Enceladus828 Posted February 27, 2021 Posted February 27, 2021 13 hours ago, AndyJWest said: Lots of hold-ups, due to the weather Tell me about it. February is pretty much the worst month of every year... especially if ones wishes to go flying.
ZachariasX Posted February 27, 2021 Posted February 27, 2021 Now I had time for some further flying on my World tour. I heard that there's nice weather on the other side of the planet: 13 hours ago, AndyJWest said: The XCub world tour continues, slowly. If Andy is aloft, I'm counting on nice weather. From Bangkok (VTBD) to Kunming it is. Kunming is actually a bit of a problem. The airport that is in the sim is Chinas version of Meigs Field. and the new huge airport seems not be present (yet). Oh well, I have to make a stop, else I can't make it over the hump. But in good old fashion, I'll deal with such when I'm there. My GPS is still non functional, So I took paper and pencil to mark the flightplan with VOR, bearings and ranges. Spoiler I'll go north and cross into Laos near Vientiane, then more towards east to Tho Xuan Airport in Vietnam. Maybe getting a good view of Tonkin Gulf. Then north to Hanoï and from there north west to Kunming. I seriously hope the Chinese didn't mind my excursion to Taipeh. The weather was very nice indeed. A flat 10 on the Andymeter. Everything is easy like that. Just took off, next to VTBD. Now proceeding 25°. Central Thailand... very flat. Some farming. Near Nong Ri. There's some dams here. Agriculture definitely is shaping the landscape. Crossing into Laos. Vientiane is indeed a very basic settlement. But I'm worried that the weather starts to detoriate. It os also getting hilly and I have to climb to 5'500 ft. That was just about enough. But I guess I have to plan for more reseve. The upcoming mountains next to the Nam Ngum Dam are getting a even a little higher. My waypoint, Wattay International Airport, Laos. From here, I turn east into Vietnam. The weather is not welcoming. (North-)Vietnam doesn't like me showing up. I need to fiddle a bit with the heading bug to get around these.. things. At 8'500 ft, I am right in between the cloud layers. I dread venturing below. This sums up my Vietnam experience. Utterly unfriendly. Approaching Hanoï, I get weak and for a brief moment and I consider going below the cloud layer. I quickly reconsider. Ugh... there's something pointing out of the clouds. Good idea not venturing "below". Crossing into China. This is really one deserted stretch of land. At least the weather is clearing up. Before reaching Kunming, the mountains get really high and I have to climb to 12'000 ft. to really stay clear. My beacon is also hidden behind these mountains. It is line of sight to receive signal. I just keep my bearing and hope for the best. Eventually I receive signal from the localizer and I overfly Chengjiang next to Fuxian Lake and then take the "From" radial that brings me To Kunming airport. There is only the old one that I can tune in to, so that one it is. Kunming is 6'900 ft ASL! I turn into final. and... Lo and Behold, they already constructed more city on that airport, mighty high buildings right in the approach. At a 500 fpm descent, you'll be skimming their roof! There's a wall of high buildings right around the airport perimeter. The Chinese were not that happy with my little excursion. Although they appreciated my humor of calling this a "domestic trip", the problem was that they were lacking humor in general and despite my assurances, as someone once said "Although I hear the message, I lack all faith or trust; " impounded my dear aircraft as a first mean to deal with the situation. While doing so, I didn't want to wait until I got impounded myself. Luckily, there's an abandoned C172 next to my dear Baron. I could also buy a bucket of red paint (an easy color to get in China and selling that they do, always) and improvsed my new ride over the hump, away from here. No time for making much of a flightplan, but everybody knows the route goes to Dibrugharh (VEMN) on the other side of the Himalayas. 1 2
AndyJWest Posted February 27, 2021 Posted February 27, 2021 (edited) I'm looking at perfect flying weather right now, ZachariasX. Blue skies, and not a cloud in sight. Which is nice, but not much help for the world tour, since I'm looking out my window over London. Checking online satellite images on the other hand suggests that trying to get the XCub to Rabaul today (or rather, tomorrow, since they are 10 hours ahead of us) would involve flying through a solid lump of wet-and-nasty most of the way. It might clear a little, but most likely I'll have to leave it for another day. Vietnam and China look good. Not on my intended route, though if I have the time I might make a diversion to take a look at a geologically-odd volcano on the China/North Korea border. As for highrise buildings on airport approaches, I've come across a few myself - the MSFS AI probably doesn't care much about such details, and just guesses building heights as per usual. It has much the same attitude with trees on the approach to small grass strips, which can be even more awkward, since they aren't always obvious until you get close. If I was doing this for real, I'd bring an axe with me. That way if the *%@$@#s don't get me on landing, I can then at least deal with them before takeoff. ? Let us know how it goes over the hump. I'm still waiting for a proper DC-3/C-47 for MSFS, to do it the hard way. Or at least, as hard as it can be, without Ki-43's lurking around... Edited February 27, 2021 by AndyJWest
Retnek Posted February 27, 2021 Posted February 27, 2021 8 minutes ago, ZachariasX said: ... everybody knows the route goes to Dibrugharh (VEMN) on the other side of the Himalayas. Wise decision not to go further North. Going W from Canada there's bad weather all the time, neither the Gulf of Alaska nor Bering Sea allow a proper sight-seeing. IF there's good weather, the landscape is overwhelming beautiful. But there nearly never was. Insisting to fly I learned a lot about de-icing, NDB-navigation and the calming comfort of an ILS-approach. And how about those local US-/Canadian air-pressure mystifications? Faint memory - the difference might be important less than 100 feet above sea-level and still no waves in sight. Can't understand the Japanese in WW2 - why conquering group of islands when there's no weather suitable to fly over them?
Kapteeni Posted February 27, 2021 Posted February 27, 2021 i did have massive troubles, when reinstalling. I had to use Netlimiter, otherwise installation did stuck in a loop. Finally i got it working. I took a flight over Normandy and Arras plus Southern France. God i wish Great Battles would have houses and terrain Like that... Some areas in Normandy would be usable even if it is a modern sim. Maybe someday..
ZachariasX Posted February 27, 2021 Posted February 27, 2021 1 hour ago, Retnek said: Wise decision not to go further North. Going W from Canada there's bad weather all the time, neither the Gulf of Alaska nor Bering Sea allow a proper sight-seeing. Done that, seen it, didn't get a t-shirt. Crossing Greenland almost got me killed, it was beyond even the Barons capabilities. Now that i am underway in the C172, I have to be a tad more conservative. Then again, I did some Hurricane flying in the C152.
ZachariasX Posted February 28, 2021 Posted February 28, 2021 Further on in my world tour, my improvised escape from China. This led me over the hump tp VEMN, Dibrugarh. Weather looked slightly fishy, as clouds and high mountains do not mix well with small GA aircraft. Navigation will be problematic, as I did not use the GPS. There's VOR's and some NDB along the way. But as these beacons are line of sight, it will be mostly dead reckoning. i set no flight plan in the sim, as I needed to leave fast. But the little Navmap gives me what I need on the way. I just put some red war paint on that white C172 next to me, filled her to the gills and off I went. Made a takeoff along with a Cap 10, but I could not quiet keep up with her. I never spent much time in the C172. I kinda have seen that stock plane in MS' flight simulators. But that was what was at hands. After some circles getting adjusted with the steam gauges of the cockpit, I take a left toward the mountains, leaving Kunming behind. I keep on climbing to 10'000 ft. I might need any altitude that I can get later on. Butthese hills. I fly by dead reckoning toward my first waypoint, the VOR of Dali airport, Yunnan. I must be about half way, but no signal. Despite my altitide. I think the beacon must hide to the left next to the lake ahead, behind those hills. I definitely was blown nort of my route. something is odd. I finally receive the beacon and mainly use it now to set myself on the 288 radial "From". The next beacon is just an NDB that I can't use for directing the autopilot directly. But something is odd here. My bearing is off and the VOR points me in what seems a strange direction. Not far from Dali airport, a literal wall rises. I mean, grould level is at 7'000 ft. or so, and I am up at 12'000 and I try my best to get to at least 14'500 ft. The autopilot is odd as well. You press one time too much on ALT (hold), it wants to jump to the desired altitude and pulls up sharply from the set climb rate and let me stall out in process. But something else is really odd now, my bearings are totally off. Once I tamed the autopilot that seems to go off on a totally odd bearing, but at least level now, I figure out what happened. ASOBO modelled gyro drift in this aircraft, something the G1000 does not experience. I wind the repeater compass to align with the magnetic compass and suddenly all is dandy again. How nice. I venture on. 14'500 ft is what you need in minimum to get over the hump in remotely safe manner. That's the border to Burma. A wall again, literally. Two walls. Crossing into Burma, I see another wall rise that I have to cross to make it to India. 14'500 ft. is really what you need in minimum. I'm very grateful for the gorgeous weather. I don't want to think what could happen to me if things were just slightly bad. India! All downhill from here now, almost down to sea level. I soon receive the VOR of my destination airport and settle myself on radial matching the runway for direct approach. All easy now. All the way right into final approach, no hands. That went surprisingly well. Unexpected. I still have plenty fuel left. If you lean her properly and are sensible on throttle setting, that C172 goes a long way. Just 120ish knots ground speed though, not 180 like the Baron. I then decided to take advantage of the weather and do some high altitude landing. Yongphulla Airport in Bhutan (VQ10) shoul dbe open now. It is not all that far and the sky looked all bue in that direction. Conveniently enough, it has an NDB sitting next to it, I should find it without GPS. As usual, I don't mak ea flight plan in the sim, it just produces you a cheat in the Garmin. Two VOR and an NDB it is. I take off and make altitude as fast as I can, I set myself for 14'500 ft. again. Just crossing the Bogibeel Bridge to the west of the airport where I took off. A very easy flight, the VOR are received from afar. The mountains get do get very high again once I cross into Bhutan. Proceeding toward Yongphulla Airport, I can readily pick up the NDB signal. Not all of the NDB stations in MSFS seem to be working, but that one is. I use the 297° radial "From" from Tezpur Airport, where the VOR is located. It matches very well the direction to where the NDB points me. But soon, I have to switch to "Heading" on the autopilot to fl around the mountains. 14'500 ft. is not high enough to make it and I have little nerve to go to 16'000 ft. or so. This gets me off the radial, but I just use the heading selector to get me toward where the ADF points me. As the ADF needle flips around, I look down. Lo and Behold, I have arrived! The town to the right is Trashigang, you really can't make this one up. So I spent the weekend in Trashigang. As always for such airports, I come in relatively steep and fast. The runway is considerably sloped, so that is the direction you want to land. Ah, there's the trashy gang to take care of me. It's a great airport and has relatively often nice weather. I've done some flying around here using live weather and the sim usually gives it nice weather. But now I'm in for some sightseeing in town that is about an hours drive from here. ------------ Some debriefing: After the flight, I checked where I actually flew. On my first leg, you can see how much I deviated due to both wind and creep of the repeater compass. Also you can see where I fought the autopilot near my first waypoint. The second leg was far easier as I got used to the quirks of the instrumentation and because there is great signal coverage from both VOR and NDB. Only toward Yongphulla Airport I needed to deviate from course in order not to crash in the mountains. Having done that, I am really in awe at what the aviators of the 20's and 30's did when they were exploring the world by aircraft. flying those distance across climatic zones without navigation aids other than Mk.1 eyeballs, compass and a stopwatch is outwardly a monumental acievement. The BOAC pilots and their colleages really are unsung heroes. 5
DD_Arthur Posted February 28, 2021 Posted February 28, 2021 20 hours ago, ZachariasX said: Crossing into Laos. Vientiane is indeed a very basic settlement. I visited Vientiane in er....1992? We walked over the border with a local Thai guide - it involved fording a boulder strewn river - and got on a bus! No one said anything, no one seemed surprised and the centre of Vientiane is - or was - a rather acttractive example of French colonial architecture. I remember having lunch upstairs overlooking the centre of town, drinking Stella Artois and a bomb going off round the corner - yes really! One of our fellow diners, a Canadian guy who apparently worked for the UN offered us jobs on the spot helping to oversee the following years elections in Cambodia. We declined but he did give us the address of a very decent local hotel in which we stayed overnight before taking the bus back to the border the following day. Cornwall this morning; a short hop with Gina from St. Mawgan to RNAS Culdrose. 1 1
Hoots Posted March 1, 2021 Posted March 1, 2021 17 hours ago, DD_Arthur said: I visited Vientiane in er....1992? We walked over the border with a local Thai guide - it involved fording a boulder strewn river - and got on a bus! No one said anything, no one seemed surprised and the centre of Vientiane is - or was - a rather acttractive example of French colonial architecture. I remember having lunch upstairs overlooking the centre of town, drinking Stella Artois and a bomb going off round the corner - yes really! One of our fellow diners, a Canadian guy who apparently worked for the UN offered us jobs on the spot helping to oversee the following years elections in Cambodia. We declined but he did give us the address of a very decent local hotel in which we stayed overnight before taking the bus back to the border the following day. Cornwall this morning; a short hop with Gina from St. Mawgan to RNAS Culdrose. Arthur, need to have a little word with you about paint schemes... 1
Tektolnes Posted March 1, 2021 Posted March 1, 2021 Heading on from Nwetwe Pan towards Harare, Zimbabwe. Got myself a wheelbarrow full of a hundred trillion Zimbabwean dollar notes so I can buy an ice cream when I get there. Pretty meh weather along the way so not a huge amount to see. Though I did end up passing through this slightly unnerving rainbow thing which made me think I'd passed over into Death Stranding land. After that it was on to Lusaku and Lilongwe, the capitals of Zambia and Malawi respectively. Not much to see along the way apart from the usual MSFS looking great scenery. The last leg then was up to Mzuzu near the shores or Lake Malawi which is nearly 600km long and the 9th largest lake in the world by area. Decided to hop into the Mooney for some better sightseeing of the lake but the weather took a turn for the worse that morning so could barely see it. Not sure this is the way I should be going today... Finally get to see a bit of lake before coming into land at Mzuzu. 6
ZachariasX Posted March 1, 2021 Posted March 1, 2021 (edited) Next leg. From VQ10 to Lukla. They though that eurotrashy pilot better make a hike than making fun of them and they wouldn't sell me fuel for being as friendly as I was. Did I say weather was usually good at VQ10? Oh well, my bad. It was bad enough for noone being around, and once I found the fuely head in the dense fog, I put in some fuel in my plane that should take me to Lukla. I figured all these mountains should keep the weather away from Lukla. That was the plan. I would use the NDB "BT" to get somewhere near where I can tune in the VOR of Paro International Airport (VQPR) and from there to the VOR of Biratnagar Airport (VNVT) down in the low lands. From there, I take the right radial and up the valley to Lukla. I have flown around there in the sim a couple of times and I have some idea of how it should look like there. Nice weather did I say? It was bad enough that people didn't even bother to show up seeing me crash. At least, there was relatively little wind. Off I go. Nil visibility. Nil. I set the autopilot to heading and with full power opt for some 400 fpm climb. Hoping this gives me enough clearance for the mountains around me. But it is all I can do anyway. Sit and hope. At some point while climbing vislibiltity gets marginally better and... crappers!!! I climb as hard as I can, some 600 fpm. But up at about 12'000 ft., this aircrat struggles. No. No! NOnononoNOO!!! all I have is pitot heating! See snow, count to three and I am an ice cube! I then can count to ten and speed drops such that stall warning goes off, I was barely able to take a screenshot. I disengage autopilot and I do inherit a stalled out plane with full back trim. I focus on the artificial horizon push hard forward and trim forward. I have no idea what I am diving towards, but I do not have any choice. In a land of mostly 14'000 ft. mountains, I have to dive to about 8'000 ft. in the feeble hope that maybe there the crate will taw. As I tumble down, losing any sense of direction eventually the crate starts to taw and I see... I see... Oh NO! That just popped out of the fog. Yanking the crate around viloently to somewhere NOT that direction. As I drop further, more mountains appear. I Just try going south on the magnetic compass, away from the mountain range. At least the mountains are getting progressively lower and I can sink some more as well. I barely can make them in the fog. But at least the crate is not iced anymore. I live! Made it into the plains. Gelephu Airport (VQGP) must be somewhere in that rain. I have enough of all that and try to reestablish some order on my flightdeck. That was just luck that I lived all the way here. As I receive the VOR of Biratnagar Airport, I find my unwarranted courage again. It can't be that bad around Lukla. Once I arrive at Biratnagar Airport, I set a course of 339° that should bring me to Lukla, or at least up the right valley. I am very low now, about 5'000 ft. Lukla is higher. Much higher. As I venture up the valley with as much climb as possible, I get this bad feeling. "Mo' feelings!" somebody once said, but I have too much of that already. It is windy up here in this valley and it is windy enough for making it impossible for me to tell on which side I have updrafts and it looks like it might get a tad narrow if I make Luklas altitude in time. And then. Things happened. As soon as I am inside of a cloud again my crate froze over in an instant. Again I at once disengaged the autpoilot for not giving it too much time to wind the trim. Then POOFF the artificial hotizon tilts and gets stuck. Nil vosiblitity. And now the engine makes strange noises and I drop like a stone. The engine at idle RPM and there's nothing I can do about it. I am well aware that I have not that much air underneath me. At this point I am way too busy to even consider taking screenshots. The crate drops stalled out, nil visibility... and I get the "L VAC R" alert. The engine and static ports are frozen! I desperately try the alt vac switch.. ANY switch for that purropse, but to no avail. What is it now, ground before I drop out of a cloud.. or after... Then... I fall out of the cloud, and I spiral south and recover the aircraft. With the engine still on idle I can look out now for potential crash sites. Barely above the river an the trees, the engine picks up again and the VAC alert is off and I can properly look out of the windows again. The ice is gone. Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ! That was near. With the flight attitude, pilot attitude comes back. I find myself in the wrong valley, I made a right when I made a left. Yes, baby... this is where I want to go... and It gets nice weather. Or so it seems. The cloud cover is lifting and I can climb underneath as much as the Cessna gives me. Which is little, as winds are such that my fate is basically tied to updrafts. Worse, I find the oposite side of Lukla gives significant updraft. But after all that, my cognitive dissonance focusses on the good news, I can actually make the altitude to fly into the approach to Lukla. Halleluja... I made it. Or so it seems. I mean, look at that.. who would have thought the weather at Lukla being nice? I DID! Ha! As I venture toward the airfield on approach, a tad high and fast... the crate starts to sink at a rate that maxes out the variometer. I give full power, but I bleed a lot of speed. I smash down almost tail first on the first runway markings. CRASH. At least, all debris are on the runway. Oh well. I hope they do have a good hospital here. Dealing with trauma patients should be regular business here. In the meantime, I can think of what glue I will use to to put everything between the wingtips together again. So this is it. The one where I crashed. But quiet honestly, I didn't expect to crash on Luklas runway after everything that happened. I should have crashed in many other locations before that. So, where did I fly? Ok, easy to see how far I made it before I froze over the first time and had to escape the hills. Then one can see from where I could pick up the VOR BRT. It has a very long range. Somehow, I could never tune in to VEBD's VOR. Then My journey of the valley to Lukla. I took the 339° "FROM" radial from VNVT. This is about how exact you can set that steamgauge. And then one can see where things happened. But I must say, I am deeply impressed of this sim and its stock content. All these emergencies you only really got from payware stuff before. This stock Cessna is absolutely grand the way ASOBO made it. I can't believe I say that of a stock aircraft, you know, otherwhise meh since 1982. Edited March 1, 2021 by ZachariasX 5
DD_Arthur Posted March 1, 2021 Posted March 1, 2021 10 hours ago, Hoots said: Arthur, need to have a little word with you about paint schemes... Lol. It's authentic and very much of it's time. Very Benneton! 1
Lusekofte Posted March 1, 2021 Posted March 1, 2021 Lol I have no room for any more new sim's I was going to sell the hobeycomb throttle But it just is xool for fs 1
DD_fruitbat Posted March 2, 2021 Posted March 2, 2021 (edited) 16 hours ago, Hoots said: Arthur, need to have a little word with you about paint schemes... I'm afraid it's probably a result of his favourite curry house closing down. It's hit him hard....... Edited March 2, 2021 by DD_fruitbat 1 1
Gambit21 Posted March 2, 2021 Posted March 2, 2021 18 hours ago, Hoots said: Arthur, need to have a little word with you about paint schemes... This guy "Pedro" in the old 1946 sim used to fly around in a bright pink, "Hello Kitty" Spit. I think he put that scheme on a few planes. I used to love to shoot him down...I still remember vividly a few of them. Last one was a straight down, full vertical MK 108 up his kazoo.
ZachariasX Posted March 3, 2021 Posted March 3, 2021 Some upcoming Spitfire Mk.IX love for MSFS: It is actually interesting because he flew (in some parts) a very similar flight as I did in the real TR-9. Some comments: I LOVE the engine and cockpit sound. They captured that really well. That is how it should sound. Sent me almost back in the cockpit. The plane is too easy to control with the rudder alone. It will taxi straight if you let it go straight, but it will require you to control a turn a fair bit more, requiring you to dance a bit more on the pedals to keep her in the desired turns. And NO, you don't do much braking while taxiing, else, you'll have a lawnmower soon. The plane is too slow at 4 inches boost. At 4 inches and 2000 rpm she tops out at 240 mph (she goes very quickly to 180 mph and takes about a minute to reach 240), and not at 220 mph while having even 2200 rpm. The plane has a wrong trim and attitude. As in BoX, there is no downward elevator positions while flying level. She also also has too much nose up attitude. The nose should be more down by a couple of degrees. (Still less tan 5° I'd say.) Pushing the stick forward makes oil pressure drop to zero at once. Top speed is on the deck is on the slow side, but ok for non-competitive flight. But I guess it reflects the drag modelled in the plane's FM that is probably off. This is shown by the wrong airspeed at partial power. Roll is acurate (enough for the purpose). Wrong trim becomes apparent in landing. You drop flaps and gear at 110 mph. The plane will require 2 cm back pull on the stick because of the flaps. Gear lowering is neither heard of felt much (this is correct in the video). He flies an unsuitable approach. Going to about 100 mph, the plane drops rather steeply on idle. You don't want to drag on a flat, long approach. You can't really see where you are going. And that is a very unpleasant thing to do. What you do is you make a very gentle and relatively steep turn as a final apprach. This lets you see the runway next to the nose. During the approach, the nose will point slightly downward, but not enough to see he runway if you flew direct course. When crossing the runway threshold, you have maybe 90 mph or so indicated (not easy to check exactly now, as things happen quickly) and by now you have the stick about as far back as that it is flush with the empennage. It is NOT pointed upward yet. This is the moment where you absolutely have her straightened out along the runway direction. You cross your controls in case of any side wind and settle her on one wheel then, but you will never ever settle her crabwise as you can do with a Cessna. You would get hurt and so would your wallet. (Extremely so!) That is the moment where you can pull back further and she will settle down. Once she's all settled, that is when you have the stick back. You do never want to be in a moving Spitfire that is not about to take off without having the stick all the way in your lap. I don't think it is reasonably possible to flair out a Spitfire in a way that is certainly intuitive in that vid (or if you were flying a Cub). It is my impression that such AoA is hardly reached at speeds that enable safe maneuvering. Max. practical AoA is basically the angle she settles on a three wheeler. And this happens only for a very short moment, precisely when she setlles and in effect stopps flying. You'd be whoopsie-a-daisy if you'd settle her any faster than that. These aircraft really want you to do the perfect landing, else they hurt you or themselves. This is what makes them difficult. If you can do everything right just naturally, it's a very handy and sound aircraft. It is rather obvious that the real Spit has a weird trim by design. The far aft CoG makes her a bit particular. Also, I really begin to think that the indicated minimum flight speeds of PN are considerably lower than the actual airspeed and hence any Clmax of the aircraft. A Spit that shows you 80 mph indicated may well do 100. Maybe. This might influence any simulation derived from PN numbers. One should really check what these numbers really represent. Maybe @AnPetrovich wants to read that for entertainment purposes (it is all nothing but personal impression), as he's building us further Spits... 3 1
AndyJWest Posted March 3, 2021 Posted March 3, 2021 The amphibian XCub mod is out: ? I've only given it a quick test, but it looks promising. The nosewheel steering seems rather sensitive for runway takeoffs, and MSFS considered my first water landing a 'crash'. I managed to land it ok otherwise (both on the runway and on water) so it may have just been finger trouble, though I don't think I came down that hard. Download here: https://www.bushleaguelegends.com/addons/msfs/msfs-aircraft 4 2
Bremspropeller Posted March 3, 2021 Posted March 3, 2021 Cool site - especially the scenery. Thanks Andy!
ZachariasX Posted March 3, 2021 Posted March 3, 2021 1 hour ago, AndyJWest said: The amphibian XCub mod is out A Cub AND a boat, what could be better? 1
AndyJWest Posted March 3, 2021 Posted March 3, 2021 Another test flight: A long video, but it's nice scenery, even on a gloomy March day. 1
scram77 Posted March 3, 2021 Posted March 3, 2021 Did my first proper flight for a while tonight. loved the game when it first came out but with my 1060, the stutters finally got the better of me and I put the game to one side. I’ve upgraded to a 3070 along with VR recently so jumped straight into the game once again and was disappointed that the stutters were still present, albeit in VR this time. Once again I put the game to one side and concentrated on Il-2 and DCS for my VR flying dose. Today though I got the itch again by reading through this thread, so downloaded the latest patch and setting up a flight, this time using Trackir instead. A quick jaunt from Dundee to Edinburgh was enough to make me realise how incredible this game is, and got me thinking of routes to take over the coming months. So thank you all for regaling us with your worldly flying exploits on this thread, it gave me back the mojo I had lost for this game, and made me excited for where to go! 2 1
Lusekofte Posted March 4, 2021 Posted March 4, 2021 21 hours ago, scram77 said: using Trackir instead. I have a 1090 ti. I use VR in GB and most modules in DCS. I rather use application on phone and a extra screen than VR in fs 2020. Flying over a landscape you actually recognize, and is beautiful I simply cannot compromize with lower settings , also I find VR extremely uncomfortable in longer flights.
Tektolnes Posted March 4, 2021 Posted March 4, 2021 Corsair coming to MSFS very soon apparently via Milviz. Between this, the Spit IX, CRJ and Piper Arrow III there's a few interesting releases coming up shortly. 2 4
Hoots Posted March 5, 2021 Posted March 5, 2021 12 hours ago, 216th_LuseKofte said: I have a 1090 ti. I use VR in GB and most modules in DCS. I rather use application on phone and a extra screen than VR in fs 2020. Flying over a landscape you actually recognize, and is beautiful I simply cannot compromize with lower settings , also I find VR extremely uncomfortable in longer flights. Yeah, same. I have a 2070 and whilst it’s smooth enough the lack of detail when compared to the 2d view is just too much for me in FS2020. GB and DCS are vr only for me now.
Tektolnes Posted March 5, 2021 Posted March 5, 2021 FlyingIron Spit IXc released - €22 so had to have a nibble. Just did a short flight on my trip leg over Kilimanjaro. Take-off was squirrelly and just narrowly avoided totaling the plane inside 5 minutes. Climbing up over Gilman's Point nearly ended in disaster after I forgot to switch on the fuel pressure and starved the engine of fuel at the high altitudes but just about managed to get it switched on and restarted in time. Landing was worse than take-off - bounced all over the place and the less said about it the better. Need some practice time on these older birds after this past while on the modern ones where nearly everything is done for me. 3 1
DD_fruitbat Posted March 5, 2021 Posted March 5, 2021 49 minutes ago, Tektolnes said: FlyingIron Spit IXc released - €22 so had to have a nibble. Just did a short flight on my trip leg over Kilimanjaro. Take-off was squirrelly and just narrowly avoided totaling the plane inside 5 minutes. Climbing up over Gilman's Point nearly ended in disaster after I forgot to switch on the fuel pressure and starved the engine of fuel at the high altitudes but just about managed to get it switched on and restarted in time. Landing was worse than take-off - bounced all over the place and the less said about it the better. Need some practice time on these older birds after this past while on the modern ones where nearly everything is done for me. Mmmm, Spitfire! Whats the cockpit like ?
AndyJWest Posted March 5, 2021 Posted March 5, 2021 My last world trip leg took me from Wewak, PNG, to Sentani, just over the border in Western Papua. A simple enough trip, until I got to Sentani. Low cloud was forming, and I think I got there just in time. MSFS live weather at its best: I can see my end of the runway fine, but the far end is hidden in rain. Fortunately it's a long runway... Sentani is one of those airports where thinking in advance about what you'll do if you have to go around is wise - note mountain to the right, and there is more high ground ahead. 3 1
ZachariasX Posted March 5, 2021 Posted March 5, 2021 4 minutes ago, DD_fruitbat said: Whats the cockpit like ? See the vid in the previous page. 1
Tektolnes Posted March 5, 2021 Posted March 5, 2021 1 hour ago, DD_fruitbat said: Whats the cockpit like ? Overall very nice to my eyes. There's a few things that could be sharpened up a little like the engine/speed table text and I noticed for example that the boost coil cover and fuel cock lever mesh into each other. But I'm not a zealot in this area - when sitting back at normal view it looks a very nice cockpit in my opinion. Here's a quick zoomed in view I took though (the primer doesn't look like that in game - some screenshot artifact): 1
Feathered_IV Posted March 6, 2021 Posted March 6, 2021 Very interested in that Corsair. I’m making my way up through the Southwest Pacific at the moment so it looks like just the thing.
danielprates Posted March 6, 2021 Posted March 6, 2021 2 hours ago, Feathered_IV said: so it looks like just the thing... ... to make your wife a widow. 1
Tektolnes Posted March 6, 2021 Posted March 6, 2021 9 hours ago, danielprates said: to make your wife a widow He's into flight sims and gaming. She'd probably barely register the difference at this point. 1
Lusekofte Posted March 6, 2021 Posted March 6, 2021 11 hours ago, Feathered_IV said: Very interested in that Corsair. I’m making my way up through the Southwest Pacific at the moment so it looks like just the thing. Funny enough, I rather have the Corsair than the Spit. I do not know why, it might be the fact that Spit is available in all sims and Corsairs in a few old ones 4
DD_Arthur Posted March 7, 2021 Posted March 7, 2021 (edited) Okay, I succumbed. I'm actually waiting on Just Flight's Mk. I but like '109's; you can never have enough Spitfires. My first flight; from St. Just to Culdrose. If you have experience of the DCS Mk. IX then this will be very familiar. Set rudder and elevator trim for take off and be prepared to use that rudder! Sounds are actually better than are reproduced here. Engine response is better than the GBS offering but not quite on a par with DCS; i.e. close the throttle and it bleeds off speed oh so slowly. Ground handling on landing is a bit wonky but I have a feeling this is more to do with the mechanics of the sim at the moment rather than the 'plane itself. More subjectivity but I feel cockpit textures and flight model, especially low speed and landing characteristics are on a lower level than GBS offerings. Especially for VR where I feel GBS has nailed the way to do believable cockpits. One question; is it me or does this Spitfire seem more generously endowed in the fuselage department than other Spitties....? Edited March 7, 2021 by DD_Arthur 4
AndyJWest Posted March 8, 2021 Posted March 8, 2021 Exploring the XCub amphibian's capabilities. They probably don't see a lot of these here. ? Almost came a cropper on approach. Sloping runways can be deceptive, and it's easy to get too low and find yourself having to climb to the threshold. Not a good idea flaps and wheels down in an aircraft without a lot of excess power at this altitude. 2
ZachariasX Posted March 8, 2021 Posted March 8, 2021 56 minutes ago, AndyJWest said: Exploring the XCub amphibian's capabilities. They probably don't see a lot of these here. ? Great place for a boat! You know, just when they thought they've seen it all, there comes Andy. After I slammed my Cessna in that runway and spent some time at the local veterinary's, I had to look for another plane. It was another Cessna 172, DA-CHOPPA. As I didn't intend to speend too much time there, I decided to leave as soon as possible. My next stop would be in New Dehli, VIDP. There seem to be some clouds around Lukla, but nothing serious. The idea was that I fly first to Tribhuvan International Airport (Kathmandu) and then proceed more at the foot of the Himalayas. I've seen enough high mountain flying in a 172. If the weather is not perfect, you're in a coffin, as simple as that. Leaving the briefing room, I hopped in my new old ride and... and... ...saw not really the weather I was hoping for. But being familiar with the area, I know that if I take a left after the runway, I have some minutes time until I would run into something hard, plenty time to find good weather. Going over the edge is passing the point of no return, just to see that the event horizon is sitting at the end of the runway. There's nothing I can do now but take chances. Just about three minutes of total whiteout after takeoff. Could have been worse. But I can see now that a direct route to Kathmandu is gonna be difficult. I am working the Heading Bug to aim bewteen the mountain tops while climbing with everything I have and still I have to lift my but passing over them. I have to detour a bit. But at least there's no precipitation and no icing. Fingers crossed. I finally reach Kathmandu, flying in that tiny slot between clouds and mountain tops. It's a nice airport. I'll have to revisit that one later with a larger plane. But now I turn away from the mountains. Those mountains look better from a slight distance. On approach to Dehradun (VIDN), the city of Mayakund just below me. From here, the ladscape is as flat as it is boring. Boring thanks to blue skies. ILS approach on Indira Gandhi International Airport, a IFR only airport. By now I am rather familiar with these gauges. I don't use the GPS and I don't enter a flight plan, I just print the chart form Little NavMap. That's enough. What is odd however is that the repeater compas has a nice creep that mosty occurs while turning the aircraft. The internal heading for the autopilot however seems to be wired to a magnetic compass that doesn't get confused, You can then wind the heading bug back to match your actual flying course. It is easier than looking up the course on the whisky compass. I have never done such in a real aircraft so i don't really know if that is correct or not. Anyway. Where di I actually fly? Past Kathmandu it got easy. Before that, not so. A 1000 km is about the distance you can cover in the 172 if the weather is not too foul. This brings me to my next leg, New Dehli (VIDP) to Kabul (OAKB) via Islamabad. The weather is good, and I better make use of it. But as soon as I spawned on the runway, I was told by the tower to contact ground services as this was an IFR airport (and GTFO). Who cares? I took off and marvelled at Indias diverse landscape on the way to Pakistan. The have squares in all shades of green, brown and yellow, look: Green with fawn squares. Mostly fawn squares with dark squares. Oh, the added some RLM 71 to the platte. Colors are getting really weird now. Ah, I'm crossing into Pakistan. Triangulating some radials puts me somewhere near Lahore. Venturing on to Islamabad, the landscape is more an more desert like. I don't waste any time over Islamabad but soldier on to Peschawar. They do have some impressive dams though. But my main concern is the weather now. It's getting iffy. Peschawar. Another huge, flat, faceless city. But much to my concern, the cloud ceiling is dropping and I see mountains rising on the horizon. But I assume that I have sufficiant height and I risk to fly into the clouds occasionally... ...which almost made me run into that mountain, it just popped out of the cloud soon enough to yank the aircraft around. BEWARE OF MOUNTAINS east of Peschawar! I must fly around them, as I cannot climb over them, I am too close. Then I go back on course, hoping to catch some beacon in Afghanistan. But then suddenly settlements change into these walled stone compunds. These are not gated cummunities, these are walled shacks. It looks like I've arrived in the stone age. I check the maps and yes, I just crossed into Afghanistan. That I don't get any beacons from Kabul is a problem. These are line of sight and if I don'r receive the closer beacon, then there must be another mountain in between. I can't be too far from Kabul, but how deserted is this place. Like the moon. Somewhere underneath this fat cloud in th distance is Kabul. And finally, the only beacon I can dial in from there is the ILS beacon. I can't really see where I am going but I hope the beacon will not make me fly into a mountain. The auto pilot makes an intercept that is darn close to these hills. Just inbetween those hills ahead, there should be Kabul. This is freakin' twilight zone. The auto pilot was right. There it is. With this weather I really don't feel much like sightseeing. I better make it to the ground alive. Made it, finally. Half of the trip and for the most part in Afghanistan it's just dead reckoning (or GPS). Spoiler This is one weird place. Half of the trip and for the most part in Afghanistan it's just dead reckoning (or GPS). From here, over the Hindu Kush to Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan. I am lucky having made it this far. 5
Lusekofte Posted March 8, 2021 Posted March 8, 2021 Bought the L19 I was too tempted not to. Landed in Thames and well that was fun. I noticed weird window reflection on left side, but enjoyable plane
AndyJWest Posted March 8, 2021 Posted March 8, 2021 @ ZachariasX: Yeah, I looked at what the live weather was going to be like at Lukla, via Windy.com, and decided to give it a miss. Though even using custom settings I had to mess around a bit to get there. First, I'd got clouds at airport level, and after I sorted that out, I still managed to ice the XCub windscreen up. Fortunately, engaging active pause and then bumping the air temperature right up rapidly defrosted it. As for flying boats (well, floatplanes) in the mountains, they do offer some nice options. Volcanic caldera lakes in particular. Anyone looking for a spectacular example should try Lake Segara Anak, on Lombok, Indonesia. If I ever accumulate enough dosh to become a Bond Villain, I'm going to use it as my secret base. ? 2 1 1 1
ZachariasX Posted March 9, 2021 Posted March 9, 2021 8 hours ago, AndyJWest said: If I ever accumulate enough dosh to become a Bond Villain, I'm going to use it as my secret base. ? You sure bring along a shovel to hollow it out. That float Cub is really cool.
AndyJWest Posted March 9, 2021 Posted March 9, 2021 Another nice challenge for the XCub amphibian. The lake's not very big (1,900 ft along its major axis), and has trees on the approach making the effective length even shorter. You only get one attempt, since there's no real chance of going around. Taking off again is relatively simple. I'll not say where it is for now Brits at least ought to be able to guess where it is. You may well have flown past it at high speed. ? 1
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