Microsoft Flight Sim 2020

[LukeFF]

5 hours ago, Hoots said:

Once this is out my poor 310 can have a well deserved rest.

 

Same here. ? 

[ZachariasX]

5 hours ago, Hoots said:

Once this is out my poor 310 can have a well deserved rest.

The Commance makes another world tour inevitable.

[BOO]

11 hours ago, Hoots said:

Once this is out my poor 310 can have a well deserved rest.

 

5 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

Same here. ? 

 

5 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

The Commance makes another world tour inevitable.

 

sooooo........im looking at a Commanche right now..............nope...........Im really not getting the love..............please educate me. 

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, BOO said:

sooooo........im looking at a Commanche right now..............nope...........Im really not getting the love..............please educate me. 

 

1. It looks cool

2. It's not yet another Cessna 

 

I'm sure there's more to it, of course. ? 

[BOO]

25 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

1. It looks cool

2. It's not yet another Cessna 

 

I'm sure there's more to it, of course. ? 

Wingtip tanks...you forgot them.  Will it have wingtip tanks? 

 

I could be tempted but I fear with will come with a pink line generating machine that will ruin my manliness. 

[ZachariasX]

1 hour ago, BOO said:

sooooo........im looking at a Commanche right now..............nope...........Im really not getting the love..............please educate me. 

It‘s kind of a Cessna with kind of the wing from a Mustang. 

 

But.

 

This is about Accusim and in terms of simulation fidelity, I expect nothing less than it will blow ANY module for MSFS (and any other sim in regards of GA) right out of the water. In all respects. It‘s fair to say, they completely transformed FSX back in the day with Accusim. I expect nothing less than MSFS being put on a whole new level as well. It‘s less the fact that it is a Commanche, but the fact that Accusim has landed.

 

Besides, Scott and his crew own and operate a Commanche and know the plane inside out. That‘s good material to start out with.

[BOO]

8 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

It‘s kind of a Cessna with kind of the wing from a Mustang. 

 

But.

 

This is about Accusim and in terms of simulation fidelity, I expect nothing less than it will blow ANY module for MSFS (and any other sim in regards of GA) right out of the water. In all respects. It‘s fair to say, they completely transformed FSX back in the day with Accusim. I expect nothing less than MSFS being put on a whole new level as well. It‘s less the fact that it is a Commanche, but the fact that Accusim has landed.

 

Besides, Scott and his crew own and operate a Commanche and know the plane inside out. That‘s good material to start out with.

 

consider my interest piqued  ? I assume it will be pricey.

[LukeFF]

59 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

Besides, Scott and his crew own and operate a Commanche and know the plane inside out. That‘s good material to start out with.

 

Yes, they've always said they prefer to model planes that they have firsthand access to, so the Comanche is a natural choice.

 

1 hour ago, BOO said:

I could be tempted but I fear with will come with a pink line generating machine that will ruin my manliness. 

 

? 

 

I do wonder what sort of avionics options it will come with, since the only photos of the interior we've seen show Narco radios on the left and the typical VOR and ADF dials on the right. 

 

Looks to me like tip tanks are in:

 

(Speaking of which, N6229P is owned by A2A in reality):

 

 

 

59 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

It‘s kind of a Cessna with kind of the wing from a Mustang. 

 

And the ashtray - after all, we are talking about a 1950s plane here. ? 

[BOO]

33 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

And the ashtray - after all, we are talking about a 1950s plane here. ? 

 

My 15 year old didnt even know what an ashtray was. I told him it was something they used to fill space before the cupholder was invented. 

[ZachariasX]

8 hours ago, LukeFF said:

And the ashtray - after all, we are talking about a 1950s plane here. ? 

Manufactured 1959 for the VW Beetle. Would be a good fit as well for the Commanche. It came with those porcelain cups that *had a magnetic base*. (See here.) Personally, I despise the Piper cockpits. With one side entry and those couch seats. ("I'll never get out here in time!") They give me the vibe of my old Buick Skylark. A very comfortable car though. With the performance of a Solex. But I really see the a coffee maker being useful there.

[BOO]

Day 27, Tindouf, Algeria - Nouadhibou Airport, Western Sahara. 637Nm, Real time, Live weather, FSTL Live Traffic.

 

 

Band on the Run

 

Pt 1

 

 

 

After the previous day’s epic scenery, I knew today’s flight wouldn’t be nearly as awe inspiring just by looking at a relief map. It was also going to be long ole haul in the Beaver, requiring 2 refuelling stops. We have African skies, clear and blue, as we depart Tindouf in the mid-afternoon sun and head south east towards the Algerian/Western Saharan boarder. This is contested land. An impossible flight in real life.

 

30Nm from Tindouf is the boarder. A no man’s land separates Algeria, a narrow strip of  Polisario controlled Western Sahara and Moroccan controlled Western Sahara with control points at each. The game’s satellite source tiles do an excellent job of making it apparent in a phot realistic manner. Also there is the bund, a seemingly ever present feature of the landscape and, not too far past the boarder, what appear to be artillery positions.

 

 

Keeping our track, we rely on landmarks to check off our progress until the VOR at Smara, our first stop, reveals itself. The UN base at Al Mahbes is our first one. Its an unfortunate route sim wise. Since approaching Tindouf, the ground tiles have been inconsistent but here, our chosen path lays right along one of the most obvious mismatches. From inside the aircraft, the problem is much less apparent and, if I were not taking screen shots for the journal, I may even have been oblivious to it. Soon however we are off the joint and over lands that almost looks like they are boiling below us.

 

 

The morse of Smara begins to ping in my headset/ I glance at the VOR instrument and watch for the needle to move. After a minute of so I notice the “TO” indicator is marked. The needle is active. Im bang on course. Pure luck. I nudge Ralf, point to the dial mouth “yeah baby”.  Whilst the landscape may not have the majesty of yesterday’s, it has its own charms, as well as the ever-present Berm and more military installations,.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by BOO

[BOO]

Day 27, Tindouf, Algeria - Nouadhibou Airport, Western Sahara. 637Nm, Real time, Live weather, FSTL Live Traffic

 

Pt2

 

 

 

In clear skies, Smara would not be a difficult find even without nav aids. The “rivers” of sand that flow between the rocky highlands in the are distinct visual references. Smara lies just inside the Moroccan controlled Western Sahara and is fortified with multi layered boarder controls. The airport itself appears, on satellite images to be military (in origin if not current use). This is not represented in the game, generic airport structures being the order of the day. We park up at the fuel point. RL dictates I must put away the sim for a few hours.

 

 

Recommencing the flight, I diligently start at the same position but the there is no pushback at the airport so have to restart at a more appropriate position. Our passengers are quiet, the novelty of chartered flight has worn off as the cramp has set in. I’ll be happy to be rid of them. They’ll be happy to be rid of us. We smile at each other now and them in the full knowledge we both know what each other is thinking. From Smara, we track South. Our next destination, Gueltat Zemmour Airport, has no VOR or NDB but is located just east of an obvious highland area. Out plan is to simply fly with that to our left until it juts out a bit and look for the airport.  It works.

 

 

If you like your airports unfussy and raw…….  With the lack of a souvenir shop to whilst away the time, we are soon off on the final part of the journey. The intention is to do a touch and go at Nouadhibou Airport which, I believe is in the non-Moroccan controlled Western Sahara (the only MSFS airport in the region) before travelling the short distance into Mauritania.

 

 

Its an uneventful journey.

 

 

 

Until it isn’t. Glancing down at the fuel about 20Nm from Nouadhibou, I’m dangerously low, perhaps 7 gallon. I have been unable to get more than 2 1/2 minutes (roughly 5 miles) to a gallon in cruise so far and the sun is setting. “Gents, when do you sail?” “Tomorrow morning” comes the reply. I ask Ralf to check for local Taxis…

We land and taxi to parking. A man is standing at the gates of the airport a short distance from us, cigarette in one hand and a sign saying “Taxi for Beetle” in the other. We say our goodbyes. The Band are happy. The blow of finishing their charter by taxi is softened by the fact I’m paying through the nose for it. As I throw on the covers, I hear an irritated voice in the distance “Im not a bloody Bee Gee”

Edited May 17, 2023 by BOO

[Hoots]

11 hours ago, BOO said:

 

 

 

sooooo........im looking at a Commanche right now..............nope...........Im really not getting the love..............please educate me. 

For sure it’s just another GA can but as @LukeFF says at least it’s not another Cessna. The reason I’m all over it is for the accusim technology that is going on behind the scenes.  It’s like the 310 with persistence on steroids. 

[ST_Catchov]

36 minutes ago, BOO said:

I hear an irritated voice in the distance “Im not a bloody Bee Gee”

 

Was it Liverpudlian? I think I know who that band is. And I know for a fact the Bee Gees were not Liverpudlian. Ralf is an imbecile.

 

I suppose if you said 'of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world you had to walk into mine!' Ralf wouldn't get the reference right?  He is a moron. Can you get rid of him or are you simply stuck with the dude with no recourse?

[BOO]

19 minutes ago, ST_Catchov said:

 

Was it Liverpudlian? I think I know who that band is. And I know for a fact the Bee Gees were not Liverpudlian. Ralf is an imbecile.

 

I suppose if you said 'of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world you had to walk into mine!' Ralf wouldn't get the reference right?  He is a moron. Can you get rid of him or are you simply stuck with the dude with no recourse?

Ralf is sadly of the iphone generation. He saw the white suit, googled it and came up with the Gibbs (Mancunian). Unfortuantely the show band were from Slough so TBH you'd have been hard pressed to centre them in Liverpool despite their best efforts. Cant blame Ralf for that one. Yup he also failed to get the "beautful firendship" line earlier. 

 

The purpose of Ralf was actually to demonstrate that the co-pilot models in MSFS are not too shabby (save for the weird doll's hands). He wasnt supposed to stay but i never mentioned the point and got used to him. Hes also a good measure of where you are supposed to sit in the aircraft by default. Sometimes (mostly) MSFS seems to sit you low down and looking down towards the panel. I use Ralf to check. 

 

Ultimately, whilst Ralf is with me he not with anyone else. I guess thats a good thing. 

[Hoots]

9 minutes ago, BOO said:

show band were from Slough

 

*shivers*

 

[ST_Catchov]

Hmm, unless I'm mistaken, it's leading me to believe the showband on Boo's desert tour is The Oasis beat combo group. They're from Manchester which is part of Slough innit.

[BOO]

30 minutes ago, ST_Catchov said:

Hmm, unless I'm mistaken, it's leading me to believe the showband on Boo's desert tour is The Oasis beat combo group. They're from Manchester which is part of Slough innit.

I see what your doing here.....Im not biting ?

 

My touring is reaching something of a crossroads. I have a notion to capitalise on the virtual nature of the sim and, ignoring the torments of the world, visit every country regardles of who its curently talking/not talking/fighting with who. Whilst that sctraches one itch it does significantly take away from the reality of proper flight planning which I would also like to try. Im not sure which way the dice will roll. Opportunity to play will also be reduced in the near future as home circumstances are due to change quite significantly. 

 

More pressing, Ive got a virtual leg to Cape Verde coming up and, at roughtly 330Nm,  Im not sure i can get enough out of the Beaver to do it. I did attempt to do some real world searches for aircraft hire but that led me to a site that promised it was better than Tinder (not a high bar to set if im being honest). Ill see where we are up to when i hit Dakar. 

[LukeFF]

8 hours ago, BOO said:

Recommencing the flight, I diligently start at the same position but the there is no pushback at the airport so have to restart at a more appropriate position. Our passengers are quiet, the novelty of chartered flight has worn off as the cramp has set in. I’ll be happy to be rid of them. They’ll be happy to be rid of us. We

 

There is a keyboard shortcut for being pushed back - I think it's Left Shift + B. 

[LukeFF]

11 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

Personally, I despise the Piper cockpits. With one side entry and those couch seats. ("I'll never get out here in time!") They give me the vibe of my old Buick Skylark.

 

C'mon, you know you like that red interior: 

 

[BOO]

2 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

There is a keyboard shortcut for being pushed back - I think it's Left Shift + B. 

Shift P. It did nothing. Tried it on a reboot too. Nadia. Must have been something good on the tele box I guess. 
 

This part of the msfs world is odd. You can have ILS approaches to dirt strips and large international towered airports with no coms. Bizarre. 

3 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

C'mon, you know you like that red interior: 

 

Like flying a scene from Carrie 

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, BOO said:

This part of the msfs world is odd. You can have ILS approaches to dirt strips and large international towered airports with no coms. Bizarre. 

 

Yes, it definitely could do with a large World Update. Outside of areas like Egypt, I don't think a whole lot has been done to update the African continent from the default scenery. 

[CUJO_1970]

Relaxing sunrise flight over the Gulf.

 

 

 

 

[ZachariasX]

12 hours ago, LukeFF said:

C'mon, you know you like that red interior: 

For added comfort, it seems it doesn‘t come with seatbelts. It should definitely have the coffee maker installed. Also, there should be a microphone that is hooked up to a eight track tape to dictate one‘s correspondence to secretary. („…After dictation, out of town.“) After all, you don‘t need an iPad to be productive while travelling. A good friend of mine has a Monteverdi 375L that came with such a thing installed.

[BOO]

2 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

For added comfort, it seems it doesn‘t come with seatbelts. It should definitely have the coffee maker installed. Also, there should be a microphone that is hooked up to a eight track tape to dictate one‘s correspondence to secretary. („…After dictation, out of town.“) After all, you don‘t need an iPad to be productive while travelling. A good friend of mine has a Monteverdi 375L that came with such a thing installed.

 

My neighbour i(a fFiat/Lancia dealer) had a Monteverdi coupe type thing in the late 70s/early 80s that he used to take out on Sundays.. Not sure if at some point he sold them back in the day. It was a beautiful thing. I only found out what it was years later. I always thought it was a Masseratti until my Bro pointed it out when we were looking at some childhood photos. 

 

Back to the sim. I have an issue. My headsets are causing me a lot of pain (Neualgia type) after a session yesterday I was literally rolling about in agony all night. I know theres some underlying issues I need to get sorted but in the meantime - any suggestions on someting "off ear" I could strap a delan clip to?  failing that, something I could just fit the clip to. I dont really want to go back to a hat clip if I can help it. 

 

 

 

[LVA_Picard]

looks amazing I am Gonne buy this summer fore sure .

[LukeFF]

8 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

Monteverdi 375L

 

Had to look that one up - looks pretty slick! 

 

Re: 8-track tapes: don't give A2A any ideas - it'll delay it by another 6 months. ? 

[ZachariasX]

Next leg in my race, Tiska (DAAJ), Algeria, to Tanout (DRZT), Niger.

 

It is 559 nm as the crow flies. Difficult for me, as during the last flight I had strong headwind. Also, I figured out why Tiska airfield was shrouded in fog: It wasn't fog, it was a sandstorm. Strong headwinds all the way to ground level in a sand desert... I can't stay there, as there is no place to stow the Cessna away. I fill it up and go in the morning.

 

 

I take off 9:08 am, (8:08 am UTC).

 

 

At least the engine seems unimpressed by the sand.

 

 

As soon as I leave the METAR region of the airfield, it clears up. I guess the sand storm should be larger. but be it. I ride the FROM radial at some 6000 ft. to guide me to my destination.

 

 

Flying over sand is like flying over the sea. Better not land here. Again, I have some 15 kt. headwinds.

 

 

As I approach the Aïr and Ténéré Addax Sanctuary, I lose the beacon and have nothing to dial into. I have to proceed by HDG and constantly battle gyro drift.

 

 

I have to climb almost to 7'000 ft to cross these mountains. by now it has gotten very cleat that I have to make a pit stop at Manu Dayak (DRZA). At least this is a larger airpost with a VOR...

 

 

...that again hides in a sandstorm. I decide to keep my altitude and follow the beacon...

 

 

...and land as the Stuka goes. Better not spend too much time in the sand.

 

 

14:23 locat time (13:23 UTC) when I shut off the engine. I fill her up and 13:24 UTC I am off again.

 

 

I take the FROM radial, 159°T should brin me there. My destination has no beacon whatsoever. Worse, it is pretty hard to find when I googled it:

 

 

Oh well. There's a road next to it, that much I know. I have no distance marker, and as the airfield has no tower, I canot even cheat by calling the tower and have them give me directions.

 

 

Somewhere down there it must appear. I start regretting only taking some 40 litres of fuel...

 

 

There it is! Who can see it? can you see the entire runway?  The road gave it away for me.

 

 

It of course took me one turn to figure out the wind and I was lost. But at last, I found it again.

 

 

15:11 UTC, (16:11 local time). I think I parked right on top of the only building that there is at this airstrip... But at least there is no sandstorm.

 

My time: 5h 24 min then, 1 h 47 min. Total 7 h 11 min.

 

Leg 1: 4 h 18 min, 427 nm

Leg 2: 5 h 21 min, 556 nm

Leg 3: 6 h 41 min, 550 nm.

Leg 4: 7 h 11 min, ~575 nm

 

The next one is gonna be fun again, to airport Tibati (FKTI), Cameroon. Just another very questionable dirt strip.

 

 

Again, same task: find the airport. Direct distance is 577 nm. I sure hope the winds are not against me.

Edited May 19, 2023 by ZachariasX

[LukeFF]

Tanegashima (RJFG) to Iwami Airport (RJOW). Real-time weather, time of day, and traffic. Distance flown: 304 NM

 

More Japanese island hopping today:

 

 

Today's flight would take us from the southerly islands of Japan northward, more or less across the central part of Kyushu, and onto the northern coast of Honshu and the Sea of Japan.

 

A pleasant day as we filled up our tanks and made our way out, with a bit of a crosswind:

 

 

It was a short distance to Kyushu and its mountainous southern coast:

 

 

It was fairly cloudy initially over Kyushu at our cruising altitude, so we bumped up our altitude a bit before descending back down to 7500 feet. We also had to deal with a fairly strong crosswind and some fairly heavy turbulence during this phase of the flight:

 

 

Central Kyushu is very mountainous:

 

 

At one point we passed what looks to be a dormant volcano:

 

 

We eventually made our way to the open water between Kyushu and Honshu on our gradual descent into RJOW:

 

 

This part of Honshu is also mountainous. We made our wide, sweeping arc over the Sea of Japan and landed at RJOW and its vast rows of solar panels without incident:

 

[LukeFF]

 

One thing I need to work on more with the 310 is my braking skills - I had plenty of time to slow down before the taxiway, but I was too passive on the brakes and nearly overshot the turnoff point. Sure enough, during the postflight inspection, I overheated the left brake in a bid to exit the runway at a little too high of a speed. Ah well, we'll figure it out. ? 

[ZachariasX]

Some more flying in Africa, Tanout (DRZT), Niger, crossing some of Nigeria to Tibati (FKTI), Cameroon.

 

 

As there is nobody around here, I cannot take care of my engine and not top off engine oil. But what I have will do. At least I have enough gas to top off the tanks.

 

 

There's still plenty of wind, but this time in my favor. I might make these 577 nm in one stint. I use 5'500 ft as my cruising altitude. I use the from radial of the VOR Agadez/Manu Dayak to get me in the general direction with the hope I can pick up the VOR/DME Potiskum (PTM).

 

 

This works out reasonably well and I make good progress, 100+ kt. ground speed I'd say. Up to 105 as the DME tells me. At lest there are signs of life here. But the tiling looks a bit odd in many parts. It is clear that this part of the world has gotten relatively little attention.

 

 

A propos signs of life: settlements look like pockmarks, dark roundish spots in the plain.

 

 

Thanks to the DME, I know I just crossed into Nigeria. This town must be Machina. Border town.

 

 

Approaching the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands. All these arid planes so far.. and now, some contrast.

 

 

I have reached my first waypoint, Potiskum (PTM). There is no airfield, but I am grateful for the beacon. I then switch to 151° radial in direction of my second waypoint, Yola (YOL). It is a 169 nm away and I cannot tune into it yet.

 

 

There are some hills in my way and I climb to 7'500 ft just to be sure and hoping I can tune in to YOL. Eventually I can, but the hills made it a longer wait than I would have liked.

 

 

Yola (DNYO). More hills ahead of me, but I should be fine. The only thing that bugs me is that I have to ride this beacon all the way to my destination. The DME is the only way telling me how far I have ventured and where I am in regards to my destination that has no marker at all. Oh well, 163° heading it is, 177 nm. That is a long way for a VOR/DME. It MUST work.

 

 

Some 100 miles on, there are some mountain ridges. Not that they are a problem to fly over, but I am sure another 100 miles on, they will do something to me being able to recveive YOL. I wasn't really looking forward for anything like this.

 

 

It had to happen. I don't receive the VOR anymore. Some 50 miles ahead somewhere in this, there is my airstrip. I might be off some miles to one side as well over 120 nm distance. I felt so confident making the trip in one go, but now I am looking at my fuel gauges, almost empty, and I know for sure that there is no alternate for me here.

 

 

And then.. suddenly, I pick up the beacon again! No.. I lose it... then pick it up again! That needle moving comes close to a burning bush! Prayers answered!

 

 

It brings me directly to Ngaoundal. Where my airstip is located. I just have to find it, then find out how much wind there is down there.

 

 

There it is. I sildeslip her down and fly a circtuit to get an idea of the wind situation. But it turns out, the runway is also slightly sloped, the "white end", RWY02, being the lower part. I decide to continue this pattern and land uphil, regardless of the wind that forced me into a go-around after a touch and go.

 

 

Considerable tailwind make for a long landing. This C152 tends to float so much in the ground effect, I really have to practise a bit more.

 

It was a rather simple flight, but it could have easily turned into disaster. Me picking up YOL again when I REALLY needed it, was what turned certain desaster into something easy. The simple luck of the stupid kept me alive.

 

 

Flight time:

 

Takeoff 8:24 UTC, landing 14:39 UTC (both +1 for local time), 6 h 15 min., 595 nm.

 

Leg 1: 4 h 18 min, 427 nm

Leg 2: 5 h 21 min, 556 nm

Leg 3: 6 h 41 min, 550 nm

Leg 4: 7 h 11 min, ~575 nm

Leg 5: 6 h 15 min., 595 nm

[LukeFF]

Iwami Airport (RJOW) to Toyama (RJNT): real-time weather, traffic, and time of day. Distance flown: 324 NM:

 

 

If at first you don't succeed...

 

The afternoon was bright and windy as we prepared to set off to the east along the northern coast of Honshu and the Sea of Japan. Takeoff was simple, as the wind was blowing practically right down the runway. Off to the east we went:

 

 

As with our previous flight, this part of Japan (as is just about every part) is also very mountainous and green:

 

 

It was about this point that our port engine decided to quit on us, so we declared an emergency and made for the nearest airport, which wasn't far at all (no more than about 5 minutes). I was all prepared to land when I learned a valuable lesson: the 310 does not like flying with full flaps. One notch of flaps, and that's it. We sank like a stone into the waters east of the runway. 

 

So, with that bit of hard luck, we loaded the flight back up at our starting point and retraced our route. With a generous 19-knot tailwind, this flight was uneventful:

 

 

As we approached RJNT the clouds became thicker, so we began our initial descent early so we wouldn't be flying through the middle of a cloud bank:

[LukeFF]

 

Out over the Sea of Japan we went again like on our last flight before coming in on the final approach - which took us right over a highway brightly marked in red and white segments:

 

 

With the wind coming in from about 90 degrees to starboard, it was a bit tricky landing and getting the plane to the runway centerline, but we made it down safely, where once again I overheated the lefthand brakes. ? We taxied past a pair of ANA planes on our way to the GA parking area and called it a day, wondering if they'd find any survivors from that crash into the water:

 

[ZachariasX]

Next leg, Tibati (FKTI) to Lisala (FZGA), Democratic Republic of Kongo, 555 nm.

 

I cannot do any servicing on the aircraft, but I have still enough engie oil and it runs nicely. 8:03 am UTC (9:03 local time), I get ready for takeoff.

 

 

The weather plays along and ther is little wind.

 

 

It is from here on, where Africa gets very green. The landscape remains mostly very flat. As I have no beacons to follow, I spend my time fighting the gyro to remain on course.

 

 

This must be Garoua-Mboulaï, this means I'm slightly off to the north, but on course.

 

 

I can only tune into M'Poko (FEFF)'s beacon once I see Mbaiki (FEMB) airstrip. I was only slightly off coourse, but again try to align myself on the direct radial to my destination Lisala (FZGA). That one at least has an NDB. And there's another NDB on the way, Gemena (GEM). As the NAV beacons are so unreliable here, the NDB's might me my last hope.

 

 

The weather is getting more interesting, while I am calculating over and over if I can make it with the fuel left. There are alternates.. but... it should be ok, if barely so. At least I can receive the NDB Lisala (LIS) and let myself guide there. If I only had a precise distance... This is gonna be intersting. It is not really about visibility, but about how erratic the wind situation will be.

 

 

Et voilà! Made it! Fuel auges pointing on empty, but I surely have the altitude. What could go wrong now?

 

 

I sideslip downward in a steep angle just to be on the safe side, as the engine might cut any time. The runway is rather long and I decide to ground-effect her all the way to the end, where the fuel station is. I add some power and drag her on, stall warning whistling away and I feel awfully smug letting her float like that - until the engine cuts out, prop stops right away, nose drops and I fall about one yard to the pavement where she bounces once and digs in.

 

 

It seems going for a high angle of attack is not a great idea with basically empty tanks... I open the door and walk around my plane. At least there is no shock load on the engine. Some sanding on the prop will be required though. Oh well. The crowd had a good laugh.

 

 

Takeoff 8:03 UTC, landing 14:07 UTC (both +1 for local time), total time 6 h 4 min., 574 nm.

 

Leg 1: 4 h 18 min, 427 nm

Leg 2: 5 h 21 min, 556 nm

Leg 3: 6 h 41 min, 550 nm

Leg 4: 7 h 11 min, ~575 nm

Leg 5: 6 h 15 min., 595 nm

Leg 6: 6 h 5 min, 574 nm

[Bremspropeller]

Enroute MCAS Kaneohe Bay (Oahu) to Palmyra Atoll, following the old Fifth Air Force resupply route.

[Bremspropeller]

Entering a lazy wide downwind.

Short final.

Boards and flat pitch on the props slows her down quickly.

Enjoying the calm lagoon and unloading the airplane.

Gonna change into some more scenery-fitting beach clothes and hit the surf.

Or maybe have a sundowner in the five-star island accomodations. Gee I wonder if they have a shower...

Edited May 21, 2023 by Bremspropeller

[Lusekofte]

Boeing Clipper is good replacement for Sunderland. It looks good and feel good. 
It will eventually get all its systems 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Lusekofte

[BOO]

Day 28, Nouadhibou Airport, Western Sahara - Leopold Sedar Senghor, Dakar, Senegal. 450Nm, Real time, Live weather, FSTL Live Traffic.

 

 

Todays flight is something of a procedural transit following the West African coast line into Mauritania and onto Senegal.

 

 

Free of “baggage” the beaver is light on its feet as we depart Nouadhibou Airport into blue skies. Within minutes we are overflying Nouadhibou itself, Mauritania’s second largest city and our intended destination from the previous day before heading out into the sparse landscape beyond.

 

 

This portion of the MSFS world feels a little unloved. The Satellite tiles do not seem as crisp and there are oddities such as Oumtounsy Airport. In reality this is a hard surfaced, built up facility playing host to regional Airliners. In the sim’ it’s a dirt strip with ILS.

 

 

 

Just beyond however is a more fully formed airport in the form of Nouakchott, an airport serving the Mauritanian capital. We land and top out the tanks before getting an opportunity to test the unloaded Beaver’s STOL ability as a fuel trunk decides to wander onto the runway.

 

 

The remainder of the journey is uneventful and largely uninteresting. The map does engage is in other areas, even those slightly further North.

 

 

The autogen of Dakar does a decent job but the tiles its built on don’t. More disappointingly, this towered major airport as no local ATC, something of a flat end to the leg.

 

This is, sadly (but happily), the last flight of the Beaver for a while. RL and caring for Mrs Boo on her return home from hospital now takes precedence (plus there’s now a hospital bed in the living room where the sim gear (and me) once sat!)

 

In the meantime, I have some things to ponder. On setting off I knew the next leg to Cape Verde would stretch the Beaver’s range to its limit. I therefore decided to pray to gods of AI and decided on the contrive that, dependent upon what GA was at Dakar on my arrival, I would temporarily swap a smaller aircraft with greater range with an owner looking for a bit of load lugging capability. The only condition was that it couldn’t be something capable of taking a payload close to the beaver. I was rather hoping for a nice C172 or even a C152. What I got offered was a Robin. I forsee a tense flight of fuel guage montoring in the Beaver on my return!

 

MSFS has done me a great service thus far and has made some quite dark and unbearable “down times” in the past 3 months a lot more tolerable. I never thought Id get hooked into GA but the vast enterprise of the sim and its community is astounding. As things hopefully but slowly return to some new type of normal here, I look forward to continuing at some point.

 

Thanks to all for the support, tips and encouragement.

 

 

 

[LukeFF]

Toyama (RJNT) to Aomori (RJSA): Distance flown: 344 NM. Real-time weather, traffic, and time of day:

 

 

Our tour of the west coast of Honshu continues. 

 

With strong winds and ominous storm clouds surrounding RJNT, we took off to the north. The weather report called for rain along pretty much all of our flight route today.

 

 

So, with that in mind, we enjoyed the sights while we could - more mountains with snow covering the peaks to our east:

 

 

However, as predicted, the weather up ahead showed thick, heavy rain showers moving in. It wouldn't be long before that 17-knot crosswind nearly doubled in strength:

 

 

At first, we tried to duck under the storm clouds, but as the cloud deck was below 5500 feet, we climbed above our planned cruising altitude of 7500 feet to 11500 feet. That bit of foolishness wasted us a bit of fuel, but not too much, thankfully. We stayed above the worst of the weather, but even so we had to contend with thick clouds and some nasty turbulence. Only at fleeting moments could we make sight of the ground:

 

 

Eventually, we cleared the worst of the weather, but at this altitude, we were now dealing with a 32-knot crosswind from the west. As we approached RJSA there were still heavy clouds with scattered showers all around, pretty much all the way down to about 3000 feet:

 

 

But, the weather cleared well above our decision altitude, and that nasty crosswind was now pretty much blowing directly against us as we came into land. It became a little bit interesting as we disconnected the autopilot, being buffeted around a bit and causing the stall buzzer to go off briefly. With this being the 310, the solution to problems like this is to pour on the power to regain control, which we did. We touched down on the runway centerline and taxied to the parking area, glad to be out of that nasty weather:

 

[Lusekofte]

I have occastional freezes and have to restart the computer when I switch from VR to 2D in the Clipper. Can this be a related to the module itself or is it something that might have comed after the latest patch