At this time of year, I would usually be making a post about my experience and recollection of the Furnal Equinox convention, held annually at the time of the Vernal Equinox in Toronto, Canada. This year, things have obviously been done rather differently, but in light of FE’s successful first official virtual convention I thought it would be nice to put a virtual spin of my own on events. If I can talk to friends, buy art, see the con hotel, and watch panels all through my computer, then surely I can get to the convention through my computer too, through the magic of Microsoft Flight Simulator X (my computer isn’t powerful enough for the newer version).

On a usually round trip to Furnal Equinox, I try to keep things quite simple, which mostly involves a return flight with Air Transat between London Gatwick and Toronto Pearson. Those flights mostly happen thanks to Air Transat’s fleet of Airbus A330-200s, though they have begun to be phased out in favour of newer, more efficient A321neo aircraft (which is what I would’ve flown to FE last year, if that hadn’t also been cancelled). Here we have a horizontal view of the seafront, with the two generic skyscrapers which I like to think represent the Westin Harbour Castle directly under the wing, with the large ship parked right next to them. At the virtual convention, it was another day of watching panels and streams for me, and being thoroughly impressed by the closing ceremony and the work put in by all the staff members and volunteers. This wasn’t just the largest convention in terms of attendance, it was also the largest sum of donations ever brought in: almost C$20,000 in total. Hearing that really hit home for me that despite everything – the death, suffering, hardship, and economic downturn of the past year – there is still an infinite number of good people out there, willing to go out of their way to support a good cause.

The model and skin of this aircraft was created by Thomas Ruth, and is downloadable for FSX from here: https://flyawaysimulation.com/downl.....a330-200-pack/

Hope you enjoy!