Tako_Kichi
October 2nd, 2009, 17:48
After I made my BC Tour a while back a few of you asked for a New England Tour, since then I have been busy with the beta testing for the A2A Cub and completing my Italian Tour so I have only just had a chance to look at New England.
I was a bit overwhelmed when I first looked at all the airports in New England as there are 460 of them! How was I supposed to make an interesting tour out of all that lot! It has taken me two FULL days to come up with an answer (it's a good job I am stuck at home 24/7 ;) ) and hopefully it will keep everyone happy.
I decided there were just too many airports to make a single tour as most people (me included) would get bored before they were halfway though it, so I split it up into THREE tours! :jump:
They are.......
New England Airports Tour - 102 legs
This is designed to be flown in larger GA aircraft, Warbirds and smaller commercial aircraft (heck you could even use tubes if you wanted but the legs are a bit short for those IMHO). All airports have asphalt/concrete runways in excess of 3,000 ft.
New England Airfields Tour - 280 legs
This is designed to be flown in smaller GA aircraft and Warbirds and would really suit STOL aircraft (Cub/Kodiak/Maule/Beaver pilots take note!) All airfields have either grass or gravel strips or asphalt/concrete runways of less than 3,000 ft.
New England Waterports Tour - 78 legs
This is designed to be flown in floaters or amphibians (Cub/Kodiak/Beaver/Catalina etc.). All airports have water runways.
The flight plans are attached in a zip file. Follow the instructions below to load a specific flight plan:
1. Download the attached zip file and save it to a safe location on your computer, then unpack it.
2. Move the three 'xxx.PLN' files to the same location that FSX uses when you save a flight plan (in XP that would be 'C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\My Documents\Flight Simulator X Files' ....in Vista it is apparently 'C:\Your Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files').
3. Start FSX, go to the 'Free Flight' screen then select your initial aircraft, the time and season and your weather preferences (I use REX2 real weather to add some variety during the tour).
4. When you have the above set click on the 'Flight Planner' button then click on the 'Load' button at the bottom of the screen. Navigate to the New England Tour of choice (airports, airfields or waterports) and double-click it.
5. Click on the 'Find Route' button and you should see the start and finish airports but no waypoints yet.
6. Click on the 'Load' button on this window and reload the SAME FLIGHT PLAN as before. You should now see the entire flight plan with all the waypoints showing.
7. Click on 'OK' and then click on 'YES' on the notification pop-up window.
8. Click on 'Fly Now' when you are ready to start the tour.
9. When you reach a point where you want to stop for that session simply save your flight with a suitable name and it will also save the flight plan at your current location. When you want to continue the tour simply reload the saved flight using the 'Load' button on the 'Free Flight' screen and the GPS will already have the flight plan in it and will show the next leg to fly.
Hopefully a few of you will give them a try and maybe even leave feedback as to what you think of the tour(s). ;)
I was a bit overwhelmed when I first looked at all the airports in New England as there are 460 of them! How was I supposed to make an interesting tour out of all that lot! It has taken me two FULL days to come up with an answer (it's a good job I am stuck at home 24/7 ;) ) and hopefully it will keep everyone happy.
I decided there were just too many airports to make a single tour as most people (me included) would get bored before they were halfway though it, so I split it up into THREE tours! :jump:
They are.......
New England Airports Tour - 102 legs
This is designed to be flown in larger GA aircraft, Warbirds and smaller commercial aircraft (heck you could even use tubes if you wanted but the legs are a bit short for those IMHO). All airports have asphalt/concrete runways in excess of 3,000 ft.
New England Airfields Tour - 280 legs
This is designed to be flown in smaller GA aircraft and Warbirds and would really suit STOL aircraft (Cub/Kodiak/Maule/Beaver pilots take note!) All airfields have either grass or gravel strips or asphalt/concrete runways of less than 3,000 ft.
New England Waterports Tour - 78 legs
This is designed to be flown in floaters or amphibians (Cub/Kodiak/Beaver/Catalina etc.). All airports have water runways.
The flight plans are attached in a zip file. Follow the instructions below to load a specific flight plan:
1. Download the attached zip file and save it to a safe location on your computer, then unpack it.
2. Move the three 'xxx.PLN' files to the same location that FSX uses when you save a flight plan (in XP that would be 'C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\My Documents\Flight Simulator X Files' ....in Vista it is apparently 'C:\Your Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files').
3. Start FSX, go to the 'Free Flight' screen then select your initial aircraft, the time and season and your weather preferences (I use REX2 real weather to add some variety during the tour).
4. When you have the above set click on the 'Flight Planner' button then click on the 'Load' button at the bottom of the screen. Navigate to the New England Tour of choice (airports, airfields or waterports) and double-click it.
5. Click on the 'Find Route' button and you should see the start and finish airports but no waypoints yet.
6. Click on the 'Load' button on this window and reload the SAME FLIGHT PLAN as before. You should now see the entire flight plan with all the waypoints showing.
7. Click on 'OK' and then click on 'YES' on the notification pop-up window.
8. Click on 'Fly Now' when you are ready to start the tour.
9. When you reach a point where you want to stop for that session simply save your flight with a suitable name and it will also save the flight plan at your current location. When you want to continue the tour simply reload the saved flight using the 'Load' button on the 'Free Flight' screen and the GPS will already have the flight plan in it and will show the next leg to fly.
Hopefully a few of you will give them a try and maybe even leave feedback as to what you think of the tour(s). ;)