Having got FS2004 and its updates installed I ran the sim after the very quiet IVAO session last night - mainly to check FS was working and to configure the various options. The first shock was that I forgot it started in basic 800 x 600 resolution and it looked awful. The second shock was seeing the default FS Ronaldsway as I'd forgotten just how bad this is. Apart from that FS defaults to system time so it was night and I then found I'd totally forgotten the key commands and had to delve into the sparse manual to remind me even on things like how to bring up the menu bar. A couple of oddities. Loading the previous flight record (fortunately I'd saved all the original user files) worked perfectly and plonked me down at the flying club at Ronaldsway in a cold C172. Going through the various options brought up the knee pad and in the radio section it still had the last ATC messages from a flight in 2007. It was strange seeing those especially as they were for the Tiger Moth working Tokyo Approach on my RWF. Needless to say I got bored fiddling with menus and took the C172 for a short hop over to Blackpool. There really wasn't much to see as it was night but it was fun sitting in an aircraft again after four years and it allowed me to refamiliarise myself with the cockpit and experiment with the knobs and taps. I thought I would be very rusty after such a long absence but instinct must have been stronger than I realised. I found Blackpool without having to use the map or GPS (just tuned in the NDB) and even got down and parked without ATC having to repeat any messages. It was only after I shut down that I realised just how much the years of earlier flying had kicked in. I'd just completed a fairly ordinary flight but I'd flown it entirely with keyboard and mouse as I haven't even started hooking any hardware up yet. No stick or rudder or even the go flight units/throttle - all are still in a box waiting to be plugged in. I didn't use the autopilot either as I couldn't find the button to turn it on - I was halfway to Blackpool before I found how to bring the radio stack up! I'll be busy later adding the photo scenery as I really don't want to see that default scenery again. bones bones@xxxxxxx http://woodair.net