After a 20yr career as a jet and helicopter pilot in the RCAF and two tours with USAF Space Command in Colorado Springs,  I became Operations Manager, Canadian Space Station Program 1988-1995. I was hired to oversee development of the Space Ops, Ground Ops, Training and Logistical support for the Robotics that Canada contributed to the International Space Station. in 1983, I was one of the semi-finalist choices during the first Canadian astronaut selection but unfortunately, I  never got to go to space and operate it or fly on it like this guy, Our engineers and programmers did develop the simulator used to work out how astronauts would eventually deploy and operate the system.

Simulation is still a great way to experience things and go places and fly things that you may never have the opportunity see, or practice dealing with hazardous situations without putting yourself or the equipment at risk.
I predict that simulation, in virtual environments, created with real environment data, will be the way humans will explore the universe and travel to worlds that are too distant or hostile . .  like a visit to Jupiter's surface, the center of the sun, or a distant galaxy.
Here are a couple of early examples of this:
This Simulation is what approaching a black hole might be like
This Simulation allows you to fly among 1.7 Billion nearby star trajectories as they move over millions of years

Flying

Private license 1965
20 yrs as pilot RCAF 1969-1989
Piston & Jets but mostly Helicopters
Commercial Multi-Engine 1995
a bit of Corporate Flying

Renewable Energy

Designed and built a range of small wind turbines and solar mounting and tracking systems available for licensing.

Flight Simulation

This is my life in simulation. Exploration, experience and evolution. First to fly pole to pole in a single engine, single pilot helicopter in simulation 2001. Now playing with P3D & FSX flight simulation special effects.

UAV Pilot

Now flying Phantom 4 and MavicPRO very small UAVs (under 2kg) for surveillance and security tasks, and other fun stuff.