There is an essential difference between our original assignment system and our online sessions that has proved a major bonus for the airline. In the early days everyone flew assignments and posted their reports back to me - we never "met" and the only news between pilots was via anything I might write on the News page. Effective communication between us all only started with Roger Wilco for the early FSD server sessions - my log showing that we were using this in Nov 2003 but I'm sure we were operating FSD years before that. This was the first opportunity for pilots to finally hear and talk to one another and escape the isolation of the JHB report system. This email list started in Jan 2004 but even in the first few posts we are talking about FPI and ATOC. Together the email and voice has brought us a lot closer as a working team and it somewhat pushes the original isolationist period of JHB back to the stone age. I would certainly not like to return to that. Just out of interest here is the list of JHB pilots who had passwords for the original FSD online system. It's quite different from our current membership: 814337 5 John Woodside 812164 12 Tony Pick 273801 1 Paul Holryn 273802 1 David Greenhalgh 273803 1 Gerry Winskill 273804 5 Mike Lucas 273805 1 Richard Akers 273806 1 Tom Smith 273807 5 Denis Ripley 273808 1 Robert Erskine 273809 1 Michael Humberston 273810 1 Ryan Arthur 273811 5 Phil Reynolds 273812 1 Alan Capps 273813 1 Ron Munro 273814 1 Phil Webb 273815 1 Mike Brook 273816 1 Rory Gillies 273817 1 Mally 273818 1 Gabor Kmetyko 273819 1 Graham Curry 273820 1 Alastair McIntyre 273821 1 Frank Turley 273822 1 Peter Dodds 837742 1 John Pick 273823 5 Ken Hughes bones -----Original Message----- From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike Brook Sent: 10 May 2007 18:22 To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [jhb] Re: PCI Breaking News Bones- My usual Wednesday evening family commitments prevented me being active again this week. I frantically tried to connect at about 22.35 just as Fred and John Hill were signing off. By the time I had everything up and running they had gone! As consolation I flew a DH89a Dragon Rapide from EGBW to ECTC. It was very lonely... <g> I would fully support your suggestions for a gentle rebirth of JHB. Nothing too drastic, though, please! We have, I fear, no option but to accept that PCI will never be anything more spectacular than they are now. Given that their servers continue to be available and that (maybe) one day we have a more useful version of the 'Communicator' (that works both in FS9 and in FSX), then JHB could easily change in ways which exploit the resources available without adding to your personal workload. New blood is always good as long as we all fogies don't get up-staged by too many shoot 'em up 'youngsters' <g>. I agree that the conventional VA aspects of JHB are probably now all but defunct. I can't remember the last time a flew a formal 'assignment' and I doubt that you receive many Pilot Hours reports these days. The idea of encouraging and recruiting new pilots and offering informal training is good, many of us have greatly benefited over the years from your personal patience and willingness to share your knowledge. Long may it continue! We have a small community which is friendly, supportive and helpful. We don't just fly together, we share personal life experiences and specialist aviation knowledge and we are all happy to pool our (varied) knowledge of pc systems and hardware. I will always want to be identified with JHB, long may we survive. Go for it ... Cheers MikeB > -----Original Message----- > From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of bones > Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:52 PM > To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [jhb] Re: PCI Breaking News > > I do wonder how much they sell. Their prices are good but > it's a tough market. OTOH there are probably many members now > that join for the bargains and never touch the online system > - it's only a minor part of PCI's operation these days. Which > brings me to another point... > > The response last night was fairly dismal with less than a > handful of pilots online. This either means you are all too > busy to fly or the sessions are not as interesting as they > once were. Either way the result is the same in that PCI > becomes a lower priority than it once was and users are > drifting away from the sessions. > > In some ways this is inevitable as the learning curve is > mastered and the challenge diminishes. In the early days > everything was new and the idea of flying in a "live" > environment was somewhat daunting. As experience grew and > familiarity kicked in we became comfortable with the system - > but the challenge (and spark of interest) slows down. > > We can restore the challenge in several ways but this may not > be the answer. > We could move abroad or find more tricky airports to fly into > but it doesn't change the basics of the system and may not be > enough to fire up enthusiasm again. I would be interested to > hear any ideas or suggestions that might give existing pilots > enough of a push to join in again. > > I say existing pilots because the second option is to replace > the declining numbers with new faces. We haven't seen a lot > of newcomers to PCI so I don't think the system itself will > ever generate a lot of interest - something I had hoped it > would. If PCI can't attract more interest then the other > option is to draw people into this world by opening up JHB > recruitment. > > JHB has been, to some extent, a closed system in recent > years. With my withdrawal from most forums the JHB name has > had less coverage than it used to and this has had an impact > on new members. It's not just enough to have a web page - you > have to make the VA known in FS circles to attract further > curiosity. Almost all of you came from the UKScenery forum > when this was still an FS driven list but when Magrathea shut > its doors this list also changed - it ceased to be in the > forefront of FS development. > > If I am to attract new pilots then my target would be those > pilots who have never been online before but who are too > daunted by VATSIM to take that big step. PCI is ideal > training ground for newcomers and this should be seen as a > strength rather than a weakness. If I were to do this the JHB > web pages would need an overhaul in that I would consider > stripping out the old Pilot Assignment pages and making the > VA a totally online operation. This is nothing new really as > the current pilot base has migrated in this direction anyway. > > After revamping the next step would be to entice newcomers to > the fold. It's not an easy task but I have a few ideas up my > sleeve. Now, should we attract new pilots there would be some > guidance needed. We all know what it was like when we first > plugged in - we had no idea how the system worked and we were > terrified of using the radio for fear of making a pig's ear > of ourselves. > Newcomers need respect rather than impatience and a lot of > help from the rest of us. The second channel on PCI is ideal > for this as we can use this to explain matters or generally > calm a newcomer down - we end up with one formal channel and > one informal channel and this works well. > > Before I set this in motion could I ask if everyone is happy > with the idea? > First step is a JHB web site rewrite, second stage is to make > it an online service only. Third is to get some new blood in. > Fourth is your co-operation in helping the newcomers. > > If we can swell the ranks of the users in PCI then it can > only be a more rewarding experience for all of us. > > bones > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Gerry Winskill > Sent: 10 May 2007 13:54 > To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [jhb] PCI Breaking News > > > Oh that the news was we could use FSX, rather than what we > can now buy! If this goes on I fear I'll be marking their > postings as Spam. > > Gerry Winskill > > > >