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Aviationbuff.com is the result of my lifelong passion with all aspects of flight. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska  during the 1960's and fondly recall watching Starfighters, Phantoms and  Hustlers streak over my back yard. Aircraft and aviation in general has always captivated my imagination and I spent endless hours reading books and publications about aircraft, pilots and famous air battles. This fascination with flight has never waned.

I fulfilled a personal goal when I received my private pilots license in 1985. I  accumulated over 250 hours of flight time while flying a range of aircraft including the Piper Tomahawk, Warrior II and Archer II as well as logging simulated air combat hours with Atlanta's Sky Warriors in a Beech T-34A Mentor. As is often the case, the financial needs of a growing family along with conflicting time requirements have had a huge impact on my free time as well as the funds required to maintain my currency. As a result, I have had to curtail my active flying for now but I look forward to the time when I can resume logging flight hours.

I have two additional passions which compliment my aviation interests rather nicely. One is aviation photography, I have been attending airshows and aviation events around the country for more than 25 years and have compiled a large archive of unique and interesting photos. During the 80's & 90"s, I shot thousands of photos with 35mm film SLR cameras like the Yashica FR-II, FX-D and later the Nikon N2020. As digital cameras became more affordable and cost effective, I began using some of the early "super zoom" digital cameras like the Fuji S7000 and Nikon 8700. This type of camera worked very well for static shots but lacked performance and quality when shooting aircraft in flight. I finally made the transition to a true digital SLR in early 2006 and I am currently using Nikon DSLR bodies along with a variety of old and new Nikon lenses. I attend many aviation events and add new images frequently so visit the Photo Gallery to see what's new.

My other interest is in computer flight simulations. In early 2001 I created a series of flyable aircraft for use with Austin Meyers' X-Plane flight simulator. These were great fun to design and fly and I decided to share the aircraft with others through AVSIM.com and Flightsim.com.  My Lockheed P-3 Orion and Piper Tomahawk for X-Plane received favorable mention in PC-Pilot magazine.

In late 2002 I decided to create an aircraft for the MSFS environment. Almost one full year later, I completed my first flyable aircraft for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 and 2004. This freeware Lockheed L-188 Electra was designed and created completely in-house and has been downloaded by more than 15,000 users. The L-188 Electra for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 and 2004 can be downloaded from the MSFS Aircraft Link on this site. The Electra files can also be found on the PC-Pilot #35 CD-ROM disc released during the summer of 2005.  Additional liveries can be found at the popular flight simulator enthusiast sites avsim.com and flightsim.com. You can view more information on the MSFS Electra here: Electra for MSFS 2002 & 2004

Chris Buff lives in Suwanee, Georgia USA with his surprisingly understanding wife and 3 children. Please forward any comments or questions to Chris by clicking here.

 

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