Spookster's Western Roundup - SIAI Marchetti

[Spookster67]

SIAI Marchetti SF260 on the Sliver Class Low Course. FSX, with the default FSX weather.

[Spookster67]

Leg 1.

A bit of rain on the way, but a nice tailwind as well at 4,000'.

I've got a completely fresh install of FSX on a new PC, and so far very few add-ons re-installed. There are lots of trees close to the field at KORS, and without the "lumberjack" add-on installed, they're quite close to the runway. That made for an interesting high approach and full use of the runway.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...Tn6ScoGngLovXo

Flight time: 23:08
Fuel: 46.4lbs

[Spookster67]

Leg 2.

Not much rain, but plenty of wind in the mountains, mostly right on the nose. Up to 6,800' to wind a way through the forested peaks. Didn't see Mount Olympus, as the cloud base was only just above me.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...UTkfFiwdfiMx0A

Flight time: 38:12
Fuel: 75.5lbs

[Great Ozzie]

A bit of rain on the way, but a nice tailwind as well at 4,000'.

I've got a completely fresh install of FSX on a new PC, and so far very few add-ons re-installed. There are lots of trees close to the field at KORS, and without the "lumberjack" add-on installed, they're quite close to the runway. That made for an interesting high approach and full use of the runway.

Should have great winds today after ur KHQM leg.

Lumberjack the racers 'must have' eh? FSX redefined the meaning of 'clearzones'. Does make some for some interesting approaches w/o it.

-Rob O.

[Willy]

I've come to appreciate interesting approaches.

[Spookster67]

Leg 3.

Lots of low cloud so this was mostly IFR at 4,000 and 5,000. Thankfully I found a hold in the clouds for approach to 4S2.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...x1xBc8qVagZQJU

Flight: 40:23
Fuel: 82.4lbs

[Spookster67]

Leg 4.

The weather has improved, but the winds are still a bit mixed, some behind, some ahead. No trees to worry about at KEAT.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...4s8atqGRNjWENc

Flight: 38:52
Fuel: 72.7lbs

[Spookster67]

Leg 5.

I'm hoping for a nice tailwind on this leg, so I'll be going up higher, and looking for better fuel efficiency too. We'll see...

Edit: Yes, that worked out nicely. The 4 knot tailwind at 4000 was blowing at 13 knots up at 7000 and as much as 19 knots just under the soft ceiling of 10,000. Saved a bit of fuel there, I reckon.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...TlYALcSqVljeyU

Flight: 36:42
Fuel: 65.4lbs

[Spookster67]

Leg 6.

A very quick re-fuel, and it's off again, with the intention of catching some more tailwinds up near 10,000.

Edit: Reasonable tailwinds, but not as good as the previous leg. Just a nice day for flying.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...73xOvK09yKv9lk

Flight: 39:01
Fuel: 68.0lbs

[Spookster67]

So having turned up late for this event, I decided (after having flown a few legs) that I'd better actually read the rules properly, to make sure I'm doing things right! Turns out I'm not - I should be posting departure and arrival of each leg. Oops!! I can fix that from now on.

Another reason to read the rules properly was because I just set off on leg 7, but then immediately got distracted and delayed dealing with the real life stuff, resulting in a "controlled flight into terrain". Turns out 6,100' on the autopilot altitude setting wasn't high enough for the mountains just outside Kalispell. Oops again!!

So in summary, this post is both a "departed on leg 7" and a "bailing-out due to interruption" post. I've used up my free bail-out.
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...VdUmhlN5zioqOY

It's too late tonight to start the flight again, so I'll leave it till tomorrow or Thursday.

[Spookster67]

Departing on leg 7.

[Spookster67]

Down safe at Yellowstone. Involved a bit of treetop flying, and a bit of weaving around some hills, to try to stay below about 8,000.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...XTDubE1xB67QLw

Flight: 1:02:32
Fuel: 113.2 lbs

[Spookster67]

Departing leg 8.

[Spookster67]

Safely down at Jackson Hole. There really wasn't much space between the tree tops and the 10,000 soft ceiling for a lot of the way

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...v6AA7iXeyVB7DU

Flight: 44:35
Fuel: 75.3 lbs

[MM]

A note from Ms. Murphy in regard to the Spookster67 usage of the bail-out provision in leg 7 (post #10 above).

"The bail-out is accepted. However, please note the 'Clarification of the Bail Out Rule' in the NOTAMS for future usage."

[Spookster67]

A note from Ms. Murphy in regard to the Spookster67 usage of the bail-out provision in leg 7 (post #10 above).

"The bail-out is accepted. However, please note the 'Clarification of the Bail Out Rule' in the NOTAMS for future usage."

Duly noted :redf:. And thanks, Ms Murhpy! :salute:

[Spookster67]

Departing leg 9.

[Spookster67]

Down safe at 36U. Another tree top flying leg, but thankfully the cloud base was above most of them. Bit of rain on approach to Heber city, but otherwise a good flight.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...NbPYP4m6r5RFRA

Flight: 1:02:11
Fuel: 107.6 lbs

[Spookster67]

A quick refuel, and off again. Departing leg 10, to Canyonlands.

[Spookster67]

Down safe at Canyonlands (Moab), though the 16 knot crosswind made the final approach more "interesting". Nice to get down below 6,000 feet again - the Marchetti engine sounds better when it's got more air to breath.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...5vKar84peKxN8M

Flight: 43:14
Fuel: 76.3 lbs

[Spookster67]

Another quick refuel, and off again on leg 11, to Page.

[Spookster67]

Down safe at Page. Always nice to fly into somewhere you've actually been in real-life.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...Dj20CKcMrfpcRw

Flight: 44:01
Fuel: 80.9 lbs

[Spookster67]

Departing leg 12, to Grand Canyon. For fun, I think we'll fly this one in the canyon, since the Marchetti is quite aerobatic. Hope the passenger doesn't mind...

[Spookster67]

Down safe at Grand Canyon, after some fairly exciting flying along some of the canyons. I probably upset my passenger - he was looking a bit ill by the end. The roll and 72 seconds of inverted flight probably weren't appreciated!!

I also upset Duenna. It thinks I refuelled about 2 minutes before I landed. Hmm. Further investigation of the text file is required.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...6BK2CscawmU76c

Flight: 25:07
Fuel: 48.3 lbs

[Spookster67]

Duenna refuelling error report - attempt at an explanation:

On my leg 12 from KPGA to KGCN, duenna reported errors associated with inflight refuelling about 2 minutes before I landed at KGCN. I had loaded 50 lbs of fuel, and on the flight I used 48.3 lbs (yes, I should have loaded more!!). However, I didn't actually run out of fuel before landing, and in fact the aircraft engine idled for about another 5 minutes on the ground before it did finally cut out.

I couldn't work out why Duenna recorded the error, so I flew a test flight, in the same Marchetti. I loaded just 6 lbs of fuel, took off from KGCN and climbed to about 10,000, and just circled waiting for the engine to cut. Before the engine cut, I got the same refuelling errors from Duenna. So it seems Duenna records an inflight refuelling error, even though I wasn't refuelling, just before I actually ran out of fuel. I landed it dead stick, here's the duenna record from that test.

To see whether this was something strange with the Marchetti, I repeated the test in a C172. Same 6 lbs of fuel, took off and climbed from KGCN, and started circling waiting for the engine to cut. Exactly the same Duenna errors recorded, before the engine cut (about 2 minutes this time). Again, landed dead stick, here's the duenna record.

So, what to do...

My first Duenna record shows that I successfully completed the flight, and landed at KGCN. I didn't refuel - I think that's an incorrect error report from Duenna - and it shows that I have the "inflight refuelling" function turned off. So I'll carry on, and assume it's an acceptable flight. (But I will load a bit more fuel on future legs... )