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).

Today marked my arrival in virtual Toronto in a Porter Airlines Dash 8 Q400. This airline is actually headquartered at the airfield seen in the background, at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport, named after Canada’s top-scoring World War I flying ace and Victoria Cross-recipient William Avery Bishop, who spent much of his life in the city. As an interesting aside, I’ve actually flown into that airport on a Porter Dash 8, on a flight from Boston in 2019. After trying unsuccessfully to get into the convention’s VRChat lobby – again because of my woefully underpowered computer – I watched the virtual opening ceremony from my bedroom with a cup of tea. After that, I hopped onto Discord to hit up a few familiar artists who I had seen were in the Dealers’ Den, either for a good catch up or for a commission (or both!). Among these fine folks were , (one of the Guests of Honour, woohoo!), , , , to name but a few. After that, I watched a couple of the panels, and mused at some of the art I had collected from FE over the years.

The model of this aircraft was created by Dreamwings, and the skin was created by Travis Smith. The aircraft is downloadable for FSX from here: https://flyawaysimulation.com/downl.....s-dash-8-q400/

Hope you enjoy!