Greetings everyone! Portuguese-Canadian citizen

ricnunes · by **ricnunes** » 02 Mar 2017, 16:28

Greetings,

My name is Ricardo Nunes, I'm Portuguese-Canadian citizen (living in Portugal) and while my area of expertize is Computer Science, I've been a fan of military aviation since my early teens during the 1980's.

Since then I've been gathering and "studying" all sorts of documentation (Internet, paper, magazines, etc...) that I can "put my hands on" about military combat aircraft. On top of this I've invested considerably (both money and above all time) on my desktop PC and purchasing controllers (HOTAS) and PC combat flight simulations, namely the most realistic ones which on top of them is (in my opinion) Falcon 4, ore more precisely the Falcon BMS mod for Falcon 4 (a very realistic F-16 simulator). The objective of playing (realistic) combat flight simulations is not only for fun (yes, I love blowing up stuff in a virtual world) but also and above all as a "learning tool".

And as such I'm a "avid" fan of all the technological advances and capabilities of modern combat aircraft and therefore I'm a great fan of the F-35 fighter aircraft - I can say that I've been more than converted to this amazing aircraft/project!

During my searches around the web, I found this great site and I've been following it ever since. But now I decided to say hello in the hope that I can contribute somehow in the future.

Best regards to all.

popcorn · by **popcorn** » 02 Mar 2017, 16:48

Welcome, this is the place to be for F-35 fans.

ricnunes · by **ricnunes** » 02 Mar 2017, 17:43

Thanks popcorn

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 02 Mar 2017, 19:26

Welcome indeed! And you made an excellent choice with BMS. There is no more realistic program to cover system complexity and the fog of war. Did you get the HOTAS Cougar or HOTAS Warthog? I went with the Cougar as I was also building mine around Falcon 4.0.

ricnunes · by **ricnunes** » 03 Mar 2017, 21:15

Hello sprstdlyscottsmn,

First of all thanks for the welcome.

Yes, I fully agree that Falcon BMS is the most realistic combat flight sim for PC, specially in terms of modern multirole fighter aircraft (like the F-16 which it models and centers on).

My HOTAS is the indeed the Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar. When I bought my HOTAS (around 8 years ago) the HOTAS Warthog still didn't exist and my Cougar as been serving me well so I still don't feel the need to replace it. In the meanwhile I managed to replace a part of my HOTAS that broke up and a couple of pots (at the time these spare parts were cheap - unfortunately they are not anymore) and since I still have a few pots "in stock" I hope that my HOTAS serves me at least for the next 2 (or even more) years.

And of course I agree with you that the Cougar "fells better" for Falcon 4.0/BMS since afterall it's a replica of the actual/real F-16 HOTAS.
I would love to see a HOTAS Cougar with the Hall Sensors from the HOTAS Warthog. Basically the only "negative point" from the Cougar is its Pots which have a tendency of wear of a bit "too quickly".

basher54321 · by **basher54321** » 03 Mar 2017, 23:57

Hello Ricardo - hope you enjoy your stay.

ricnunes · by **ricnunes** » 05 Mar 2017, 00:46

Thanks basher! I'm sure I will enjoy my stay here.
Actually I've been following this site (F-16.net) for quite some time since it's an excellent place to find reliable information (something which you probably know better than I, isn't that plentiful around the web and not only).
But now I finally decided to participate "actively" here.