O.K. We know PT owners are a "special" kind of person. By "special", you can insert anything the neighbors would say about that kid down the block. You know that kid... the one with the home made three seat bicycle, the solar powered ice melter, the raccoon hat that is still alive... yeah, that kid. :laughing:
So, how many of you have owned a BETA VCR or a video disk player? Perhaps a Lustron home? Maybe a Wankle rotary engine? Common... fess up.
Not only did I own a videodisc player, I owned a computer-controlled one on a Sony VIEW 1500 system. It was controlled via the RS-232 port...
From 1986-1991, I commanded an Air Force organization that used these to deliver highly-realistic computer-based training courses for the aircraft maintenance guys on tactical aircraft (primarily F-15, F-16 and A-10). That videodisc would hold up to 30-minutes of high-quality NTSC video (much higher quality than videotape -- we filmed with either Betacam-SP or 1" Ikegami cameras) and/or 54,000 still pictures, and you could mix and match videos and stills. It would also store 30 minutes of stereo sound or 60 minutes of mono, and again, you could mix and match. The RS-232 port controlled the videodisc player and told it to "jump" to the correct location and play whatever segment (or still) you defined....
As an example, when the first F-15E Strike Eagles were being delivered into the inventory (after Edwards flight testing), we sent a camera crew down to Luke AFB outside Phoenix and they spent almost a month taking pictures of cockpit of the second F-15E in the inventory. Using a matrix developed in a spreadsheet, they shot pictures of every possible switch position and MFD display in the cockpit. Then, we put that on videodisc and developed cockpit procedures training courses, where the learner would touch the switch and it would immediately jump to a picture that showed the switch in the next position, whether it be a simple toggle switch, rotary knob, etc.
We delivered this interactive videodisc training to the field three years before they got the big hardware-based trainers (i.e. simulators, but not flight simulators) that did the same thing with real knobs and switches, but real-time computer-generated MFD displays...
We used this technology to primarily teach troubleshooting training on the more complex systems (such as radar) but we did develop a series on how to operate the common Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) such as generators, air conditioners, APUs, etc. By the time I moved on in 1991, we'd fielded 58 differeent courses -- using MS-DOS 2.11 -- on these videodiscs combined with the software on HD 3.5" floppies...
I've been in this line of work ever since...
And yes, I've always wanted an RX-7 with a Wankel...
