The Windsor's Watering Hole [Archive]

October 20th, 2009, 07:57

The Hotel Windsor, Melbourne, Victoria

This thread is dedicated to our London-Melbourne pilots who wish to sit down, have a drink, and spin a few yarns.

The Melbourne Centenary officials have persuaded the managers of the prestigious Hotel Windsor to provide our pilots with carte blanche at the establishment's bar. So tell your tales, post your screenshots, and enjoy.

Providing detailed accounts of your adventures and experiences will be much appreciated by the gang. We have so very many distinctive aircraft—and will fly in different sorts of weather and over different sorts of terrain—that it will be a treat to see how things work out for our fellows.

srgalahad

October 20th, 2009, 17:03

Well goodness.. look at all those planes. The press says that it's just to dangerous to fly in those crowded skies and they may be right!

Godspeed to all and watch out for them hills

Rob

Willy

October 20th, 2009, 19:35

It was pretty darn foggy at Hof Germany when I landed there. I was never so glad to see a set of runway lights. The winds over Europe are mostly from the south and yall be carefull up there.

buzzbee

October 20th, 2009, 20:29

We got off on a very early morning start. Nice sunrise on the other side of The Channel and Rotterdam. Made the coast of Europe about where I planned on it.

salt_air

October 21st, 2009, 05:24

I still associate the duenna with the RTW and I guess whenever I see it running in the corner of my eye, it's just ingrained to run a RTW pre-takeoff checklist just prior to pushing the throttle(s) forward to start the takeoff roll .

One of the last things I do (RTW) is to hit the sync time and date button. Well Einstein,,,,guess what all that will do for you on this trip???

0630GMT is just as dark as 2000GMT and I didn't notice the mistake until I was making way across the "Channel", eastbound eagerly awaiting the sunrise over the horizon which of course NEVER showed up and afforded me a night flight on the first leg,,,like it or not.

I normally love to fly at night, especially in the more populated areas of the world and this was no exception after I got over the button-blunder I had made on takeoff.

A couple of times it got just a bit nerve racking when the vis went to absolute zero and I was in a terrain situation and already tuned to the last NAV-AID before having to start descent.

Lucky enough it cleared just before it was time to throttle back. Still it was a good flight, lots of fun with some great company on TS.

PRB

October 21st, 2009, 15:47

Completed the first leg. The weather was a lot nicer than I expected the North Atlantic (more or less) to be in October. Perfect visibility. Spotted the airport at Paris, both the one I was supposed to land on, as well as the big giant one a little to the east, from 20 miles out, at 9000 feet. Flew past that tower too. Got some Kodaks.

srgalahad

October 22nd, 2009, 08:32

Well, a couple of hectic days as the entrants got off to a flying start. Seems there are a few who are in a huge rush to go hunting 'roo as they have raced off into the Arabian desert ahead of the pack.

A few stragglers are still tinkering with their mounts in the English autumn but out of the 37 possible entrants a large number has already launched. Of those, while not really competing, the Team Melrose group has forged ahead into the rain in Spain.. err France. Hoorah! to those daring young men in their brand new Puss moth! Truly, this is a magnificent test of aeronautical daring, bravery and engineering!

Hopefully we'll soon see more photos and telegrams posted on the Windsor's walls.

Taco

October 22nd, 2009, 08:56

:running:Here are some more pictures of my flight into LIRA. One thing about the last few flight the weather has been the same, from poor to bad. Hopefullly, it will get better as we continue.

Willy

October 22nd, 2009, 10:35

Had a good flight into Bucharest Romania yesterday. I was planning on continuing on, but got held up overnight. Good thing that I brought along some garlic, a cross and some silver bullets as I ran into this character.....

PRB

October 22nd, 2009, 15:27

Had a pleasant flight from Paris to Lyon. The weather was not quite as good as yesterday’s Channel Crossing weather, but I can’t complain. Got my first glimpse of terrain other than flatness as I flew over the low hills of central France. As we got closer to Lyon, there appeared traces of a mighty mountain range far away to the east…

Kodaks: 1) Flying over one of my check points. In this case the airport at Auxeere. 2) Descending decently towards Lyon, and over the Rhone River. 3) Final approach to LFLY.

October 22nd, 2009, 15:30

One beautiful aircraft, that Lockheed.

salt_air

October 22nd, 2009, 18:03

A few more shots as I crossed the Black Sea, all of Turkey, and caught a corner of the Mediterranean (Gulf of Iskenderun to be exact) just before landing in Syria...all in the same flight.

Any past flights through here must have been at night (RTW) and at higher altitudes. Can't say that I remember how nice the landclass is for this area.

Good size set of mountains in Turkey (Taurus Mountains). Didn't notice them in the initial planning.....hehehe....good thing I was in "attendance" when the Vega crept up on them as they were quite a bit higher than I was flying (10000'). They reminded me of the Andes a little,,,,having to hand negotiate some of the gorges. Lucky they crossed my path and weren't a part of it.

At one point I was close enough to the ground to actually reach out of the plane and pick what appeared to be a pomegranate....[True Story]....

[I had second thoughts about eating it and instead wound up tossing it out the window at a chap that was shaking his fist at the plane as I flew over his house,,,,,caught him right in the kisser.]

I'll stop writing now and put up some more shots I took of the landscape, mostly screenies, but will notice a few photos I was able to take by hand of some of the locals and their fascinating surroundings.

Enjoy

Moses03

October 22nd, 2009, 19:00

Some nice shots so far. :applause:

Had a nice and uneventful 900 mile run in "Miss Electra" to Yugoslavia, to kick things off. Lucked out with the weather having a slight tailwind and mostly clear skies. Even the Alps seemed gentle under these conditions. Enjoying the ample NDBs while they last!

Screenies of:
1) Leaving Mildenhall
2) Somewhere over Germany
3) Alps Looming

Willy

October 22nd, 2009, 21:03

Landed at the Bagdad checkpoint for the night. The CDM needs looked at after over 2000nm and I think my Duenna might be busted.

Did get a good sundown approach shot...

EdGeneer

October 22nd, 2009, 21:57

LRBS-OSAP, DC3

some turbulence, rode most of it at 10K. interestingly enough, austin (salt_air) mentioned having to jump 12k to get over mountains, I got lucky, i made as straight a run as I could, and apparently just east enough to not have to go over 11k. however, 5 10 10nm to the west and i would have to get up alot more than 12k, and a good thing it was clear. The mountain range extended a good 50 nm and in bad weather would have been a buzz-kill with the accentuation on the word kill...

I got lucky, and need to pay more attention to terrain in the event of the spontaneous 2nm visibility effect or better yet, normal cloud cover...

To top it all off, I was running my mouth on TS and didnt decend fast enough and slightly overshot the airfield needing a teardrop decent to get it down. smooth landing... but long runways lend themselves to good landings...

http://www.coxguitarrepair.com/rr/ss_2_01.jpg

October 23rd, 2009, 05:41

Spent a pleasant day over Central Europe enjoying the scenery. The constantly shifting headwinds made for a busy afternoon as the best winds and altitude were difficult to find.

Dawn breaks over the Channel as the adventure begins.
The Mew over Holland.
A bright day over the charming German countryside.
Beautiful Nuremburg off to the right. The 1930s? Wonder if the government is putting on an event? Perhaps an inspirational rally?
The Danube as it comes coursing out of the mountains.
High skies and sun over the plains of Hungary.
Bucharest flare.

MaddogK

October 23rd, 2009, 06:21

It was still raining last night at LIBR so I decided to stay another night and let the crew try to get my fuel gauge working. I'm wondering if it's time to install that weird 'driftmeter' gauge and wind gauge, Naaa. No pics yet as all I've managed to grab were night flights- for those who haven't guessed yet I'm flying real (local) time as well as live weather, and no desire to island hop in the dark. I'll resume my adventure at dawn tomorrow (local LIBR time) and try to make Baghdad by nightfall.

Willy

October 23rd, 2009, 21:19

Left Baghdad for Kuwait and just after I landed there, this Kuwaiti sheik came over and was admiring my Skymaster just a bit too much, so I quickly refueled and headed on down the coast to Bahrain while I still had it. The nerve of the guy, telling me I should sell him the Cessna and buy a plane ticket to Australia with the money! I got out of there before he "made me an offer I couldn't refuse".

Moses03

October 23rd, 2009, 21:52

A few screenies from the Yugoslavia to Cyprus segment.

1) Climbing out from Belgrade
2) The bright blue Aegean Seashore
3) Shot of panel. I like how the kneeboard planner compares your flight time with the estimated time for each NDB station.
4) Cyprus coming into view after a long flight fighting the yoke.

PRB

October 24th, 2009, 05:52

A fun filled flight from Marseille to Rome. Took off at 09:00ish and headed east, and soon found myself over the great Mediterranean Sea, headed towards the island of Corsica. Flew over the bay south of Bastia, which I used as a navigation checkpoint, then on to Italy and a landing in Rome, but not before buzzing the Pope’s house. I hope he isn’t angry about that. Weather, once again, was perfect, with even a tail wind at times.

Kodaks: 1) The geology of southern France, 2) Goodbye France, 3) Hello Corsica, 4) Calvi Bay, Corsica. 5) Rome!

PRB

October 24th, 2009, 07:49

Made it to Brindisi (LIBR) without incident. There are thunderstorms across southern Italy, if anyone is headed that way.

Taco

October 24th, 2009, 09:28

Darn PRB, The Pope can't be mad at you, I think he is on your side, it seem you get all the good weather. Now me, I have had bad weather from the UK to Greece I knew I should have put more in the collection plate.

Taco

Dangerousdave26

October 24th, 2009, 11:26

The start of the leg was what was planned for but the rest was just difficult.

The trip threw the Alps was turbulent at one point I had a 180 degree 18kts wind shift that launched me up almost 200'. Putting me closer to the altitude cap of 12,000 than I cared to be.

Visibility and winds starting about 400nm from LGAT were conspiring against me. First I could not go down to the lower altitudes because head winds were robbing me of speed. Up higher they were crosswinds but I had to contend with lower power settings because of drop in manifold pressure.

Later the winds below were more favorable but I could not go down because visibility was the standard 6.2nm. Again this forced me up higher and in the 20 to 30 kts head wind / cross wind.

The last three hours were more challenging because I could not get myself in a position to increase my speed but we made it.

October 24th, 2009, 11:31

Quite an adventure, Dave. Congratulations on getting through the thick stuff and getting the job done.
:icon29:

epwatson

October 24th, 2009, 13:40

Well I managed to get my first leg in for the modern class.

Had my brand new Cirrus SR22 delivered yesterday sans Air Conditioning :(.
After I striped her of all the non-essentials, I loaded her up with fuel, stuck a nice keg of Guinness in the back and was set to go.

I got her up and going no problem, had nice 30 knot tailwinds over the English Channel (well 20ish nm north of it). Got her up to about 17,000 feet where i was nice and comfortable and turbulence was less, although it was still a bit bumpy.

My original plan was to land in Hungary however as i got closer to it, my engine instruments informed me that i would have about an hour of fuel remaining when landing in Hungary. As I got closer i tried to find another airfield i could get to, so I decided to push on to Romania. I then selected an airport in Romania and push on.

As I closed in on Romania my fabulous tailwinds turned into a headwind. My ETE between my current position and my destination was about 50 minutes at that point and my Fuel remaining was about 55 minutes. For fear of running out of fuel I leaned out the mixture a little more to get the fuel flow down to about 18GPH.

It was a fabulous flight, lots of fun. Flew on AVSIM MP and chatted with a few AVSIM folks.

Here are some screenies.

As you can see my fuel was extremely low.. :)

Milton Shupe

October 24th, 2009, 14:12

Neat results HERE (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?p=276607#post276607)

Milton Shupe

October 24th, 2009, 14:15

bpfowler

October 24th, 2009, 22:02

great shots and wild ride,DD.
nice vc in the moth. can one customize the vc on this dh80?

Dangerousdave26

October 25th, 2009, 05:38

Yes the VC is very user friendly in this model. It loads up fine in FS Panel Studio. I added the Driftmeter and Dual RMI to the panel to keep from having my add on navigation panel from popped up all the time.

This is not really completely accurate as the Puss Moth had no electrical system so it could not have run any radios.

I had a crack crew install a simple wind driven generator and battery to run my radio system. :icon_lol: (not really it was already in the aircraft.cfg file)

For NDB navigation the Dual RMI and drift gauge are not optional. You must know where you are in relation to NDB's around you (preferably two of them one on each side) and you must know what direction you are going because of the effect wind will have on the aircraft.

It seems that flying never happens in a true straight line.

With all of this said...

Dang there is no way I would fly this plane from London to Melbourne with out Radios. That's just crazy talk. :isadizzy:

bpfowler

October 25th, 2009, 06:04

Thanks Dave. got my real wx online last nite. dont think I can make this race, but might some duennna tests for practice. You inspired me, but as Milton ahs pointed these sim flights amplify the feat of Melrose; how did he pull off these flights without radio nav? Using the original instruments I can barely get from scotland to ireland in a straight line. :-p

cheerio
brady

PRB

October 25th, 2009, 06:50

Flew from Brindisi (LIBR), in southern Italy, to Athens, Greece (LGAT). The weather on this leg was a bit more “dynamic” than it has been so far. That, and the Pindos Mountains of Greece combined to make quite an interesting flight. They go almost up to about 9000 feet you know. Almost. I know that because that’s how high I was and I almost bumped into a fine example of Greece’s geology. There couldn’t have been much more than 500 feet of “radio altimeter” between the bottom of the Lockheed and the trees on top of the hill. But the real fun began when I arrived in the airspace around Athens. I hadn’t been paying full and complete attention to my navigation duties for some time, you see, but I had set ADF1 to a long-range station nearby LGAT, and ADF2 to the 22 NM station even closer to LGAT. Well, time just kind of flew by, if you know what I mean, and by the time I turned my attention back out the window, I could see a huge airport directly ahead. I knew I was looking for a large airport with parallel runways, and this one fit that “general description.” I was about to start down when I remembered landing at the wrong airport at Singapore one time long ago… So I got the binoculars out and put the L9 into a steep turn. I focused the glasses down over the left wing at the end of the runway 9000 feet below, fully expecting to see “33” painted on one end and “15” on the other. What I saw instead was “21” and “3”. What the… I put the Orion’s wings back level, and looked around frantically for another airport. Nothing. I punched the autopilot button, and opened the chart box, looking for the one with Greece on it. Not grease, mind you, but Greece. They all have grease on them, after all. After tossing several useless charts around the cockpit I found the right one. Ha! This giant airport was LGAV! LGAT is south, and behind me (doh!) I stabbed the auto-pilot button again, nudged the power up and stood the little Lockheed on her right wing. There! On the coast! Surely that is LGAT! I chopped the power and began my descent. I decided to fly over the field and visually confirm the numbers here too. As I got closer, I noticed there were no numbers on any of the runways, but there were big “X”s painted on both ends… Closed? Huh? This can’t be LGAT either! But I turned and flew parallel to the runways and looked at the compass – 150. This had to be it! Well, closed or not, I snuck in and landed. It was indeed LGAT, and it’s closed. I parked the L9 inside a deserted hanger for the night and went to find a bar to hang out in.

Kodaks: 1) The geology of Greece. 2) Hells bells, what airport is this? 3) LGAT or bust and hide the Lockheed!

Bry Rosier

October 25th, 2009, 07:03

Well arrived at Gwadar Intl and a welcome relief to go for a paddle in the sea , not seen the coast since crossing the channel a long time ago . Has been a pleasant journey so far . Had a little argument in Bucharest when the ground Marshalls bought me to a stop well short of our parking location !! The signaller crossed his arms above his head informing me to stop , which I duly did , and on exiting the plane and discussing the event in somewhat broken english , it appears it wasn`t time to stop , he was merely covering his eyes from the horrific, blinding glare from the "Citrus" paintwork :) no problems since then , reasonable winds and generally good viz at the airports

PRB

October 25th, 2009, 07:08

Bry, is that a drift meter you've got screwed to the instrument panel of your brightly painted Savoia? That's cool! Where did you find it?

Bry Rosier

October 25th, 2009, 07:30

I wish it was Paul , but it doesn`t move and is only fitted to the Torpedo version , so I guess it is a static "Range finder" for targetting the enemy :(

PRB

October 25th, 2009, 07:50

Ah... Too bad! Thanks, Bry!

Willy

October 25th, 2009, 11:49

Meanwhile back at Mildenhall.......

PRB

October 25th, 2009, 12:57

Mediterranean crossing: 1) Arriving over Nikos Kazantzakis airport (LGIR), Crete. 2) Akrotiri Air Base, Cyprus (LCRA). Actually, you can’t see the airport in that shot, but it’s on that peninsula sticking out to the south. 3) In the soup! Heavy duty haze over the eastern Mediterranean. 4) Final approach to Beirut (OLBA).

October 25th, 2009, 17:24

Three flights between the Baghdad and Allahabad checkpoints. Some Kodacks.

Haze covered Iraq as I left Baghdad, making for a nerve-racking day. There were no live NDBs going southward and ended up having to go visual through Basra and the coast. Decided to abort to Bushehr, discretion being the better part of valor. And the promise of better cuisine than Jask.
Dawn departure the next morning in the cozy Mew cockpit.
Strange smokestacks on the outer edge of Bushehr. The authorities the night before said it would be better if a Britisher kept his eyes and ears closed and his mouth shut. New chemical plant?
The sun rises over the Iranian mountains ahead. The Mew does not like altitudes, so need to keep at 7,000 wherever possible.
Many peaks at just above the critical altitude, many obscured with the little white puffy clouds. Made for some anxious moments.
Some dark granite-filled clouds ahead--had to quickly bank to the left to avoid some solid parts of the darkness.
Eventually, the terrain dropped below critical altitude and one could admire the swirling formations above.
Happy to see clear weather in Karachi--not the usual state.
Over Rajasthan and crossing the Aravalli Range. You can see Mount Abu in the distance. The Gura Shikhar peak hosts both a Hindu shrine and a scientific observatory. Modern India!

Willy

October 25th, 2009, 19:18

The first leg in the Twin Beech is done. Mildenhall to Marseilles bypassing Paris and Lyon. On to Italy! (tomorrow)

EdGeneer

October 25th, 2009, 21:34

The hills of Southern Iran...

Gorgeous morning flight over Iran, 12knot tailwind most of the leg into Jask. Few clouds, less turbulence and steady tailwind....

I'll take this for the whole race, Thank You....

http://www.coxguitarrepair.com/rr/ss_3_01.jpg

Bry Rosier

October 26th, 2009, 14:22

A planned routine flight from Rangoon down to Singapore turned into anything but... Nice smooth departure and headed for the Myeik ndb , climb to 9000`and hit a little turbulence and a small thunderstorm , then cleared up through Myanmar and Thailand passing the ndb`s as planned . Then passing the Samui NDB i could see more storm clouds looming , then WALLOP.... 1 1/2 hrs of the most violent weather I`ve had in FSX . Otto had no chance so had to hand fly through some of it and was convinced my plane was going to be broken into many little pieces . The IAS was swinging +/- 30 kts !!! Active Sky depicts Hurricanes and I`ve flown through them for a giggle but they were nothing like this turbulence:jump: Then it passed and the weather was lovely all the way to singapore :) Great fun this leg

PRB

October 26th, 2009, 17:40

Some Kodaks. 1) Headed for Baghdad in darkness. 2) Headed south from Baghdad the next day. 3) Final approach to Bushehr (OIBB). 4) Parked the Lockheed next to the Motel 666 by the airport for the evening.

Willy

October 26th, 2009, 20:35

Here's the pics from my Marseilles to Brindisi flight.

1) First sight of Corsica
2) Had to airdrop a package to the Chief's Mess on the Lexington (CV-2) off the coast of Italy
3) Just to show that I'm flying with a load of cargo instead of an empty plane
4) large crate behind the copilot
5) somewhere over Italy
6) the parking ramp at LIBR

AussieMan

October 26th, 2009, 22:40

Looking at the crate in pic 4 Willy I would be very wary of turbulence and heavy landings :isadizzy:. Would make sure the landings were verrrrrrrry smooth.

Cheers
Pat

Willy

October 26th, 2009, 22:58

Great thing about that crate..... Customs don't even want to open it up for a look ;)

Some historical data on nitroglycerine...

http://cprr.org/Museum/Newspapers/Nitroglycerine.html

The last seen of these gentlemen alive, they were standing near the box, with several other employees, having tools as if about to open the box. It is supposed they made the attempt, when the explosion took place by concussion, which resulted in a terrible loss of life and destruction of property

Don't mess with my crate....

teson1

October 27th, 2009, 16:52

Some Kodaks from a great flight Lyon - Rome.

1. Waving hello to the family.
4. Meige and Rateau mountains.
6. Flyby Monte Viso.
7. Down the italian coast.

bpfowler

October 27th, 2009, 19:03

great kodaks...I envy your mesh for the alps and the italian coast.

Haitun

October 27th, 2009, 21:07

Had a good uneventful flight from Miildenhall to Marseille. Upon passing somwhere over Lyon saw a beautiful tower on a mountain (my wife sais it's called Toure le Flambeau or something like this). Was flying in pure DR, but I know the area and had a good paper map of France - +Made some kodaks of LFML from a heli before the flight. Anyway, hit the Mediterranean shore right near Marseille. Was worried about the fuel, but still hadabout 20% of it left. Will continue to LIRA soon.

Spookster67

October 28th, 2009, 03:04

This flight was a few days ago, but I now have time to post a few pictures. Navigation was fairly easy as there were plent of NDBs to keep track on. Weather was fine to start, then got very cloudy over Germany, but then cleared again crossing into Czech Republic and Romania.

Engine start, Mildenhall
Leaving the English coast
Over the Channel
G-AEXF in original livery
Into Holland, with Rotterdam docks just to the north
Over several large German cities
Crossing mountains into Czech
My panel, with NDBs live off both wings approaching Bucharest
Turning final for Rwy 07 at Bucharest

teson1

October 28th, 2009, 03:56

great kodaks...I envy your mesh for the alps and the italian coast.
Thanks.
All credits go to VFR France photoreal scenery and UT Europe though. :wiggle:

Moses03

October 28th, 2009, 18:30

Had a great tailwind from Baghdad to Jask but we got a late start and had to land in the dark. Worked up a good sweat getting her down in one piece.

EdGeneer

October 28th, 2009, 20:35

Great Dawn/Dusk Enviro Textures Moses....

Flight from Yangoon to Thailand, over some hills that on almost met the bottom of the dc3 at 6,000ft. no need for change in altitude, some nice valleys leading into Bangkok. No visibility issues on this very short leg, but the headwinds were horrible... Quartering headwind at as much as 18 knots.... at 6,000 feet!!! then crosswinds, but a sustained quartering headwind at 12 knots... most of the trip, then in the last 20 minutes, a slight tailwind... (Thanks....)

salt_air

October 29th, 2009, 03:58

Running joke about hitting granite trees or granite filled clouds not all that funny when you come up on one....:isadizzy:.

Check out this monument to Mother Nature I found, almost the hard way, as I started getting close to Selaparang (WRRA).

There's a shot is of me climbing out during take off from runway 9 at WRRA, on my next leg, and the "tree" I'm talking about is at my 7 o'clock on the small island just before Lombok.

If you drew an imaginary line out into the water behind the airport to replicate the flight path you would be on for final to RWY 9,,,,and,,then drew another line from the far end of that one to Singapore it would pass directly through that monolith.

Good thing I was off course (one) and (two) a good thing I had clear skies because a soon as the Mataram NDB (330.0 GA) at WRRA came into range (75NM) and I turned, to a course that was just a bit right of the signal to allow for a straight in final, that also had me headed right for it!

[Note] Terrain issues on the North and west sides of WRRA. If you're instead thinking of an approach to RWY 27 make sure you do a left turn pattern South of the airport with a shallow downwind and short base say 3 to 4 NM radius of the airport. I think much more may find trouble for you....:blind:

If your reading this and if you plan on flying a leg from Singapore to Lombok (WSSL-WRRA),,,,Watch Out!! I used FSNav for planning and it doesn't show at all. The thing has got to be at least 9000' and over 2 NM across the base.

The city at the Selaprang airport has the name Rambang and I'm sure that the locals gave it that name in the early years of flight due to all of the noises that were made by aircraft running into this mountian in the middle of nowhere...:icon_lol:.

Happy Trails

srgalahad

October 29th, 2009, 15:02

We had to leave one driver behind as he's got commitments 'at home' but he sent us all a nice photo so show he's doing fine without us..

http://www.foxnews.com/static/managed/img/Entertainment/2009/mark%20martin_slideshow_604x500.jpg

Go Mark, go!

PRB

October 29th, 2009, 15:47

Latest Kodaks: 1) Flying over the Straight of Hormuz, next to the desert. 2) Landing at Jask, on the coast, near the desert. 3) Flying over the deep desert. 4) landing at another airport in the desert (OPGD). Can’t wait to get out of the desert!!

EasyEd

October 29th, 2009, 17:39

Hey All,

Rob you should have taken him with you - he ain't gonna catch my guy - Jimmie Johnson! :bump:

-Ed-

arrvoo

October 29th, 2009, 17:44

Yangon International, Burma(VYYY) to Seletar, Singapore (WSSL)
This was another long leg and i was risking it a bit as there were headwinds forecast all the way. But throttling back did the trick even though we only had 22 gallons of fuel left. Navigation was nice and easy even with a couple of stretches over open water.
Nice flight.
A few pictures from along the way
1. Dawn at Yangon
2. Leaving Yangon with my fiance watching over me
3. Clouds over the ocean
4. Chumphon, Thailand. Now i know i'm on course

Willy

October 29th, 2009, 17:50

Made it to the first checkpoint despite Duenna. Right now I'm having a run in with Customs and the race inspectors. Seems they can't make up their minds whether they want that crate opened up or not. I've already told them that I'm just delivering it to Melbourne. If they want it opened, they're going to have to open it while I go stand a long ways away.....

srgalahad

October 29th, 2009, 18:16

Well, time to jump over to Melbo to watch salt_air come in, but I'm not sure we will... the 1/10th mile of vis may deter the screenshots, but the pourin grain may keep the lens clean.

Press crews have been alerted!

srgalahad

October 30th, 2009, 13:15

Rather amazing that Moses could leave Jask, I could pull a Melrose out of some camel-lot on the Pakistani coast and Dave could run all night from ORBS (with a pause) and we all arrive in OPKC within 10 minutes of each other.

Camera ran out of film just before landing.. why did I bother with those desert pics??

Lots of barren land from OPJI...

Spookster67

October 30th, 2009, 14:32

A few more pictures of my flights so far.

Early morning departure over the Black Sea
Making landfall in Asia
Granite clouds in southern Turkey
Found the lake I was looking for in the mountains
Thunderstorms in northern Iraq
Lightning and turbulence all around
Clear skies for approach to Baghdad
The infamous nuclear plant at Bushehr
Coastal mist on the way to Jask
Coral beds :icon_lol: along the Iranian coast!

EdGeneer

October 30th, 2009, 15:26

That water looks awesome!!!

:applause:

October 30th, 2009, 19:41

Rather a pretty morning to fly the short jaunt from Alor Star down to Seletar. However, after a while the weather started to rumble with the dark grumbling sounds of thunderstorms and suddenly the air pressure started to drop dramatically. (Down to 25.22 inHG at one point.) That meant constant fiddling with the mixture to keep the Gipsy on song.

Eventually, while bouncing through a series of storms, I had to descend to about 3,000 feet in order to keep the atmospheric pressure below 8,500 ft--the Mew's Gipsy starts to run out of breath at this altitude. This meant tempting the fates by flying in the clouds low enough for the Malaysian mountaintops to threaten the Mew's paintjob. Made for attentive flying.

In the end, though, the clouds broke up just as I was entering Singapore and things went swimingly on finals. Now off to Raffles to look for Harv, Buzz, and the rest of the gang...

Beautiful morning for flying.
The mountain peaks of Malaysia provide playful company at 6,500 feet.
Hmmm...stormy weather ahead. Going to be interesting...
The clouds were filled with water vapor and ... mountaintops.
Ended up flying very low to keep the Gypsy breathing.
The weather cleared on approach to Seletar.
Finals.
Touchdown in the Mew means sitting up high in the cockpit to get a look at the ground below.

EdGeneer

October 31st, 2009, 21:21

Flight from WRSJ to WRKK was only 670nm, but went alot smoother with a 23 knot tailwind and great visibility... A total contrast to the previous flight out of Singapore. That run gave me a 14 knot headwind at any altitude the whole flight. This flight had some nice scenery through the Indonesian Islands with some great topography using fsglobal mesh, and some of the islands had some tall hills... Good thing visibility was not an issue, because using dead reconning, I would have smacked a few hills directly in the way along the route. Good time on this leg, but thinking my next leg will be as good is hopeful at best :running:

Willy

October 31st, 2009, 22:24

I decided to bypass Karachi and head for Jodhpur, India. That decision almost bit me on the butt. Seems Jodhpur was fogged in pretty heavily. What saved me was that the ndb I was using was located right at the end of the runway and I followed the needle right to it. Once I had that figured out, it was just a matter of low and slow and staying out of the trees and buildings.

Moses03

November 1st, 2009, 13:56

I think most of India is one giant fogbank. The flight from Karachi to Allahabad looked like the first attached screenie almost the whole way. I dropped to 6500' about 20 min out and finally the fog lifted just in time to land. I did have a modest tailwind most of the way though so I'm not entirely complaining.

PRB

November 1st, 2009, 15:48

Some recent kodaks along the road: 1) Final approach to Karachi, in the fog. 2) On the road to Jodhpur Airbase (VIJO) which has no ADF station in FSX, but does in FS9! It burned down in 2005, I guess. Very tragic. 3) Final approach, Jodhpur. 4) Flyin_Bull’s house?

Willy

November 1st, 2009, 17:42

Made it into the 2nd Checkpoint at Allahabad in the Twin Beech. Like Moses, it was fog almost all the way. It lifted around Agra, then fogged back up as I went on towards Allahabad. Then about 15 minutes out from VIAL, it lifted again, so my landing was in clear wx. (pics in my race thread)

A quick once over by the race inspection crew, and I'll be off to Calcutta.

Here's a link to the FS Race track site....

http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=rMn7k2gPNE7GzNd39934p4pn8

I swear I didn't get drunk in Agra! Heck I never got below 9000ft there.

Willy

November 1st, 2009, 22:08

Found this parked in Calcutta. Makes me wonder just how many red Staggerwings are flying in this race... :d

PRB

November 2nd, 2009, 17:25

Couple pics on the flight from VIAL to VECC. The final approach pic is at Calcutta. Notice the Mooney trying to land from the other direction! As I was making the base leg, I tried to judge which of the two parallel runways he was headed for. It was difficult from the off-centerline position I was in. I guessed wrong. I made before he did though. The other pic is of the Lockheed somewhere over India. I've noticed that using REX2 real weather, I don't get the endless fog we get over India in FS9.

Willy

November 2nd, 2009, 18:46

On the way to Burma from Calcutta, I made a short stop at Cox's Bazaar and Flea Market to conduct a little "bidness" Made my contact there a deal on the latest antique flintlock muskets at one gold bar each including ammo. Those should be of real help for the local revolutionaries.

Polaroids....

1) unloading the goods..

2) busload of shoppers hogging the runway while I'm trying to make my getawa... er... departure.

EdGeneer

November 2nd, 2009, 19:58

Flights over Australia dont lend too much in the topography department. Winds are nominal, vains of winds on the hind end of the a/c 'can' be found, but must be hunted frequently. Nothing seemed to present itself to convince me to stray out of the sweet spots of the a/c performance, so I took the winds as they were and headed south. One more leg to go, flat lands of Australia are passing below :running:

srgalahad

November 3rd, 2009, 01:45

I should not fly while ill, but the circumstances urged me to go. Snapshots have been attached in the Log of the Moth which now awaits in VYDM.

May the next leg be smoother!

donlimpio

November 4th, 2009, 15:06

Here we are grounded in Singapore, but not for much longer so it seems. Willy, if you're arriving here before I'm off to Surabaya we should swing some glasses, after three days I found a few nice hangouts

Willy

November 4th, 2009, 16:48

Off to Malayasia here after while, then tomorrow should be on to Singapore. If you're still there, I'll be looking for you.

Haitun

November 5th, 2009, 08:06

Some kodaks from Rome:

1.Departing Marseilles
2-3.Over Corsica
4.Over Rome
5.Approaching Ciampino
6.Parking

teson1

November 5th, 2009, 15:48

Athens LGAT - Akrotiri AB, Cyprus LCRA

Started with beautiful flight over the Aegean sea and its islands, over Mykonos to Kalymnos, then on along the turkish coast passing Kos and Rhodos to Megistos as a last fix before the 150 nm hop across the mediterranean to Cyprus by DR.

Quite some clouds, but with enough visibility to fly high to conserve fuel, navigate and enjoy the views.
Throttled well back and leaned as the distance was quite stretched for the Gee Bee. This will be my longest leg I guess.

Got into some CB on the jump to Cyprus that I could not outclimb. Rattled me a little, and threw me off course. Hit Cyprus 5 nm off track. Easy landing at Akrotiri.

Interesting flight.

PRB

November 5th, 2009, 16:29

Some kodaks of the last two flights. The first three show the flight to Sittwe, in Burma (VYSW), and the last three the flight from Sittwe to Rangoon (VYYY). This Lockheed 9 is really starting to grow on me. She flys beautifully. In the approach you can trim the little beastie so that she practically lands herself. I am starting to get a little cocky in the landing pattern though, as can be seen in pic 2. At some point she’ll probably rise up and bite me. Need to watch that...

Moses03

November 5th, 2009, 19:06

Landed in a rainstorm in Alor Star (WMKA). Other than that, the flight from Rangoon was okay. Picked up Willy on the radio. He had just departed WMKA in the Beech. Still no relief from the headwinds which have hit us since we left VIAL.

Photos of:

1) Taking off from Rangoon
2) Heading into uncertainty
3) A little high on final but okay
4) Parked in the rain

Willy

November 5th, 2009, 20:43

Went on down to Singapore and had a good chat on the radio with Moses, von Wrecktoften and MoparMike. About halfway there I spotted these towers in a city below. Not sure what they're all about, but as I was at 9,500ft, they're some big rascals....

AussieMan

November 5th, 2009, 22:09

srgalahad

November 6th, 2009, 08:17

Accident Report: Boeing 247D
Location: On Airport -VIJO (Jodhpur AB, India)

A Boeing 247D enroute from ORBS (Baghdad) to VIAG (Agra) diverted to VIJO due to weather and impending darkness. With limited Navaids ( JO Ndb Freq 340.0KHz) in the vicinity and poor visibility (recorded CLR/ 2.5 sm Haze) the pilot contacted Air Services Radio Operators and advised that he wished assistance in locating the field and performing an approach.
AIR-S contacted a pilot familiar with the local area who took off in a light aircraft, confirmed the weather observation and advised of a workable Minimum Safe VFR altitude in the vicinity, including the significant taller buildings surrounding the airport and in close proximity to the Runway.

The local pilot offered suggestions of headings and the limited visual clues to the Boeing pilot while 3 attempts were made to orient him to the airport and line up on the runway. On two of these, the Boeing pilot was able to see the runway, but not from a position where landing was possible (overhead).
On the third attempt, the pilot elected to try a "tight circle" to return to the field, reported the runway in sight and stated his intention to try a landing on the remaining runway.

Shortly after, the pilot advised that he had struck an object alongside the runway and 'crashed".

The pilot was extricated from the damaged aircraft and, after examination by medical personnel (a Dr. Sanjay from the CNN Medical Center), was able to give authorities a report.

Determinations:
1. The long flight, even though reduced in length by the diversion, contributed to significant pilot fatigue.
2. This fatigue, along with the poor navaids and limited charts reduced the pilot's ability to adequately prepare for the approach to a difficult airport (see Investigators photos)
3. The severe obstructions in the vicinity, compounded by large amounts of buildings and city lights in the haze made it difficult to obtain visual reference to the airport and obscured a clear view of the runway until extremely close-in (1/2 - 3/4 of a mile) on the angled approaches made.
(Note: Investigators performing a test flight later were not able to adequately identify the runway on a precise straight-in approach under controlled circumstances until 1.1 miles from the threshold and it was still uncertain for another 15 seconds after that - @.7nm)
4. The pilot's attempt to circle and land led to a less-than adequate final approach which required significant low-altitude maneuvering, ultimately leading to the aircraft exiting the runway and striking an object with the wing of the aircraft. This caused structural damage and final loss-of-control.

It should be noted that the Authorities have been advised that additional navaids should be installed to allow for more precise approaches to this airport and hazard-warning beacons be installed on the taller buildings surrounding the runway.

The aircraft is deemed to be repairable and, following these repairs should be allowed to continue to destination in Australia.

Photos attached:
a. View from similar test aircraft looking directly toward airport from 1.5 nm on a "left-base" to Rwy 23
b.showing location of Runway 23 threshold from point where turn to final should be made. Note lights not visible.
c. View of runway at approx 40* angle 3/4 mile from touchdown
d.View of runway threshold at 3/8 nm. Note buildings that must be avoided.

R.

srgalahad

November 6th, 2009, 10:15

On the way into Aleppo, the route took me just south of Iskenderun.. quite the interesting place - perhaps worth a side trip next time..

İskenderun is a busy commercial centre, the largest city in Hatay Province, surpassing the Hatay provincial seat of Antakya. The city is one of Turkey's largest ports on the Mediterranean and an important industrial centre home to the Russian-built İsdemir compound, one of Turkey's largest steelworks. İskenderun has an active, modern life with good hotels, restaurants and cafes along the palm-lined sea front, and there is a variety of accommodation for visitors.

İskenderun preserves the name, but probably not the exact site, of Alexandria ad Issum (İskender being the Arabic rendering of Alexander). The settlement was founded by Alexander the Great in 333 BC to supersede Myriandrus as the key to the Syrian Gates, about 23 miles south of the scene of his victory at the Battle of Issus. The importance of the place ever since has derived from its relation to this pass, the easiest approach to the open ground of Hatay Province and of Northern Syria, and the Romans continued to fight with Persia for control of this area during their era of dominance.
Alexander camped at the high-lands of İskenderun, around Esentepe, and then ordered the city to be established and named "Alexandrette". İskenderun is one of many cities founded by Alexander's orders, including Alexandria.

...in the later Ottoman period the city grew and grew as the main outlet for the overland trade from Baghdad and India, which had great importance until the establishment of the Egyptian overland route. Iskenderun served as a base first of Genoese and Venetian merchants, then West and North European merchants. The British Levant Company maintained an agency and factory here for 200 years, until 1825, in spite of appalling mortality among its employees.

In the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Jones claims the Holy Grail is in the "canyon of the crescent moon" outside of Alexandretta. Indiana explains that Alexandretta was completely demolished by the end of the first crusades and that the city is now known as Iskenderun, even though that name is simply Alexandretta in Arabic. In the movie, the Nazis offer the sultan of Hatay precious valuables to compensate for removing the Grail from his borders. He ignores the valuables, but accepts their Rolls-Royce Phantom II. Following that, we see the Jones boys head from Berlin to İskenderun where they find the Holy Grail.

SWSucceed

November 6th, 2009, 13:37

I have finished my solo entry in the London to Melbourne race for 2009 we a huge airframe failure and crash to the earth of India!! Thanks sim Outhouse for getting my interest in such matters going with your RTW2009!!

Sorry not to have posted anything here earlier but you know I was so wrapped-up in getting underway with my limited time I only read "the need to know" stuff!!

I have posted all my reports in my communities blog so please forgive the lines pushing the community in the reports as I am using these reports to promote it.

Starting this thread below at the top of each page is a link to the next report ... there are 5 plus the final lines ... I hope that you ejoy reading them over your pints!

:guinness: :icon29:

I am participating in Race Team Four now in the modern class and have got some miles done, and will write these up and add to this thread as we go along!!

Here are the reports on the solo, enjoy!

http://fsx.aspireblogs.com/blog/_archives/2009/10/23/4360456.html

DHC120

November 6th, 2009, 23:42

SWSucceed

November 7th, 2009, 06:52

My first leg in the C414 Chancellor for Race Team Four (second leg of the trip) has been made and you are welcome to read it as usual on the blog:

http://fsx.aspireblogs.com

srgalahad

November 7th, 2009, 07:01

Charles (et al),
It's one of those things that is part of the "Spirit of the Event". We all know that MSFS isn't a complete simulation of the "real" world, but when we can add those things to help it's a step in improving the experience. We share information, tips, tweaks and sometimes we get to share the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat".

In the Golden Age aviation, a pilot's survival often depended on the help of his compatriots. As we most often fly the sim alone in our den or office we forget that we're sharing the experience. We can't gather the townsfolk and set out flarepots or light fires along a route in your scenery but there are things that can be done to help a pilot in distress. Viewed as a solo undertaking, some tend to say it's 'bending the rules' or providing an advantage, but some see it as just making it a bit more real and complete.

I'd like to point out that the first step came when you realized that you could use some assistance and got on TeamSpeak. How many of us have chosen to "tough it out" and ended up flying solo to the crash location, crawled out of the wreckage, posting a scribbled note for the search parties to find beside the remains... (too many stories from the real world of this, too.)

--- Once upon a time the press, looking for something "heroic" to write after a similar real event, was interviewing the controller involved. Typical question: " How did it feel, thinking about all those people up there with their lives at risk?", and the reply: "Wellllll... I was thinking about that gorgeous old classic airplane that that was likely going to end up as a pile of burned-out scrap and I couldn't let that happen. Yeah, it's kind of nice to know the people got out OK too..." :mixedsmi: The irony was, obviously, lost on those who asked the question. :kilroy: ---

Something to think about...

Rob

PRB

November 8th, 2009, 11:37

Some kodaks from the previous two legs. 1) Headed east towards Bangkok. 2) Final approach, Bangkok. 3) Taking off from Bangkok for Alor Star. See the pickup truck that just ran across the runway! 4) Overhead, Alor Setar, turning around after I missed the airport as it passed under the nose of the Lockheed. 5) Waving to the fine folks of Alor Setar, setting up to land. 6) Final approach, WMKA.

Moses03

November 8th, 2009, 17:44

Tired of fighting headwinds since India, we employed a new stategy on the segment from Selaparang to Kupang. Staying well below critical alt (6500'), there was a delicious 16kt tailwind at 3300'. Covered the 460nm in less than 2hrs. :jump: Had enough juice to feed the Wright Cyclones fortunately.

Just had to hop over an island or two along the way. The mysterious Timor Sea seems extra mysterious at this alt.

November 9th, 2009, 18:26

Traveling from Darwin via Cloncurry to Charleville gave a good opportunity to see some of FTX's legendary terrain artistry. Had to wait for a violent thunderstorm to pass on the field before taking off. Then a period of stormy weather gave way to strange clear weather with very low atmospheric pressure. (The readings were below the world record for sea level air pressure.) Made for trying flying as the Mew Gull needed to fly below 3,000 ft to keep the atmospheric pressure altitude below 8,000 ft.

Driving storm prevents takeoff.
Rain and wind but the thunderstorm's violence has temporarily passed.
Once aloft, however, it was impossible to keep in level flight.
Nasty clouds ahead worry.
Through the rain-soaked clouds with much buffeting but safe passage in the end.
Suddenly clear as a bell over Northern Territory.
Rock formations below.
Rough ground with dramatic colors.
Only water for miles and miles.
Flare into Cloncurry with air pressure at 24.98 inHg. Tough to keep engine running. Note contrails on the ground.

November 9th, 2009, 18:30

Then, on to Charleville. This time risking Active Sky (which had caused a FSX failure twice) in hopes of getting more realistic atmospheric pressure. This hope was only partly fulfilled. Had to fly very low to avoid fierce headwinds, spending much of the flight below 1,000 AGL. Made for great look at the spectacularly changing scenery below.

Queensland's dramatic red cliffs below.
Sand and brush mark the landscape.
Sunburnt land.
Solitary station below breaks the empty vistas.
Flying treetop level. No Redwoods please.
Slipping into the wind over Charleville.
Touchdown.

AussieMan

November 9th, 2009, 21:24

Mike, FTX is the best thing to happen to FSX. Noiw you are seeing the REAL Australia.

A note for those about to fly into Australia. The wet season has started up North and severe storms can be expected.

Cheers
Pat

Willy

November 9th, 2009, 21:44

Just pulled off what's probably my longest flight ever in FS. 902nm from Selaparang to Darwin. Parked at Darwin with 9% fuel left in the Beech 18. Only problem I had was about a 45 second lockup about a half hour out of Darwin. Just knew it was going to CTD on me.

Pics..
1) A nice pair of Beeches at Selaparang
2) First sight of Oz. It's a long way from Witchita Kansas.
3) On final at YPDN
4) Parked at the terminal at Darwin.

Time to go find the Pilot's Lounge for some relaxation. But first I need to swing by the Customs office to tip them off to a pair of Lockheeds (Orion and Super Electra) that are smuggling cinder blocks into the country. Can't have that kind of behavior you know......

Great Ozzie

November 10th, 2009, 10:02

Currently patrolling the Island of Sumba, I get a report of a possible "hostile" inbound from Bima. Flying an aircraft on missions neither of which is supposed to exist, my orders are simple and can be summed up thus: Splash at Sea. In and Out of a Cloud Layer at 10,000MSL, I spot a possible Bogey low and slow... A simple Split-S quickly positions me for a positive I.D. and fortunately for this fellow... no need for a quick "Splash and Dash".

srgalahad

November 11th, 2009, 10:06

For those not restricted to specific airports, this would be a fun stop south of Darwin...

Daly Waters was Australia's first international airfield. The airfield was a centre for the London to Sydney air race of 1926 and was a refuelling stop for early Qantas flights to Singapore.
The airfield was a waypoint on the "Brereton Route" the early months of 1942 during World War IIJava. It was a staging base for aircraft from Cloncurry, Queensland and then up to Darwin, Northern Territory area airfields. for operations between Australia and
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) requisitoned the airfield and on 15 March 1942 it became RAAF Station Daly Waters. Daly Waters became an operational base known as RAAF Daly Waters on 15 May 1942.
The 64th Bomb Squadron of the USAAF Fifth Air Force 43rd Bombardment Group were based at Daly Waters from 16 May 1942 until 2 August 1942, flying B-17 Flying Fortresses from the airfield. The squadron made numerous attacks on Japanese shipping in the Dutch East Indies and the Bismarck Archipelago. Other operations during this period included support for ground forces on New Guinea; attacks on airfields and installations in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, Celebes, Halmahera, Yap, Palau, and the southern Philippines; and long-range raids against oil refineries on Ceram and Borneo.
In late 1943 the RAAF base was wound down as the war proceeded north, and the airfield was returned to civil use.
The aerodrome was closed to commercial traffic in 1965. The original Qantas hangar still stands, housing exhibits of photographs and equipment from the area's aviation past. The main runway, although deteriorated, appears to still be serviceable. The airfield is still utilized by the RAAF for joint military maneuvers. --Wiki

http://www.dalywaterspub.com/

Unfortunately, Microsoft wasn't big on history and completely left it out of FS9 :confused::frown:

Rob

PRB

November 12th, 2009, 16:19

Pics!

1) WIPP, Palembag, after flying from Singapore.
2) Taking off from Palembang in a driving rain.
3) Climbing out from Palembang, trying to get out of the rain.
4) Over the Sunda Straight. The volcano is Sebesi.
5) This was the best shot I got of Krakatau. Darn clouds!
6) On deck at Bandung (WICC/WIIB), in another rain storm.

srgalahad

November 12th, 2009, 17:28

Winds have not been kind lately so when it looked like there was a layer of westerlies through Karachi I decided to jump. Unfortunately, it meant the run from Gadwhar to Jodhpur would be low and that's tough on the fuel bill.
Abeam Karachi I had to thread my way through the ridges to get to the central plain, but after that it was just surfing along between 4100 and 3400 feet to stay in the wind layer.

Then of course came the Smog1 approach to VIJO (1.9sm).. it's so much fun when the runway pops out from between the downtown buildings :icon_lol:

teson1

November 13th, 2009, 07:37

PRB, Ozzie, MM, and all, really like your pics.
Great to be with you on these flights.

srgalahad

November 13th, 2009, 15:38

Took a look at the weather patterns and decided it was a good day to get out of India. I'd been test-flying another aircraft, parked it, hopped in the Beech, checked the tanks, pulled out the map and flightplan and off I went!!!

About 2000ft below top of climb and 5 or 6 minutes after takeoff...
CLICK!!!! no panel lights, no autopilot, no radios... HUH?????
Check switches, quick scan about the cockpit for leprechauns and Mr. Murphy.. nothing.. but I HAVE NO ELECTRICAL POWER!

Level off, set tanks, try to get it trimmed but the Beech tends to wander a bit so it's a constant tap on the rudder trim, gentle nudge of elevator trim, then back.. and repeat.

But it's 25 knots on the tail.. no way am I going back to Smog City!
OH.. now there are t-storms building... a bit rough at 11,500 but as long as I can keep it on a rough heading I should be OK. VIAL is easy to find between the two big rivers.. if it's not foggy/smoggy/rainy... if my heading is good and I don't drift too much... if I can fly with my legs crossed for 2 hours...

At least I have a good time reference.. I planned 2 hours from top of climb to destination with those winds .. IF they hold up..

Cruising along I get a few peeks at the ground in fortunate places.. almost right over the airport at Band Tal (VI1W) which is just past halfway.. and again a few miles before the big bend in the river that marks the point I should start descent... I'm on course and on time !!!

Hmmm.. the Beech has electric gear... and I have no power... hmmmm...

Airport comes in sight and I start slowing to gear speed... flick the gear lever.. nothing (of course)... reach down and start pumping the manual gear lever... and a peek outside shows them down.. but locked????

Oh well... turn final. Sneak peek at the clock... 2 hrs, 12 seconds since top of climb... retard throttle and feel a small thump as the wheels touch.. and NO scraping as if they'd collapsed!!!!!

I wonder if the airport has emergency crews?? not that I could have called ahead to warn them. Visual check of the gear before I taxi off onto the grass and shut down... and make like a dog that's been riding in the back of the stationwagon when the driver pulls up at the rest stop (ahhhhhhhhhhhh...) Allahabad...

(oh, the mechanic tells me that they got a call from Jodhpur... in case I hadn't figured it out, the electrics quit because I'd shut off the alternator switches in the Cessna I'd been testing and it's a case of MSFS hangover...)

Spookster67

November 13th, 2009, 23:33

It's been a while since I've posted some pics, but now that the Mew Gull is in the hangar at Darwin having repairs to the gear, I have some time.

Departing Karachi
Following rivers approaching Allahabad
Dawn departure
Indian cliffs and rivers
Moon rise
Coastal marshlands leaving India
The outskirts of Rangoon

Spookster67

November 13th, 2009, 23:50

These are from Malaysia, Indonesia, and then into Darwin.

Staying low under the weather
On course over a coastal airport
Clag right down to sea level in places
Nice sunrise for a dawn departure
Indonesian islands
Warm enough for shorts today!
Indoneasian extinct volcanoes
Getting cloudy and wet on approach to Darwin
Welcome to Australia - lightning everywhere!!
A bumpy ride in to Darwin

November 14th, 2009, 06:51

Great snaps. Especially like Henshaw's knees!

PRB

November 14th, 2009, 06:53

Love the lightning shot! I've tried many time to capture a lightning bolt in FS, and have managed to do it once, by accident!

November 14th, 2009, 13:27

It was truly satisfying to complete the final leg. Naturally, I planned for the forecast headwinds--having faced headwinds in 13 or 14 previous legs, flying into the breeze had become second nature. Gave an extra five minutes to the ETE.

Oops...

I decided to stay low, nearly on the deck, to avoid the double digit headwinds projected as low as 6,000 feet. (The Mew Gull just doesn't like to fly a lot higher than 9,000.) Started out at 2,000' and wandered up to 3,000' and back down to 2,000' where I managed to catch a tailwind. (!) That was a very pleasant surprise.

Made for a good Race Time on the leg--and decided to sacrifice the Precision Time in the interest of speed.

One advantage of flying low is that I got a beautiful view of FTX's great scenery. We should give these guys credit for making for FSX a wonderful "low-n-slow" environment--a full continent of spectacular vistas.

Starting out low on the deck. Could see ABC on the local television sets.
The Mew Gull passing overhead from (nearly) ground level.
The farms of NSW's agricultural heartland.
And then the settlements become denser as one moves southward into Victoria.
Mangalore's terrific airport (done up by OZx).
Approaching the outskirts of Melbourne--they come up suddenly.
Short final into Essendon with the tall towers of the city off in the distance.
Touchdown from the cockpit's perspective.
A long race completed. Phew!

Thanks to Michel Migaud for the delightful E3H Mew Gull of Edgar Percival. Lots of fun flying this little quicksilver of a plane through the weather and over the continents. Loved it. :cool:

teson1

November 14th, 2009, 14:43

Welcome to Melbourne, Mike. :wavey:
Congratulations for getting through the race, :applause: and love the pics.
I think one day I have to get FSX - there's really some neat stuff for it.

srgalahad

November 14th, 2009, 15:04

Good show Mike!
Guess with all that practice I'm not going to suggest a "Cape and Back" event any time soon:icon_lol:

It is a nice plane and one I'll enjoy when I have time

Rob

Willy

November 14th, 2009, 20:30

Made it to Charleville. Interesting aircraft hanging out on the ramp.....

buzzbee

November 15th, 2009, 11:17

Headwinds really picked up into flight. Course was pretty good. Sighted land just to the west of darwin and adjusted course accordingly.

The Elapsed time kept going up and ground speed dropped what seemed like a precipitous amount. I wanted to keep as much altitude as possible, as I could see the coast and if I ran dry, I wanted as much altitude as possible.

Landed with 1 % fuel remaining.

November 15th, 2009, 11:29

Wondering why you carried all that extra ballast... ;)

srgalahad

November 15th, 2009, 11:36

and if I ran dry, I wanted as much altitude as possible.

Landed with 1 % fuel remaining.

Wassamatta for you? doesn't that snub-nosed flying limo glide???
Or was the 1% fuel to light a signal fire on the coast? :icon_lol:

Great Ozzie

November 16th, 2009, 14:26

Guess that the manufacturer was not planning on routine trips at record air pressures... :)

Fwiw, I think this is an Industry Standard... that the Kollsman scale range is from 28.00" to 31.00". I spent several hours googling but I couldn't find a TSO or whatever that mandates this.

From the Airman's Information Manual Chapter 7. Safety of Flight / Section 2. Altimeter Setting Procedures:

7-2-5. Low Barometric Pressure - When abnormally low barometric pressure conditions occur (below 28.00), flight operations by aircraft unable to set the actual altimeter setting are not recommended.

NOTE-
The true altitude of the aircraft is lower than the indicated altitude if the pilot is unable to set the actual altimeter setting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was flying along with Bry today to OPTU and another one of those extremely low pressure settings in ASA (22.47" / 761mb) which I failed to appreciate. "Hi to Low - Look out Below" should have been my "mantra of the moment." I checked the field elevation of Turbat prior to descent... it is approx. 500'. Did a chop and drop in the PC-12 and somewhere around 5000' on the Altimeter I notice the ground is coming up "pretty quick." Autopilot off and level-off at around 4000' to see the Radar Altimeter reporting ~ 500'AGL. It would have been "catastrophic" had it been Low IFR.

srgalahad

November 16th, 2009, 15:00

:)

Fwiw, I think this is an Industry Standard... that the Kollsman scale range is from 28.00" to 31.00". I spent several hours googling but I couldn't find a TSO or whatever that mandates this.

From the Airman's Information Manual Chapter 7. Safety of Flight / Section 2. Altimeter Setting Procedures:

7-2-5. Low Barometric Pressure - When abnormally low barometric pressure conditions occur (below 28.00), flight operations by aircraft unable to set the actual altimeter setting are not recommended.

NOTE-
The true altitude of the aircraft is lower than the indicated altitude if the pilot is unable to set the actual altimeter setting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was flying along with Bry today to OPTU and another one of those extremely low pressure settings in ASA (22.47" / 761mb) which I failed to appreciate.

Without a lot of digging, you're right about the Alt. Setting card on an altimeter. There are severa; reasons, but mostly stem from historical knowledge and shipping history (later confirmed).

The lowest baro. pressure I could find recorded by a hurricane hunter in the eye of a hurricane/trop. depression is 26.04". Since 1" Hg is equivalent at sealevel to an altitude difference of 1000 ft, and with standard pressure being 29.92, you can see the significance of a 26" pressure - and that's in the bottom of a severe atmospheric "low". The reason for the AIM section is that pressures below 28.00 may completely erode 1000 ft separations with a/c in adjacent sectors or transitioning through FL180.

22.47" would probably result in the barometer being sucked rapidly up into the vortex of the F5 tornado holding position directly above the reporting station and then dropped several miles away in a cornfield (this doesn't look like Kansas, Toto...)

Since the beginning of the MacR I've noticed several anomalies like this one (one over EGLL was only 1300 ft 'deep' but it was only 13 miles wide...).

It's likely that they are caused by data errors when the wx reports are disseminated via the internet, collected by the various servers or occasionally dyslexia on the part of the recorder (which would trigger an alert in the data system). Could also be something unwell in the FS engine, but it's so far out of range it seems miraculous (and ridiculous, too).

Sure you guys weren't flying using FS XIII ?

Rob

epwatson

November 16th, 2009, 16:04

Hehe, I've had the same problem.. takeoff with pressure of 29.30" and while flying pressure drops to 21.23", but since not actively watching the aircraft and the autopilot slowly drops the plane into the ground.

Its terrible, pressure that low and we wouldn't be able to live.

Willy

November 16th, 2009, 21:42

salt_air

November 17th, 2009, 03:22

Comes in the door dragging a large crate marked "nitroglycerine" and opens it up....

Here's a crate full of whiskey from Oban Scotland for all the finishers!

:ernae:

Now to go back up to Allahabad and fetch the Cessna down under......

Ah yes,,,,now I'll drag out the qt pitcher fill it full of "nitro" and ice, sit back and let everyone think I'm having tea....:icon_lol:

Great job jockeying the Beech to Melbourne! :wiggle:

November 18th, 2009, 17:44

A few Kodaks taken over Europe and then the Middle East. The Beech is a beautiful aircraft and provides a luxurious ride...nothing like the Mew Gull's racing machine.

Early morning runway at Mildenhall as darkness starts to fade away.
Dawn over Channel gives promise for a splendid new day.
The mighty Rhine below with the towers of Cologne marking the city.
High over the Czech Republic and Central Europe.
Finals into Budapest with its 23kts crosswind to make things interesting.
Another early morning departure, this time out of Budapest.
Climbout from Budapest leaving the darkness behind.
FSX REX can certainly do sunrise.
High over the Black Sea.
Clouds cleared away a the last minute to reveal moutains encircling Ankara.

November 18th, 2009, 17:58

Continuing from Ankara over the Middle East to Pakistan's Khuzdar.

Leaving Ankara necessitates quick climb.
Icing over Turkey made for a quick scramble to find fuel flow heaters before disaster struck.
Over Mount Erciyes (12,851ft), massive stratovolcano from which Romans said one could see Black Sea and Mediterrean.
Into Baghdad over Lake Tharthar, a landmark which we all now know so well.
Mesopotamian Sun dazzles the Tigris and Euphrates.
Over the Gulf and into Bushere.
Morning departure passes the Bushere reactors.
Heading toward the sunrise over Iran.
Iran's rugged country shows as the shadows ripple below.
High over the mountains of an Iranian morning.
Deserts of Baluchostan in western Pakistan.
Touchdown on the the centerline of Khuzdar.

Great Ozzie

November 18th, 2009, 20:51

Very, very nice pictures Mike. A Classic Airplane with gorgeous lines. First picture sunrise throttle-up looking down a runway over the standard six panel appears so real... my gosh what a beauty. Makes me want to purchase it this moment.

srgalahad

November 19th, 2009, 17:17

Anyone sitting around Raffles might want to get a camera and keep an eye on the northern sky.. could be some good photos of a Staggering Staggerwing gliding to the airport .. 1+20ish to go and maybe a cuppa 80 Octane left.... if the thunderstorms don't force something untoward

Moses03

November 19th, 2009, 17:21

Some pics from my ill-fated last leg into Melbourne. In the first three shots I am only about 600' off the ground. The last shot is when I barely spotted the tower and tried to swoop in. First just missing a building and then crashing into a hangar right after that. Didn't grab the flight analysis in time but it would have showed several circles around the airport.

November 19th, 2009, 17:36

Wow! That's impressive weather there, Moses.

srgalahad

November 19th, 2009, 18:44

gee. 13.94 pounds of fuel left.. I could have done a whole circuit...:mixedsmi:

Cabby... Raffles Bar please

bpfowler

November 20th, 2009, 09:44

whoa the weather shots in melbourne, who knew?? Regular pea-souper...
nice job getting in at all!

PRB

November 21st, 2009, 07:33

Dang, Moses, that's some serious non-visibility!

Here's some kodaks of my flight from Darwin to Tennant Creek.

1) Darwin departure. Should I go "IFR" (I Follow Roads)?
2) Cruising along, deep inside deepest Australia. Not much out here...
3) A mysterious demarkation line of sorts, approaches. Between some vegitation, and non-vegitation. Ahead lies only dust, darkness, and depair. And wallabys.
4) Approach to Tennant Creek.

srgalahad

November 21st, 2009, 14:06

Well, not the worst weather, but the screenshots don't show the cats & dogs rain that hit on final. Other than a wet airplane it came to a safe conclusion.

Now we can run one more flag up the pole. Alas, but I couldn't take a chance on squeezing the estimate with the risk of losing sight of the runway so we'll take the fast time as a trade.

WINDS EVEN JOHN COULDN'T RUIN!!!!!

1. the last official air-to-air shot of the Team VIAGRA run to Melbourne
2. Turning in from the Arcadia NDB for Rwy 17
3. Gear down, vis down too!
4. the next 300ft of descent were nothing but raindrops on the windshield :kilroy:

Thanks to John and Dave for a good effort and a great race!

Rob

..and to the Race Committee for hours of entertainment :ernae: