It is with a very heavy heart that I want to relay that our dear friend and compatriot Jim Mackonochie (JimMack) died of liver cancer today. Jim, the son of a British test pilot was a Royal Navy officer before being a key figure in the birth of PC flight simulation. Jim was pivotal in the launch of the original Falcon and many other software entertainment products before he served as the catalyst that brought The Fighter Collection and Eagle Dynamics together to launch the original Su-27 Flanker. In the years that followed, Jim served as the primary business development manager for TFC/Eagle Dynamics and was responsible for DCS products being available in dozens of countries around the world. But Jim was also one of the most genuine people you could hope to meet and he was a common sight at many fly-in, air shows, and industry events.

Like most people that excel in their field, Jim always had a true passion for this work and always pushed our team to provide the best product possible. Jim would spend hours going over reviews, customer feedback, and of course these very forums to provide the best possible perspective of what the customers wanted. He really was the customers' producer.

Jim will be deeply missed here and his passing leaves a hole in TFC and Eagle Dynamics that can never be filled.

Jim Mackonochie has gone from us forever. Our producer, our source of inspiration. A British naval officer. A true gentleman.

Jim loved both the sea and the sky as a child loves - purely and unconditionally. He must have inherited this from his father, a crew member of the HMS Belfast and then a naval test pilot. Jim’s love for the sea affected his chosen profession and later, his passion for yacht racing. His love of the sky is what we are all indebted to for bringing to the world such amazing flight simulations. He stood at the foundation of the Flanker series, before that played a key role in the creation of the Falcon series, and before that participated in the birth of many other games. It’s hard to overestimate his influence in the modern flight simulation genre. In many ways he is responsible for the creation of a forward controller in DCS and the eventual expansion into controllable artillery and other ground units, as well as the formation of the DCS: Flying Legends series. Jim always demanded the impossible from us, but invariably his demands became realized and popular features.

Jim was also a wonderful person – kind, attentive, caring. Our TFC/ED colleagues from all over the world were always welcome in his home. It just so happens, that Jim was the first Englishman whom I got to know closely and you could say he adopted me to Great Britain. A country is no longer foreign when there is a home, in which you are always a welcome guest.

Now I feel a sudden emptiness, as if a piece of my heart has been torn out. Something that has not been completed, not heard through to the end, not finished saying…

Jim’s last post on the forum was short and symbolic: “yes”. That is the essential Jim – a man of a generation that saw the premier of “Yellow Submarine”, a bright individual that truly loved life.

Farewell, Jim. Rest in peace.