Ken "Arthonon" Cartwright
Air Combat & General Aviation Editor

Growing up in Alaska, the son of a WWII aircraft maintainer and Alaska Bush Pilot, it was probably a foregone conclusion that I would have an interest in aviation. I went flying with my father as often as we could, and read about modern and historical aviation in school and my free time.

Not having the budget to get my own license, I was drawn to simulators early on, before they could really simulate that much, which pulled me into an interest in the computers that ran them. I bought my first computer — an Atari 800 — in 1982 and eagerly bought and played with Sublogic’s Flight Simulator II soon thereafter. Later, I would play Microprose’s F-15 Strike Eagle for hours while listening to the Top Gun soundtrack.

Seeing that the demand for computer support was growing, I took my interest in my flight-simming equipment into the professional realm, and have been working in the computer industry since 1985. After moving to San Diego in 1987, I worked for a large computer software retail chain and had access to all the new flight sims as they were released, played them all to some degree, and was drawn a great deal into Falcon 3.0.

My girlfriend of 11 years puts up with my fascination with computer equipment, and I sometimes wonder if the free tech support is the main reason she’s stayed with me. She says I’m basically still a 14-year-old, but with an income. My house is currently home to four desktop PCs, five laptops, two tablets, and an e-reader.

In 2001 I was bitten by the photography bug, and combined that with my interest in aircraft and have been attempting to take decent aircraft photos ever since. Being a total hack, I am fortunate that modern photography equipment can do a lot of the work and allow me to occasionally get an interesting shot. My web site is techflyer.net.

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