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donlimpio
October 24th, 2009, 19:52
First Leg completed. I got on the way a little late, so the first flight was in complete darkness. Mind you, this is my first time I'm not using all the fancy stuff we're so used to. Just a view NDB's over Europe at night and some interesting weather over Austria made for a nice challenge, but hey at least I saw Lake Balaton, though it wasn't really planned that way. Oh and funny Frankfurt Airport was easy to spot, even through the clouds, blinking lights all around. Off into the bunk now for some rest and waiting for sunrise...

happy landings
olli

P.S.
The error messages in the log file are coming from a little problem with my internet connection which resolved itself after a minute or so, resulting in the error message for real weather cannot be downloaded popping up periodically a few times.

Willy
October 24th, 2009, 19:57
Nice to see another Beech driver here. I'm going to start out with mine once I get the Cessna to Melbourne.

BTW, I don't have that paint. Where could it be found?

donlimpio
October 24th, 2009, 20:17
She sure is fun to fly and looks oh so beautiful. The paint is a simple one I made for myself a while ago.

donlimpio
October 25th, 2009, 17:08
On a bright afternoon the second leg took us to Aleppo. All in all a very nice flight, though ground visibility was limited and only at Istanbul it brightened up. Unfortunately the sun was starting to go down, earlier as expected and so the flight over Turkey was in a pitch black sky. Still, navigation was easy. Only god knows the true range of the NDB at Haymana. The signal seemed to keep on forever, nice opportunities for lots of cross referencing. Running low on fuel, due to headwind all along, I dropped a bit of sweat when I should have been well in range of Aleppo NDB and still no signal. Finally I could see the lights of the city and the beacon jumped in, engines out with 4.29 gallons left. I guess that's why I came in a little high, just in case...

And I pressed p for pause instead of print screen accidentally for only two seconds, guess that'll cost me 10 minutes now.

Sleepy now, enjoy
olli

donlimpio
October 26th, 2009, 15:28
With the first few rays of sunlight we took off heading for Baghdad through what turned out to be a major thunderstorm. A faster sprint leg with a steep approach in cruise speed and a huge welcome in Baghdad under clear blue sky.
Another short leg to Iran tomorrow before we're trying to go straight for Karachi.

donlimpio
October 27th, 2009, 15:30
And off we go for the 4th leg, another sprinter it was. Tailwinds all along flying the river to Basrah and a short stretch of water over Kahark Island straight into Bushehr.

donlimpio
October 28th, 2009, 15:33
The 5th leg took us to Gwanda, changed plans and not going to Karachi in the end. I came in quite fast and just made it on the ground without knowing so did a touch and go and after a quick 360 turn landing in the wind, tally-ho

donlimpio
October 29th, 2009, 13:03
No flight today as social obligations led to a close encounter of at least a kind of third kind with some Guinness. And I'm still wondering where they came from deeply entrenched in Pakistan...hmmm

donlimpio
October 30th, 2009, 11:46
The sun is about to rise and we're heading for Jodhpur (VIJO)

donlimpio
October 30th, 2009, 15:32
Just landed in Jodphur. After a beautiful sunrise and a beautiful flight over desert mountains the sky covered up with thick haze, sight was down to maybe a mile or two, Had to fly over the airport on the first approach and saw the runway just in time to touch down with a bit of croswind.

MM
October 30th, 2009, 15:49
Great pictures.

donlimpio
October 31st, 2009, 06:59
Thanks Mike, and the sun rising over the desert was something special that should not be missed.

I didn't make it further to Allahabad yesterday. Instead we decided to give the old lady and us some rest as today we're planning to reach Singapore. We shall see. Now grabbing the baton and heading for VIAL, still foggy in Jodhpur but the sun is already lurking around the corner.

donlimpio
October 31st, 2009, 09:43
Almost the entire leg we were engulfed in juicy clouds or was it haze or maybe nothing? Certainly not flying visual and hoping for the NDB's to come in. Only 40 miles out it cleared up landing on a sunny morning in Allahabad with a hearty portion of tail and cross wind, that was the fastest landing so far, hope the tires are not going to twirl all around me sometime.

donlimpio
October 31st, 2009, 11:00
Short stop, tires and oil level checked and heading for Kolkata

donlimpio
October 31st, 2009, 13:34
Again a misty approach in Calcutta. Hit the outer marker NDB but struggled a little to keep on track. Made the runway in the end, but not without some hectic steering and not watching my descent rate...a little overspeed, but all well, think I'll have a little drink while refueling now before getting on to Yangon. What a ride!

donlimpio
October 31st, 2009, 14:02
And off we go again for Yangon

donlimpio
October 31st, 2009, 17:32
Down we are in Yangon and the goal to reach Singapore must wait for tomorrow as again the sun was coming down fast. Weather wasn't getting any better and the reports for Malaysia even worse, might get some interesting Thunderstorms tomorrow. Dinnertime it shall be then and a glass or two.

donlimpio
November 1st, 2009, 03:49
3.45 am, that's in the middle of the night! Luckily I've got loads of coffee, anyhow, engines are warming up, METAR predicts surprises at Alor Setar, so off we go

donlimpio
November 1st, 2009, 07:53
Packed the inflatable, bit of extra weight, but a few stretches of water coming on. Down and safe in Alor Setar. A bumby ride and visibility going down as we were closing in. Second breakfast now I guess.

donlimpio
November 1st, 2009, 08:23
heading for Singapore

donlimpio
November 1st, 2009, 10:45
Landed in Singapore and the sky had mercy after all. Another shaky ride, but left all behind in Thailand.

donlimpio
November 2nd, 2009, 10:11
Stayed in Singapore overnight, new ADF installed, Navigator is smiling, barely added a good 50 lbs of weight. Testing it on the water stretch to Juanda, well Surabaya, engines getting warm and here we go

donlimpio
November 2nd, 2009, 14:04
Well, I guess now it was my turn. On descent to Juanda, roughly 35 miles out after a beautiful flight I had a CTD. This flight is over and I won't be able to try again until Wednesday. So be it, frustrating, Arggh!, but so be it!

donlimpio
November 4th, 2009, 14:56
Looks like I can think about filing a flightplan to Juanda again. Too late tonight, so won't be leaving Singapore before Friday most probably. If all good now, this must be one of these weird quirks of FS, after a whole evening of testing and analysing, disabling sceneries and traffic the system seemed to have reset itself again, no errors so far with same settings as two days ago... let's keep the spirit up

donlimpio
November 6th, 2009, 10:45
Seems all clear now, starting the second attempt to reach Surabaya

donlimpio
November 6th, 2009, 15:13
We made it, finally. After spending nearly a week in Singapore and fixing technical problems, not to forget the installation of the second ADF, we are down and safe in Surabaya. Beautiful weather, seems we were sitting out all Thunderstorms in the area. WSSL has seen a lot of rain over the last few days. In Surabaya we arrived early enough for lunch and will call it a day. Tomorrow Australia is the goal, Darwin or maybe even further. That means an early start at daybreak.

donlimpio
November 7th, 2009, 03:01
Still dark outside, getting ready to head for Kupang

MM
November 7th, 2009, 04:06
Handsome panel installation, Olli.

donlimpio
November 7th, 2009, 07:01
Thanks a lot Mike, I'm sure glad it's working as smooth as well.

Thanks again to Milton and Scott, this dual RMI setup is just what was needed.

Just landed in El Tari, Kupang, a quick fill up and then we're heading for Darwin. This was to date the most beautiful flight. Along the endless stretch of vulcanos in Indonesia in early morning.

The prospect of seeing Australia in a few hours is getting me all excited, if we're quick enough who knows, maybe we'll even make it to Melbourne today.

donlimpio
November 7th, 2009, 07:31
Engines started again and will take off shortly to Darwin

donlimpio
November 7th, 2009, 10:28
And we made it to Darwin. Although it looked like it would be a clear view all along, thick haze kicked in about 70 miles out and only cleared up on landing. Luckily the NDB is lined up with the runway and the heading flown nearl the runway heading. Even in low viz this was a nice straight in approach.

donlimpio
November 7th, 2009, 11:13
Fuel loaded and we're heading on for Cloncurry, should be all good as long as the sun stays up...

donlimpio
November 7th, 2009, 16:35
Down safe in Cloncurry after all. I haven't fully tracked my route, just so much I must have had some sort of autopilot malfunction or erratic winds and not realising it for quite some while. One shouldn't have dinner at the controls while reading! At 16.00 local time I noticed I was heading 98 deg instead of the planned 132, only I didn't know for how long I've flown off course! So with a good guesstimate I changed course to 145 deg, trying to get into the Cloncurry or Mount Isa NDB range. At 17.55 still no signal and I was getting very nervous, with an estimated ETA of 18.05! I changed course again to 185 deg and hoping for the best, I couldn't have been possibly too far south? Two minutes later the Mount Isa started its sweet morse peeping. I was simply a lot slower due to headwinds and my little detour and not nearly as far as guessed! Two other indicator lights started lighten up as well. I was getting low on fuel. I decided to take no chances and to fly directly via the NDB, from Isa it should be straight East to Cloncurry, luckily the airport beacon kicked in shortly after, the rest was just smiles for fifty miles. A last bit of excitement were hefty crosswinds at Cloncurry and I was glad enough to be back on the ground after a gentle bounce. Now having some redwine and some rest.

donlimpio
November 8th, 2009, 02:00
climbed in the cockpit and warming up for Charleville, going in five

donlimpio
November 8th, 2009, 05:07
Down in Charleville. Mostly an uneventful flight if it wasn't for my overenthusiastic approach. Even a hearty sideslip didn't do the trick and I couldn't slow her down to flap speed, still tried, but had to go around and do a quick lap round the field. Breakfast time and then it's time for Melbourne

donlimpio
November 8th, 2009, 05:26
off to Melbourne! My time estimate for the trip 3:35h

donlimpio
November 8th, 2009, 09:42
We made it! Safely down in Essendon Airport Melbourne.

The last leg was another mainly uneventful ride. Lots of NDB's on the last stretch, so it was easy to keep on track. Had everything from thick clouds to mist for about an hour before it cleared up and a very excited Learjet tried to land before me from the other side of the runway, I made sure I left the tarmac quick enough! Hope it was the Champagne-plane.

Spookster67
November 8th, 2009, 09:55
Congrats on finishing, and it looks like you might have just set a new standard in the precision competition. Only 12 seconds out! :applause:

donlimpio
November 8th, 2009, 10:01
Oh bummer, and just realised I forgot to set the correct date on Leg 16, Cloncurry to Charleville this morning, time of the day is right, but should have been today and not the 6th. Guess I was not fully awake. I don't know how you guys wanna handle this, I surely didn't try to cheat, just stupid. I'm just too glad i made it without any scrap metal. This was fun!

Vicious
November 8th, 2009, 10:03
WTG on a nice race and a fantastic precision finish!!! :applause: I was pretty sure someone would get within 15 seconds..and early rather than late.

bpfowler
November 8th, 2009, 10:42
nice flying, enjoy the champers!

Willy
November 8th, 2009, 14:52
Well done Olli! :ernae:

That's going to be a touch act to follow.

Moses03
November 8th, 2009, 15:05
Congrats on making it to Melbourne.:icon29:

MM
November 8th, 2009, 16:33
Olli, don't worry about the date on Leg 16. No harm, no foul.

Congratulations on completing the course--and doing so very well on the precision contest.

Milton Shupe
November 8th, 2009, 17:32
Excelenté! :ernae:

donlimpio
November 9th, 2009, 11:04
thank you all so much, it was a pleasure to fly the race.

Vicious, thanks, that was pure luck, honestly. If you'd asked me before I would have said I'll never get in to the 5 min range.

Willy, I just saw you picked up the Beech again. Nice! Is it just me or is it virtually impossible to fly the test speed for a good handicap?

And Milton, thank you for such a wonderful plane and goodies. The dual ADF saved my day big time on the way to Charleville!

And of course thank you Mike, Moses, bpfowler, and Martin for your kind words and your warm welcome to a stranger.

Never done a "classic" navigation around the world before. And I have to say, I like it. Might try something new soon... thanks again for the nice wishes, I think there's still loads of Champers left.

EdGeneer
November 9th, 2009, 11:55
well done donlimpio.... amazing estimate time!!!! the bar is very high for the remaining pilots, for sure, WOW...

Congrats on finishing :)

Haitun
November 10th, 2009, 16:21
Congrars Ollie

salt_air
November 14th, 2009, 15:03
First Class job Ollie!!,

Way to go mate,,,,,good'un !!..:wavey: