Friday 11th March 2011. Still no flying, but I have a newly fixed hip!

Ah well, my hip problems are all but over. I had a new surface put on my right hip at the beginning of February. The pain had become so severe that I was unable to walk more than a couple of hundred yards, stand for more than a few minutes - or get into my plane! Something clearly had to be done and I evntually decided on a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing. This operation leaves you with almost all of your original hip bone, which means that the normal number of standard hip replacements can be carried out at a later date. So it extends the life of my hip by 15 to 20 years over and above normal hip replacement! Yay! Here's a piccie of what they do:

I had option B, which is great.

I'm just over 4 weeks post-op now and getting about quite happily on one walking stick. The pain is less than before the op, so already I'm experiencing benefit! The actual hip doesn't hurt at all - just the trauma of the operation and the wound itself, which will heal as time goes on.

It amazes me that we can just replace worn-out parts. I reckon I we were born about 100 years too early - in that time, I think we'll come to a stage where if you don't want to die, you don't have to! What with cloning, jont and organ replacement etc. as they are today, it won't be long before they can just grow you new bits as they wear out!

All very good for the late-comer to flying like me. So many things to do, places to see etc.

I started a list the other day: 'PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO SEE FROM THE AIR'

Ayers Rock

The Grand Canyon

The Rockies

Puget Sound and the Islands off Vancouver

Nevada Desert

Ockavango Delta

Zambeze River

Africa Generally

The Steppes

Greenland Glaciers

Niagra Falls

Namib Deset - dunes generally

Fjordland

The Maldives...

The list just got longer and longer - I thought "Ooops, I need to live for about another 50 years to see all this! - and the list isn't finished!"

So, with a newly fixed hip healing nicely, I'm planning on trying to stay around untill they can clone me a new body. I'll be asking them to make it a bit smaller, as I have a bit of trouble getting my 6ft 3in frame into aircraft.

Actually, I wonder if they'll be able to do you a 'designer' body? A bit smaller there, a bit bigger there - if you know what I mean... I'd die for feet less than size 13!

Anyway, to keep myself occupied while recuperating I've been playing with my flight sim. I have a Mainair Blade for Flight Sim- designed for FS2002 by Byron Warwick. It's a 582 version with some very nice Rotax 2-stroke sound files. I've been updating it to a 912. At some stage I plan to actually record Elsi at various revs and make a sound file out of it, but for the time being I've just been playing with available sounds.

Also been updating the panel - here's a comparison:

Real Blade (mine, being flown by Daryl Cornelius)

The sim as modified so far:

Not exact, but it's getting there! I'm particularly pleased with myself for getting the VSI slightly off-level as in the real a/c, and for getting the compass, which is a normal 'vertical card' gauge like everything else, to look as if it's got a horizontal card. Still some work to do, but being as I can't drive (or therefore fly) for another two weeks, I guess it's going to help keep me occupied...

Incidentally, the sim is in the same geographical location as the real a/c for the picture - I've been doing some VFR navigation practice with the sim - I may post more on that later... depending on how geekish I feel.