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History of Daviator.com
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After a research flight
in the Canadian Warplane
Heritage Museum's Harvard
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I
have been dabbling in flightsim since I first had a single floppy version
running on a Mac 512k about 15 years ago. It displayed 16 shades of gray but I was still able to make out
the outline of the San
Francisco Bay Area. I was amazed. My buddy then got a new 386 PC and loaded the
first color version of MS Flight Simulator. Wow! Color! I looked so real. I was
hooked.
I tried my hand at
designing with Aircraft Factory 99 but didn't have much luck. Soon
after, FS Design Studio was released. My first model was a Kaman HH-43 Huskie helicopter. My father had just passed away and he loved that
little helicopter. He served on them as a crew chief in the later 1950's
and early 1960's. Modeling the helicopter reminded me of him and so I
wanted it to be the best it could be. I was soon hooked on designing
add-on aircraft. This hobby combined my life-long love of aviation, my
computer skills and graphic design skills into something I love. By
building the aircraft I wanted to build I could finally fly the aircraft
I wanted to fly.
After 3-4 freeware releases I
was approached to build add-on aircraft for money. I have done commercial
work for JustFlight, Lago and Abacus. I have been working with Abacus for almost
5 years now and enjoy the folks there and the work I do for them. While the
money it not great, it does help pay for trips to air museums, airshows, digital
cameras and new computers.
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launched in April of 2000. I had just started designing add-on aircraft and
needed a place to host my models and some of my aircraft photos. My wife had
the great idea of purchasing a domain name and hosting for a year as a
birthday present. About the same time I was frustrated with the lack of
tutorials for the then new FSDS. I decided to write tutorials and help other
new designers also struggling. I in turn learned from them and others
willing to share what they've learned. I then added the tutorials and a
forum to Daviator.com
Today I build commercial models for Abacus and still build freeware models
when time permits. I am also exploring the option of teaming up with museums
and non-profits to build models of their aircraft for fundraising and/or
promotion. Each model I build can take from a few months to years of work
depending on time, complexity and available research material. I now put
countless hours into researching each new project. When possible I visit,
fly in and photograph the real aircraft. I have visited museums and airshows
all over North America including shows and museums in California, Oshkosh,
WI, Florida, Maryland and Ontario, Canada. I also purchase books, drawings
and aircraft manuals for each project I plan to build.
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Daviator.com as it appeared in 2001 |
Me at Oshkosh 2003 |
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Daviator.com and some of my
models have been featured in PC Pilot magazine, Computer Pilot magazine, South
African Pilot magazine and Micro Simulateur (French).
Daviator.com would not exist
had it not been for the patience and unwavering support of my wonderful wife
Jessica. Our latest release was years in the making. After many years, several
heartbreaks and countless trips to fertility doctors my wife and I had our first
child, Jack, born June 18, 2005. We currently reside in the San Francisco Bay
Area.
Thanks for visiting!
David Eckert
webmaster@daviator.com
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Jack Eckert |
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