv/tuesdays/learn-what-makes-modern-air-travel-possible-with-viking-resident-astronomer-lou-thieblemont   

Stay safe and enjoy the Captain Sim planes!

Lou